Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.
Working men and women leave through the main gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France. Filmed on 22 March 1895, it is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made, although Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years. Three separate versions of this film exist, which differ from one another in numerous ways. The first version features a carriage drawn by one horse, while in the second version the carriage is drawn by two horses, and there is no carriage at all in the third version. The clothing style is also different between the three versions, demonstrating the different seasons in which each was filmed. This film was made in the 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second. At that rate, the 17 meters of film length provided a duration of 46 seconds, holding a total of 800 frames.
Spain, 1953. Pedro Zaragoza, mayor of the city of Benidorm, in the province of Alicante, by the Mediterranean Sea, visits the Palacio del Pardo, General Franco's residence in Madrid, to ask him for help, in the hope of solving a very delicate problem.
New York, May 16, 1888. Visionary Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla is about to introduce an innovative AC asynchronous motor. Before the demonstration, wealthy businessman George Westinghouse meets Tesla privately to get him to sell him his patent and go into business with him. Tesla declines the offer but during the demonstration something happens that will change the world forever.
This historical drama tells the story of Qin Shihuang, who unified China's vast territory and declared himself emperor in 221 B.C. During his reign, he introduced sweeping reforms, built a vast network of roads and connected the Great Wall of China. From the grandiose inner sanctum of Emperor Qin's royal palace, to fierce battles with feudal kings, this film re-creates the glory and the terror of the Qin Dynasty, including footage of Qin's life-sized terra cotta army, constructed 2,200 years ago for his tomb.
The story of Samuel de Champlain's futile search for a passage to China in North America and his later founding of Quebec.
This beautiful short, commissioned by UCLan’s Creative Innovation Zone, is an intricate hand-drawn journey through the life of a local activist, George Dewhurst. An ordinary working man from Blackburn, George was charged with High Treason, shortly after The Peterloo Massacre in August 1819, for speaking at a gathering of workers in Burnley. Narrated by one of George's descendants, 8-year-old Monty Speed, this beautiful animated montage depicts events in George's life in the year 1819, following a quest by descendants to uncover his grave and raise awareness of his story.
Take a technological thrill ride The Magic of Flight takes you on a technological thrill ride faster, higher and wider than modern science or even your imagination! Relive the first flight of the Wright Brothers, then soar with the Blue Angels as they defy the laws of gravity. Narrated by Tom Selleck.
Translating History to Screen (2008) Video Short - 10 June 2008 (USA)
Francesca, tormented by her past, breaks the silence to talk about surviving the horrors of the comfort stations of Imperial Japan.
A short about American life and history produced for the millennium New Year's Eve celebration.
Set in 1942, DECIMATION tells the story of ten Russian soldiers accused of cowardice and their subsequent punishment.
Deus ex Machina
A short film depicting the execution of Mary, Queen of the Scots. Mary is brought to the execution block and made to kneel down with her neck over it. The executioner lifts his axe ready to bring it down. After that frame Mary has been replaced by a dummy. The axe comes down and severs the head of the dummy from the body. The executioner picks up the head and shows it around for everyone else to see. One of the first camera tricks to be used in a movie.
This MGM Passing Parade series short presents how separate events led to the creation of three provisions - freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and prohibition of the infliction of cruel and unusual punishments - in the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights.
Edo, Japan. Calligraphists are not mere writers, they can bring drawings to life and utilize kanji. Three calligraphists from the art wielding clan join up and fight against an exiled calligraphist and his minions to protect the Tokugawa shogunate.
In 1970, during the annual Dutch national commemoration of those fallen in World War II, two men try to make a statement against gay discrimination. In the moments before and after the incident, their doubt, fear and firm belief becomes clear.
The Devil of Comparisons (original title: El Demonio de las Comparaciones), was a 30-hour black & white silent film from 1929 by Narding Salome Exelsio (1883-1949). It explores the cyclical lives, deaths, and rebirths of Jose Rizal and his characters (played by hitherto unidentified actors) in a wasteland ruled by demons.
Britain's first Muslim war heroine is tested to the limit as she faces her brutal captors in Nazi-occupied Paris for the last time.
Two young women are about to receive the great honor of being sacrificed to their Mexica gods; but the cruel and bloody ritual does not go as expected.