Showing posts with label documentary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label documentary. Show all posts

Thursday, February 13, 2025

Can Elon Musk Rule the World? | Channel 4 Documentaries

Feb 13, 2025 | Strong language and material which viewers may find upsetting.

What does the world's richest man, dedicated chaos agent, and Donald Trump's new best buddy want out of politics? To shape the world? Or is it bigger than that? Matt Frei reports.

First shown: 6 Feb 2025


Why Germany's Far Right Is on the Rise | People & Power Documentary

Feb 12, 2025 | For the first time since the 1930s, the far right is on the verge of a national electoral breakthrough in Germany. February’s snap parliamentary election is looming, with the opinion polls putting the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party second with about 18-20 percent.

The AfD is anti-immigration, anti-European Union, often pro-Putin and is being monitored by German intelligence agencies. Could dissatisfaction with mainstream politics and economic stagnation thrust a German far-right party into real power for the first time since World War II? Most parties rule out power-sharing with the AfD. More than 100 MPs support a move to ban the AfD for "extremism". But how long will the party be ostracised if it continues to surge in nationwide popularity?

People & Power travels across Germany, visiting the AfD party convention, its heartlands in the east, and talks to refugee communities who are feeling increasingly vulnerable to a new wave of anti-immigrant sentiment.


Al-Nakba: The Palestinian Catastrophe - Episode 1 | Featured Documentary

May 8, 2013 | Al-Nakba: The Palestinian catastrophe "The Nakba did not begin in 1948. Its origins lie over two centuries ago…."

So begins this four-part series on the 'nakba', meaning the 'catastrophe', about the history of the Palestinian exodus that led to the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948, and the establishment of the state of Israel.

This sweeping history starts back in 1799 with Napoleon's attempted advance into Palestine to check British expansion and his appeal to the Jews of the world to reclaim their land in league with France.

The narrative moves through the 19th century and into the 20th century with the British Mandate in Palestine and comes right up to date in the 21st century and the ongoing 'nakba' on the ground.

Arab, Israeli and Western intellectuals, historians and eye-witnesses provide the central narrative which is accompanied by archive material and documents, many only recently released for the first time.

For Palestinians, 1948 marks the 'nakba' or the 'catastrophe', when hundreds of thousands were forced out of their homes.

But for Israelis, the same year marks the creation of their own state.

This series attempts to present an understanding of the events of the past that are still shaping the present.

This story starts in 1799, outside the walls of Acre in Ottoman-controlled Palestine, when an army under Napoleon Bonaparte besieged the city. It was all part of a campaign to defeat the Ottomans and establish a French presence in the region.

In search of allies, Napoleon issued a letter offering Palestine as a homeland to the Jews under French protection. He called on the Jews to ‘rise up’ against what he called their oppressors.

Napoleon’s appeal was widely publicised. But he was ultimately defeated. In Acre today, the only memory of him is a statue atop a hill overlooking the city.

Yet Napoleon's project for a Jewish homeland in the region under a colonial protectorate did not die, 40 years later, the plan was revived but by the British.



Episode 2 here.

Episode 3 here.

Episode 4 here.

Friday, February 07, 2025

1946 The Movie – Straight Love vs. Gay Lust? The Church Lied

Feb 7, 2025 | Straight couples love. Gay couples lust.” A lie built on a mistranslation.


"1946 is a feature documentary that follows the story of tireless researchers who trace the origins of the anti-gay movement among Christians to a grave mistranslation of the Bible. It chronicles the discovery of never-before-seen archives at Yale University which unveil astonishing new revelations, and casts significant doubt on any biblical basis for LGBTQIA+ prejudice." 1946 The Movie »

Friday, January 10, 2025

Adolf Hitler - Führer of Nazi Germany | Documentary

Dec 15, 2024

The Dictators: Mussolini | Full Documentary

Dec 26, 2024 | Power, control, and terror are the hallmarks of dictatorship. This series explores 20th-century tyrants, starting with Benito Mussolini. From his humble beginnings as the son of a blacksmith to becoming Italy's fascist leader, Mussolini's reign was marked by violence and brutality. As the founder of fascism and a key figure in Italy's expansionist policies, he was responsible for up to 1 million deaths and immense suffering. His life and legacy reflect the devastating impact of authoritarian rule and the dark side of political ambition.

Cast: Guy Walters, Lisa Pine
Director: Ben Sempey
Licensed through EM Productions Ltd



With fascism on the rise again, we all need to familiarise ourselves with the dangers that lie ahead. – © Mark Alexander

Saturday, January 04, 2025

Ceaușescu - Corrupt Dictator of Communist Romania | Documentary

Jan 3, 2025

Secrets Of The World's Richest Woman EP 1 | Luxury Industry

Secrets Of The World’s Richest Woman - This is the story of a small business that rose to epitomize beauty and glamour, shaped by a family whose wealth, secrets, and public controversies mirror the profound shifts and shadows of the 20th century.

Secrets Of The World’s Richest Woman EP 1 (2017)
Director: Gérard Miller & Jacques Dubuisson
Writer: Gérard Miller & Anais Feuillette
Genre: Documentary
Country: France
Language: English
Release Date: September 22, 2017 (France)

Synopsis:
The incredible journey of a small business that became the archetype of beauty and glamour is embodied through the extraordinary personalities who propelled its success, starting with its founder, Eugène Schueller—the father of Liliane Bettencourt. It’s the story of a remarkable family, so wealthy and mysterious, woven with achievements and unspoken secrets, a reverence for discretion alongside public scandals. A sweeping saga, worthy of a Balzacian novel, that takes us through the 20th century, with its sociological and aesthetic upheavals, as well as its darkest periods.



WIKIPEDIA: Liliane Bettencourt »

More articles on Liliane Bettencourt here and here.

Friday, January 03, 2025

Farah Diba Pahlavi : La dernière Impératrice

Jun 9, 2024 | Farah Diba Pahlavi: Portrait of the last Empress of Iran

Born in 1938 in Tehran, Farah Diba met the Iranian monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in Paris, while she was an architecture student.

By marrying him, she became the third wife of the last shah, and the first empress in the history of Iran upon her husband's coronation. The young sovereign then became a popular international figure, notably for her charisma and her commitment to numerous social projects, which made her a driving force for modernization for the country. But she also suffers the disapproval aroused by her husband's repressive regime.

In 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini took power and established an Islamic Republic. The imperial family flees. After the death of the Shah in 1980, the former empress retired to Paris where destiny continued to rage against her. In 2001, his youngest daughter, Leila, took her own life.

Ten years later, it was the turn of his youngest son, Ali-Reza. Tracing her tumultuous life, the documentary follows Farah Pahlavi in Paris, then on trips to Egypt and Venice. Archive documents, unpublished photographs and private amateur films animate this portrait.

“Farah Diba Pahlavi, the last empress”
Director: Géro Von Boehm
© ARTE - Interscience GmbH - 2018


Thursday, January 02, 2025

The Patagonian Bones | Welsh Settlers Documentary | Timeline

Feb 1, 2020 | Following the discovery in 1995 of a set of human remains in a coffin on the coast of Patagonia in Argentina, a team of scientists set out to find out if they belonged to the long-lost grave of Catherine Roberts, the first Welsh woman to die in Patagonia shortly after she arrived with the first group of settlers in 1865.

A first investigation of the DNA of the bones revealed that they belonged to a woman in her 40s of northern European origin, which matched Catherine. But to solve the mystery once and for all, they needed to find a descendant to compare the DNA. Enter Nia Olwen Ritchie, a fire fighter from present-day northern Wales who travelled to Argentina to donate her DNA and solve the mystery.


Wednesday, December 04, 2024

Christians vs. Muslims – A Bloody History of Spanish Traditions over the Centuries | Documentary

Nov 30, 2024 | Alpuxarras narrates the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula and the subsequent Christian conquest, until the end of the expulsion of the Moriscos in the XVII century. Focusing on the presence of the Muslims in Galicia and the forced colonization of the Alpuxarras by the Galicians, the similarities between common traditions, today almost forgotten, are exposed.

A look to Alpuxarras allows us to know a past that is necessary to understand the present reality.


WONDERS OF SOUTH AFRICA - Discover South Africa’s Iconic Beauty - Travel Documentary

Dec 4, 2024 | No country in the world can compete with the richness of South Africa's fauna and flora. Hippopotamuses, lions, ostriches, whales, crocodiles and elephants are all within camera range while the terrain is divided into a variety of breathtaking landscapes; the savannah is followed by mountains, the beaches by deserts.

Monday, November 11, 2024

Portugal's Islamic/Moorish Past | Reupload

Oct 11, 2017 | In this documentary, we uncover the influence that 500 years of Muslim occupation had on Portugal and Portuguese culture. We visit some important sights and hear from Portuguese people regarding their views on this significant part of their history. Despite being overlooked at times, the Islamic occupation, known as its Moorish past, has had a huge impact on Portugal.

While in Spain, the seven centuries of Muslim rule is very well-known, in Portugal it typically goes unnoticed. Despite being overlooked at times, the Islamic occupation, known as its Moorish past, has had a huge impact on Portugal.

The Muslims invaded present-day Portugal in the year 711 and established their capital in what is modern day "Silves". A significant part of this documentary takes us to Silves, which is still one of the best places in Portugal to see the influence of the Muslim period. Silves was the main access route to the inland areas of the Algarve, and the Silves castle, which was built by the Almoravid Arabs in the 11th century, is the best-preserved and most significant castle in the region. One of Portugal's main tourist attractions are its the beautiful beaches in the Algarve region. The name Algarve itself is derived from the Arabic word "al-Gharb"(*see below), meaning the West. Portugal was the most Western part of the Muslim empire and it was officially referred to as al-Gharb al-Andalus, meaning West of Al-Andalus. Nowadays Al-Andalus is often referred to as Muslim Spain, or Islamic Iberia.

It is not just the physical monuments which make Portugal’s Muslim past evident, but you can also find it in the country’s language and culture, even though the entire Reconquest centred around getting rid of Islamic influence altogether. Some Arabic words have permanently entered the Portuguese language, words for sugar, rice, olive oil, lettuce, village, the west and many others. Even Portugal’s most popular holiday spot, Albufeira, gets its name from Arabic, having then been called (Albuhayra) which means the lake in Arabic. The journey also takes us to Sintra, among other places, where the massive Moorish Castle stands. It was built by Muslims between the 9th and 10th centuries, the castle was vital in order to protect its population.

The southernmost region of Portugal was finally conquered by Christians and taken away from the Muslims in 1249, and in 1255 the capital shifted to Lisbon. Neighbouring Spain would not complete its Reconquista until 1492.



Making connections… Compare al-Gharb (الغرب), meaning the west in Arabic with the name for Morocco in Arabic which is Al-Maghrib (المغرب) which basically means ‘place in the West’. Putting an ‘m’ before many words in Arabic turns the word into a place where something is, or a place where something is done or is carried out. Another example to illustrate this point is the following: the words for bread and bakery in Arabic. The word for bread is khubz (خبز). Putting an ‘m’ in front of ‘khubz’ turns it into a bakery (مخبز). The word for ‘stop’ or ‘halt’ is qif (قف). So a bus stop becomes mawqif (موقف ), or a place for stopping. I feel sure that some of my visitors will be interested to learn this. I hope so anyway. — © Mark Alexander

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Becoming Il Duce: Mussolini's Fascist Revolution | Full Documentary | Episode 1

May 25, 2024 | In the fall of 1922, former teacher and journalist Benito Mussolini had only recently been elected to parliament when he seized power. His legal coup d’état, which began on 24 October in Naples, was a masterstroke. Standing before 40,000 Fascist party members, he issued an ultimatum to the fragile Italian parliamentary monarchy: “Either they hand us the power, or we will descend on Rome!” The militants, wearing black shirts and armed with clubs, headed for the capital. Following on from this legendary march on Rome, Mussolini headed up a totalitarian regime that lasted two decades.

The first episode of this portrait of Il Duce will explore how Mussolini took power and consolidated it until the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in the mid-1930s. He was a populist leader in terms of how he spoke to the Italian people, and a dictator in terms of how he exerted his power. He came from the extreme left but governed from the extreme right. Mussolini invented the new ideology of fascism and was helped in his mission by the business community who wanted an end to left-wing rule. Despite his brutality, he sought to please the Italian people, promising them a return to the grandeur of Rome. He enjoyed undeniable success for several years, both at home and abroad, until his inevitable downfall.

Documentary: Mussolini, The First Fascist – Episode 1: The Word and the Cosh (2021)
Direction: Serge de Sampigny
Production: Histodoc


Living under Pétain: The Divided Memory of Vichy - Gestapo - History Documentary - AT

Oct 30, 2024 | When the people of Vichy recount the memory of the ephemeral capital of the "French State" from 1940 to 1944, the unsuspected force of the Pétain myth is revealed.

The new "French State" was born on July 10, 1940, in Vichy, in the Grand Casino theater. In a few days, the Hôtel du Parc, the Majestic, the Portugal, luxury establishments typical of pre-war Vichy, became the headquarters of a regime to which the small spa town would give its name. The terms of collaboration with the Nazi regime had been established as early as June. The hotels became ministries and parliamentary residences, before the Gestapo and its auxiliary, the Milice, set up their dungeons in Portugal and the Petit Casino.

On site, the filmmakers met men and women who, in their youth, were able to watch this sticky little world of the "National Revolution" live. Two of these witnesses, because they were Jewish, lived there as outlaws; one joined the resistance, another was among Laval's lawyers at his trial, a fifth was the daughter of a parliamentarian of the regime. Through their words, it is the history of collaboration and resistance that is written, with its ambiguities and its commitments.

Walks, greetings, hugs from chubby children… Pétain remains in the memory of many Vichy residents as a father and this documentary reveals the unsuspected strength of his myth in French memories. Remembering Vichy is mixing dreams, nightmares and reality, in the same way that Last Year at Marienbad, by Alain Resnais, makes us lose our footing in the troubled waters of memory. With this past that seems to await us in the peaceful alleys of the city, Bertrand de Solliers brings out the palpable unease caused by the era.

Last year in Vichy
Directors: Bertrand de Solliers, Paule Muxel
Producers: JULIANTO, ARTE FRANCE
All rights reserved ARTE


France - Algeria: A Painful Past that Resurfaces - Colonization Algeria - Documentary - MP

Oct 21, 2024 | In February 2017, shortly before his election, Emmanuel Macron alienated the pied-noir community for comparing the colonization of Algeria to a crime against humanity.

More than half a century after independence, the Algerian question remains a taboo subject in France and arouses passions as soon as it is addressed.

Whatever the words, whatever the decisions, there will always be a side that feels wronged.

But how did it get to this point? Why can't time erase resentment and aftereffects passed down from generation to generation? "Une affaire de famille" is a historical fresco, told through the prism of personal stories.

This documentary was made for educational purposes and may contain images that may offend some people. If you are a sensitive person, watching this documentary is not recommended.

A film directed by Dominique Fargue and Isabelle Quintard
On an original idea by Laurent Delahousse
A Magnéto production


Sunday, October 27, 2024

When Paris Was German: German Soldiers in Wartime Paris I Slice History | Full Documentary

Oct 27, 2024 | June 14th 1940, the troops of the Wehrmacht entered Paris. This was the beginning of the occupation of the French capital, which was then relegated to the rank of an open city. The enemy made the law there for more than four years, until August 1944.

Many things have been said and written about the daily life of the French during this very particular period, made of shortages, repressive measures and raids. But never on the side of the occupying forces... What about the German soldiers? How did they live through this period? What were their living conditions like? Did they have any contact with the French population?

Documentary: When Paris was German
Directed by: Barbara Necek
Production: SPICA Productions