Annita Malavasi was just 22 when the Germans occupied Italy, their former allies, in 1943. As a partisan in the Italian resistance named “Laila”, she moved throughout the Apennines with and between fighting units, delivering information, transporting weapons, and taking part in battles. She spent over a year in the Apennines, fighting against the German occupation. At the same time, she had to assert herself against the men of the mountain villages. By the end of the war, Laila had risen among the ranks to become one of the few female commanders in the Italian resistance. This film chronicles the story of a lifelong struggle for emancipation that began with the battle for Italy’s liberation from fascism. Laila and her two comrades, Gina “Sonia” Moncigoli and Pierina “Iva” Bonilauri talk about their time in the Resistenza and what it meant to them and many other women.
The true story of a young Japanese girl who played the piano for POWs during World War II and how it affected their lives. It is a story of humanity, compassion and the universality of music in helping to heal the rifts between wartime rivals.
Marthas is a PBS documentary about an extraordinary rite of passage in Laredo, Texas where teenage Mexican-American girls debut in a grand Colonial Ball dressed as American revolutionaries - a tradition that goes back 114 years.
16th July 1969: America prepares to launch Apollo 11. Thousands of kilometers away, a ragtag group of Zambian exiles is trying to beat America to the Moon.
At an isolated log cabin in the harsh wilderness of Indiana circa 1817, the rhythms of love, tragedy, and the daily hardships of life on the developing frontier shaped one of our nation’s greatest heroes: Abraham Lincoln. Abe is a thoughtful and quiet boy who spends his days at the side of his beloved mother while learning to work the land from his stern father. When illness takes his mother, Abe's new guardian angel comes in the form of his new stepmother, who sees the potential in the boy and pushes for his further education.
It was called the Black Death, a disease that started in the 14th century, and swept across Europe wiping out half the population, one of the most lethal killers in human history. But the cause of the Black Death has eluded scientists. Now, Evolutionary biologist Hendrik Poinar embarks on an epic journey to solve the 600-year old mystery and change the way we fight infectious diseases today.
2014 Takarazuka Revue Star Troupe production. This is the story of a hero, a man who rescued France from the chaos of revolution. His name was Napoléon Bonaparte. Having climbed to unparalleled heights after conquering Europe and becoming the first Emperor in the history of France, what was this hero seeking? Whom did he love? The truth behind this man who led such a turbulent life is about to unfold.
"The Biography of Sakyamuni Buddha" reproduces the journey of Sakyamuni from the birth of a prince, his renunciation, ascetic practice, seeking the Tao, until he became enlightened under the bodhi tree and became a Buddha more than 2,000 years ago.
In an attempt to lift the veil of mystery surrounding the life of the famed Archimedes, a historian seeks out Telesilla, his surviving wife. He hopes the woman would share the story of the great scientist, who tragically died during the capture of Syracuse. After certain reservations Telesilla shares her tale.
1964 was the year the Beatles came to America, Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali, and three civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi. It was the year when Berkeley students rose up in protest, African Americans fought back against injustice in Harlem, and Barry Goldwater’s conservative revolution took over the Republican Party. In myriad ways, 1964 was the year when Americans faced choices: between the liberalism of Lyndon Johnson or Barry Goldwater’s grassroots conservatism, between support for the civil rights movement or opposition to it, between an embrace of the emerging counterculture or a defense of traditional values.
A true story of Jurek, an eight-year-old boy, who escapes from the Warsaw ghetto, then manages to survive in the woods and working as a farmhand, disguising himself as a Polish orphan.
In 1918, when New York City hired its first scientifically trained medical examiner Charles Norris. Over the course of a decade and a half, Norris and his extraordinarily driven and talented chief toxicologist, Alexander Gettler, would turn forensic chemistry into a formidable science, sending many a murderer to the electric chair and setting the standards that the rest of the country would ultimately adopt.
This film will take the viewer on a journey with a person whose genius epitomized the Renaissance era and the subsequent development of science and art. The hand of this prodigy will sketch the first prototype of a helicopter, paint the most mysterious painting of all time and illustrate human anatomy. The story, told by Leonardo's friend will uplift the veil to reveal da Vinci's life in Florence and Milan at the time of political instability, his numerous scientific and artistic escapades as well as the creation of masterpieces, which stir awe and reverence in the hearts of men up to this day.
A Blind Hero depicts Otto Weidt's story as told by award-winning journalist and author Inge Deutschkron, who tells the incredible tale of Weidt's efforts to save her and the rest of his employees from the Nazis, including Alice Licht, the love of Otto Weidt's life.
In the 14th century, a young merchant's daughter from southern Germany sets off on the adventurous Way of St. James to faraway Santiago de Compostela to fulfill her father's last wishes and bring his heart there. Disguised as a man, the pilgrim is hunted by pursuers set on her by her conniving brother.