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...und der Vater blieb im Krieg. Begegnung mit syrischen Waisen

Director Junge was commissioned by the GDR in the country for the first time in the summer of 1970; his film In Syria auf Montage accompanies German engineers who train workers in the Homs textile factory. Shortly after filming ended, Hafez al-Assad put himself under the dictator. Twenty years later emerged ... the father stayed in the war over a youth club with Syrian orphans in Bad Saarow, whose fathers had died in the Lebanon war and accompanied them to Syria, where they were housed in separate, elite "schools of martyr children". Multi-faceted documents that oscillate between peaceful and tense, hopeful and unsettled.

...und der Vater blieb im Krieg. Begegnung mit syrischen Waisen

7.0 1990
Chasing a Rainbow: The Life of Josephine Baker

The story of Josephine Baker takes us on a fascinating tour of 20th-century race relations on both sides of the Atlantic, yet it leads to no conclusion, and black girls in search of a role-model tend to look elsewhere. Part of her appeal is her startlingly unique appearance. Simply nobody has ever looked or acted like her. She fits no black stereotype. Nor does she look like any recognizable strain of Afro-American. I'd always heard she was half-white, but it seems that her paternity is unknown, and her contradictory claims on the subject don't do much to enlighten us. (We are tempted to imagine quite an exotic mix.) Her origins in sharply-segregated St. Louis, where she is said to have witnessed a lynching, do not seem to have left her embittered. Perhaps she had too much to give. There is a special innocence about that smile, and when she performs her cross-eyed gag, we are lifted into a strange pixie-world, all its own.

Chasing a Rainbow: The Life of Josephine Baker

7.0 1987
The 1001 Faces of Palmyra

Two thousand years ago, it was a flourishing city in the middle of what is now a Syrian desert. At the crossroads of trade routes, Palmyra attracted caravanners from Mesopotamia, India and China. In what remains of its ruins, rediscovered by Europeans in the 17th century, its numerous necropolises bear witness to a prosperous past. Carved in limestone in the first centuries of our era, the faces of the representatives - men, women and children - of its greatest families adorn the walls of its tombs. Since 2012, Danish archaeologist Rubina Raja has been leading a long-term project to find, document and retrace the family trees and daily life of these Palmyrenians.

The 1001 Faces of Palmyra

7.0 2021
Dear Censor…: The Secret Archive of the British Board of Film Classification

Lifting the lid on the world of cinema censorship, this programme has unique access to the files of the British Board of Film Classification. Featuring explicit and detailed exchanges between the censor and film-makers, 'Dear Censor' casts a wry eye over some of the most infamous cases in the history of the board. From the now seemingly innocuous Rebel Without a Cause, the first 'naturist' films and the infamous works of Ken Russell, and up to Rambo III, this frank and surprisingly warm documentary demonstrates how a body created by the industry to safeguard standards and reflect shifts in public opinion has also worked unexpectedly closely with the film-makers themselves to ensure that their work was able reach an audience.

Dear Censor…: The Secret Archive of the British Board of Film Classification

7.0 2011
Beer Hunter: The Movie

Michael Jackson is a legend in the world of craft brewing. His 1977 book, The World Guide to Beer, was the first of its kind, and the first to categorize almost every major style of beer in the world. His 1993 television series, The Beer Hunter, became an instant classic, and helped launch the spectacular craft beer movement that we take for granted today. Michael's engaging writing literally saved many styles of beer from extinction, and his work inspired an entire generation of brewers to experiment with beer styles from around the world. Many in the beer world are unaware that Michael was also the leading author on the subject of whiskey, and his books on whiskey have sold more copies worldwide than his books on beer. His sudden death in 2007, at the age of 65, shocked the beer and whiskey worlds. His legacy and contributions were substantial, and should be recognized and remembered. As a person, Michael was one of the best, as those fortunate enough to know him can attest to.

Beer Hunter: The Movie

5.0 2013
The Setif Massacres, a certain May 8, 1945

May 8, 1945, the day of victory over Nazism, is also a day of mourning. In Algiers, thanks to demonstrations for victory, the Algerian flag appears for the first time, thus claiming independence. But in Sétif, the standard bearer is shot dead at the head of the procession and a riot breaks out. The colonial massacre that followed would extend to all of Constantine. The commission of inquiry never delivered its conclusions and an amnesty law erased the traces of this savage repression. Fifty years later, the file is open.

The Setif Massacres, a certain May 8, 1945

10.0 1995
Versailles Rediscovered: The Sun King's Vanished Palace

Based on the latest technological and scientific advances, this documentary explores the palace's architectural past to resurrect Louis XIV's vanished Versailles. Versailles was an ongoing building site at the time of Louis XIV and continued to be transformed by its successive occupants later on. The Versailles we know today only vaguely resembles the Versailles of the Sun King. Most of its original features and apartments no longer exist. Thanks to the digitisation of thousands of plans, a team of scientists takes us back in time to explore this forgotten past in a new way, through a large-scale reconstruction project to bring back the Versailles of Louis XIV as he designed it, according to his requirements and dreams.

Versailles Rediscovered: The Sun King's Vanished Palace

7.0 2019
Un samouraï au Vatican

Why do 600 inhabitants of the small southern Spanish town of Coria del Río bear the surname "Japón"? It is the legacy of an unusual expedition that took place 400 years ago: In October 1613, the samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga boarded the galleon "San Juan Bautista" on behalf of the ruler Date Masamune in Sendai, Japan. In addition to merchants, warriors and Spanish sailors, the Spanish Franciscan monk Luis Sotelo, who spoke fluent Japanese, also embarked. The legation wanted to obtain permission from the Spanish King Philip III and Pope Paul V to open a new sea route to India alongside the spice route; in return, Christian missionaries were to be sent to Japan. When he set off, Hasekura Tsunenaga had no idea that the journey would take seven years. Who was this Japanese samurai? What is known about his motives and what is known about the actual background to the expedition?

Un samouraï au Vatican

8.0 2018
L'Espagne en héritage

What did we, the children born in France in the 1960s, understand about the history of our Spanish parents, scarred by three years of fratricidal war, herded into camps during the early years of their exile in France, long prevented from returning to their country ? What could we hear from their whispers ? What stories did we tell ourselves to reassure them that we would never have to bear their suffering or humiliation? How did we understand their country of origin ? Today, I am revisiting this family history.

L'Espagne en héritage

NR 2015
A.P. Giannini - Bank to the Future

The incredible true story of Amadeo Peter Giannini, the son of Italian immigrants in San Francisco, the man who revolutionized the world of finance by lending money to low-income workers during the worst economic crises of all times. Without Giannini, the world would have never known Bank of America, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Marshall Plan as well as many Hollywood masterpieces such as Charlie Chaplin's "The Kid", Frank Capra's "It Happened One Night" and Walt Disney's "Snow White". This inspirational biopic features rediscovered archive material, exclusive interviews and iconic locations, tracing over a century of American history: from the Gold Rush to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, living through the Great Depression and World War II.

A.P. Giannini - Bank to the Future

NR 2024
Ober Ost: The Forgotten Colony in the Heart of Europe

While the First World War and its battles on the Western Front are still very much anchored in our memory of history, the simultaneous battle in the East appears now to have been largely forgotten. During the course of this military action, a peculiar, state-like entity was created, a German colony in Eastern Europe, a military utopia: the Land of Ober Ost. The occupied region was to become a productive state, completely under military command; a state that was to serve not least as a deployment zone for the impending war.

Ober Ost: The Forgotten Colony in the Heart of Europe

10.0 2017
Victoria & Albert: The Royal Wedding

Historian Lucy Worsley restages the 1840 wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Aided by a team of experts, Worsley recreates the most important elements of the ceremony and the celebrations, scouring history books, archives, newspapers and Queen Victoria's diaries for the details. She reveals how every moment was brilliantly stage-managed for maximum effect. Woven into the recreation of the wedding day is the story of Victoria and Albert's courtship and engagement, and its political importance.

Victoria & Albert: The Royal Wedding

6.5 2018
Ode to Joy

An introduction to the life and work of Joy Batchelor on the hundredth anniversary of her birth. Joy was a director, animator, producer and designer and one half of the Halas & Batchelor Cartoons Studio, which made the UKs first animated feature film, Animal Farm, in 1954. Although a crucial figure in British animation, she has for years been unfairly passed over for recognition. This short film made in her honour seeks to redress that balance and to introduce Joy's work to a wider audience. The film was produced by her daughter, Vivien Halas.

Ode to Joy

NR 2014