My father was a landowner’s son and an ex-Kuomintang Air Force pilot, who remained in mainland China after 1949. For survival, he tried to transform himself from a man of the ‘old society’ to a man of the ‘new society’. As his son, I started investigating his ‘history before 1949’, which he had kept away from me. This film documents the process of my investigation over twenty years.
In America, everyone has a family story of immigration. Every family, at some point, has had somebody leave their native country behind to search for a better life. How did they hold onto their identity? How did they adapt to their new life? Every family has a special story. In my case, it's my Chinese-American story. My father would always tell us his story about walking for 7 days and 6 nights, before swimming for 4 hours to Macau to escape communism in 1966. His story would fall on my deaf ears until I returned to China with him.
The Ta'ang or Palaung people, an ethnic minority living in the mountainous area between Myanmar's Kokang region and China's Yunnan province, have historically suffered many forced migrations due to war. When their survival is threatened again in 2015, thousands of them flee across the border. Filmmaker Wang Bing accompanies them and becomes a privileged witness to a human story that is both a modern reportage and a mythical epic.
5000 years ago the ancient Elamites established a glorious civilization that lasted about three millennia. They created marvelous works in architecture and craftsmanship. These works of art depict the lifestyle, thoughts, and beliefs of the Elamites.
Draussen bleiben
How do you reconcile a commitment to non-violence when faced with violence? Why do the poor often seem happier than the rich? Must a society lose its traditions in order to move into the future? These are some of the questions posed to His Holiness the Dalai Lama by filmmaker and explorer Rick Ray. Ray examines some of the fundamental questions of our time by weaving together observations from his own journeys throughout India and the Middle East, and the wisdom of an extraordinary spiritual leader. This is his story, as told and filmed by Rick Ray during a private visit to his monastery in Dharamsala, India over the course of several months. Also included is rare historical footage as well as footage supplied by individuals who at great personal risk, filmed with hidden cameras within Tibet.
Su has set up a restaurant without a permit. Unsurprisingly, the authorities send him away. Su then decides to go back home to the countryside, where his wife and children still live. He isn't exactly welcomed back with open arms.
Dan Snow uncovers the lost Vikings in America with Dr Sarah Parcak. As Sarah searches for Vikings across the Atlantic, Dan explores their journey 500 years before Columbus.
A documentary about archaeology, which, based on traces and finds hidden underground, creates a picture of the beginnings of the history of the Czech lands, which goes back to the Ice Age 30,000 years ago.
A slide about the importance of accidental archaeological finds for the development of archaeological science and the study of history. The film appeals to farmers and construction workers in particular, urging them to report similar findings immediately.
Shot over the course of ten years on both film and video, the film consists of a series of carefully composed tableaux of people and environments. Pedestrians shuffle across a bustling Beijing street, steelworkers linger outside a deserted factory, tourists laugh and scamper across a crowded beach, worshippers kneel to pray in a remote village. With a painterly eye for composition, Wang captures China as he sees it, calling to a temporary halt a land in a constant state of change.
The Chinese government is sponsoring a national campaign on "equal" education. UNDER THE SAME SKY documents school children in the city as well as the country to compare the two educational experiences. UNDER THE SAME SKY had been nominated for best short documentary at the 2017 Asian Pacific Film Festival, 2017 St. Louis International Film Festival, Long beach indie Film Festival and Los Angeles Chinese Film Festival. It's also been shown and won awards at 15 other film festivals around the world, including the Cannes Short Film Corner and The Impact Docs Awards.
In 1587, more than 100 English colonists settle on Roanoke Island and soon vanish, baffling historians for centuries; now, experts use the latest forensic archaeology to investigate the true story behind America's oldest and most controversial mystery.
Last Hours of Pompeii
A song is heard in the distance. It comes from the Hekeng village, famous for its ancient earthen buildings, also called tulou. It is where the last original Hakka families live amidst the exodus of those looking for a more modern environment. Among them there is Zhang Zhouyin, an elderly man concerned about the state of the village's temple; or her daughter-in-law, Wei Yi, who spends her entire day guiding tourists through these awe-inspiring houses. And then there’s young Zhang Weibo, her son, who manages to find joy even in the simplest of things... Hekeng: a place frozen in time whose songs have endured for centuries.
Leading Chinese Sixth Generation filmmaker Jia Zhangke returns home to Fenyang in Shanxi province after winning the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival for Still Life (2006). The experiences of his childhood, the people he grew up with, and the changing landscape of his home town gave Jia the inspiration to make his first films. The documentary forms a poignant inquiry into the past of the director's life and Chinese society at the same time.
During the Exodus, one of the most famous miracles of the Old Testament took place. More than 3000 years have passed since Moses led two million Israelites across the Red Sea and out of the bondage of Egypt. Christians, Jews, and Muslims throughout the world still embrace the accounts of this remarkable event. It is an epic that so fascinated Hollywood director Cecil B. DeMille that he made THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, twice. Now THE EXODUS REVEALED follows the footsteps of the children of Israel in an unforgettable journey of discovery. A journey that reveals physical evidence for the Exodus including: the remains of 3800 year old Hebrew settlements in Egypt's Nile Delta; Egyptian records of the Israelites bondage under Pharaoh; the precise route they may have followed to freedom; their crossing site on the shore of the Red Sea; and the location of Mt. Sinai. THE EXODUS REVEALED brings to light the first significant archaeological "find" of the 21st century.
La brèche
In 1898, a Minnesota farmer clearing trees from his field uprooted a large stone covered with mysterious runes that tell a story of land acquisition and murder. The stone allegedly dates back to 1362. Initially thought to be a hoax, new evidence suggests the find could be real, and a clue that the Knights Templar discovered America 100 years before Columbus, perhaps bringing with them history's greatest treasure... the Holy Grail. Follow the clues as experts use erosion studies on the rune stone and match symbols in Templar ruins all over Europe to support this theory. Stones with similar markings have been found on islands across the Atlantic Ocean, and in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Is it possible the Knights Templar, long thought to have been massacred, escaped on an incredible journey and were leaving clues to the whereabouts of the stone?
For decades, secular archaeologists have regularly announced discoveries that seem to contradict the Bible. A prime example of this was a conclusion by renowned archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon, who stated publicly that the Biblical account of the conquest of Jericho could not possibly be factual. This eye-opening video shows how Biblical Archaeology uncovered the true story about the battle for Jericho. To experience the detective-like quest of Biblical Archaeology, viewers will join an actual dig in Israel to begin a search for Joshua's Ai at Khirbet el-Maqatir with Dr. Bryant Wood and Gary Byers. Become part of the fascinating process of selecting the site, preparing for the excavation, and peeling back the layers of time to reveal the clues to ancient history.