Three decades after German-American pilot Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, he returns to the places where he was held prisoner during the early years of the Vietnam War. Accompanied by director Werner Herzog, Dengler describes in unusually candid detail his captivity, the friendships he made, and his daring escape. Not willing to stop there, Herzog even persuades his subject to re-enact certain tortures, with the help of some willing local villagers.
A year ago, on 29 December 2019, prisoners were exchanged with the self-proclaimed ‘LPR’ and ‘DPR’. Among the Ukrainians who returned home were journalist Stanislav Aseyev, tanker Bohdan Pantiushenko, and human rights activist Andriy Yarovoi. Four months earlier, on 7 September, Crimeans Oleg Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko were released from Russian colonies. We spoke to the former prisoners about their first year of freedom.
A U.S. Navy Commander Jeremiah Denton leading a plane sortie into North Vietnam was shot down and captured as a POW. For 8 years of his life, he was a prisoner at Hanoi Hilton where he and other POWs were tortured. In a press conference, being forced by the North Vietnamese to say he was being treated well he blinked out the letters TORTURE in Morse code.
A tale of human connection, hope and resilience in the face of great tragedy, Under a Bamboo Sky uses new technology to bring to life an untold story of Australian soldiers held prisoner by the Japanese in WWII. Using their own words, their own voices, the film weaves the recollections of more than 60 former POWs with newly colourised archival material and new location footage to deliver a moving and revelatory first-hand account of their experience. Captured during the Japanese offensive and imprisoned in Singapore’s Changi Barracks, the film follows the years long journey of these soldiers through four countries. After bearing witness to some of WWII’s most history-defining events, they tell of returning home to families, wives and sweethearts, and of the price they paid for the trauma they endured. Shining through the horrors of war is the spirit of these men and an inspiring human capacity to find beauty in their surroundings and hold onto hope in the worst of circumstances.
In the Pacific, 1944, a Japanese soldier and a British prisoner of war are stranded on a deserted island, hunted by a deadly creature. Two mortal enemies must come together to survive the unknown.
In 1944 Poland, a Jewish shop keeper named Jakob is summoned to ghetto headquarters after being caught out after curfew. While waiting for the German Kommondant, Jakob overhears a German radio broadcast about Russian troop movements. Returned to the ghetto, the shopkeeper shares his information with a friend and then rumors fly that there is a secret radio within the ghetto.
In Burma during the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier separated from his unit disguises himself as a Buddhist monk to escape imprisonment as a POW.
Tortured into a false confession while a POW in Korea, Major Lincoln Bond returns to active service as a test pilot. Determined to clear his name, Bond battles a hard-nosed base commander, prejudiced officers and his own insecurities.
Army Captain Edward Hall returns to the U.S. after two years in a prison camp in the Korean War. In the camp, he was brainwashed and helped the Chinese convince the other prisoners that they were fighting an unjust war. When he comes back he is charged for collaboration with the enemy. Where does loyalty end in a prison camp, when the camp is a living hell?
French soldiers surrender to lying Nazis and are herded into a barbaric prison of war camp. From there they plan an uprising.
A California commercial pilot sees a telecast in London of an interview with Sir Mark Lodden at his home. The Canadian is convinced that the baronet is a fraud, and he is actually a look-alike actor named Frank Welney.
A Korean man, forced into service in the Japanese army during WWII, marries his Japanese girlfriend despite everyone's objections. Later, he becomes the sole survivor when the Americans attack.
A downed American bomber crew quickly falls prey to the clever interrogation techniques of the Germans in this dramatic WW2 training film.
In South Africa’s abandoned mines, men scrabble for gold, using hand hammers and bicycle head-lamps, often remaining underground for days, often without food. Their survival is dependent on their hands – and luck. They are gamblers, or Zama Zama, who hope to scrounge a living from exhausted veins despite crumbling mineshafts and criminal overlords because at home in Zimbabwe they have nothing, there is nothing. The video footage is shot by miners with GoPros and in spite of harrowing conditions, we see uplifting camaraderie, caring collaboration and inspiring good cheer, as we are taken into their subterranean lives, guided by director-producer-anthropologist Rosalind Morris. Above ground, they smile. Gangsters prey on them, and the women cough from the glass-like dust of the rocks they crush by hand. But still they smile. An extraordinary story of human endurance, not to be missed.
Zaroorat Ki Purti
Joel Hunt served as a combat engineer from 1998-2007, with multiple tours in Iraq. While there, he endured more than 15 roadside bombs, and experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Today, with the help of his dog, Barrett, he uses sports to push through the challenges of having a TBI.
Hidden Heart follows the stories of three second generation British Muslim women who find love outside their faith. The film delves intimately into their struggle to reconcile modernity with tradition; their internal conflicts and fear of ostracism and sheds light on the hidden tensions in our modern society between integration and tradition and the people who are at the heart of it. The film explores a new vision of cultural identity, defying the notion of a so-called 'clash of cultures' and challenging barriers to understanding between different communities. Although focusing on the lives of British men and women, the film will strike a chord with any and all of those around the world living in a tight-knit community, under pressure to maintain their identity.
Six episodes set in and focusing on the history of Brasília, the capital of Brazil. Episode list: A Paisagem Natural (dir. Vladimir Carvalho), O Sinal da Cruz (dir. Pedro Jorge de Castro), A Volta de Chico Candango (dir. Roberto Pires), Além do Cinema do Além (dir. Pedro Anísio), Suíte Brasília (dir. Moacir de Oliveira) and A Capital dos Brasis (dir. Geraldo Moraes).
Professor Dr. h.c. Karl Foerster - his cultivations and developments of wonderful perennials offer a wide range of possibilities for beautifying residential areas and gardens and creating space for recreation.
Witness if you will Gallus Domesticus--the backyard chicken. From healthy eggs to the family's new favorite pet, the chicken is forging a fresh place in the pecking order of human importance. From leading experts to suburban newbies, experience the humor and heart of what's fast becoming an international phenomenon--the return of the urban backyard chicken!