"What could be more unsettling than a man close to death whose profound arrogance drives him relentlessly to hang onto both his power and his writing, to the bitter end?" In the twilight of his second seven-year term, François Mitterrand was alone. Ravaged by illness and abandoned by a large majority of the Socialist Party, who would not forgive him for the disastrous outcome of the March 1993 elections, the Head of State was preparing to tackle a second round of cohabitation with the right wing. However a series of unexpected tragedies and revelations would arise, casting a shadow over the end of his reign…
June 14, 1940. The German Army marches into Paris. France is an occupied country. Through exclusive amateur footage, personal stories, and popular songs from the time, this fi lm recounts life with the enemy during the occupation, as seen by the French... and the Germans! Despite the Nazis and the troubled war times, day-to-day life in occupied France went on. People learnt to live with the rationing, the cues, the curfew... Many try to forget the hard times, mainly thanks to the movies in which big stars provide a little dream and lead a privileged life. These stars don't actually collaborate, butadapt and give the impression of normal life during the war. After all, is it necessarily shameful to shake the hand of an enemy?
In 1933, Welsh journalist Gareth Jones travels to Ukraine, where he experiences the horrors of a famine. Everywhere he goes he meets henchmen of the Soviet secret service who are determined to prevent news about the catastrophe from getting out. Stalin’s forced collectivisation of agriculture has resulted in misery and ruin—the policy is tantamount to mass murder.
Cultural mistrust and false accusations doom a friendship in British colonial India between an Indian doctor, an Englishwoman engaged to marry a city magistrate, and an English educator.
A documentary on Soviet filmmaker Aleksandr Medvedkin, examining his tumultuous career, the rediscovery of his masterpiece Happiness, and Russia's struggles over the course of the 20th Century.
In February 1918, the Russian ship Orion, carrying weapons for two divisions, is delayed in Plymouth due to the Russian Revolution. The British order it to Arkhangelsk, but it secretly sails to Vladivostok. Pursued by the British, a German submarine, and with a divided crew, the Orion raises the red flag upon reaching Russia. However, Vladivostok is controlled by interventionists, so the ship fights back to sea and delivers weapons to coastal partisans.
A TV film based on the novel of the same name by Konstantin Fedin. The film is set in a small provincial town on the Volga River in the pre-revolutionary era. The story centers on Kirill Izvekov, an 18-year-old student at a technical college. The young man is just entering adulthood. He is full of hope and is making his first, as yet not fully conscious, attempts to find his place in his future life. What awaits him in the future? How will his fate and the fate of those around him unfold?
Mohamed is a soldier who finds himself in Gaza after the defeat in the 1967 War. He returns to his native village feeling broken and depressed after witnessing the deaths of his fellow soldiers. He still loves Fatima but her father wants her to marry Abbas who exploits the farmers and eventually rapes her.
In 1915, two Turks in Australia make a living by selling ice cream. When they hear war has broken out, they decide to go to Çanakkale. Authorities don't let them leave the island, so the two decide to put up a fight in Australia.
Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard leaves Europe, eventually arriving in the United States. With the help of Einstein, he persuades the government to build an atomic bomb. The project is given to no-nonsense Gen. Leslie Groves who selects physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to head the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, where the bomb is built. As World War II draws to a close, Szilard has second thoughts about atomic weapons, and policy makers debate how and when to use the bomb.
Germany 1922 during the Weimar Republic: Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau signs the Treaty of Rapallo between Germany and the Soviet Union. German national, conservative forces then speak of betrayal and anti-Semitic tones become loud. Plans for murder Rathenaus are forged in the vicinity of the Freikorps. The young engineer Horst Bergmann learns about the preparations of the assassination attempt and tries to warn Rathenau.
Italian airship engineer Umberto Nobile enjoys a quiet life with his beloved dog Titina. One day, Norwegian explorer superstar Roald Amundsen contacts him and orders an airship to conquer The North Pole.
In Eastern Finland, in Liperi to be exact, Anna-Liisa Ihalainen asks her husband Antti to get some matches from the Ihalainen household. Unfortunately that trip takes a little longer than expected...