Over 2000 Union soldiers, passengers and crew were crammed aboard the steamboat Sultana, licensed to carry 376. Graft, greed, overcrowding, a poorly maintained boat, and the Mississippi River was swollen with spring snowmelt conspired together to create a disaster. On April 27, 1865, the boat’s boilers exploded, causing the worst maritime disaster in US history.
In 1943, Max Fronenberg spent one year digging a secret underground tunnel to escape out of a prison camp in Warsaw, Poland during the Holocaust while saving fifteen other prisoners in the process and forced to leave behind the love of his life, Rena, in the prison.
The 2008 election of Barack Obama led many to believe we had entered a post-racial America, one in which the nation's traumatic and painful history of racism had finally been erased. In the years since, it's become increasingly clear that the deep roots of racism and white supremacy continue to run through our political, cultural, and religious institutions. Based on interviews and current research, the documentary film White Savior explores the historic relationship between racism and American Christianity, the ongoing segregation of the church in the US, and the complexities of racial reconciliation. Featuring interviews with Lenny Duncan, Soong Chan Rah, Jacqueline Woodson, Jim Bear Jacobs, Dominique Gilliard, and more.
In the quest for finding a deeper meaning to life, this is a true story of an American seeker who forsakes the worldly life to enter upon an amazing spiritual journey of self realisation.
Blanca Luz Brum traveled an unusual path, through twentieth-century Latin America, actively participating in the intellectual, political and artistic movements of Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Peru and Mexico. It is today a symbol of female emancipation in Latin America. The versions about her life are varied and dissimilar, the testimonies of those who knew her, full of contradictions.
The thrilling true story of a NZ-born heroine who became the Gestapo's most wanted woman in WWII. This showcase documentary-drama follows Nancy Wake's remarkable life.
It was 1969 and America was embarking on the biggest adventure known to man - a voyage to the moon. Daniel too was pursuing the unknown; leaving the path of isolation he had traveled for so many years to embrace the love of another. The only question was would he be able maintain that road to glory or would he veer off course never to be seen again...
A heartbreaking, yet redemptive journey into the history of the Amish People. The year 2017 is the five hundred year anniversary of Martin Luther nailing the 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg and starting the Reformation in Germany. This film considers the impact of the Reformation Era on the Amish Church in America today.
This film tells the story of World War II as experienced by the inhabitants of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, at the time a satellite of Moscow. The very rich oil deposits of the region aroused the covetousness of Hitler who needed the oil from Baku to carry out his program of world domination. His entire campaign of 1942-1943 was aimed at seizing them. But the Soviets and the Allies were determined to prevent him from doing so, by all means, including the most radical, even if it meant wiping the city off the map.
Enormous: The Gorge Story carves out the never-before-told story of the world’s most iconic music venue, The Gorge Amphitheatre. This music film investigates the venue’s unlikely evolution from a small winery created by a neurosurgeon to becoming one of the greatest outdoor music destinations in the world. Sign up to our mailing list for updates and original music content.
Lena Kuchler, a Holocaust survivor, searches a Polish refugee camp for lost family members in the months after the war but instead finds 100 starving children with nowhere to go and nobody who wants them. She takes it upon herself to care for them, leading first to an isolated retreat, where they encounter antisemitic violence, and ultimately, to an exodus to Palestine.
Chaco Canyon, located in northwest New Mexico, is perhaps the only site in the world constructed in an elaborate pattern that mirrors the yearly cycle of the sun and the 19-year cycle of the moon. How did an ancient civilization, with no known written language, arrange its buildings into a virtual celestial calendar, spanning an area roughly the size of Ireland?
A historical drama set in 1950s Britain. Dora Szumski, 30, is an Englishwoman married to a Polish immigrant, Eryk, a former Polish Army officer, who is left with no choice by the post-war balance of power, condemned to die in his homeland or emigrate. After an unsuccessful suicide attempt, Eryk stays in Mabledon Park, a psychiatric hospital designed for former Polish soldiers suffering from war trauma. Erik's illness resulting from a past that has been haunted and concealed from his wife not only becomes a barrier to the couple's future, but also a threat to Erik's life. Dora decides to find out what the secret of her husband's illness is.
For over 80 years, Merle Hayden has crusaded to recruit members to the utopian movement Lawsonomy. Founded by aircraft pioneer Alfred Lawson, Lawsonomy advocates for economic reform and clean, communal living that transforms followers into a "New Species" that will benefit the human race either in this life or the next. Merle joined Lawson as a teenager and never looked back. His high school sweetheart Betty Kasch, however, is tired of Lawson coming between them. Reunited after over 60 years apart, non-believer Betty wants Merle to join her in Florida. Merle's commitment to preserving Lawson's legacy, artifacts currently rotting in a barn alongside a Wisconsin highway, has Betty worried Merle may leave her for Lawson once again.
She fought the Indians alongside Custer, witnessed the birth of Deadwood and was close friends with Buffalo Bill. She was the terror of the plains, the outrage of the saloons, the oddest of her kind. But no one ever knew who she really was. Her name was Martha Canary, her name is Calamity Jane.
The Private Life of Samuel Pepys is a 2003 British comedy television film directed by Oliver Parker and starring Steve Coogan, Lou Doillon and Nathaniel Parker. It portrayed the historical diarist Samuel Pepys. It was aired on BBC2 on 16 December 2003, drawing an audience of 2.9 million viewers.
Historian Thomas Penn reveals the secrets of founder of Britain’s great Tudor Dynasty - and his amazing trajectory to power. Two weeks after landing on the shores Wales in 1485 with a small band of mercenaries, Henry of Richmond defeats the notorious Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. He is crowned Henry VII and then begins a career of realpolitik, a charming exterior making a savage ambition. The War of the Roses, his wife Elizabeth of York, and the beginning of the Renaissance are all part of this incredible history, as are Henry’s obsessions with money and astonishing spy network.