A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.
Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered coupling gospel and country together.
A biopic depicting the life of filmmaker and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes from 1927 to 1947, during which time he became a successful film producer and an aviation magnate, while simultaneously growing more unstable due to severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The true, harrowing story of a young Jewish girl who, with her family and their friends, is forced into hiding in an attic in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.
Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, Ron Kovic becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country he fought for.
Rather than choosing a great leader or king, God chooses Abraham, an elderly shepherd from Mesopotamia, as the way to establish his Covenant with mankind... A man of great faith, Abraham continues to believe in God even when He seems to have abandoned him.
This is the story of the Charles Heidsieck who opened the market for Champagne sales in America just prior to the American Civil War. He is a reluctant French spy and is captured and spends time in a Union prison. There are two parallel love stories (he is French) and some battles with his uncle for control of the family vineyard (because his father married his mother who the uncle also loved).
After graduating from Emory University in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity, and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness.
A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.
Set between 1802 and 1818, it is the epic true story of a Spanish army officer and genius conspirator. Missioned by Spain, Domingo Badia, alias Ali Bey El Abbassi will meet Lady Hester Stanhope, an English aristocrat, better known under the name of Meleki, and they will live together an extraordinary destiny which will upset the Middle East.
The immature young ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Joseph, was extremely shy around women but (according to this film) was constantly being propositioned, lewdly or otherwise, by ambitious courtesans. When he was finally married to his Empress, the teen-aged Bavarian princess Sisi (Elizabeth), it seems that his relief knew no bounds, for he was now sure that he would never have to think about sex ever again. According to the filmmakers, this is the true history of that marriage. This story is a complete reversal of the romantic legend depicted in the popular 1955 film Sissi, which helped brighten the emerging stardom of Romy Schneider.
A cinematic exploration of the indomitable spirit of Che Guevara, capturing his remarkable journey as a fighter and a symbol of revolution.
In July 2010, Laurent Fignon, the great cycling legend, commented on the Tour de France. Although the two-time tour winner of the 80s has incurable cancer, he follows as a reporter day by day the entire race. His doctor should treat him medically during the tour. After facing each other in disgust, the two men develop more understanding for each other from stage to stage. For Laurent, ending this tour means upholding life, even though broadcasting efforts are reducing the chances of a successful life-prolonging therapy.
On the rocky path to sobriety after a life-changing accident, John Callahan discovers the healing power of art, willing his injured hands into drawing hilarious, often controversial cartoons, which bring him a new lease on life.
A film of the life of the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer and singer George M. Cohan.
The third of three parts, we follow Tulse Luper as he continues his adventures as a professional prisoner during the later years of the Second World War and its aftermath, the Cold War. The Tulse Luper Suitcases reconstructs the life of Tulse Luper, a professional writer and project-maker, caught up in a life of prisons. He was born in 1911 in Newport, South Wales and presumably last heard of in 1989. His life is reconstructed from the evidence of 92 suitcases found around the world—92 being the atomic number of the element Uranium. The project by Peter Greenaway includes three feature films, a TV series, 92 DVDs, CD-ROMs, and books.
Unbeknownst to the 19th-century Greek "primitive" painter Theofilos, other painters around the world at the time were also exploring non-academic subjects, focusing on the everyday lives of ordinary persons. In the U.S., the group of painters who chose such subjects were dubbed "the Ashcan school." Though Theofilos remained unknown in his lifetime, this biographical drama explores the painter's life from his birth on the Isle of Lesbos (Lesvos) in 1868 to the time when he developed his characteristic style, following his discharge from the Greek army.
The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.
The film tells the life story of Louise Otto Peters, who in the middle of the XIX century in Germany for the first time raised a voice of protest against the unfair treatment of women and their labor. She created the first "women's newspaper" in Germany. The daughter of a famous lawyer, Louise could have easily arranged her life by marrying the wealthy Baron Rodern. But she chose a different purpose in life - to fight for equal rights for women. Through her articles and public speeches, she won the authority and respect of ordinary people.
A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career.