Series (4 Episodes available)
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Director(s):
ROELANTS (Stephan)
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Producer(s):
WESTDEUTSCHER RUNDFUNK, CERIGO FILMS
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Territories:
Worldwide.
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Production year:
2022
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Language(s):
German, English, French
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Rights:
TV, DVD, NON-THEATRICAL, INTERNET, VOD
The imaginary worlds of fantasy irrigate literature, cinema, video and role-playing games. Illustrator John Howe, the concept artist of The Lord of the Rings series, takes us on a wonderful four-part journey to discover the artists who have crafted fantasy.
Over the past twenty years, our views on Fantasy have shifted tremendously. Long reduced to repetitive adventures in comic books or movies with kitschy settings and poor scenarios, Fantasy now faces higher expectations from readers and critics alike, who demand complex heroes, strong female characters, original universes, in tune with more modern issues.
From its distant origins in myths and legends to its emergence into popular culture in the second half of the 20th century, fantasy has gradually taken shape over a history spanning more than a century. From the romantic Germany of the Brothers Grimm to the Texas plains where Robert E. Howard gave birth to the character of Conan, from the socialist utopias of William Morris to the tortured and eccentric mind of HP Lovecraft, John Howe’s travels will be interspersed with animated sequences breathing life into the stories that laid the foundations of the genre. To understand what makes these works so relevant and prevalent today, John Howe will be assisted by renowned experts such as S. T. Joshi, author of a 1200-page biography of Lovecraft, and Patrice Louinet, editor and translator of Robert E. Howard.