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It all begins with a childhood memory: that day when the father of the future filmmaker Sebastiano d'Ayala Valva forces him to listen to certain music that initially terrifies him; a distant echo from the past that leads him to follow the trail of his mysterious ancestor, the Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988), who claimed that his music was directly inspired by the gods.

Piedra Blanca, San Luis, Argentina, 1930. A school teacher loved by his students, must confront parents for his particular pedagogy.

A survivor of the first battles of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 , soldier Charles-Henri Mondel, fleeing with the regiments from a rout of Mac-Mahon 's army , took refuge in the citadel of Bitche , the last French stronghold to resist the enemy's breakthrough.

Historical drama set during the reign of Philip II of Spain. The royal troops have taken up quarters in the village of Zalamea. Captain Don Alvaro is staying with the farmer Pedro Crespo. His daughter Isabel behaves very coldly and dismissively toward the captain, which irritates him. Finally, he takes her by force and humiliates her father. The captain is put on trial in the village. Pedro is appointed judge and, despite all the threats from General de Lope, sentences the captain to death. De Lope then wants to deny him his judicial authority. Surprisingly, King Philip II appears in the village and confirms the harsh sentence, but wants to pardon the offender. However, the sentence has already been carried out.

From the far north of Canada to the southern tip of Chile, through the southern United States, central Mexico and the Brazilian Mato Grosso, new concordant but still controversial archaeological discoveries have brought a new paradigm to the archaeology of American prehistory: the appearance of the first humans on the continent could date back to nearly 30,000 years before our era, that is to say, about 15,000 years earlier than the commonly accepted and taught thesis. Although there were a few mavericks in the past who disputed the scenario according to which the first ancestors of Americans arrived on foot through the Bering Strait 16,000 years ago, they were long kept out of the scientific community.

An adaptation of Pierre Corneille's play "Le Cid", staged by Yves Beaunesne.

When Japan opened its borders in 1854 after a period of extreme closure, it was revealed that there were thousands of Japanese Christians hidden around the area of Nagasaki; they had survived during 240 years secretly practicing their religion in their homes. Western nations received the news with joy, but the laws prohibiting Christianity in Japan were still in force, which caused a last wave of religious persecution, the most savage of all. This true story tells the personal experience of one of the survivors, Jinsaburo Moriyama, who was jailed in the prison camp of Tsuwano from 1867 to 1873, when the persecution stopped due to the international pressures.

In 2014 a unique art installation was unveiled at the Tower of London. Called 'The Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red' , this tribute to the British and colonial lives lost, was the start of a remarkable four-year journey across the UK

In 1971, director Melvin Van Peebles turned the figure of the black hero in US cinema upside down with Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song: the story of the making of a seminal movie that initiated the Blaxploitation movement, a short-lived but highly influential sub-genre in the years that followed.

For more than a century the great colonial powers put human beings, taken by force from their native lands, on show as entertainment, just like animals in zoos; a shameful, outrageous and savage treatment of people who were considered subhuman.

In 1572, young queen Marguerite de Valois is driven by her mother Catherine de Médicis to marry Henri de Navarre, a Protestant leader, so as to appease the tensions between Catholics and Huguenots. But the marriage of convenience proves a double failure because not only are the newlyweds ill-matched sexually but a horrible killing spree (the Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre) ensues as well.

Historical drama about the life of Albrecht von Wallenstein.

In May 1943, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the new head of the Reich Central Security Office, gave Hitler a report describing in detail the organization of the French Resistance. Indeed, during the Second World War, most of the Resistance networks had been infiltrated by traitors, the "V Man" (trusted men) in the service of the occupier. The Germans had established treason as a system and recruiting Frenchmen ready to inform on them was one of their priorities. It was these Frenchmen, whose number is estimated at between 20,000 and 30,000, who dealt terrible blows to the Resistance.

130 years after he was created, Sherlock Holmes is a literary character who exceeded his author's expectations and is known throughout the world. Find out the true story behind the author, Conan Doyle, and his struggle to come to terms with the phenomenon that is Sherlock Holmes.

A French adaptation of William Shakespeare's play "Richard II", staged by Jean-Baptiste Sastre.

According to Jesus' order, Peter and his companions disperse two by two for their first apostolic mission.

The gripping story of Britain's most extraordinary double agent; Eddie Chapman. Chapman duped the Germans so successfully he was awarded their highest honour, the Iron Cross, the only UK citizen ever to have received one.

The Nazi regime lasted from 1933 to 1945 and was undoubtedly one of the most horrific periods of history. The Nazi Party and its immoral leader instilled one of the most corrupt regimes on the people of Germany and its invisible enemies. However...Adolf Hitler was not working alone. He had a circle of some of the most barbaric and evil men alongside him, who helped make the atrocities possible. These are...the Nazi Fugitives.

Ben Robinson retraces the dramatic last days of King John, England's most disastrous monarch, and uncovers the legend of his lost treasure. Ten days took King John from ruler of an empire to sudden death, and left the kingdom in ruins. John is famous for the creation of Magna Carta, which inspired our modern democracy. Ben follows in the footsteps of the King's epic last journey, from the treacherous marshes of East Anglia, through Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, to his final resting place in Worcester. He is joined by medieval historian professor Stephen Church. Together they examine the truth behind the legend that has lived on for 800 years. Did the crown jewels really end up in the mud of the Wash? Was the King poisoned? Does he deserve his reputation as our most disastrous monarch? Thanks to unique documents, we can tell this epic tale in the King's own words.

After more than six years of work, London's iconic landmark is finally restored to its original glory, brightening the skyline once more with its sparkling colours, golden shine and spotless masonry.

A portrait of the inventor of the letterpress, who was a key figure in the history of mankind, but also an enthusiastic inventor, a daring businessman, a tenacious troublemaker: the life of Johannes Gutenberg (circa 1400-68).

Explores how Hitler’s personal library provides a look into his mind and how it significantly informed his worldview.

The film richly illustrates the history of one of the most famous and lavish Italian pleasure villas, located in the town of Lainate in Lombardy, not far from Milan. Using onsite documentation, costumed reenactments, interviews with prominent curators and historians, architectural models, and computer graphics, Villa Visconti Borromeo Litta portrays centuries of Italian art and architectural history in terms of stylistic expression. The film also explores the social, familial, and political milieux—not least of which is the chronicle of Pirro I Visconti Borromeo, count of Brebbia, the creator of this place of art and delights, a romantic, a patron, and a sophisticated man of culture in Milan during the late sixteenth century. The villa’s wonders are many—its famous Nymphaeum, greenhouses, palaces, sculptures, frescoes, fountains, and water features among them.

In the summer of 1928, the Scottish physician Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin by accident, but it would take two more decades and a world war before he and others succeeded in producing the antibiotic in such large quantities as to eradicate the epidemics of the time: typhus, syphilis, gangrene and tuberculosis.

The economy is not doing well and in a few months Lucia will lose the mortgaged house where she lives with her two children, Mr. Carlos the owner of the Second-hand store, Sergio, Clown by day, waiter by night, and his wife Victoria. Julieta, the youngest child, is the family's salvation. She just graduated from law school when, on the morning of November 6, 1985, she leaves for her job at the Palace of Justice and never returns. There are witnesses that claim to have seen her alive after the Palace burned down after the Guerilla attack, the habitants lives of the house won't be the same. Based on true events and on a play in Colombia, 1985.

A documentary that restores to the world, five hundred years after his death, the universal and sensitive genius of one of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance: Raphael Sanzio. Guided by the art historian Luca Tomìo, we decided to start our journey from the Renaissance atmosphere of Raphael’s birthplace, the Duchy of Urbino, to retrace, from the very beginning, Raphael's artistic education. From a young age, he found himself confronted with giants of the Renaissance art such as Piero della Francesca and Antonio del Pollaiolo, in the workshop of his father Giovanni Santi, also an excellent painter of the Urbino court.

Examining the tragic events in Paris in July 2000, when a Concorde crashed only two minutes after take-off, claiming 113 lives.

This film captures the affair, full of love, lust, and despair, between Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, from 1932 until their double suicide in 1945.

A historical document on the uses of Architecture and urban reform as tools for political propaganda, populism and the co-optation of the masses. The newsreels of the time are a testimony to it: the city is a gigantic construction yard; new buildings rise next to the demolitions in the heart of Rome and the Fascist regime adopts new architectural styles and transforms the city. The documentary La Roma di Mussolini, by Leonardo Tiberi and Leonardo Ciacci, aided by footage of the Istituto Luce and maps and drawings of the time, describes XX century Rome, a monumental city opposed to the ancient and medieval one. And yet Mussolini, and his ‘demolishing fury’ take on older city plans, started or laid out back in 1800s. Republican Italy indeed did the same with projects that have begun under the Fascist regime.

In November 1831, the 51-year-old Prussian Major General Carl von Clausewitz burns the first chapters of his autobiography, which he had begun to write at the insistence of his wife Marie. Shocked by the sudden death of his friend Gneisenau, he is forced to realize that at his friend's deathbed he has finally said goodbye to the hopes and plans that had once determined his life and that of his friends...

Documentary on the Jews of San Nicandro, Italy; a community of Christians who converted to Judaism during Fascist Italy

On 13 April 1919, British troops shot hundreds of peaceful protesters dead in India. Writer Sathnam Sanghera retraces the build-up to the massacre and examines its legacy.

A happy family in the suburbs of London enjoy an afternoon around the kitchen table when a knock is heard at the front door. A government official wants the family's help to assist a homeless family - but are they after more? The film puts on view the tragic fallouts of the Balfour Declaration (1917), in which the British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour signalled the go-ahead for the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine.

A gigantic masked ball is held at the court of the Chinese emperor Hwang Ti. The builder of the wall surrounding the vast land The builder of the enormous wall surrounding the vast country celebrates his victory over his last enemies and does not shy away from inviting dictators, generals, and famous historical figures from all eras. Napoleon Bonaparte is among the guests, as are Pontius Pilate and Christopher Columbus. Among the revelers, however, is an intellectual from the 20th century who knows the history of the last 2000 years perfectly and points out to the powerful their mistakes and their senseless wars. Those present listen to the man, but do not understand the meaning of his words.

The dramatic stories of Fritz Wiessner’s 1939 K2 expedition and Charlie Houston’s return in 1953. K2 is one of the hardest mountains in the world to climb. This film focuses on the expeditions of Fritz Wiessner and Charlie Houston in 1953. An award winner at the Banff, Telluride, Trento and Prague film festivals.

The life of the poet, filmmaker, journalist, politician, teacher and union leader Homero Manzi. Since his time in prison, his friendships, the bohemian life, his time in the cinema and his memorable musical compositions.

Using restored, colorized archives and testimonies from all the players in this conflict, this documentary covers the hundred days of apocalyptic fighting that wrote History. June 1944, the Allies landed in Normandy. This odyssey was meticulously prepared for months. The construction of two artificial ports, the transport of Anglo-American troops, their training cost colossal efforts, and caused many cold sweats: the secret of D-Day almost came to light several times. The documentary reveals the inner workings of Operation Overlord, it also deciphers the military operations, and evokes the choices of the high command. Placed at human level, it retraces the fate of Norman civilians subjected to deadly bombings, the attitude of the Allied soldiers and their German adversaries, as well as the aspirations of the French population, torn between fear and hope.

No one really knows the exact details of Special Action 1005. How many people were killed by the Nazis in the rear of the Eastern Front between 1942 and 1944? There were at least tens of thousands. This is the story of how the criminals covered up the traces of their clumsy and savage crimes.

While searching for her grandmother, the director comes across the story of three brothers who are torn between the fronts of political ideologies in the Third Reich and divided Germany: "the third brother" is the filmmaker's grandfather, who, in confronting her father, tries to overcome decades of speechlessness and, in the process, to understand where in the past her father's sense of family fell by the wayside.

Documentary about the murder of three Kurdish women activists in Paris in 2013 and the investigations against an agent of the Turkish intelligence service MIT.

In 1872, in the cave of Cavillon in Monaco, archaeologist Émile Rivière (1835-1922) unearthed an apparently very old human skeleton, at least 24,000 years old, a discovery that changed the modern image of prehistoric men and women.

The story of Roger Daltrey (vocals), Pete Townshend (guitar), John Entwistle (bass) and Keith Moon (drums): The Who, one of the most original, creative and relevant British bands of the sixties and of the entire history of pop music.

After the end of the GDR, thrashings, threats and hunts were part of everyday life. In the years after the reunification of the early 1990s, hatred, racism and violence against foreigners and supporters of leftist ideology broken out in Eastern Germany. Most of those involved was young people. In many cities and towns, the streets and squares belonged to the right-wing scene, organized in neo-Nazi comradeships. Bomber jackets, combat boots and the Hitler salute showed the intimidated rest where they were. The baseball bat was a popular weapon. There were riots, attacks on asylum seekers' homes, mass brawls and hunt downs to those who look or think differently. It doesn't took long and the first deaths were to be mourned. The majority of the Eastern German population looked the other way or even applauded the deeds. A bad omen for the political development of later years. In six film segments, a team of authors take a look at the time reflected in interviews with contemporary witnesses.