Irma Vep

French director Olivier Assayas satirizes the French film industry and pays affectionate tribute to the joys and frustrations of filmmaking in his offbeat 1997 comedy. Hong Kong icon Maggie Cheung plays herself in this playful lark about a company trying to remake the silent film classic "Les Vampires" with an unstable director (aging new wave icon Jean-Pierre Leaud) and a power struggle within the crew. It was Assayas' international breakthrough, and Zeitgeist has created a new "Essential Edition" to celebrate the film. New supplements include an onstage discussion between Assayas and critic Jean-Michel Frodon, 30 minutes of on-set footage (with optional Q&A audio with Assayas and Frodon), Assayas' 1997 short "Man Yuk: A Portrait of Maggie Cheung," and black-and-white rushes of Cheung as Irma Vep on Parisian rooftops.