Eyewitness accounts and cine films from 1945.
Social & External
Tony Robinson’s VE Day: Minute By Minute will take a unique look at a pivotal day in the history of the modern world, delving into the key events that made VE Day such a momentous twenty-four hours. This is the story of what happened on that most celebrated and important day, including original interviews with historians and veterans who tell their stories and share their first-hand experiences. Using unseen archive footage and stills, plus never told accounts from veterans who were there, this one-off special will chart the moment the clock struck midnight, to 24 hours later, when fighting officially stopped across Europe. Up and down the country it was dawning on people that they were waking up not with fear or anxiety, but with relief and excitement. This was a Great Britain no one had experienced for six years. A Britain at peace. At almost no notice street celebrations were being prepared and tens of thousands were flocking to London and other city centres.
"Friday 8 May 2020 will mark the 75th anniversary of the formal end of the Second World War in Europe. “V-E Day – Forever in their Debt” tells the stories of those who experienced the end of the war in all its many forms. It features a wide range of interviews from children who remember the street parties, to the servicemen who remember not having to buy a single drink that day, then there are the POWs for whom a hot bath was all they wanted after years of captivity. The programme is richly illustrated with archive including a colour film showing the celebrations in London. Other archive films show a grumpy Montgomery taking the surrender of German land forces in northern Germany on May 4."
A Veterans Day event with historian John Monsky, the Boston Pops and Broadway stars.
The re-imagining of VE Day in 1945, when Princess Elizabeth and her sister, Margaret were allowed out from Buckingham Palace for the night to join in the celebrations, and encounter romance and danger.
A poetic tribute to writer, poet and environmental activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed alongside eight other activists for opposing the environmental damage done in their oil-rich homeland, Ogoni.
A program that explores the strange but true medical mysteries housed in this one-of-a-kind museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
A single mom raising six kids in a transitional housing program in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Ebony aims to create a better life for her children by moving them into permanent housing. This sensitive narrative playfully blends Ebony's story with footage taken by her children. Their cinematography composes the essence of their day-to-day life, from mundane chores to hard fought moments of dancing and joy. Ultimately, a story of optimism shines from the most unlikely place.
This documentary serves as a beginner’s guide to world of Soviet animation, which covers the entire history of the USSR.
Three representatives of today's young generation: a young man who works at a motorcycle factory, a woman who works at a department store in Tokyo, and a young man. A work for overseas that depicts Japan in an era of steady economic development.
Bry, a reckless party animal, decides to rip his retired parents from their all-American lives and throw them into the adventure of a lifetime. As Bry and his folks enjoy the Dionysian side of life, they will all learn a bit about themselves & each other.
Cornelius is a Roman Centurion who, upon orders from the Apostle Thomas, is sent to proclaim the glories of Christ. Cornelius recounts Jesus' Entry in Jerusalem, the Last Supper, Crucifixion, and His appearance before Mary Magdalene.
The military dictatorships, which held power in El Salvador, instituted a way of governing the country that became unsustainable. Electoral frauds were evident, and despite all this, the military continued to perpetuate themselves in power. Little by little, the gap between social classes began to widen, aggravating differences, while inequality grew disproportionally. Due to the lack of opportunity to improve the quality of life of Salvadorans via a political path, guerrilla organizations as well as an armed conflict emerged.
Seven successive Grand Finals, four premierships and a string of champion players.
"The Clifton Rapist" stalked the Bristol Downs during the 1970s carrying out a series of sex attacks on women, but it was a young female police officer who caught him and sent him down in a ground-breaking decoy operation.
A documentary that explores the roots and consequences of Argentina's profound economic, political, and social crisis. It offers a critical and analytical look at a system that has proven insufficient and socially unsustainable as a form of development in an Argentina that has witnessed a severe and violent crisis that demands a new form of development and social organization to overcome.
A documentary film about a local pacific northwest artist, Benjamin Cahoon, and his process of making. The film follows his interaction with faith, identity development, and creation, emphasizing the inevitable destructive nature of making.
Invisible Warriors: African American Women in World War II, illuminates the wartime experiences of 600,000 “Rosie the Riveters” - pioneers who courageously triumph over racism and sexism to create job opportunities in industry and government for themselves and future generations of African American women.
In 1978, just after Le fond de l'Air Est Rouge, which mercilessly analyzed the previous ten years of the revolutionary left's momentum until its collapse, Chris Marker made this complementary piece entitled Quand le Siècle a Pris Forme (Guerre et Révolution).
An intimate portrayal of one family’s dynamic while navigating relationships with parents, spouses, and children.
“The Soviet Story” is a story of an Allied power, which helped the Nazis to fight Jews and which slaughtered its own people on an industrial scale. Assisted by the West, this power triumphed on May 9th, 1945. Its crimes were made taboo, and the complete story of Europe’s most murderous regime has never been told. Until now...
Prelude to War was the first film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series, commissioned by the Pentagon and George C. Marshall. It was made to convince American troops of the necessity of combating the Axis Powers during World War II. This film examines the differences between democratic and fascist states.
A documentary about World War I with never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of Armistice Day, and the end of the war.
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
The history of cinematic sound, told by legendary sound designers and visionary filmmakers.
Five broken cameras – and each one has a powerful tale to tell. Embedded in the bullet-ridden remains of digital technology is the story of Emad Burnat, a farmer from the Palestinian village of Bil’in, which famously chose nonviolent resistance when the Israeli army encroached upon its land to make room for Jewish colonists. Emad buys his first camera in 2005 to document the birth of his fourth son, Gibreel. Over the course of the film, he becomes the peaceful archivist of an escalating struggle as olive trees are bulldozed, lives are lost, and a wall is built to segregate burgeoning Israeli settlements.
When Sgt. First Class Brian Eisch is critically wounded in Afghanistan, it sets him and his sons on a journey of love, loss, redemption and legacy.
Amid the failing counteroffensive, a journalist follows a Ukrainian platoon on their mission to traverse one mile of heavily fortified forest and liberate a strategic village from Russian occupation. But the farther they advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realize that this war may never end.
Meet the real-life airmen who inspired Masters of the Air as they share the harrowing and transformative events of the 100th Bomb Group.
Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?
Experience the events of September 11, 2001 through the eyes of President Bush and his closest advisors as they personally detail the crucial hours and key decisions from that historic day.
From its distinctive neighborhoods to its architectural homes, Los Angeles has been the backdrop to countless movies. In this dazzling work, Andersen takes viewers on a whirlwind tour through the metropolis' real and cinematic history, investigating the myriad stories and legends that have come to define it, and meticulously, judiciously revealing the real city that lives beneath.
Korengal picks up where Restrepo left off; the same men, the same valley, the same commanders, but a very different look at the experience of war.
This documentary movie is about the battle of San Pietro, a small village in Italy. Over 1,100 US soldiers were killed while trying to take this location, that blocked the way for the Allied forces from the Germans. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005.
As the Russian invasion begins, a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war's atrocities.
He's devoted his career to uncovering stories the powerful want buried. From My Lai to Abu Ghraib, dig into the life's work of journalist Seymour Hersh.
In 1972, a seemingly typical shoestring budget pornographic film was made in a Florida hotel: "Deep Throat," starring Linda Lovelace. This film would surpass the wildest expectation of everyone involved to become one of the most successful independent films of all time. It caught the public imagination which met the spirit of the times, even as the self-appointed guardians of public morality struggled to suppress it, and created, for a brief moment, a possible future where sexuality in film had a bold artistic potential. This film covers the story of the making of this controversial film, its stunning success, its hysterical opposition along with its dark side of mob influence and allegations of the on set mistreatment of the film's star.
A tribute to Italian filmmaker Sergio Corbucci (1926-90), presented by American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino.
"Trinity and Beyond" is an unsettling yet visually fascinating documentary presenting the history of nuclear weapons development and testing between 1945-1963. Narrated by William Shatner and featuring an original score performed by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, this award-winning documentary reveals previously unreleased and classified government footage from several countries.
The extraordinary story of how Hollywood changed World War II – and how World War II changed Hollywood, through the interwoven experiences of five legendary filmmakers who went to war to serve their country and bring the truth to the American people: John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens. Based on Mark Harris’ best-selling book, “Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War.”