December 21, 2012. This date, identified by the Maya nearly 1,400 years ago, has in recent years become the source of great curiosity and debate. Some believe it will bring catastrophic events. Others, an era of enlightenment. But what did the ancient Maya themselves believe? In 2012: THE BEGINNING, we travel the world to examine what the Sacred Maya texts really say. Throughout, our journey is guided by noted archaeologists, scholars, and the living Maya, who take us into the field--to the very origins of the Maya Long Count Calendar--and into their lives and sacred ceremonies. Together, these people from very different worlds shed light on a date that has long been shrouded in mystery and intrigue.
The passion of the riders and the soul of their machines. WINNER - Best Documentary -Motorcycle Film Festival 2013 -- An inspiring adventure into the world of motorcycling, told by the famous racers, passionate riders and everyday families who live each day to the fullest on their two-wheeled machines.
Horses of Gettysburg celebrates the forgotten heroes of the Civil War and their critical role in shaping the United States of America that we live in today. Directed by Mark Bussler, producer and director of EXPO - Magic of the White City narrated by Gene Wilder and Gettysburg and Stories of Valor narrated by Keith Carradine, Horses of Gettysburg is a special edition 2-DVD Box Set in the CIVIL WAR MINUTES series.
In the early days of World War II, two Jewish brothers lost their parents during the Nazi invasion of Belarus. The boys were imprisoned in a German hospital and found many of their peers there. They were kept in inhuman conditions - hunger, cold, lack of sleep and rest. The only thing the boys had, their treasure - was a family portrait with mom and dad. Before the fascists separated brothers, each of them got half of it.
This British film was made about Canadian historian Dan Gibson, who has uncovered startling new archaeological evidence that Mecca was not the original Holy City of Islam.
32 years after the fall of communism and one hundred years after the founding of the Romanian Communist Party, three young independent filmmakers set out to make their feature film debut with a film about an invisible enemy, the radioactive cloud since 1986. Although a large part of the artistic team of the film The Lost Year 1986 was born after the 1989 Revolution, they will tell with humor and sincerity the story of a family from a village in communist Romania, affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident.
This opera revolves around the demonic collective possession suffered by the Ursuline nuns in the convent of Loudun in 1634. The story concentrates on the handsome but doomed Urbain Grandier who fights against fanaticism and evil.
Literary history's greatest mystery? Who created the greatest works of iambic thunder in the English language, and who lived the courtly life that is written about in the works of Shakespeare. An uneducated tradesman from Stratford?
Jewish-American history has been rooted in an ever-changing “Old Country”. Interviews with top scholars in Jewish history, notable Jewish-American writers, and many immigrants themselves detail the varied stories of migration through the last five centuries, with a rarely explored look at the actual journeys to get here.
The history of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge is explored through interviews with those who witnessed the collapse, as well as divers' exploration of the underwater wreckage.
In a Fascist Milan, a group of boys decided to say no and founded the Aquile Randagie [stray eagles]: led by Andrea Ghetti, who continue clandestine scout activities, they keep their promise: to help others in all circumstances.
It’s 2017 in Bisbee, Arizona, an old copper-mining town just miles from the Mexican border. The town’s close-knit community prepares to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Bisbee’s darkest hour: the infamous Bisbee Deportation of 1917, during which 1,200 striking miners were violently taken from their homes, banished to the middle of the desert, and left to die. Townspeople confront this violent, misunderstood past by staging dramatic recreations of the escalating strike. These dramatized scenes are based on subjective versions of the story and “directed,” in a sense, by residents with conflicting views of the event. Deeply personal segments torn from family history build toward a massive restaging of the deportation itself on the exact day of its 100th anniversary.
F.W. de Klerk was the last President of apartheid-era South Africa. In less than 4 years he went from being Mandela's jailor to his deputy president. Together they changed history for the better and may have prevented a civil war, yet little is known about de Klerk. Through his probing lens, Rossier explores the fascinating political journey and legacy of this complicated figure.
The film follows Humayun’s rise to the throne, his struggles to maintain the empire, and his conflicts with rivals—especially Sher Shah Suri, who defeats him and forces him into exile. Amid political upheaval and personal loss, the story also explores Humayun’s relationships, particularly with his noble wife Hamida Banu. Eventually, with Persian support, he regains his empire, but his triumph is short-lived, as his reign ends with a fatal accident.
A documentary on Senator John Kerry's Navy tour of duty in Vietnam, his contributions to the peace movement that followed, and the ultimate shape of his future political career.
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.
Dated to the late Stone Age, Stonehenge may be the best-known and most mysterious relic of prehistory. Every year, a million visitors are drawn to England to gaze upon the famous circle of stones, but the monument's meaning has continued to elude us. Now investigations inside and around Stonehenge have kicked off a dramatic new era of discovery and debate over who built Stonehenge and for what purpose. How did prehistoric people quarry, transport, sculpt, and erect these giant stones? Granted exclusive access to the dig site at Bluestonehenge, a prehistoric stone-circle monument recently discovered about a mile from Stonehenge, NOVA cameras join a new generation of researchers finding important clues to this enduring mystery.
A foreigner led by some Nigerians enters a small Ghanaian village with the intention of stealing something precious from them. Will they succeed in their quest?