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Private Notes
Tells the story of William Monroe Trotter, a fire-breathing editor of a Boston black newspaper who helped launch a nationwide movement in 1915 to ban a flagrantly racist film, The Birth of a Nation. This film tells the story of a black civil rights movement few are familiar with—one that occurred a full 40 years before the one we know.
D.W. Griffith’s masterpiece The Birth of a Nation is credited with transforming Hollywood and pioneering many of the techniques that have made the feature film one of America’s most celebrated and widely exported cultural creations. The movie was also flagrantly racist and glorified the Ku Klux Klan as its central protagonist. But what is neither famous nor infamous is the way America reacted to this revolutionary film. While The Birth of a Nation was a box office smash that became the first motion picture ever to be screened at the White House, it proved divisive in a country still struggling in the aftermath of Civil War Reconstruction and galvanized leaders of the national African American community into adopting a more aggressive approach in their fight for equality.
Birth of a Movement interweaves the civil rights story of newspaperman Trotter and the years leading up to the release of The Birth of a Nation with the story of D.W. Griffith and the rise of a new medium, the feature film.
Follow Hollywood and Broadway star, Alan Cumming, as he sets out to explore his native land's western isles. Travelling from Barra to Stornoway on Lewis, the acclaimed Scottish actor meets the people of the Outer Hebrides and learns about the realities of life in this frequently stunning yet often unforgiving environment. On his island-hopping journey of discovery, Alan investigates the ancient mystery of a standing stone circle that's older than Stonehenge, and cuts a dash in some traditional local tweed. Alan also hears the true tale behind the classic film, 'Whiskey Galore', takes part in a football game on the very special pitch, negotiates a lunar landscape made up of ancient rock, and ends up seeing a lifelong dream fulfilled.
THE TALK is a two-hour documentary about the increasingly necessary conversation taking place in homes and communities across the country between parents of color and their children, especially sons, about how to behave if they are ever stopped by the police.
Join Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, George Lucas, Wynton Marsalis, Yo-Yo Ma, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Sam Waterston, Doris Kearns Goodwin and more for a tribute to the acclaimed filmmaker.
For almost two thousand years, the story of Jesus’ final days has been celebrated by Christians the world over. From Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, through to his eventual crucifixion six days later, the key moments have been immortalized in countless films, pieces of music, and works of art. "Last Days of Jesus" explores how dramatic political events in Rome could have played a crucial role in shaping Jesus’ destiny, and examines an extraordinary political alliance that altered the course of history.
Michael and James explore the effect of "Food on the Brain." The brain is one of the greediest organs in the body in terms of the energy it needs to run. The way it influences our diet is, in the main, by generating the cravings we all experience.
Michael and James explore how the marriage between chemistry and biology is the root of all the sensations, tastes and flavors that we enjoy in our food.
Michael and James explore how the chemicals in our food feed and build our bodies. The world is full of different cuisines and thousands of different meals.
Follow a unique journey along one of the most spectacular coastlines in the world.
THE FARTHEST tells the captivating tales of the people and events behind one of humanity’s greatest achievements in exploration: NASA’s Voyager mission, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this August. The twin spacecraft—each with less computing power than a cell phone—used slingshot trajectories to visit Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. They sent back unprecedented images and data that revolutionized our understanding of the spectacular outer planets and their many peculiar moons.
Second Genesis follows planetary scientist Carolyn Porco as she explores what it takes to look for life beyond Earth, and what conditions are required for life to exist. Porco makes the case that Saturn’s moon Enceladus—with its plumes of water vapor spewing into space, confirmed organic materials, and evidence of hydrothermal vents at the bottom of its liquid ocean—is the most promising place to look. Could Enceladus be the key to proving once and for all that life is not unique to Earth? And what it would mean—both scientifically, and spiritually—if we found evidence of a true second genesis right here in our own galactic back yard?
Follow the dramatic story of Martin Luther's life: the massive lightning storm that nearly killed him, the bleak self-punishment of his time in the monastery, the corruption that unleashed his anger, his trial before the most powerful man in Europe, and the staged kidnapping that helped him escape the death penalty.
The Erie Canal released the promise of a new nation. The canal's impact on America and beyond is comparable to the global impact of the Internet. lt transformed the national patterns of immigration and commerce, created the financial capital of the world, left the Mississippi and the port of New Orleans in the dust of its immediate success, and transported new ideas and social movements.
"VA: The Human Cost of War" explores what it does and how it functions, its vast size and critical importance, and its history and provenance — how and why it came into existence, how and why it has changed over time, how it has come to be broken in critical ways in recent generations and how it may be reformed going forward.
Told through a series of personal stories from veterans and intertwined with deep historical and political analysis from leading scholars and elected officials, the film illustrates the key ways in which the VA, and we as a society, fail our veterans, who, according to Department of Veterans Affairs research, continue to commit suicide at the harrowing rate of 20 veterans per day.
The remarkable, but little known, story of one of few African-American regiments to have fought in combat during World War I. They were America's unsung heroes - a group of men from Illinois, largely from Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood. They fought on two fronts - the war against the Germans and the war against racism and inequality.
"Beyond a Year in Space" follows Scott Kelly's life after spending a record-breaking year in outer space as the Twin Study as NASA charts the effects of long-duration spaceflight for the next generation of astronauts.
In Earth’s polar regions, the aurora — a ghostly flicker and colorful glow — mysteriously brightens the night sky. One of the most incredible natural phenomena in the world, the array of colors of the aurora is a source of endless theory and wonder. What creates such beauty and spectacle?
"Aurora - Fire in the Sky" links popular myths to the aurora’s physical effects on the natural world. For some tribes, it is the spirit of ancestors playing ball in the sky; for others, it’s a harbinger of war, plague and famine.
The film visits Finland’s Saami, Alaska’s Inuit, Canada’s Native Americans and New Zealand’s Maori, each with legends of their own. The film travels the globe, incorporating scientific research and myth, to share with viewers the awe-inspiring mystery of the aurora.
Newly declassified MI5 files reveal the story of the female spy who stole Britain’s atomic secrets and gave them to the Soviets. In January 1941, Ursula Kuczynski, a Jewish German refugee, arrives in Oxford with her children on a British passport. She settles into the daily life of a housewife, but this woman has a secret – she is a Soviet spy.
Initially known as the 15th Regiment of the New York National Guard, what eventually became the 369th Infantry Regiment was exclusively made up of black soldiers. Nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters, this American infantry regiment rose to become the most decorated of the First World War. It was not only liberty and democracy that compelled them to travel to France to fight in the war, but also racial equality.
Celebrate the life of the restaurateur, author, entrepreneur and television personality, who passed away in October of 2015. Includes interviews with colleagues, including chef Paul Miller, executive chef of K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen; chef Frank Brigtsen, chef of K-Paul’s; Marty Cosgrove of Magic Seasoning Blends; and Ella Brennan and Ti Martin of the James Beard Award-winning Commander’s Palace.
Historic archives shed new light on the secret history of Klaus Barbie, head of the Gestapo in Lyon in 1943-44, with particular attention being given to the scandalous protections that the German and American secret services provided him with.
