The advance of civilization has always depended on the few courageous individuals who are willing to risk reputation and life to seek out the new. This program chronicles the story of some of the world's pathfinders and innovators in a variety of fields, from Madame Curie and Sir Isaac Newton to Albert Einstein. Archival photographs, film clips, interviews, re-enactments, and scholarly commentary are used to tell the story of the discoverers.
In a small village near Paris, 14-year-old boys and girls enter the training center for future lads and jockeys. For these young pupils, the transition between the family environment and this new world is brutal. Though sharing the world of teenagers -- flirting, cell phones and PlayStation -- they enter a world where the comfort of the horses comes before that of the human.
On the High Plains of Southwest Kansas, a thriving community sustained for decades by waves of immigrants becomes the target of white nationalists intent on killing the latest arrivals: Muslims. When they attempt to recruit a local man with a conscience, he infiltrates them. Partnering with the FBI, he risks his life to prevent the attack and bring the domestic terrorists to justice. Animated courtroom testimony of the plot is interwoven with the inspiring story of immigration and the determination of a community to welcome the world.
Nothing captures the magic of Christmas like a visit to Santa Claus. This beloved NYC store Santa, after nearly 30 years, is heading to the North Pole, leaving behind an indelible mark on generations of children and families. To them, he is the real deal.
Rosalee Glass, a former Holocaust survivor taken prisoner to a Siberian gulag during WWII transforms her destiny. In her 80s she begins an acting career, in her 90s wins a Senior beauty pageant and dares to ride Alaskan Sled dogs at 100.
S. writes to Juan, who is deeply asleep. She reflects on images and cinema, and a piece of advice from a director she admires challenges her and all her previous work. Determined to find an idea behind the images she has recorded so far, S. wanders among materials, her own archive of images and sounds, internet browser tabs, western films and Japanese short stories. S. compiles all these thoughts and findings into a letter, hoping to deliver it to Juan when he wakes up.
Since 2018, artist Sebastián Díaz Morales (1975) has filmed the streets of Amsterdam every first Monday of the month at 12 o'clock. His camera records daily life through every season. These serene moments blend with the testing of the air raid siren, a loud, howling sound that warned of bombardments during the Second World War. Today, wars still rage in other countries, but when the alarm sounds in Amsterdam, life continues as usual. The siren has become like an old custom. Once it signaled danger; now it's an everyday urban sound along with car horns and bicycle bells. The video reveals this odd truth: a system meant to protect us has faded into the back-ground. The air raid siren so familiar to the city will probably be terminated at the end of 2025. Díaz Morales offers a farewell salute to an alarm that no longer sounds the alarm. Hear the future!
In prisons ruled by toxic masculinity, dancing is an absolute taboo. But at Lancaster’s A-Yard, near Los Angeles, a group of young men, willing to take a chance to be mocked in the yard, start a dance class led by French choreographer Dimitri Chamblas. This class quickly becomes an intoxicating escape from their grim reality so they decide to create a dance show. In this exceptional context, the inmates engage with overwhelming sincerity, evoking their childhood, ganglife, the crimes, the prison, and their desire for transformation. Beyond damaged lives and a prison system on the edge of the abyss, DANCING IN A-YARD explores redemption and the capacity of human beings to reinvent themselves, when given a chance. And more importantly, how art and introspection can help see the light.
Everyone has equal rights and opportunities, but the heroes of the film "Strong" have to fight for this correct statement. Olga and Alexander are wheelchair users. They want to have decent rights to life, and most importantly, to be perceived accordingly. They will tell you what they had to go through when getting a job, starting a family. How not to give in to emotions and move on?
Beyond the vacation, below deck, cruise ships house thousands of crew members from all over the world, living and working together at sea for months at a time. Journey into their hidden world, and discover the lives of the people who call these travelling metal cities home.
A refugee from Abkhazia, a separatist region of the Republic of Georgia which has declared independence, enlists in the Georgian army, passes though the training and becomes a professional soldier whose first vacation is interrupted by the war against Russia in Southern Osetia in 2008.
A family that operates one of California's most historic wineries struggles with succession in this hauntingly beautiful mediation on balancing personal and professional identities.
4 young strangers, all war refugees, unite to take on the challenge of summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro, one of the seven summits and the highest peak in Africa. They have been brought together by the charity INARA to shed light on the impact of war on children. The mountain always has a lesson, and often not what we think or expect it to be. Not all will make it to the summit, some will be forced to face dormant personal demons. This is a story of physical and emotional adventure, the rollercoaster of life, and the possibilities that emerge when we stand together.
Rise Above is the riveting and potent story of an uneducated, poor, young Black boy who grew up in the slums of Augusta, Georgia — not far from the rolling greens, dramatic slopes and azaleas at Augusta National Golf Club. Defying the odds, Carl Jackson rose out of poverty to become golf’s greatest caddie.
A true adventure set in 1960s Alaska documents a young pilot's life who, through it all, meets his creator God and finds life's true meaning. This story records the life of a young pilot flying in Alaska's Frontier Arctic. You'll experience the front seat thrills of bush planes and helicopters operating in the most dangerous conditions on Earth. Flying in minus 60 temperatures and horrific storms, airborne among the magnificent mountains, glaciers and rivers that only Alaska has to offer. Once you've read this volume you'll not be satisfied until you visit Alaska yourself. Includes true-life experiences of accidents, comradeship, humor, heartbreaks and life in Frontier Alaska, gone forever when dismantled into parks and native lands in the 1970s.
Robby Robinson’s Blueprint chronicles the life story of Robby Robinson, an iconic figure in the bodybuilding world who has remained relatively silent in recent years. Known as “The Black Prince,” Robinson was one of the first black men to appear on the covers of major bodybuilding magazines. His legacy includes his starring role in the seminal documentary Pumping Iron and his advocacy for equal rights within the sport.
Ontario is the only province in Canada without a ban on cat declawing. Amy Hoggart, the hilarious correspondent from Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, cracks jokes, cuddles kittens and attacks this controversial practice using satire to expose a heart-wrenching catspiracy.