The Spectre of Marxism

Stasi, un État contre son peuple

October 2021 •French

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, thousands of documents were hastily shredded by the dreaded GDR political police. 16,000 bags filled with six million pieces of paper were found. Thanks to the meticulous work of technology, the destinies of men and women who had been spied on and recorded without their knowledge could be reconstructed.

Animated Hero Classics: Thomas Edison

December 1993 •English

Thomas Edison opens up the laboratory of America’s most celebrated inventor and invites you to explore its secrets. Sprinkled with humor and packed with little-known details about the search for a working electric light bulb, this story will help you see for yourself why Edison quipped, “Genius is about one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

Animated Hero Classics: Benjamin Franklin

January 1993 •English

As Ben Franklin watched the lightning in Philadelphia’s night sky, he came up with a brilliant discovery—one that would change the world forever. Now, through this remarkable story, you can join this remarkable scientist, inventor and statesman as he rewrites human history because of his experiments with electricity.

Song of Heroes

December 1932 •Russian

The building of blast furnaces Magnitogorsk and the Kubas Basin by Komsomol, the Communist Union of youth, as part of Stalin’s first five-year plan.

Titanic: Untold Stories

January 1997 •English

The gripping personal accounts of the people and the tragedy. In never-before-seen footage, we journey with historian Charles Haas, as he descends into the depths of the North Atlantic and guides us on a tour of the RMS Titanic. While recounting tales of triumph and struggle, we see among the many sites the doors where all passengers would have entered, peer through the porthole of a first class cabin, see the davits where the too few lifeboats hung and pause by the mail room where the postal workers heroically died. This unique footage coupled with letters, old stills, artifacts and new recreations tells the amazing human stories of this famous ship as never before.

Vulcan Bomber: Return to the Skies

June 2007 •English

During the Falklands War, a team of Vulcan Bombers staged the longest bombing raid ever attempted. We tell the amazing story of the machines that undertook the near impossible mission of bombing Port Stanley. The programme features archive footage spanning the Vulcan's entire dramatic history, including newsreels, amateur video and film shot by the pilots themselves. We also make use of an enormous array of archival sources, including the plane's original design specification, and orders for construction from the War Office.

My Socialist Home

September 2021 •Romanian

"My Socialist Home" is a documentary film exploring the significance of gender in the constitution of domestic space in the socialist and postsocialist state.

Revolution

July 1968 •English

The San Francisco scene in 1967-68. Documentary about hippies shot during the height of the movement . Viewpoints from many kinds of people. Music by Steve Miller Band, Mother Earth, Quicksilver Messenger Service and others.

Where We Danced

April 2013 •English

“Where We Danced” is the first in a three-part series that chronicles the evolution of American social dance. It tells the story of America’s dance through the lives of the dancers who shaped the art form as well as the places they danced. The story begins on the plantations where African and Western European culture collided to create America’s first truly indigenous social dance, the cakewalk. It continues through to 1930’s Harlem showing how dance helped shape popular culture in America and around the world. Over the decades dance has set trends in fashion and sexuality, giving the youth of the 20th century a voice to define itself from the rigidness of the Victorian era . It also gave African-Americans a means of expression when all others had been taken away.

The Unbelievers

December 2013 •English

Scientists Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss travel the globe promoting a scientific worldview and the rational questioning of religious belief.

La face cachée du pétrole

September 2010 •French

Five Steps to Tyranny

February 2001 •English

A look by Sheena McDonald at how ordinary people come to do horrible things. This is a politics lesson based on history and psychology.

The Hidden Führer: Debating the Enigma of Hitler's Sexuality

June 2004 •English

In September 2001, respected German historian Lothar Machtan dropped a bombshell on the world of Hitler studies: Hitler was secretly homosexual. His highly acclaimed and explosive book "The Hidden Hitler" ignited a storm of controversy. With information from the bestselling book, award-winning filmmakers Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato and Gabriel Rotello explore areas of the Führer's private life.

The New Sound of Music

January 1979 •English

BBC documentary about the rise of early electronic music, use of synthesisers and the work of the radiophonic workshop. Michael Rodd surveys the use of synthesisers,computer & multi-track recording techniques to create the new sounds of electronic music.

The Conquest of the Air

December 1936 •English

This early docudrama uses dramatic reenactment, working models of early flying machines, and archival footage to trace man's attempts to fly from ancient times through the 1930s.

Aventure en Indochine

January 2012 •French

Congrès de Tours 1920: The Birth of the French Communist Party

December 2020 •French

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs

May 1985 •English

Gary is turning into a dinosaur, and Eric must find the cure. This becomes a globetrotting journey into everything dino while searching for the magic waters needed to stop Gary's odd transformation. Will Eric be too late? Get ready to meet the Garysaurus!

The Lumière Brothers' First Films

July 1996 •English

A collection of short films made by the Lumiere brothers, a team of pioneering filmmakers in turn-of-the-century France, narrated by Bertrand Tavernier.

Byzance

January 1964 •English

Byzance uses a text by Stefan Zweig to describe the Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453. Before he turned to feature filmmaking in 1968 with Naked Childhood, Pialat worked on a series of short films, many of them financed by French television. Byzance is one of Pialat’s six Turkish shorts.