The Taste of Life

A commission from CIBA - Battle of Aljubarrota Interpretation Center, from the Batalha de Aljubarrota Foundation.

In the land of Israel, Solomon (Jimmy Smits) is trying to figure out a way to become the world’s supplier of frankincense. He sends an envoy to the tiny country of Sheba to announce his intentions. The Queen of Sheba, Nikaule (Halle Berry), is outraged by Solomon’s greedy plan.

A biography of Vincent van Gogh using only images and the letters he wrote to his brother Theo.

When Dot's granddaughter puts her into a nursing home, Stella stages a breakout, and takes Dot to Canada so they can get married. They pick up a hitchhiker along the way.

A disgraced chef tries to restore his name by competing in a culinary contest to win the knife of Korea's last royal chef.

The story of president Andrew Jackson from his early years, through his meeting with and subsequent marriage to Rachel Donelson Robards. The plot concentrates on the later scandal concerning the legality of their marriage and how they overcame the difficulties.

Set in a world of fantasy and adventure, Amon is a young warrior embarking on a quest to avenge the death of his mother. When the hunt leads him ultimately to the kingdom of Valhiss, Amon enlists in the ranks of the Emperor's army in order to gain an opportunity to exact his revenge. However, a chance encounter with the Princess Lichia, being held captive by the Emperor in an effort to ransom a map away from his main rival, King Darai-Sem, Amon must decide whether to follow his path of revenge or to help rescue the Princess in an effort to save a lost kingdom.

During the latter years of the reign of the tyrannical Roman emperor Nero, Marcus Vinicius, one of Nero's officers, falls in love with a young Christian named Lygia, attempting to enslave her. Lygia's protector, the noble and burly Ursus, works to save her from Vinicius' clutches. Pursuing Lygia, Vinicius finds himself at a catacomb prayer meeting led by the apostle Peter and finds his conscience stirring-- just as Nero orders Rome burned. A landmark in epic film, Enrico Guazzoni’s grand-scale masterpiece laid the foundations for what colossal Italian spectacles would become. The film had tremendous influence on Giovanni Pastrone’s Cabiria (1914) and D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance (1916).

A young woman navigates a world where everything is paid for by credits.

Prince Siddhartha is heir to the Shakya kingdom, which is constantly at war with the more powerful Kosala kingdom. His father tries to raise as him as a warrior leader and to shield him from the miseries of the world. Meeting the young outcast girl Migaila, Siddhartha experiences love for the first time but also witnesses the suffering that afflicts humankind. Meanwhile, in Kosala, Chapra rises through the military, despite his lowly origins, to become a hero and general of the army. A final showdown between the two kingdoms forces Siddhartha to re-evaluate the path he is following.

Meier, a paperhanger in East Berlin, inherits from his father in West Berlin. With this money he wants to fulfil himself the dream of his life: a journey around the world. He buys a forged West German passport and pretends to go on a trip to Bulgaria while he really is off to see the free world. When he wants to return to East Berlin he finds himself in an unbelievable predicament and his double life begins. He can't keep away from his East German friends. As with all the best comedies, the action builds up to an eventual crisis. It's a light comedy, which won several national Film Academy Awards. The film is very political, with lots of political jokes/innuendos which only Germans will understand. One is left feeling what a total obscenity that stupid Wall was, dividing one people for 30 years (1-2 Generations) simply by the coincidence on where you just happen to be in the early morning on the 13th August 1961.

Roz hatches a plan to get back to her island.

It's 1875 and a young street urchin wants to see Queen Victoria...

Jack and Annie are young siblings who find a magic tree house on their way home after chasing a weasel. By using the books available on the tree house, they are able to travel through time and location. The two end up with the difficult task of collecting four medallions, each one hidden in a different place and epoch, in order to help a magician named Morgan.

The film is a historical melodrama about a high government official who wants to marry a woman who is engaged to marry another man.

This thorough documentary covers the life of President Theodore Roosevelt, from his birth until his death.

[Period covered: 1616] On May 8th, 1615 the summer campaign of Osaka has reached the climax. This film takes place immediately following 'Ninja 4: Mist Saizo, Last of The Ninja'. Staying one step ahead of the Shogun’s forces, “Mist” Saizo tries to save the Sanada Clan, and avenge the death of his lord by assassinating the first Tokugawa Shogun. Following the first four films in this remarkable series, more previously unknown Ninja skills are shown to the world for the first time. The action heats up as Saizo single-handedly attacks the Shogun’s Palace!

A young girl writes to President Abraham Lincoln to advise him to grow a beard.

An animated motion picture about a real-life Buddhist monk and renowned poet, Ryoukan who lived in 18th century Japan, during the Edo Period. Though born to a wealthy family in Izumozaki, Ryoukan chooses to abandon the easy life he would have inherited in order to understand the true meaning of life through the teachings of Buddhism. From his early adulthood, he undergoes a series of harsh training that demands a solitary and meager lifestyle. Throughout it all, he remains an extremely modest and humble person, a true humanitarian who accepts every individual for who they are while rejecting all worldly fame and wealth. Ryoukan found true peace in life through nature and spending time with children. His pure mind and affable personality have captivated many, and his legacy and the wisdom of his teachings live on today.

The premiere of Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd in Madrid is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the Teatro Real's bicentennial celebrations. Its magnificent libretto, based on the novel of the same name by Herman Melville, tells the story of the sailor Billy Budd: a handsome, loyal, generous, strong, naive, and kind young man whose beauty and personality drive the ship's master-at-arms mad. Unable to control the situation, the master crucifies the naive young man without mercy. This new production by the Teatro Real is being presented for the first time in Madrid, in co-production with the Opéra national de Paris, under the direction of Deborah Warner, one of the great names in stage direction today.