At the very entrance of Boka Kotorska there is fortress named Fortica, which served as border control or quarantine in the past when ships used to dock in the bay. The most common goods taxed was salt. Its geographical position was significant during 1920s as well, while some speculate that the main hero of this story, Perisa, accumulated his fortune exactly in this way...
A riveting portrait of the great writer whose stories became the basis of the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof. Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness tells the tale of the rebellious genius who created an entirely new literature. Plumbing the depths of a Jewish world locked in crisis and on the cusp of profound change, he captured that world with brilliant humor. Sholem Aleichem was not just a witness to the creation of a new modern Jewish identity, but one of the very men who forged it.
A historical, fictionalized documentary film telling the story of the first Polish emancipated women, whose efforts, persistence, and consistency led Józef Piłsudski to sign a decree on women's suffrage on November 28, 1918. It shows their difficult struggle for access to education and paid work, their commitment to regaining independence, and their steadfastness in spreading the ideas of freedom and emancipation. It emphasizes the fact that Poland was one of the first countries in the world where women obtained full voting rights.
Ludwik Hirszfeld could share his life story with several heroes. In his fate is reflected the history of the first half of the 20th century. The hero of the film was reborn despite the fact that the events in which he lived destroyed his life and achievements. Doctor, scientist, idealist. A forgotten hero. Known in the world more widely than in Poland. A scientist "from blood", which the world divided into "better" and "worse". He made difficult choices, went against the grain, believed that the world could be better. A cosmopolitan who could have continued his scientific career in Switzerland, but chose Poland. He could have lectured in America right after the war, but returned to Poland. His fate in the Warsaw ghetto is heartbreaking. Ludwik Hirszfeld's marriage to his wife Hanna is perhaps the most important choice he made in his life.
This film illustrates the struggles of Canadian prairies women to achieve a more just and humane society within the farm movement and at large. During the early 1900s, women on the prairies looked for ways to overcome their isolation. Out of the resulting farm women's organizations grew a group of women possessing remarkable intellectual abilities, social and cultural awareness, and advanced worldviews.
The heroine of this film is immortal. She is over 2600 years old. This is the self-portrait of the oldest city in France. A city whose landscapes bear the scars of a destiny that has spared it no trials. Gateway to the Orient, crossroads of trade and immigration, Marseille is a mosaic with 111 districts and 200 nationalities. Rebellious, chaotic, in turn desired, torn apart, transformed, it is reborn each time from its ashes. Marseille tells us more about the history of France and sheds light on what France is today.
December 1936. The elite First House of Soviets, the House of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (now "House on the Embankment"). The Soviet elite is not yet aware of the massive repressions that will take place next year. The nighttime disappearances of neighbors are regarded as transfers thereof to important tasks of the Communist party. Yakov Natanovich Brandenburgsky, a famous lawyer and employee of the Supreme Court, is included in the "album" lists of the NKVD of the USSR and, being a creative person, finds a way to save his family and himself from "night arrest".
An old teahouse in Beijing serves as the stage for a drama that unfolds over several tumultuous decades of modern Chinese history, from the waning days of the Qing dynasty to the eve of the People's Republic.
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.
United is based on the true story of Manchester United's legendary "Busby Babes", the youngest side ever to win the Football League and the 1958 Munich Air Crash that claimed eight of the their number. The film draws on first-hand interviews with the survivors and their families to tell the inspirational story of a team and community overcoming terrible tragedy.
An interracial couple faces social tensions in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The film follows the perspective of Harpreet, a young Sikh-American man, as he cautiously navigates a sudden climate of fear and dangerous assumptions.
In 1860, as the American Experiment threatened to explode into a bloody civil war, there were as many as four hundred thousand slave-owners in the United States, and almost four million slaves. The nation was founded upon the idea that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The nation would pay a bloody cost for denying that right to more than twelve percent of its population. But when slavery was first brought to America's shores, this war, and even the nation it tore apart, was centuries in the future. With incredibly detailed historical reenactments, expert commentary and the stories of slavery told through first-hand accounts, this is an epic struggle 400 years in the making. A journey into the past like none other. This is the story of these men and women who by their hands laid the foundation of what would become the most powerful nation on Earth.
The seeming hopelessness of combatting an all-powerful government that will not tolerate political dissension is the focus of this excellent historical drama set in the mid-19th century in Hungary. In the opening scenes, Hungary has just lost its bid for independence from Austria and a Magyar officer, unable to bear the tragedy of defeat and what it means, says an affectionate good-bye to his beloved horse and then shoots the animal and himself. Two years later, Ferenc (Gyorgy Cserhalmi) is trying to eke out a living for his wife and her family -- and at the same time avoid any hint of sympathy for Hungarian independence because the Secret Police are everywhere. Just as life seems to be going well, Ferenc's former commanding officer (Lajos Oze) arrives and begins discussing revolution again -- a futile pursuit at this point in time. The next day, Ferenc is thrown into an insane asylum and everyone else is arrested as well.
His medical condition doesn't stop a 12-year-old village boy from working hard with a school gardener to form a ragtag team of soccer players, in order to compete in the JG Davidson Cup tournament. They will have to go up against the reigning champion, St. James, a highly privileged British school.