Explorer Marco Polo is assigned to accompany two priests on a mission to China, to try to convert the "pagan" Kublai Khan to Christianity. However, on a dangerous trek through the mountains, the priests decide they don't believe that China even exists, and when Marco tries to argue the point, they abandon him and turn back. He eventually makes it through the mountains and into the fabled land of China, where he is received at the court of Kublai Khan as an envoy. Accompanied by his faithful servant Pedro, Marco spends 20 years in that country, and when he eventually returns to Europe what he brings with him changes the course of history forever.
A silent adaptation of the later parts of Sir Walter Scott's novel "The Talisman": During King Richard’s illness, his sworn enemy the Duke of Monserrat steals the English flag from the crusader camp. To avenge the insult, Richard decrees that Monserrat must engage in mortal combat with Sir Kenneth, the king’s favorite knight.
The documentary tells the little known story of thousands of Ukrainian and Eastern Europeans that were interned in Canadian camps during the First World War.
Dr. Zhivago is one of the best-known love stories of the 20th century, but the setting of the book also made it famous. It is a tale of passion and fear, set against a backdrop of revolution and violence. The film is what most people remember, but the story of the writing of the book has more twists, intrigue and bravery than many a Hollywood blockbuster. In this documentary, Stephen Smith traces the revolutionary beginnings of this bestseller, to it becoming a pawn of the CIA at the height of the Cold War.
Fourth Week Films and the New Orleans Jesuit Province present Xavier, a new PBS-style documentary film on the life of the famed 16th-century Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier. Narrated by Liam Neeson, Xavier tells the missionary's compelling story through dramatizations, interviews, contemporary location shots, paintings and engravings, maps, and most importantly, the extant letters of Xavier. The film features interviews with distinguished scholars of Jesuit and Renaissance history including Ingrid Rowland (Notre Dame University), Andrew Ross (University of Edinburgh), Lourdes del Costa (University of Goa, India), Anthony Ucerler, SJ (Jesuit Historical Institute in Rome), Gauvin Bailey (Clark University) and John O'Malley, SJ, (Weston Jesuit School of Theology).
Three perfect strangers, a selfless flight attendant, an overworked lawyer, and a down and out paramedic go about a normal day when a single action turns there lives upside down and puts their seemingly separate stories on a collision course converging on the moment that defined this generation.
In 1947, the Indonesian first diplomatic mission arrived in Cairo without passport, to gain recognition over Indonesian sovereignty. They were having series of tackles, which putting the fate of Egypt and Indonesia in the hands of traitor.
Wilfred Owen returns to the Somme against the advice of his mentor Siegfried Sassoon, determined to follow his subject 'The Pity of War' to the very end. This true story tells of a milestone in world literature, of forbidden love and ultimate sacrifice, featuring timeless figures such as Robert Graves, Robbie Ross and Charles Scott Moncrieff.
The Victorian era was one of the most remarkable periods of British history; it saw the Industrial Revolution, the birth of an empire and advances in medicine, transport and education. It was also a time when harsh working conditions and desperate poverty blighted the majority of the population, conjuring images of the orphan boy Oliver Twist. This DVD uses dramatised readings, expert analysis and extensive period imagery to present a view of a time when the British Empire was at its zenith but also when conditions for the vast populace were perhaps at their lowest.
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.
Sequel to a Lamp in the Dark. In the 19th century a revolution in biblical scholarship was prompted by the publication of a manuscript - Codex Sinaiticus - declared to be the oldest Bible ever found. Shortly after this discovery, deniers came forward against it. The controversy surrounding this manuscript is perhaps the most incredible untold chapter in Bible history. Witness the struggle between Bible believers and deniers.
Not far from Windsor Castle, the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn visits the German astronomer Friedrich W. Herschel in the summer of 1792. But what begins as an informal afternoon ends in disaster for Haydn: his traditional world view is shaken by Herschel's cosmic experiences.
A brilliant documentary about the growth of Israel into the Jewish homeland. Seventy-three years of struggle for religious freedom is vividly recorded using rare archive film footage and photographs of historic events in the development of 20th century Israel. Beginning with the Dreyfus Affair in 1894, the film covers Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism; the earliest immigration and settlements; the formation of kibbutzim; the Balfour Declaration; the rise of European anti-Semitism; the British occupation of Palestine; Arab confrontations; the United Nations resolution; the "Exodus" incident, and the Six Day War.
How the church is better and worse than you ever imagined, a documentary by the Centre for Public Christianity, confronts the worst of what Christians have done - and also traces the origins of Western values like human rights, charity, humility, and non-violence back to the influence of Jesus.
As legend has it, there is an ancient curse associated with the mummys and tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs. Disturbing these embalmed remains has been said to bring bad luck, illness and death. Shortly after unearthing King Tut's tomb, Carnarvon was found dead.
The Hidden Rebellion is a docudrama about an 18th Century popular uprising against the French Revolution, and how the rebellion was brutally suppressed by the Revolutionary armies. Victorious at first, the Vendean farmers of Western France are ultimately exterminated in a mass-slaughter of 150,000 inhabitants -- largely women, children and clergy -- in what would become one of Europe's first modern genocides.