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.
Jim Charlesworth, director of Princeton University's Dead Sea Scrolls Project believes that a large number of scrolls have yet to come to light. The programme is about his quest to track them down, an undertaking not without risks. The cliffs of Qumran still attract scroll hunters with non-academic motives - the scrolls are much sought after by private collectors and the shady figures of the black market who supply them.
Documentary about the lifelong project of Troy Hurtubise, a man who has been obsessed with researching the Canadian grizzly bear up close, ever since surviving an early encounter with such a bear. The film documents Hurtubise's diligent work to improve his homemade "grizzly-proof" suit of armour, his efforts to test its resilience, and his forays into the Rockies to track down the grizzlies he dreams of meeting. The film manages to capture the humor of the project as well as its sincerity.
He promised to return. The scriptures foretell of seven events that will herald the second coming of Jesus Christ. Two are already part of history. Some are in the making now. The rest are in the near future. "The Seven Sign"s explains the prophetic visions of the Prophet David of the Old Testament, and the Apostle John of the New. What they saw was alarming. These biblical visions could be indications of where our civilization is headed in the future. As mankind peers into the troubled future, some see the new millennium as the beginning of the end.
Filmed from 1995 to 1997 in Havana, New York, Los Angeles, Morelia and Mexico City, it tells the story of Yuliet, a Cuban teenager, and Fabiola Quiroz, a Mexican model, who, with humor and frankness, surrounded by quirky supporting characters, show us that the absence of their parents, deprivation and adversity made them stronger.
The history of the Russian Space Program from being the first to send a satellite into space through its downward spiral due to the demise of the Soviet Union.
Born Ruby Stevens, she was orphaned when she was four. A chance audition led to a chorus job. By 17 she was a Ziegfeld Girl. At 20 she earned excellent reviews for a bit part in a Broadway play — and she had a new name: Barbara Stanwyck.
George Carlin celebrates 40 years of comedy and here, he presents 2 new standup bits, comedian Jon Stewart gives an interview with him, and we look at his old comedy work through the last 4 decades.
After starring in a dozen or so HBO Special Presentations, comedian George Carlin has amassed a substantial body of work in the cable channel's vaults. Personal Favorites is a greatest-hits package, a selection of some of Carlin's best moments on HBO from 1977 to 1998 and, not coincidentally, some of his most enduring comic routines from any medium.
This installment of the Classic Albums series follows the making of two Grateful Dead albums, the fiercely experimental Anthem of the Sun and the understated masterwork American Beauty, which spawned melodic gems like "Sugar Magnolia" and "Ripple." Between the archival scenes and contemporary interviews with band members, the DVD shows a band making seismic inroads in pop music--and five young guys coming to terms with artistry, mortality, and, yes, the pursuit of happiness. There is priceless footage of Neal Cassady driving Ken Kesey's bus and of the Dead, surrounded by martini-sipping hipsters, on Playboy After Dark. The best scenes involve band members talking about specific songs (you will never hear Phil Lesh's "Box of Rain" again without thinking of it as a gift to his dying father) or deconstructing a tune by playing each track separately. Intimate and surprisingly cohesive, Anthem to Beauty is a rare glimpse into how the Dead's magic was made.
The documentary tells the story of the Berlin luxury hotel, which was built by the director's great-grandfather and fell victim to a fire shortly after the end of the Second World War.
Host Jack Perkins (of the A&E "Biography" series) takes to the skies to show us an aerial view of the state of Maine. From rocky coastlines to northern forests and everything in between, this breathtaking documentary presents a truly unique picture of one of the most wild and beautiful regions of the United States.
In 1980, the eruption of Mount St. Helens leveled 230 square miles, sent 540 million tons of ash and volcanic rock twelve miles into the air, and blasted one cubic mile of earth from the crest of the Cascade Mountain Range. Illustrates the terrifying fury of the most destructive volcanic disaster in American history through aerial photography and survivors' own words. Shows examples of nature's plant and animal recovery seventeen years later.
The Irish novelist, Bram Stoker, gave the world Dracula in 1897. This documentary explores the historical figure behind the fictional figure of horror and examines medical explanations for the myths of vampires.