On the 1st August 1936, 100,000 spectators watched as Hitler and the Olympic delegates arrived at the Olympic opening ceremony in Berlin. The Olympic flags hung cheerfully side-by-side banners bearing the Nazi swastika. With the help of specialists and images from Léni Riefenstahl’s 1938 film, ‘Olympia’, we see what really went on behind the scenes and investigate the secret negotiations and compromises made by the International Olympic Committee to bring the Olympics to Berlin.
Until 1942 around 100 German propaganda films were made, that were set in Africa. They were produced in Germany, with Black Germans and Africans living in Germany. Who were these Black extras and how did they come to Germany? Why did they work in film-making? Which roles did they play and what messages did they send? What were their daily experiences as Black people during the Weimar Republic and the Nazi Regime?
A look back at the 1000 days of the John F. Kennedy presidency.
Five times, Earth has faced apocalyptic events that swept nearly all life from the face of the planet. What did these prehistoric creatures look like? What catastrophes caused their disappearance? And how did our distant ancestors survive and give rise to the world we know today?
A documentary about a proposed military training area in Rothenthurm, Central Switzerland, and the village's resistance to those plans.
A bold reveal of a rose tattoo opens this 1980 documentary on tattooing in New Zealand. The potted history includes visits to tattoo parlours on K' Road and Hastings, and the studios of industry legends Steve Johnson and Roger Ingerton. Tattooists discuss public stigma, people's reasons for getting inked, and popular designs: sailors, serpents, swallows and tā moko. Made for documentary slot Contact, Skin Pics chronicles a time when "folk art has become high art".
In Uganda, AIDS-infected mothers have begun writing what they call Memory Books for their children. Aware of the illness, it is a way for the family to come to terms with the inevitable death that it faces. Hopelessness and desperation are confronted through the collaborative effort of remembering and recording, a process that inspires unexpected strength and even solace in the face of death.
Alex Horne tries to discover why some games survived, and examines the best of those that did not. Whilst revisiting his own childhood haunts, he attempts to relaunch the ancient sport of the Quintain, horseless jousting, and tries his damnedest to understand the rules of the Jingling Match. Not forgetting his attempt to restage the forgotten spectacle of Cricket on Horseback. This might just be a journey to the very heart of sport itself, but if not, it will be a lot of fun playing games that have not been seen for hundreds of years and even more fun discovering why.
Music documentary by director Rafael Marziano Tinoco from Venezuela
A fascinating, revealing, and poetic documentary exposing the disappearance, obliteration, and omission of a culture. The disappearance of a humanist equilibrium during the Ottoman Empire and the willful erasing of the nonconformist history of a city that did not adhere to the nationalistic ideology that turned the Balkans upside down and continues to do so. The ancient Jerusalem of the Balkans has become a forgotten city, a “judenfrei” city. Organized like a stroll around the urban environment and accommodating the words of survivors of the extermination camps of 1943, the film puts together fragments of memories and nostalgia to witness the exceptional past of the city. A Thessaloniki-born director tres to raise his own cinematic voice, to refuse the elimination and silence which are like a second death, more definitive than the first.
Cuba, 1961: 250,000 volunteers taught 700,000 people to read and write in one year. 100,000 of the teachers were under 18 years old. Over half were women. MAESTRA explores this story through the personal testimonies of the young women who went out to teach literacy in rural communities across the island - and found themselves deeply transformed in the process.
When operators of animal circuses in Bolivia defy a nationwide ban, a team of investigators tracks them down and saves every animal. The rescue team endure confrontations, heartache, and incredible risk to see 25 lions airlifted to freedom in Colorado. An uplifting story of bravery, compassion, camaraderie, and determination: How a poor but proud country said 'no' to cruelty, and how attitudes to animals were changed across an entire continent.
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?
Wildlife tries to survive within a concrete landscape. A filthy fox limps.
Before ending World War II, Nazi Germany, realizing it was going to lose the war, planned an escape route so that its high-ranking officers would not be convicted. Thousands of Nazis fled along these routes, with the help of the CATHOLIC CHURCH and the RED CROSS to America. Passports were issued and many criminals escaped and lived prosaically across America in exchange for German money and technology. These trails were called: RATILINES or TRACK OF THE RATS
A look at the gritty world of New York through the eyes of Sheldon Nadelman, bartender at the old Terminal Bar. A follow up to the prize winning short from 2002.
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.
Pickup trucks are essential to the American way of life; manufacturers compete to outsmart, outmaneuver and outlast each other; experts, designers and historians weigh in on the most influential innovations in the truck world over the past 120 years.
How would it look like, the body of Dom Afonso Henriques, first king of Portugal, tutelary figure, subject to successive mythifications throughout Portuguese history?
An immersive journey into the world of wild horses, Wild Beauty illuminates both the profound beauty, and desperate plight faced by the wild horses in the Western United States. Filmmaker Ashley Avis and crew go on a multi-year expedition to uncover the truth in hopes to protect them, before wild horses disappear forever.