
01 Jan 1994

Nikola Tesla: The Genius Who Lit the World
Nikola Tesla is considered the father of our modern technological age and one of the most mysterious and controversial scientists in history.
In the mid 1800s, New York City was one of the most crowded places on earth. The congested streets and pokey transportation system were a source of constant complaint. On March 24, 1900, ground was broken for the Big Apple's subway; the Interborough Rapid Transit Line opened four years later, running more than 26 miles of underground track at the speed of 35 miles per hour. Soon thousands in the city were "doing the subway."

Narrator

Self - Host

01 Jan 1994

Nikola Tesla is considered the father of our modern technological age and one of the most mysterious and controversial scientists in history.

07 Sep 2007

On August 15th, 2006, filmmaker Ryan Dacko set out to get a 30-minute meeting with a major Hollywood producer by running on foot from Syracuse, New York to Hollywood, California.

01 Jan 2002

Egyptians were famed for their extravagant building techniques and extraordinary gods, but what about the ordinary citizens? How did they lead their day to day lives? What did they do for entertainment? Did they believe in their gods? Discover astonishing facts that throw new light on our understanding of the Ancient Egyptians.

24 Sep 2010

In China, there exists an astonishing place. A burial ground to rival Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, where pyramid tombs of stupendous size are full of astonishing riches. In 221 BC, China's first Emperor united warring kingdoms into a nation that still exists today. To memorialise this achievement, he bankrupted the national treasury and oppressed thousands of workers to build one of the world’s biggest mortuary complexes. China's second dynasty, the Han, inherited the daunting challenge of building larger tombs to command respect and establish their right to rule without running the nation into the ground. Although no Han emperor's tomb has been opened, the tombs of lesser Han aristocrats have revealed astonishing things: complete underground palaces (including kitchens and toilets) and at least one corpse so amazingly well-preserved some believe Han tomb-builders knew how to "engineer immortality".

13 Mar 1991

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.

06 Oct 2005

Shot over the course of 18 months in New York City's Lower East Side, METHADONIA sheds light on the inherent flaws of legal methadone treatments for heroin addiction by profiling eight addicts, in various stages of recovery and relapse, who attend the New York Center for Addiction Treatment Services (NYCATS).

09 Apr 1976

The "David and Goliath" legend is presented as credibly as possible, while David's later disastrous romance with Bathsheba is handled with taste and decorum. Also in the cast are Anthony Quayle as King Saul, and Terence Hardiman as Bathsheba's unfortunate warrior husband Uriah.

20 Nov 1981

A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence, and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York City.

09 Apr 2010

2010 documentary film on the Armenian Genocide by the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It is based on eyewitness reports by European and American personnel stationed in the Near East at the time, Armenian survivors and other contemporary witnesses which are recited by modern German actors.
02 Jul 2014
The film Crustaceans treats itself like an impressionist picture or a Japanese Haiku. Crustaceans is a matter of reflection on an instance in life with the social-economical crisis as a landscape. The heartbreak in times of crisis. The film was filmed as demonstrations in the streets against crisis and social welfare cuts took place. For two years, it filmed street demonstrations and incorporated actors in the social landscape. The result, is a film in which the collective and the intimate come together. Both the characters and the people in the street, like identical crustaceans, take to the street to express their shame and rage for what is happening and try to find a solution. A time of anxiety, uncertainty and protest that conforms the landscape in which the characters, such as crustaceans hide their wounds under their hard shell is seen.

03 Jan 2020

Mark Gatiss explores and celebrates Dracula, an icon of popular culture, asking just why we keep coming back to the count.

21 Dec 2005

James May presents a celebration of the toys which have survived across the decades, including Meccano, Lego, Scalextric and Airfix. James's all-time number one is the train set.

01 Nov 1989

Short documentary about artist Keith Haring, detailing his involvement in the New York City graffiti subculture, his opening of the Pop Shop, and the social commentary present in his paintings and drawings.
16 Jun 2021
This experimental short traces the lifespan of the graffiti and murals present at the occupation of NYC’s City Hall in June and July of 2020. The encampment formed to demand the abolishment of the NYPD and the reallocation of its resources to housing, education, and other social programs.

29 Nov 2002

Observations at Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal, which is one of the most fascinating stations for insiders. The documentary takes the completed renovation of the building as an occasion to bring the magnificent architecture to life; at the same time, it focuses on the countless momentary encounters when the paths of commuters and flâneurs cross.

01 Oct 2020

The opening of The Vasulka Effect couldn’t be more apt: Steina Vasulka addresses her husband Woody through various TV screens. He does the same and replies. A perfect image of the relationship between the free-spirited, groundbreaking pioneers of video art. After meeting in Prague in the early 1960s, they relocated from Czechoslovakia to New York, where they later founded The Kitchen, their legendary art and performance gallery.

01 Sep 1952

In New York's 1880s newspaper district, a dedicated journalist manages to set up his own paper. It is an immediate success but attracts increasing opposition from one of the bigger papers and its newspaper heiress owner.
14 Jan 2008
"You who enter, leave all your hope behind." Själö was Finland's first mental hospital. The hospital opened in 1622. Intended for those suffering leprosy. But Själö hospital also had a secret ward. A house for the insane. The ungodly and mentally ill were deposited here forever and their property fell to the church. In 1889 Själö became a storage area for women with "unbearable insanity".

02 Jun 2017

When Sarah accidentally proposes to her girlfriend in Provincetown, the mixup turns their loving relationship into a minefield of marital exploration.

28 Feb 2014

Professor Niall Ferguson argues that Britain's decision to enter the First World War was a catastrophic error that unleashed an era of totalitarianism and genocide.