History Buff
The War Room
HDA documentary of the Bill Clinton 1992 presidential campaign and the organization who ran it.
The Liberator
HDSimon Bolivar fought over 100 battles against the Spanish Empire in South America. He rode over 70,000 miles on horseback. His military campaigns covered twice the territory of Alexander the Great. His army never conquered -- it l...
The Tuskegee Airmen
HDThe true story of how a group of African American pilots overcame racist opposition to become one of the finest US fighter groups in World War II
White Man's Burden
HDIn an alternative America where African-Americans and White Americans have reversed cultural roles, a white factory worker kidnaps a black factory owner for dismissing him over perceived disdain.
Trees of Peace
HDIn April of 1994, four women from different backgrounds and beliefs are trapped and hiding during the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Their fight for survival against all odds unites the women in an unbreakable sisterhood.
Lone Star
HDJohn Sayles' murder-mystery explores interpersonal and interracial tensions in Rio County, Texas. Sam Deeds is the local sheriff who is called to investigate a 40-year-old skeleton found in the desert....As Sam delves deeper into the town's dark secrets, he begins to learn more about his father, the legendary former sheriff Buddy Deeds, who replaced the corrupt Charlie Wade. While Sam puzzles out the long-ago events surrounding the mystery corpse, he also longs to rekindle a romance with his old high-school flame. Sayles' complex characters are brought together as the tightly-woven plot finally draws to its dramatic close.
Michael Collins
HDAfter the disastrous defeat of Irish rebels by superior UK forces during the Easter Rising, Michael Collins develops new strategies for the independence of Ireland. His tactics include what is now recognized as urban guerrilla tactics and organized assassinations of those Irish who work as informers for the UK government, and later members of British intelligence. Although Collins is conflicted about the necessity of this violent course, by 1921 the British are willing to negotiate. Sinn Fein President Eamon de Valera sends a reluctant Collins to London to negotiate a settlement. When Collins returns with a compromise of a partitioned Ireland and an Irish Free State, not a Republic, within the British Empire he is vilified by de Valera and repudiated by lifelong friend Harry Boland after Boland learns that his girlfriend Kitty Kiernan is in love with Collins. Collins is now faced with civil war as he struggles against those who insist on complete and unconditional independence for all of Ireland.
David
HDThe tribes of Israel need to defeat the superior might of the Philistines: "Now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have." (I Samuel, 8:5). And so the prophet Samuel gives the Hebrews their first king, Saul, a simple farmer, who with God's help becomes a brave and mighty warlord who leads the united tribes of Israel against their enemies. Saul, however, has incessant doubts about his mission. Not trustful enough of divine wisdom, he acts of his own accord and thus sins against the Lord. The influential prophet Samuel turns away from Saul in order to select a new king according to God's will: David. He is still a young boy, tending sheep in the fields, when, secretly Samuel oints him as the next king of the Israelites. When David - as courageous as he is intelligent - emerges victorious from his encounter with Goliath, the Philistines' most powerful warrior, he becomes a hero. His fame arouses the jealousy of King Saul, who senses that David is going to dispute his right to be king - and tries to kill him. David flees from Saul, and finds many supporters and loyal companions who believe that he is destined to be king. In exile, David waits for his time to come, since he does not want to take the place of Saul by violence. He is young and in the prime of his strength, while King Saul is a broken man. When Saul falls upon his sword after losing a battle, David's hour is at hand. The new King David conquers Jerusalem. The magnificent city is to become the royal residence for the glorious hero, who now plans to leave the business of war to others in future and to become a King of Peace. However, this temperamental man, with so many years of battle behind him and still in the bloom of youth, is not predestined for a quiet, orderly life at all. Very soon he plunges into an illicit love affair with Bathsheba, a married woman - an affair that threatens to become the king's undoing when it turns out that she is expecting his child. To conceal his adulterous fatherhood, the king sends Bathsheba's husband Uriah - one of his best and most loyal soldiers - to his death, and then marries her. The prophet and royal adviser Nathan announces to David that his act will result in divine punishment: the Lord will not countenance such an outrage. Violence and evil will continue in David's own family and bring disaster upon the heads of the numerous sons born to David from his wives and concubines. Then the child of David and Bathsheba dies. She gives him another son, Solomon, but very soon David suffers another sharp blow of fate: his grown-up son Absalom kills one of his brothers for the latter's rape of his sister. David is far too mild in response to this: not only does he fail to bring the incestuous seducer to justice, he also leaves the fratricide unpunished. The king does not realise that he is gradually losing control over his family, and that his hold on the people is also growing weaker. For David is obsessed with his plan of building the finest and largest temple in the world in Jerusalem. He demands immense sums from the populace for this project, even though God has commanded him to leave the completion of the building to his successors. David's ambitious son Absalom thus finds it very easy to drum up support for a conspiracy against his father. After a fierce battle, culminating in Absalom's death, David makes it back to Jerusalem.
4 Little Girls
HDThis film recounts the people and events leading up to the one of the most despicable hate-crimes during the height of the civil-rights movement, the bombing of the 16th Street Church in Birmingham, Alabama. In that attack, four little African-American girls lost their lives and a nation was simultaneously revolted, angered and galvanized to push the fight for equality and justice on.
Mad City
HDA distraught man inadvertently takes a group of children hostage in a museum while a hungry, seasoned reporter tries to resurrect his career covering the story.
Gods and Monsters
HD1957. Long having retired, James Whale, arguably most famous for directing Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935) among some other 1930s horror classics, has burned his bridges with the Hollywood community in that they have abandoned him, the possible exception being his continuing friendship with former lover David Lewis. James had been openly gay even during his working period and is in declining health. Having been recently released from a hospital where he was recuperating from a stroke, he left with some permanent health issues, the aftermath of the stroke. Much against the disapproval of his loyal longtime housekeeper Hanna, his health does not prevent him from toying with the handsome young men who may wander into his midst in his continuing homosexual desires, although Hanna is as much, if not more concerned about any of those young men taking advantage of him in his elderly and fragile state. The young man who catches his eye among the most recent is Clayton Boone, who Hanna had hired to do garden work around the property. Clay, an ex-marine from the proverbial "wrong side of the tracks", has no idea who James was or is before he starts this job. James and Clay soon begin a friendship of sorts. Clay is also unaware of James' homosexual orientation before such is confirmed by Hanna, an issue which threatens his masculinity, especially in light of the cracks showing in his casual sexual relationship with a slightly older and wiser diner waitress named Betty. Clay has to reconcile that threat against being in the company of someone whom he considers an interesting and once famous man. The friendship and his state of health related to the stroke lead James to reflect in a bittersweet vein on key points of his life, most notably serving in WWI, and as a result reveals his ulterior motives through the actions he takes toward Clay.
Dick
HDAfter wandering off during a White House tour, two high school girls inadvertently become Richard Nixon's top secret advisers at the height of the Watergate scandal.
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc
HD1429. While the war between France and England (the Hundred Years War) appeared settled in 1420, in England's favour, the death of King Henry V of England reignites it. England occupies large areas of France and appears set to take the whole of it. Into this moment of crisis rides legendary Joan of Arc, a teenage girl who claims to be lead by divine visions.
Frequency
HDA rare atmospheric phenomenon allows a New York City firefighter to communicate with his son 30 years in the future via HAM radio. The son uses this opportunity to warn the father of his impending death in a warehouse fire, and manages to save his life. However, what he does not realize is that changing history has triggered a new set of tragic events, including the murder of his mother. The two men must now work together, 30 years apart, to find the murderer before he strikes so that they can change history--again.
The Hornet's Nest
HDCareer Journalist Mike Boettcher takes his son to the war zone in Afghanistan, covering U.S. Combat Troops on the front lines. What starts out as an effort to reconnect with his son, becomes a remarkable true story and fight for survival for all.
Just Visiting
HDA knight and his valet are plagued by a witch, and to repair the damage, they make use of the services of a wizard. Something goes wrong and they're transported from the 12th century to the year 2000, where they meets some of the knight's family, and slowly learns what the future's like. In order to return to the 12th century and deal with the witch, they begin to look for a wizard.
Bloody Sunday
HDDocumentary-style drama showing the events that led up to the tragic incident on January 30, 1972 in the Northern Ireland town of Derry when a protest march led by civil rights activist Ivan Cooper was fired upon by British troops, killing 13 protesters and wounding 14 more.
Ararat
HDPeople tell stories. In Toronto, an art historian lectures on Arshile Gorky (1904 -1948), an Armenian painter who lived through the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. A director invites the historian to help him include Gorky's story in a film about the genocide and Turkish assault on the town of Van. The historian's family is under stress: her son is in love with his step-sister, who blames the historian for the death of her father. The daughter wants to revisit her father's death and change that story. An aging customs agent tells his son about his long interview with the historian's son, who has returned from Turkey with canisters of film. All the stories connect.
The Cut
HDThis film is based on the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire 1915, which resulted in the forced migration and diaspora of the Armenian minority. One day, young family man Nazaret Manoogian gets deported by the Turkish authorities with all the other Armenian men from his native village of Mardin. He becomes a forced laborer and only survives the mass murder by chance and an act of kindness, but loses his family, speech, and faith. One night the devastated Nazaret learns that his daughters may still be alive and didn't die like his wife from starvation, violence, or rape on death marches. Nazaret goes on a quest to find them and travels from his small village through the Mesopotamian deserts to the sea, always looking for clues that might lead him to his children. Nazaret's epic journey will take him from Asia to America, from the end to a new beginning.
Nowhere Safe
HDAfter two girls cruelly impersonate her online in a "reverse cyber bullying" plot, Ashley's reputation is ruined and she and her mother flee a growing threat to their lives. Starting over at a new school, romantic interests and the poignant lessons from an eccentric history teacher draw them out of seclusion until they realize confronting a hurtful past is essential to ensure a brighter future.cyber bullyingdrama teacherhistory teacherhigh school cliquehigh school bullying12 morePlot summaryAdd synopsis
Gaslit
S01E03HDA modern take on the 1970s political Watergate scandal centering on untold stories and forgotten characters of the time.
Meltdown: Three Mile Island
S01E04HDMELTDOWN: THREE MILE ISLAND tackles the near catastrophe at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant and the whistleblower who spoke up to protect the community. Insiders recount the events, controversies and lingering effects of the worst nuclear incident in U.S. history.tv mini serieshistory documentarypost apocalypsePlot summaryAdd synopsis
Woman in Gold
HDMaria Altmann, an octogenarian Jewish refugee, takes on the Austrian government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family.
The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing
HDDocumentary about the art of film editing. Clips are shown from many groundbreaking films with innovative editing styles.
1915
HDExactly 100 years after the Armenian Genocide, a theatre director stages a play to bring the ghosts of the past back to life.
Plainsong
HDTom Guthrie, a high school history teacher, is faced with raising two young sons after his wife leaves him. Maggie Jones, a fellow teacher, tries to provide comfort and support.
Only the Dead
HDOnly the Dead is a war story unlike any ever seen. A story of what happens when one ordinary man, Time magazine war correspondent Michael Ware, transplanted into the Middle East by the reverberations of 9/11, butts into history. Ware handpicked and given a shattering video tape by the most feared, most hated terrorists on the planet to announce his arrival of the world stage sets out on an epic journey into the deepest recesses of the conflict as he seeks answers. Answers that he thinks will lead him to the Truth.iraq warmilitary historyaustralian abroadexplosivedanger5 morePlot summaryAdd synopsis
April and the Extraordinary World
HDIn 1941, the world is radically different from the one we know from history books. Geopolitics has developed strangely: Napoleon V rules France and, for the last 70 years, scholars have been mysteriously disappearing, depriving mankind of their inventions. Without radio, television, electricity, aviation, and the combustion engine, the world is mired in outdated technology, dozing in the previous century's knowhow dominated by coal and steam. In this bizarre universe, Avril (Marion Cotillard), a teenage girl, Darwin (Philippe Katerine), her talking cat, Pops (Jean Rochefort), her grandfather, and Julius (Marc-André Grondin), a young scoundrel and police informer, go off in search of Avril's parents, two of the missing scientists. The quartet will face many dangers and mysteries in this strange new Rigged World.
Goya's Ghosts
HDThe painter Goya becomes involved with the Spanish Inquisition when his muse, Ines, is arrested by the church for heresy. Her father, Thomas, comes to him hoping that his connection with Brother Lorenzo, whom he is painting, can secure the release of his daughter.
Air Strike
HDDuring World War II, five different Chinese people fight their way through Japanese Air Force attacks to protect an important military machine in Chongqing, 1940.
Stan & Ollie
HDThe true story of Hollywood's greatest comedy double act, Laurel and Hardy, is brought to the big screen for the first time. Starring Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly as the inimitable movie icons, Stan and Ollie is the heart-warming story of what would become the pair's triumphant farewell tour. With their golden era long behind them, the pair embark on a variety hall tour of Britain and Ireland. Despite the pressures of a hectic schedule, and with the support of their wives Lucille (Shirley Henderson) and Ida (Nina Arianda) - a formidable double act in their own right - the pair's love of performing, as well as for each other, endures as they secure their place in the hearts of their adoring public.
Memory: The Origins of Alien
HDThe untold origin story behind Ridley Scott's Alien - rooted in Greek and Egyptian mythologies, underground comics, the art of Francis Bacon, and the dark visions of Dan O'Bannon and H.R. Giger. A contemplation on the symbiotic collaborative process of movie-making, the power of myth, and our collective unconscious.