Through a first-person narrator, archival footage and photographs, and a contemporary camera, Pavel Lounguine uses the Moscow skyscraper where he grew up as a touchstone for looking back to Stalin and then examining today's Russia. This is Stalin's pyramid, his immortality. We visit people who have lived there for 50 years, see their flats (some modernized, others decaying), and listen to their histories: the son of a KGB man, a retired rocket scientist, a sculptor's son. an actor, seamstresses at a uniform shop, an ex-pat, and two artists. We see a kindergarten and remember marching; we watch parades and discuss surveillance. The commentary is wry: Putin emerges as Stalin's heir.
Balkan Erotic Epic explores the sexual aspects of Serbian folklore. Ancient myths that have trickled into everyday household remedies or explanations are juxtaposed with the joys of the female and male sexual forms from which all human life originates. Functioning as both sexual liberation and reinvented modern myth, Balkan Erotic Epic is a display of the need for a cultural change in viewpoint around sex.
March 1943. In the middle of the Italian occupation of Corsica, two Communist resistance brothers strategically link up with two Italian trouffions in order to get the information necessary to organize the parachute drops on the Balagne. A real friendship is born between these men, the first steps of the reversal of the situation and of the alliance that followed the Allied landing in Ajaccio in September of the same year.
One of the most controversial figures in U.S. history, Jesse James has captured the imagination of the world for more than a century. Teen guerilla fighter, Civil War soldier, notorious bandit, James holds a place in popular legend like no other. Through expert accounts, historic analysis and forensic science, this revealing exposé traces the outlaw's life from his humble Southern childhood through his rise to infamy and his mysterious death.
In the first half of the 20th century, America's railroads were radically
transformed by the innovation of gargantuan steam locomotives.
Pushed by the need to haul ever longer and heavier trains, the nation's
locomotive works responded with the invention of awe-inspiring articulated
engines. Delivering up to 7,500 horsepower, these steel behemoths could
haul mile-long, 15,000-ton trains. In this riveting program, journey back to the
golden age of steam for an up-close look at these legendary locomotives. See
the Union Pacific's famed "Big Boy" in action and ride the rails of the
Chesapeake & Ohio and Norfolk & Western railways. Meet the men who
drove engines like the Allegheny and Yellowstone, and visit the museums
and yards where the largest steamers ever built remain preserved in time.
THE HISTORY CHANNEL' proudly presents this rollicking
retrospective, sure to set any rail fan's heart pounding
1941. Ukraine. Second World War. Two enemies meet in German captivity: one from the Red Army, and the second from UPA. Both of them think their way is right.
What follows is a black-and-white silent film set in the 1890s during the brewing Filipino revolution against Spanish colonialism. A series of tragic and comic sequences tells the Three Ages of an Indio (“common man”) as he progresses from boy bell ringer in a village church to teenage revolutionary to adult theater actor rehearsing a popular Spanish play.
The first part of Bulat Mansurov's planned epic film series; “The Saga of the Ancient Bulgars". Tells the story of pagan Rus' during the time of Prince Igor, his murder by the Drevlyans, Olga's revenge, Olga's repentance and adoption of Christianity.
The second part of Bulat Mansurov's planned epic film series; “The Saga of the Ancient Bulgars". The film depicts the life and reign of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich of Kiev, known in legends as Vladimir the Red Sun. The story begins in 972 AD, after the death of his father, Grand Prince Svyatoslav, which ignites a power struggle among Vladimir and his brothers. The film emphasizes that Russian princes only succeeded when they maintained good relations with the Bulgars and other steppe nations. It also depicts Vladimir's reflection on his rise to power upon receiving the book "The Ladder" in 1005, ten years after his conversion to Christianity.
To commemorate the 150th anniversary of Oscar Wilde's birth, 150 leading artists of the stage, screen and music worlds deliver 150 of the Irish scribe's most memorable quotes. Featured celebrities include Bono, Liam Neeson, Martin Sheen, Joan Rivers, Lily Tomlin, Tyne Daly, James Cromwell, Stewart Copeland, Julianna Margulies, Allison Janney, Ed Asner, Roma Downey, Harvey Fierstein, Hector Elizondo and Rosie Perez.
The year is 1817. Minon, a five-year-old girl, leaves her aunt Therese of Brunswick, who has raised her like a mother since her birth, to go and live with her parents, the Count and Countess von Stakelberg. One day, Gabrielle, her housekeeper, who is no longer in her right mind, reveals that her real father is the composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Twenty years later, still intrigued by this confession, Minon decides to unravel the mystery of her origins. She returns to the place of her early childhood, hoping to find the truth with her aunt, who was for years the faithful friend of the great composer.
Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.
Sai is forced to marry Tuyet at the age of ten and leaves his home by the river wharf to live with an old man named Kien. As the war against France accelerates, Sai enlists to fight and falls in love with another woman named Huong. While the affair is fated not to last, Tuyet struggles to keep her marriage together.
93, rue Lauriston, in the 16th arrondissement de Paris, is an address of bleak memory. It was indeed the headquarter of the French Gestapo, which was active between 1941 and 1944 and was headed by Henri Lafont and Pierre Loutrel, two wanted criminals. On the day of 1940 he was demobilized, little did well-meaning Léon Jabinet know that he would be associated with such disreputable characters. And yet, some time later, Odile Panzer, the Jewish girl he has been hiding at his parents'place, is arrested by the Gestapo. On this occasion Léon is offered a deal for her release: collaborating with the Carlingue (another name for the French auxiliaries of the Nazi police) and Odile will be free. Or else... What should he do?
"Grace, Guts, and Glory" is a bizarre and hilarious tale about the life of St. Francis Xavier, which is meant to be neither bizarre nor hilarious. The sets on this film are like nothing one has ever seen. Stupid, gross, and weird things happen constantly, including a music video breakdown when St. Francis sings the ten commandments, in true Bollywood style. An excellent addition to any intoxicated party.