Showtime's "In the 20th Century" is a millennium-related strand of feature-length documentaries in which famous directors take on major subjects of their choosing. In the last of the six films, "The American Tapestry," filmmaker Gregory Nava takes viewers on an uplifting and challenging journey through the memoirs of five immigrant families, each one on a quest for its own American Dream. Beautifully interweaving accounts from several generations, Nava composes an astonishing tapestry of personal triumphs and tragedies, as each story of courage unfolds. The American Dream is an elusive thing, and the lives of the people in Nava's film are both triumphant and tragic, teeming with optimism and sometimes despair. They expose the finest and worst in America as well as what we feel most magnificent and dreadful. They are part of the many contrasting threads that make up the American tapestry — a complex portrait of a nation at the turn of the millennium.
"A Couple" is a film about a long term relationship between a man and a woman. The man is Leo Tolstoy. The woman is his wife, Sophia. They were married for 36 years, had 13 children, nine of whom survived. Each kept a diary. Although they lived together, in the same house, they wrote letters frequently to each other. Leo Tolstoy insisted that they read their diaries aloud to guests at dinner parties. The Tolstoy’s were also a dysfunctional couple, arguing frequently and being very unhappy with each other while occasionally enjoying passionate moments of reconciliation. The film is Sophia’s monologue about the joys and struggles of their life together, loosely drawn from their letters to each other and their diary entries.
The gruesome story of the Jewish ghettos during the Nazi occupation of Eastern Europe in the dark days of World War II, based on the records written by their inhabitants, who bear witness to the human tragedy of the Shoah; but also to an indomitable will to live.
In 1909, looking to shed its rough frontier past, the young city of Seattle decided to host a World’s Fair in the same grand spirit as those that preceded it in Chicago and St. Louis. Seattle welcomed the world to the University of Washington campus where visitors walked among palaces, saw new inventions that would change the world, and mined for mirth on the Paystreak - AYP’s Midway. Featuring thousands of historical images, rare archival footage, and contemporary interviews, the film explores the fair’s historical reverberations.
World War I, October 1918. The more than 500 men of the 77th Infantry Division of the United States Army, who have been recruited in New York City and trained in Yaphank, are sent to France, to help break down the German defenses located in the Argonne forest…
When a bestselling celebrity biographer is no longer able to get published because she has fallen out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception.
A true story of a doctor and his wife who went on a journey in order to prove that discoverer Christopher Columbus was in fact Portuguese. Inspired by the book "Cristóvão Colon Era Português".
Dramatization of events from the Second Opium War which culminated in the looting and destruction of imperial estate "Yuan Ming Yuan", AKA the Old Summer Palace by invading English and French troops.
A story told by those who knew Boris Nemtsov at different times: when he was a young scientist and took his first steps in politics; when he held high government offices and was considered Boris Yeltsin's heir apparent; when he led Russia's democratic opposition to Vladimir Putin.
A diminutive twentysomething 'Soso' (a nickname given to him by his mother) leads a group of revolutionaries in a massive bank heist to rob the Imperial Bank in 1907 Tbilisi. In the process, Soso becomes the man known as Joseph Stalin.
This documentary captures the amazing life and times of our nation's forgotten founding father: Alexander Hamilton. Exploring the iconic American political and financial institutions he helped to create - from the U.S. Mint and Wall Street to the two-party political system - we'll examine Hamilton's enormous influence that still resonates today. Ron Chernow, whose biography of Alexander Hamilton served as the basis for the hit Broadway play, along with other notable names including Tom Brokaw and Maria Bartiromo, contribute to an all-encompassing look at one of our nation's most accomplished leaders.
Ukraine, 1919. Bolshevik counter-intelligence agents work to stop an uprising by White Russian nationalist-monarchist counterrevolutionaries. A young countess finds herself caught between her family and class allegiance and burgeoning Communist sympathies inflamed by a chance meeting with a handsome young Ukrainian chekist.
In the year 1968, the “Bockerer” has decided, after many attempts, to marry his long-time widowed housekeeper, Anna. Gustl, whom he as taken in like a son after the war, will open a butchery in the Czech small town Kostelec and invites the Bockerers to spend their wedding journey with him and his Elena. The “Prague Spring”, of which everywhere is talked so much about, promises a nice honeymoon, and their friend Hatzinger is taken along on the journey as well. Soon after their arrival, the Bockerer has to realize that “Communism with a human face” is still an idle wish.
A television production based on the legend of the well at Trenčín Castle. In the 16th century, the lord of Trenčín Castle was Štefan Zápoľský - Duke of Transylvania, known for his hardness. He built Trenčín Castle as a fortress against the Turks, which, however, could be easily defeated because it had no water. The Turks wanted to take advantage of this fact. Zápoľský, as a good tactician, did not wait for the Turks to attack and attacked their own camp. He won and took a large number of prisoners, including the beautiful Fatima, the wife of Duke Omar. Omar decided to ransom Fatima from captivity. Zápoľský knew only one price - water at Trenčín Castle. Omar undertakes to fulfill the condition and dig a well. He keeps his word and takes Fatima and the other prisoners from Trenčín Castle.
Kronstadt, 1917. Sailors aboard the revolutionary cruiser Zarya prepare for a general armed uprising. Kerensky's government decides to disarm the ships. The ship's crew expels delegates from the Provisional Government, refusing to obey orders. The cruiser's commander, Bersenev, sides with the sailors. Bersenev's family members react differently to this decision. Thus, a collapse occurs in the family of an old Russian intellectual...
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