Sunken Roads: Three Generations After D-Day

In 1945, two young American soldiers, brothers Budd and Stuart Schulberg, are commissioned to collect filmed and recorded evidence of the horrors committed by the infamous Third Reich in order to prove Nazi war crimes during the Nuremberg trials (1945-46). The story of the making of Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today, a paramount historic documentary, released in 1948.

Made famous by the 1957 Hollywood movie, the bridges of the River Kwai emblematize one of the most misunderstood events in history. Contrary to the romanticized film version, the structures represent a period of terror, desperation, and death for over 16,000 POWs and 100,00 local slaves. The Thailand - Burma Railway was the vision of the Japanese Imperial Army: a 250-mile track cut through dense jungle that would connect Bangkok and Rangoon. To accomplish this nearly impossible feat, the fanatical and ruthless Japanese engineers used POWs and local slaves as manpower. Candid interviews with men who lived through the atrocity - including Dutch, Australian, British, and American POWs - illuminate the violence and horror of their three-and-a-half-year internment. From Britain's surrender of Singapore the enduring force of friendship, The True Story Of The Bridge On The River Kwai narrates a moving and unforgettable account of a period in history that must be remembered.

In 1935, German scientists dug for bones; in 1943, they murdered to get them. How the German scientific community supported Nazism, distorted history to legitimize a hideous system and was an accomplice to its unspeakable crimes. The story of the Ahnenerbe, a sinister organization created to rewrite the obscure origins of a nation.

In September 1943, 17-year-old Stanisław Zalewski was arrested in Warsaw as a member of a Polish resistance group and taken to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp for labour service. From there, he was sent to Mauthausen and finally to the Gusen camp, where the prisoners were forced to work for the German armaments industry under inhumane conditions. For a long time, Stanisław Zalewski, like many other victims of Nazi terror, remained silent about his painful experiences. It was only after forty years that he began to talk about it, at events, memorial services, and in schools, and he continues to do so to this day, even at the age of 99. Now, for the first time, he tells his stirring life story in a film as a deeply impressive ‘ambassador of remembrance’.

They raised children, baked cakes... and built world-class fighter planes. Sixty years ago, thousands of women from Thunder Bay and the Prairies donned trousers, packed lunch pails and took up rivet guns to participate in the greatest industrial war effort in Canadian history. Like many other factories across the country from 1939 to 1945, the shop floor at Fort William's Canadian Car and Foundry was transformed from an all-male workforce to one with forty percent female workers.

Yugoslav Partisan propaganda film about the liberation of Istria at the end of the World War II.

Following the tradition of military service in her family, Alene Duerk enlisted as a Navy nurse in 1943. During her eventful 32 year career, she served in WWII on a hospital ship in the Sea of Japan, and trained others in the Korean War. She became the Director of the Navy Nursing Corps during the Vietnam War before finally attaining the rank of Admiral in the U.S. Navy. Despite having no other women as mentors (or peers), Admiral Duerk always looked for challenging opportunities that women had not previously held. Her consistently high level of performance led to her ultimate rise to become the first woman Admiral.

One of Britain’s greatest landscape artists, Eric Ravilious, is killed in a plane crash while on commission as Official War Artist in Iceland in 1942. His life is as compelling and enigmatic as his art, set against the dramatic wartime locations that inspire him. This film brings to life this unique and still grossly undervalued British artist caught in the crossfire of war 80 years ago, whose legacy largely sank without trace, until now…

Account of one of the most critical periods of World War II. In the spring of 1940, Holland, Belgium, and France fell to Hitler's army. The Soviet Union was Germany's ally, and the United States stood on the sidelines. At this time of peril, it was Britain alone that faced the Nazi army. Thanks to Britain's two great assets: its indomitable leader, Winston Churchill, and the courage and resilience of its people--ordinary citizens who accomplished extraordinary things, a nation's darkest hour became its finest. Through months of intense air bombardment, including the "Blitz" of London, and under permanent threat of invasion, the British people exemplified heroism under fire. The peoples of occupied Europe, and those of the United States, came to see that resistance to Hitler was indeed possible.

An extraordinary tale of resilience unfolds against the backdrop of intense political rivalry and media scrutiny. Joanne Conte, the indomitable child of Italian immigrants, weathers the storm of public vilification as her past is unceremoniously plastered across the front pages of Colorado papers and on The Maury Povich Show. Yet, this assault on her character is not enough to halt the unwavering march of her life of service. She breaks barriers as the first transgender person to be elected to a city council in U.S. history, but her identity extends far beyond this groundbreaking accomplishment. As a valiant soldier, an impassioned activist, and a tenacious politician, Conte carves out a formidable legacy. This is an emotionally charged and evocatively detailed portrait of Joanne Conte, a multifaceted individual who lived her life far beyond the simplistic narratives of headlines.

In the poignant and thought-provoking short film, a distressed mother, Velda, takes center stage as she recounts the tragic tale of her son, Michael, who battles inner demons after being sent to war. As she navigates through the gut-wrenching chronology of his enlistment on the eve of 9/11, his traumatizing experiences in combat, and his futile attempts at readjustment after returning home, the narrative unravels to reveal the silent and insidious toll of war on the mental health of soldiers. Compelled by her son's devastating suicide, Velda transforms her grief into a call for action, articulating her concerns about the military's approach to mental health issues in a letter to the president. This heart-rending short film underscores the often overlooked consequences of war, giving voice to those left in its devastating wake.

“Buffalo Soldiers: George Jordan and the Indian Wars” is a poignant examination of the marginalized history of the Buffalo Soldiers - African American servicemen who bravely served in numerous conflicts only to face scorn, ridicule, and suppression of their stories back home. The film's epicenter is George Jordan, a formerly enslaved man turned soldier whose exemplary courage in battles etches a stark contrast against his forgotten legacy. Juxtaposing the resistance of Apache Chiefs and braves with Jordan's unwavering will to protect his comrades and white settlers, the narrative challenges us to reconcile often overlooked aspects of the formation of the West. With a stark reminder of Jordan’s decline due to his heroic yet under-acknowledged efforts and the refusal of the Army to provide him with care, the film crescendos into a plea for recognition of the Buffalo Soldiers, ultimately asking what we can give to make our country better.

Nazi propaganda film about the Condor Legion, a unit of German "volunteers" who fought in the Spanish Civil War on the side of eventual dictator Francisco Franco against the elected government of Spain.

How did Nazi Germany, from limited natural resources, mass unemployment, little money and a damaged industry, manage to unfurl the cataclysm of World War Two and come to occupy a large part of the European continent? Based on recent historical works of and interviews with Adam Tooze, Richard Overy, Frank Bajohr and Marie-Bénédicte Vincent, and drawing on rare archival material.

This black-and-white archival film outlines the importance of Canada's forests in the national war effort during the Second World War.

The Hawker Hurricane was the first fighter monoplane to join the Royal Air Force and the first combat aircraft adopted by that arm capable of exceeding 300 mph in level flight. The Hurricane shouldered the lion s share of Britain s defence during the Battle of Britain. This program portrays the history of this legendary aircraft which was to form an immortal partnership during the infamous battle.

This documentary follows the steps of the boys of H Company as they fight on the island of Iwo Jima.

Film journalist and critic Rüdiger Suchsland examines German cinema from 1933, when the Nazis came into power, until 1945, when the Third Reich collapsed. (A sequel to From Caligari to Hitler, 2015.)

Nazi troops massacre 30,000 Jews over a three-day period in September 1941. Babyn Yar ravine in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Das radikal Böse is a German-Austrian documentary that attempted to explore psychological processes and individual decision latitude "normal young men" in the German Einsatzgruppen of the Security Police and SD, which in 1941 during the Second World War as part of the Holocaust two million Jewish civilians shot dead in Eastern Europe.