Returning from Mecca, Darwis changes his name to Ahmad Dahlan as he is disturbed by the trend of Islamic laws in his society; that borders on heresy, Syrik (polytheism), and Bid’ah (wrong innovation). Using a compass, he proves that the direction of Qibla (that points to Mecca), in the Great Mosque of Kauman is wrong. The discovery angers every Kyai (Islamic experts), especially the head of the Great Mosque of Kauman, Kyai Penghulu Cholil Kamaludiningrat. Dahlan, who studied in Mecca for five years, is seen as a rebel upstart. Since the proposal of changing the direction of Qibla is rejected, Dahlan starts a movement calling for the change. On his first sermon as a preacher, Dahlan criticizes the habits of residents in his village in Yogyakarta: "In a prayer, only a sincere and patient heart is needed, it requires no Kyais, money, let alone offerings". As a result, Dahlan gets a hostile reception.
Charles de Gaulle, the first president (1958-1969) of the Vth Republic, France’s current system of government, left his mark on the country . He was statesman of action and has been compared to a monarch. This film depicts the general’s personality through the great events of his presidential term, at a time when the world was undergoing considerable changes.
Huw Edwards presents a profile of the former Prime Minister, depicting him as a brilliantly innovative social reformer to whom we owe old age pensions, National Insurance and much else. Contributors include Stephen Constantine, Margaret MacMillan, Neil Kinnock, Michael Heseltine and David Steel.
In Old Moshi, Tanzania, a head is missing : the skull of Chief Meli, who fought the German colonial occupation of his territory and was executed in response to his resistance in 1900. This animated film, based on archival sources and oral accounts provided by Chief Meli's grandson, sheds light on the racist roots of physical anthropology and ethnological museums.
In 1931, three Aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their homes to be trained as domestic staff, and set off on a trek across the Outback.
The true story of Bosco, a young musician orphaned and blinded by the 1993 Burundian genocide, is taken in by a member of the tribe he believes is responsible for the death of his mother. Bosco is forced to choose between hatred and hope.
The life story of Aleksis Kivi, author of the first Finnish novel in Finnish language and (posthumously) its most successful writer.
The story of a girl who grows up full of dreams, with parents who didn't understand that her mischief hid her intelligence.
After the Cuban Revolution, Che is at the height of his fame and power. Then he disappears, re-emerging incognito in Bolivia, where he organizes a small group of Cuban comrades and Bolivian recruits to start the great Latin American Revolution. Through this story, we come to understand how Che remains a symbol of idealism and heroism that lives in the hearts of people around the world.
The Argentine, begins as Che and a band of Cuban exiles (led by Fidel Castro) reach the Cuban shore from Mexico in 1956. Within two years, they mobilized popular support and an army and toppled the U.S.-friendly regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista.
A look at the life of legendary American pilot Amelia Earhart, who disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 in an attempt to make a flight around the world.
Kingdom of Hungary, 17th century. As she gets older, powerful Countess Erzsébet Báthory (1560-1614), blinded by the passion that she feels for a younger man, succumbs to the mad delusion that blood will keep her young and beautiful forever.
She left school at 14, married at 17, divorced at 26, then became a striper and married a billionaire. But she lost all when her husband died. However, when she won 450 million judgement, she became a reality show star. However, when her judgement was overruled by a Texas court, she fell on hard time and met her third husband. Her 20 year old son died then she died. Do you know who did it?
A cast of unknown performers are used in this drama about child soldiers fighting a war in an unnamed African country.
Dreaming of creating a Czech musical theater, not recognized in his homeland, Josef Navratil, under the pseudonym of Iosif Ratili, one day comes on tour to Georgia.
Two brothers who could not have been more different. The eldest, Hermann Göring (1893-1946), was a prominent member of the Nazi regime, head of the German Air Force, and a war criminal. The youngest, Albert Göring (1895-1966), opposed tyranny and was persecuted, but today he is still unjustly forgotten, although he saved many lives while his brother and his accomplices ravaged Europe.
The story of Bobby Sands, the IRA member who led the 1981 hunger strike during The Troubles in which Irish Republican prisoners tried to win political status.
In Portugal, during the night of April 24-25, 1974, a peaceful uprising put an end to the last government of the Estado Novo, the authoritarian regime established in 1933 by dictator António de Oliveira Salazar (1889-1970), paving the way for full democracy: a chronicle of the Carnation Revolution.
This film is a glimpse into the life, love and the unconquerable spirit of the legendary Bruce Lee. From a childhood of rigorous martial arts training, Lee realizes his dream of opening his own kung-fu school in America. Before long, he is discovered by a Hollywood producer and begins a meteoric rise to fame and an all too short reign as one the most charismatic action heroes in cinema history.
It follows the struggle of clerics to keep Islam alive during the Japanese invasion of Indonesia in 1942.