Harlem Street Singer tells the little-known story of Reverend Gary Davis, the great American ragtime, blues and gospel guitarist. Not only is he one of the greatest folk guitar players of all time, he also represents the sweep of popular music in America during the twentieth century. Harlem Street Singer traces his journey from the tobacco warehouses of the rural south to the streets of Harlem, and onto the 1960s folk music scene, a blind street musician and itinerant preacher who rose out of abject poverty to influence a generation of musicians from Ramblin’ Jack Elliott to the Grateful Dead.
Can justice truly be served in the occupied territories given the current system of law administered by Israel for Palestinians? This documentary explores the history of Israel's military legal system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In 1980s Communist Czechoslovakia an emerging generation took inspiration from alternative culture to create their own worldview, politics and eventually, a revolution. 25 years later, this unique generational perspective is explored for the first time.
This 1975 NASA film entitled "The Mission of Apollo Soyuz" documents the historic Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, in which manned American and Soviet spacecraft docked for the first time. The astronauts and cosmonauts met each other in space and conducted science experiments together prior to returning to Earth.
Filmed on location at Houlgate Village near York, a working Anglo-Saxon settlement, this DVD provides incredible insight into a period of which little is known. The Dark Age is shrouded in mystery - Who were the Anglo-Saxons? How did they live? What were their customs and beliefs? With expert commentary from Ian Wood and Dave Thirlwall, and the use of detailed reconstructions, these and many more questions are answered about a relatively unknown era of British history.
This film features the true stories of some of the legendary men and women of the Second World War who showed supreme courage and strength in the face of the enemy. Through archive film and personal recollections, this documentary includes the legendary leaders, Winston Churchill, Field Marshal Montgomery and General George Patton.
Marco Polo became a legend after his epic, 24 year trek across Asia. Was he the world's greatest overland explorer? Or the biggest liar? National Geographic's own legend, Michael Yamashita, used Polo's book as a guide to find the truth.
1757
Three years into the French and Indian War, Fort William Henry was under siege. The French army, along with 1,800 Indian allies, bombarded the fort over six long days. The British subjects in the fort held out for as long as they could…and would ultimately suffer a fate worse than surrender. Using historic journals from men on both sides of the conflict, this documentary recounts the events. Through filmed reenactments and animations, the story of the siege and surrounding events come to life.
Nuremberg is where Nazi congresses were held. In the city where Hitler gathered huge crowds of fanatics, the court hosted in 1945 the greatest trial in History. The Allied victors judged those responsible for the Third Reich. Among the defendants are the Führer's closest surviving accomplices. But not only them: defendant number 27 is not even a man. It is an entire organization: the SS were a state within the state – which ruled all the police – with its own army, within the Nazi regime.
In 1939, as the world stood on the brink of World War II, Hartheim Castle, Austria, was at the centre of a turning point of history. It had been a centre for those with physical or mental disabilities. But from 1939 to 1944, it acted as a pilot scheme for the 'final solution.' Hartheim: the top secret Nazi school for mass murder.
Three stories intertwine in a realm haunted by a bloodthirsty Beast. The lord of the castle must think about the survival of his people - decimated by the monster - when his daughter is infected with a mysterious disease. In the woods, two brothers share a dark secret, and the time of truth has finally come. A mysterious warrior from afar is on a mission, he is looking for the Beast.
Between 1405 and 1433, Admiral Zheng He of China led seven epic voyages to more than 30 countries, including Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Kenya and Tanzania. The admiral and his crew gathered knowledge and wealth from Indochina to Africa for China's Ming empire. These voyages were the biggest naval expeditions mounted at the time. Zheng He was bigger than life and could have changed the course of history. But after the seven voyages, he and his Treasure Fleet were forgotten by China, and the world, for six hundred years. National Geographic photographer Michael Yamashita sets sail to discover why. To celebrate the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's maiden exploration voyage, Michael Yamashita traveled over 10,000 miles from Yunnan in China to Africa's Swahili coast taking over 40,000 pictures for the feature story on this great explorer, published in the July 2005 edition of National Geographic.
This documentary tells the true-life story of Oggi Tomic, born in Sarajevo but now living in Cambridge. He co-rote and co-directed the film. He was born in 1985 with water on the brain and given only months to live, abandoned by his mother and brought up in a series of Bosnian orphanages during the bitter Yugoslav civil wars. Finally as a teenager he made his way to the UK and a new life. In 2012 he returned to meet his long-lost biological family - and had to grapple with the fact that they are Serbs, and that some of them were among the enemy army that shelled and sniped at during the 1,300 days of the siege of Sarajevo which began 20 years ago
Dozens of personal stories of military personnel and civilians once silenced by the federal government's "Don't ask, Don't Tell" policy are finally given a voice in this adaptation of the acclaimed one-man show. Adapted from hundreds of hours of interviews collected over three years, the stories collectively paint a compelling and deeply humanistic portrait of this highly politicized issue.
Jerusalem: Center of the World tells the epic story of the world s most incredible city, capturing the rich mosaic of the city s Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities. Covering a sweeping history of over 4,000 years, the film explores the founding of the city; the birth and convergence of the world s three major monotheistic religions; and the key events in Jerusalem s history as described in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, the Talmud, the Hagaddah, the Koran, and the Hadith. Highlights include: Mount Moriah, the site of the First and Second Temples; the Church of the Holy Sepulcher; the Dome of the Rock; and the Western Wall. Directed by Andrew Goldberg, and hosted by Ray Suarez (The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer), the film includes interviews with locals, top scholars and clergy.
In the works for over two years, A Second Knock at the Door offers a rare glimpse into the lives of military families dealing with the loss of loved ones to friendly fire. Through interviews and investigative reports obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, this documentary explores several key incidents in which the families of the fallen were forced to embark on a quest for the truth after the Army attempted to bury the true cause of death within the 'fog of war.'