Bonnie Greer looks back on the extraordinary life of one of literature’s most significant and inspirational figures, Maya Angelou, through an exploration of the BBC archives.
PINGKIAN: ISANG MUSIKAL is a full-length stage musical about the life of Emilio Jacinto during the tail end of the Philippine revolution up to the start of the Philippine-American war. Witness the trials and triumphs of a nation on the edge of revolution as Jacinto navigates the complexities of war with an unwavering commitment to the cause of freedom. Jacinto sustains serious wounds in an encounter with the Cazadores at Majayjay, Laguna. As he fights for his life, he is visited by the ghosts of Andres Bonifacio, his closest friend and the revered Supremo of the Katipunan, and Dr. Jose Rizal, his role model for citizenship and civic values. Together, they delve into Jacinto's haunting nightmares and aspirations for a heroic death— an introspective exploration that serves as a poignant examination of the Katipunan's conscience and his definition of Freedom.
Called in the middle of the night to attend a birth in a poor and large family, Emma Goldman, a feminist anarchist, strives to relieve the suffering of the woman in labor. Back at home, she finds herself confronted by her companion Ed, exhausted by her absences.
In the late 1980s, a team of Ukrainian filmmakers made several expeditions to the remote corners of Siberia. In 2022, during Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, previously unknown footage from these trips was discovered in Kyiv. This valuable find becomes the starting point for the film essay about Russian imperialism, environmental destruction and oppression of the indigenous population in Russian colonies.
After decades of inaccessibility due to unrest and wars, teams of archaeologists from around the globe return to the greatest sites in Mesopotamia in a bid to save what can still be saved.
When the Tanana River bridge was installed in Salcha, Alaska, the community worried about the levee's effects on fish wildlife. Salcha Elementary School, along with the help of Tanana Valley Watershed Association, conducted a 10-year scientific project with students to study the effects the levee had on Piledriver Slough. Tori Brannan - the filmmaker's mother - is a retired principal at Salcha Elementary and was the project's centerpiece. She shares her experiences with the project, the community, and how her daughter's involvement strengthened their relationship.
As queer trans and gender non-conforming children of the Vietnamese diaspora, we are fragmented at the crossroads of being displaced from not only a sense of belonging to our ancestral land, but also our own bodies which are conditioned by society to stray away from our most authentic existence. Yet these bodies of ours are the vessels we sail to embark on a lifetime voyage of return to our original selves. It is our bodies that navigate the treacherous tides of normative systems that impose themselves on our very being. And it is our bodies that act as community lighthouses for collective liberation. Ultimately, the landscape of our bodies is our blueprint to remembering, to healing, to blooming.
Ming Wang is an impoverished Chinese prodigy who flees Communist China to become a pioneering eye surgeon in America. When tasked with restoring the sight of an orphan in India, who was blinded by her stepmother, Wang must confront the trauma of living through the violent uprising in his youth, the Cultural Revolution.
Microphone Check stands as a groundbreaking documentary offering a compelling narrative that delves into the often-overlooked origins and evolution of hip hop culture. As the first film of its kind to center primarily on the original pioneers of the genre, it sheds light on their invaluable contributions and untold stories. Beyond this pioneering approach, Microphone Check also distinguishes itself by being the first to comprehensively explore the origins of all the elements of hip hop, from DJing and MCing to graffiti and breakdancing. Through a captivating blend of interviews, archival footage, and cultural analysis, the film not only celebrates the creative ingenuity, social impact, and enduring legacy of hip hop but also reaffirms its status as a global cultural force.
The film is dedicated to the upcoming 150th anniversary of the birth of Kazakh writer and public figure Akhmet Baitursynov next year. Filming began in Almaty in November.
27 Olympic and Paralympic champions, aged 20 to 100, share their stories in this Mickaël Gamrasni documentary narrated by actress Marion Cotillard. As heirs to previous generations, they trace the incredible genealogy of French Olympism. The documentary revisits over a century of French participation in the Olympics, from their inception in 1896 to the recent feats that have elevated France to the summit. It’s a human adventure, brimming with memories, acts of bravery, and epic emotions: the collective narrative of France winning.
The thousand-year-old tradition of pottery in the Indian subcontinent is now under threat. With the market being flooded with plastic in the evolution of civilization, today this Pal community is becoming displaced.
In 1929, Diessmann, a German scholar, discovers an ancient map of a Kurdish Admiral, struggling to find out the map's secrets, and expose one of the biggest lies in history. The chart leads him to so many troubles during his Journey around the world.