Top 250 Movies Like Gugong'S Treasure

A list of the best movies similar to Gugong's Treasure. If you liked Gugong's Treasure then you may also like: 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama, blink-182: The Urethra Chronicles, Voodoo Tiger, Why Korea?, Old King Cole and many more great movies featured on this list.

A picture book collection shot by NHK showing the great treasure kept at the world famous Palace Museum in Beijing and Taiwan. Included in this documentary are the footages shot in Hi-Vision mode that was not aired by NHK, showing China's five thousand years of history, ceramics, books, paintings, heritage of the emperor.

10 Questions for the Dalai Lama

How do you reconcile a commitment to non-violence when faced with violence? Why do the poor often seem happier than the rich? Must a society lose its traditions in order to move into the future? These are some of the questions posed to His Holiness the Dalai Lama by filmmaker and explorer Rick Ray. Ray examines some of the fundamental questions of our time by weaving together observations from his own journeys throughout India and the Middle East, and the wisdom of an extraordinary spiritual leader. This is his story, as told and filmed by Rick Ray during a private visit to his monastery in Dharamsala, India over the course of several months. Also included is rare historical footage as well as footage supplied by individuals who at great personal risk, filmed with hidden cameras within Tibet.

blink-182: The Urethra Chronicles

Go on the road with punk rockers blink-182 as they travel around the globe, belt out hits to frenzied mosh pits and enjoy provocative antics in this film that's part concert video, part documentary. Included are all the band's videos, interviews and performances from 1995 through 1999. Concert footage, recorded at London's Electric Ballroom, features the songs "Dammit," "Josie" and "All the Small Things."

Voodoo Tiger

Jungle Jim helps an attractive research writer for the British museum clear up the mystery of a tiger cult in Africa while thwarting art thieves and bringing to justice a Nazi war criminal.

Why Korea?

This film examines the reasons why the United States decided to engage in the Korean War. Scenes describe Russia's attempt to gain power following World War II (Korea included), and its refusal to allow free elections in the country. Footage shows Soviet-backed North Korean troops' movement into South Korea on June 25, 1950, the United Nations' response, and the armed struggle against both North Korean and later Chinese troops led by General Douglas MacArthur.

Old King Cole

Old King Cole throws party and invites all of the Mother Goose characters. He warns them that they must leave at midnight. Another collection of characters puts on a stage show. The Ten Little Indian Boys get everyone dancing along. The Hickory Dickory Dock mice announce midnight, and everyone leaves, back into their books.

The Rape of Europa

World War II was not just the most destructive conflict in humanity, it was also the greatest theft in history: lives, families, communities, property, culture and heritage were all stolen. The story of Nazi Germany's plundering of Europe's great works of art during World War II and Allied efforts to minimize the damage.

Red Cliff

In 208 A.D., in the final days of the Han Dynasty, shrewd Prime Minster Cao convinced the fickle Emperor Han the only way to unite all of China was to declare war on the kingdoms of Xu in the west and East Wu in the south. Thus began a military campaign of unprecedented scale. Left with no other hope for survival, the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu formed an unlikely alliance.

Road to Dawn

Based on the story of Dr Sun Yat Sen’s revolutionary efforts and his love affairs while he was in Penang in 1910.

Russian Ark

A ghost and a French marquis wander through the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, encountering scenes from many different periods of its history.

The Knot

They fell in love; Chen Qiushui was 20. Wang Biyun was 18. When Qiushui fled Taiwan after the 228 Massacre, Biyun gave him a gold engagement ring and they promised to meet again. Qiushui served as an army doctor during the Korean War, where he met Wang Jindi, a nurse from Shanghai who fell in love with him instantly. Years had gone by, Qiushui married Jindi and settled in Tibet. While in Taiwan, Biyun buried Qiushui's mother and continued to pray for his return. Flashback to modern time, Biyun is living in New York. Her niece played by Isabella Leong, a writer, has travelled to Tibet to find out what happened to Qiushui. Through the pictures she sends back via internet, Biyun finally gets to see the familiar face once again.

Affliction

This 45 minute documentary by Mark Hejnar is a sort of Whitman's Sampler of sickness, chronicling such wildly diverse and extreme personalities as G.G. Allin, Mike Diana, Full Force Frank, GLOD, Annie Sprinkle, and others. This collection of short clips and vile moments is certainly NOT for the squeamish, as these are the artists and performers who have taken the term "free expression" to it's limits--and beyond.

The Monuments Men

Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on seven over-the-hill, out-of-shape museum directors, artists, architects, curators, and art historians who went to the front lines of WWII to rescue the world’s artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and return them to their rightful owners. With the art hidden behind enemy lines, how could these guys hope to succeed?

Dawson City: Frozen Time

The true history of a collection of some 500 films dating from 1910s to 1920s, which were lost for over 50 years until being discovered buried in a sub-arctic swimming pool deep in the Yukon Territory, in Dawson City, located about 350 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

Confess, Fletch

The roguishly charming and endlessly troublesome Fletch becomes the prime suspect in a murder case while searching for a stolen art collection. The only way to prove his innocence? Find out which of the long list of suspects is the culprit - from the eccentric art dealer and a missing playboy to a crazy neighbor and Fletch’s Italian girlfriend. Crime, in fact, has never been this disorganized.

The Emperor and the Assassin

In pre-unified China, the King of Qin sends his concubine to a rival kingdom to produce an assassin for a political plot, but as the king's cruelty mounts she finds her loyalty faltering.

Emperor

As the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, Gen. Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years earlier in the U.S.

The Emperor in August

In July 1945, during the end of World War II, Japan is forced to accept the Potsdam Declaration. A cabinet meeting has continued through days and nights, but a decision cannot be made. The U.S. drops atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. General Korechika Anami is torn over making the proper decision and the Emperor of Japan worries about his people. Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki leads the cabinet meeting, while Chief Secretary Hisatsune Sakomizu can't do anything, but watch the meeting. At this time, Major Kenji Hatanaka and other young commissioned officers, who are against Japan surrendering, move to occupy the palace and a radio broadcasting station. The radio station is set to broadcast Emperor Hirohito reading out the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War.

The Emperor's Shadow

Epic drama about China's first emperor (221 BC) who struggles to make his childhood best friend, now China's greatest composer, succumb to his will and compose a grand anthem to his exploits.

Fool's Gold

Treasure hunter Ben "Finn" Finnegan has sunk his marriage to Tess and his trusty boat in his obsessive quest to find the legendary Queen's Dowry. When he finds a vital clue that may finally pinpoint the treasure's whereabouts, he drags Tess and her boss, billionaire Nigel Honeycutt, along on the hunt. But Finn is not the only one interested in the gold; his former mentor-turned-enemy Moe Fitch, hired by rapper-turned-gangster Bigg Bunny, will stop at nothing to beat him to it.

Sex and Buttered Popcorn

Actor Ned Beatty hosts a look at the genre known as "exploitation" films. Interviews with some of the producers and directors of these films are shown, along with scenes from and trailers for some of these films.

Mau Mau Sex Sex

A documentary about the history of exploitation films that focuses on the careers of legendary producers David F. Friedman and Dan Sonney.

Tim's Vermeer

Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer manage to paint so photo-realistically 150 years before the invention of photography? Spanning a decade, Jenison's adventure takes him to Holland, on a pilgrimage to the North coast of Yorkshire to meet artista David Hockney, and eventually even to Buckingham Palace. The epic research project Jenison embarques on is as extraordinary as what he discovers.

Princess Yang Kwei Fei

In eighth century China, the Emperor is grieving over the death of his wife. The Yang family wants to provide the Emperor with a consort so that they may consolidate their influence over the court. General An Lushan finds a distant relative working in their kitchen whom they groom to present to the Emperor. The Emperor falls in love with her and she becomes the Princess Yang Kwei-fei. The Yangs are then appointed important ministers, though An Lushan is not given the court position he covets. The ministers misuse their power so much that there is a popular revolt against the Yangs, fueled by An Lushan.

The Lost Leonardo

London, England, 2008. Some of the most distinguished experts on the work of Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) gather at the National Gallery to examine a painting known as Salvator Mundi; an event that turns out to be the first act of one of the most fascinating stories in the history of art.

Lady of the Dynasty

The tragic story of a Tang Dynasty imperial consort who was the favorite of the Emperor Xuanzong.

Legend of the Demon Cat

During the Late Tang Dynasty, a manor is invaded by a demon cat and a sense of unrest befalls the capital of Changan. A poet is charged with investigating the case and meets up with a monk. The two work together and pull apart the thread of clues to reveal a history of truths leading to the events.

Joe Cocker - Mad Dogs & Englishmen

"Joe Cocker - the Rotating Rocker - and his 42 member communal touring company Mad Dogs & Englishmen with the Master of Space and Time Leon Russell - see them perform in the pleasure palaces of America - it's a moving picture" says the classic film poster. See this spectacular rock 'n' roll tour documentary and get a dramatic visual record that captures the spirit of the hippie era with mind-blowing performances, crazy backstage footage, and spaced-out interviews. Supporting cast includes Claudia Lennear, Rita Coolidge, Sherman Jones reciting "Face on the Barroom Floor," and Canina the dog.

Mojin: The Lost Legend

At the beginning of the 1990s, famous tomb explorer Hu Bayi decided to retire and move to the United States with his girlfriend Shirley. But before his wedding, Bayi discovers his first love Ding Shitian, who supposedly had died in the "One Hundred Cave" 20 years ago, is actually still alive. Together with Shirley and his old exploration partner, Bayi unravels a terrible millennium-old secret...

Museum Hours

A security guard working at an art museum in Vienna crosses paths with a Canadian woman in town to visit her ailing cousin.

Savage Messiah

The film fictionalizes the real relationship between French sculptor Henri Gaudier and Polish writer Sophie Brzeska, twenty years his senior, who came to Paris, she says, for its “creative atmosphere.”

A Soul Haunted by Painting

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Yu-liang leaves a brothel in a small Chinese town, to become the second wife of Mr. Pan. While Pan is away at the revolution in Yunnan, Yu-liang learns to paint and takes art classes at the Shanghai Art Institute, until it is closed for painting nudes. Because she cannot bear him a son, Yu-liang leaves Pan to his first wife, and studies art in Paris, where she wins an award for a nude self-portrait. She returns to join Pan in Nanking in the 1930's, and becomes a Professor until it is discovered that she came from a brothel. She returns to Paris to live the rest of her life there, and finally gains a major exhibition of her work.

Triangle

Life has not been kind to drinking buddies Sam, Fai, and Mok as they struggle to make ends meet, until one stormy evening a mysterious old man appears before them in a bar with a 'get rich quick' scheme: an ancient treasure is buried under a high-security government building.

Phantom of Chinatown

In the middle of a pictorial lecture on his recent expedition to the Mongolian Desert, Dr. John Benton,the famous explorer, drinks from the water bottle on his lecture table, collapses and dies. His last words "Eternal Fire" are the only clue Chinese detective Jimmy Wong and Captain Street of the police department have to work on.

Red Cliff II

The battle of Red Cliff continues and the alliance between Xu and East Wu is fracturing. With Cao Cao's massive forces on their doorstep, will the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu survive?

H.P. Lovecraft: Two Left Arms

Carter, an art conservator, arrives in Italy to restore a fresco in an old church. He discovers that the strange locals are hiding something and a mystery relating to a nearby lake that legend says was created by a meteor.

Murph the Surf

Based on a true story, details the daring 1964 theft of the J.P. Morgan jewel collection from New York's American Museum of Natural History. Called the "Greatest Jewel Heist of the 20th Century," the robbers took 22 precious gems, including the Star of India, the 100.32-carat de Long Ruby and the 16.25-carat Eagle Diamond, stones so famous they would be impossible to sell.

Stolen

In 1990, thieves absconded with 13 masterpieces -- including works by Rembrandt and Vermeer -- from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, pulling off the greatest art heist in U.S. history. Rebecca Dreyfus's investigative documentary delves into this modern mystery, piecing together clues gleaned from archival documents, art critics, historians, collectors and informants (both credible and dubious) to shed light on the as-yet unsolved case. Instant QueuePlay Trailer

Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat

To solve the murder of a man shot in a locked room, Chan must wade through a Fun House, the writings of an unscrupulous author, and chess pieces.

Ancient Sword and Wizardry: Aversion to Fire

A thousand-year-old demon shrimp infiltrates the palace to take revenge on the emperor, but he is stopped by Creepy Master Le Wu Yi, who is highly capable of hunting him down, and the battle to save the people begins.

The Treasure Code

Dali Temple’s Official Qi Ling received the emperor’s secret edict again, and was ordered to track down the “Kowloon Pen” with supernatural magic power and crack its secrets. After several investigations, Qi Ling found that this case is actually related to his dead father. As the mechanism of Jiulong Pen were unveiled layer by layer, the case gradually became clear, but at this time, various forces in the DPRK and China were also surging, and everything is not as simple.

Three Cases of Murder

Three stories of murder and the supernatural: A museum worker is introduced to a world behind the pictures he sees every day. When two lifelong friends fall in love with the same woman and she is killed, they are obvious suspects. Is their friendship strong enough for them to alibi each other? When a young politician is hurt by the arrogant Secretary for Foreign Affairs Lord Mountdrago, he uses Mountdrago's dreams to get revenge.

The Art of Amália

Documentary about the life of Portuguese Fado singer Amalia Rodrigues (1920-1999) with an interview and collection of footage from performances throughout her long career.

Crooks and Coronets

Two crooks are hired to rob an eccentric old lady's estate, but once they get to know her, they can't bring themselves to do it.

Sword of Destiny

The peerless swordsmith, Meng Yezi, suffered the calamity of family extermination from the traitor Zhao Han served in the court for casting the famous Hanguang Sword. He desperately saved his son Meng Yang and left him the unforged Chengying Sword. Twenty years later, Meng Yang grew up and tried to avenge his father. At that time, Chengying Sword had not been cast yet to compete with Hanguang Sword. Then, the emperor was dying, and by chance, Meng Yang was assigned to escort the prince Gong Zidu back to the palace to succeed to the throne. Meng Yang accepted the task to investigate the truth about his family extermination for avenge. However, he met a fatal disaster on the way...

The Final Blade

Early Qing Dynasty, Jin guard(the imperial guards of Ming) assassin-ed into the palace of the general Li, won the Chicken Cup back. three hundred years later, inside a temple, the lead of Jin guard He Fan is dying to protect the chicken cup from the treasure hunter David Wong, He fan died in the battle, only survived is his son He Xingyun, the treasure got into the near lake.

The Last Mission

Four days after the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, American airmen are flying the last and longest bombing mission of the war. In Tokyo, a fanatical group of Japanese officers stage a daring coup d'etat in an effort to prolong the war. As the rebels take over Japan's Imperial Palace, and with it - Emperor Hirohito; radio operator Jim Smith and the men of the 315th Bomb Wing are facing their own dangers in the sky above Japan. In a development not anticipated by generals or world leaders - the Last Mission and the coup d'etat converge, helping to bring an end to the most destructive war the world has ever known.

Guardian of the Palace

'Guardian of the Palace' tells the story of a time when a plague spreads in Heishun (Blackwater) Town during the warring warlords, and Tianya, Wunian and Jiujiu set out on a treasure hunt to find the Golden Moon Gem that cures the plague. The warlord Feng Pei Chuan was trailing them and tried to take the gems for himself, but Tianya and the others managed to subdue Feng Pei Chuan, reclaim the gems and save the people.

Just Call Me Nobody

Poor young cobbler Wu Di lives with his mother and is crazy about martial-arts picture books. One day he repairs the shoe of wandering swordswoman Yuelou and later helps save her in a fight with wanted criminal Tian Baguang, even though he has no martial-arts training. She tells him she owes him a life and can be found on Qin Mountain if he ever needs her. Yuelou is actually a princess who was due to marry the emperor but ran away after setting fire to her palace quarters. In love, Wu Di sets out to find her, fighting river pirate Dugu and his sidekick on the way, and also meeting a hermit Buddhist monk who offers to take him on as a pupil. Yuelou plans to attend a martial arts tournament to establish her name, little knowing that the emperor's chief eunuch Cheng has arranged for her to be secretly protected by Penal Bureau officer Yang Guo and to win the tournament, so the emperor can award her the prize and persuade her to reconsider marriage.

On His Majesty's Secret Service

Louis Koo plays 009, or translated literally from its aural pronunciation, double-O Dog. He's one of 12 special Royal Bodyguards of a simpleton Emperor (Liu Yiwei) who named these 12 guards after the Chinese Zodiac, hence 9 translated to Dog. Unlike his peers, Dog is a scientist, and relies pretty much on his brains and fantastical gadgets to protect his Majesty from evil ninja assassins.

Tracing Shadow

Five kung-fu masters from different regions are fighting ruthlessly for a mysterious treasure map inside the Ming Palace; while they are all tangled in wild combat, the precious map unexpectedly disappears.

Seven Spirit Pagoda

The Tang emperor is betrayed by one of his most trusted aides who is the general of all the armies. He attacks the palace to establish himself as the new emperor. The real emperor is killed and his daughter commits suicide rather than be taken prisoner.

David Attenborough's Natural History Museum Alive

Regular opening times do not apply as we accompany Sir David Attenborough on an after-hours journey around London’s Natural History Museum, one of his favourite haunts. The museum's various exhibits coming to life, including dinosaurs, reptiles and creatures from the ice age. Shot by the same 3D team that worked on Gravity, examines how the animals and creatures at the London museum once roamed the earth.

Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days

Marilyn Monroe's final project, "Something's Got to Give", has become one of the most talked about unfinished films in history. The story of the film and Marilyn's last days were seemingly lost… until now. Through interviews, never-before-seen footage and an edited reconstruction of "Something's Got to Give", Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days provides a definitive and fascinating look at the last act in the life of the world's most famous and tragic superstar.

Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch

An in-depth look at artist/filmmaker David Lynch's movies, paintings, drawings, photographs, and various other works of art. Features interview footage and commentary by family members, friends, fans, and people he's worked with, as well as behind-the-scenes antics of some of his most critically praised efforts.

The Great Wall

In 221 BC, Qin Shihuangdi conquered the rest of China. Qin's great accomplishments and also his serious faults are showed in this film. Qin adopted autocratic dictatorship and led a luxurious life: abolition of feudalism and the centralization of power in the form of a now-hereditary bureaucracy loyal to himself; burning books and burying scholars; the construction of a sumptuous palace for his concubines and also the Great Wall.

Leonard Nimoy: Star Trek Memories

A TV special hosted by Leonard Nimoy and featuring the actor discussing the making of "The Original Series" and the first two Star Trek movies, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan". Also included is a short preview of "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock".

Empress Wu Zetian

Historical film based on the life of Wu Zetian, the only female emperor in Chinese history

Judi Dench: All the World's Her Stage

This documentary celebrates one of Britain’s greatest actors, Dame Judi Dench, and looks back over her remarkable 60-year career.

Life on Air: David Attenborough's 50 Years in Television

Life on Air: David Attenborough's 50 Years in Television is a BBC documentary film that recounts David Attenborough's television career. It is presented by Michael Palin and produced by Brian Leith. The BBC first transmitted the documentary in 2002 and is part of the Attenborough in Paradise and Other Personal Voyages collection of 7 documentaries. It includes interviews with Attenborough and several of his former colleagues, along with archival footage.

The World's Most Beautiful Eggs: The Genius of Carl Faberge

Stephen Smith explores the extraordinary life and work of the virtuoso jeweller Carl Faberge. He talks to HRH Prince Michael of Kent about Faberge items in the Royal Collection and to Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who spent $100 million acquiring nine exquisite Faberge eggs. The bejewelled trinkets Faberge made for the last tsars of Russia in the twilight of their rule have become some of the most sought-after treasures in the world, sometimes worth millions. Smith follows in Faberge's footsteps, from the legendary Green Vaults in Dresden to the palaces of the tsars and the corridors of the Kremlin museum, as he discovers how this fin de siecle genius transformed his father's modest business into the world's most famous supplier of luxury items.

Phil Spector: He's a Rebel

Biography of famed record producer Phil Spector, noted for discovering and producing the records of such rock icons as The Righteous Brothers, The Ronettes and The Crystals, and who worked with such stars as Ike and Tina Turner and even The Beatles. Included is footage of him rehearsing The Blossoms in a recording studio, and interviews with two of his recording engineers who explain how his famous "Wall of Sound" was created.

Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures

This lighthearted romp through Royal India presents a world of Maharajas, palaces, imperiled art objects, and the foreign collectors who will stop at nothing to possess them. Peggy Ashcroft and Larry Pine star as two rapacious art collectors who come to the decaying Art Deco palace of a young Maharaja (Victor Banerjee) to examine a legendary collection of Indian miniature paintings. While vying with each other to get the pictures away from the royal couple—nicknamed Georgie and Bonnie as children by their Scottish governess—they must also divine the true motives of the Indian curator of the collection (Saeed Jaffrey), who, in league with the Maharaja’s beautiful sister (Aparna Sen), may be working against them. Amidst the backdrop of lavish tourist entertainments, Christmas parties, fireworks, and even an English ghost, a desperate game of palace intrigue will determine the ultimate resting place of the priceless paintings.

Dad's Holiday

A story above the three fathers who want to spend an luxurious holiday like an Emperor (the King). Jimly Lee (Wanted Criminal) has stolen famous diamond which is slipped into one the father's coat pocket. What follows next is story between four of them and the Interpol with Korea Police.

German Concentration Camps Factual Survey

On the 29th September 1945, the incomplete rough cut of a brilliant documentary about concentration camps was viewed at the MOI in London. For five months, Sidney Bernstein had led a small team – which included Stewart McAllister, Richard Crossman and Alfred Hitchcock – to complete the film from hours of shocking footage. Unfortunately, this ambitious Allied project to create a feature-length visual report that would damn the Nazi regime and shame the German people into acceptance of Allied occupation had missed its moment. Even in its incomplete form (available since 1984) the film was immensely powerful, generating an awed hush among audiences. But now, complete to six reels, this faithfully restored and definitive version produced by IWM, is being compared with Alain Resnais’ Night and Fog (1955).

The First Emperor

Docu-drama profiling Ying Sheng, the first Emperor of China. Charting the life of the man who unified China, this documentary begins with the future Emperor's rise to power after the death of his father, becoming King of Qin at the age of thirteen. Mostly told through the use of re-enactments, the story continues to the present day and the discovery of the Emperor's tomb and terracotta army in 1974.

Katie Morgan's Porn 101

The candid, and naked, Katie Morgan takes us through a history of porn. From ancient paintings and sculpture, to early pornographic silent films, to modern day adult films.

China's Megatomb Revealed

Albert Lin and National Geographic Channel unearth the terrible secrets that lie hidden in the tomb of China's first Emperor. The Terracotta Warriors are just the tip of the iceberg in this mausoleum the size of Manhattan, that has gone largely unexcavated…until now. These silent statues guard explosive, macabre findings that rewrite history and paint a very different picture of the ancient world from what we thought we knew.

The Pursuit of Happiness

Showtime's "In the 20th Century" is a millennium-related strand of feature-length documentaries in which famous directors take on major subjects of their choosing. In the fourth of the six films, "The Pursuit of Happiness," filmmaker Robert Zemeckis delves into the history of America's relationship with mind-altering substances over the past 100 years, presenting interviews with historians and professionals in the drug treatment field, interspersed with a treasure trove of film and television clips depicting the highs and lows of smoking, drinking and drugging in the 20th century

Dinosaur!

An entertaining documentary look at dinosaurs with Emmy Award-winning special effects, feature film clips and stills, commentary by leading paleontologists of the time, and an on camera as well as voice-over narrative by Christopher Reeve. Shot on location in Los Angeles and New York at the American Museum of Natural History

Free Cinema, 1956 - ? An Essay on Film by Lindsay Anderson

A documentary about the history of the Free Cinema movement, made by one of it's greatest proponents, Lindsay Anderson, to commemorate British Film Year in 1985. Produced by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill. Unlike Richard Attenborough's celebratory episode of the same series, or Alan Parker's more aggressive show, which was balanced between celebrating the greats and attacking Parker's bugbears, Greenaway and Jarman and the BFI, Anderson's show accentuates the negative, painting an image of a British cinema in terminal artistic decline and trashing the ambitions and approach of British Film Year itself. It's mordantly funny and very savage.

Mark Knopfler: A Life in Songs

Mark Knopfler is one of the most successful musicians in the world. During the past 30 years he has written and recorded over 300 songs including some of the most famous in popular music. In this in-depth documentary he talks about how these songs have defined him and how they have been influenced by his own life and roots. It features previously unseen photographs from his personal collection and comprehensive footage spanning his career from a struggling musician playing in pubs in Leeds in the 1970s, to the record-breaking success with Dire Straits and his world tour as a solo artist. Looking back over the 25 years since he wrote the iconic Brothers In Arms album, the film takes an affectionate look at how this formidable, creative man has operated as a musician for three decades and how he continues to do so as a solo artist who is as much in demand as ever.

Blues Story

Blues Story presents an impressionistic history of one of the most lasting art forms America has ever produced - as told for the first time through the eyes of the artists who lived it. Combining exclusive interview and performance footage with vintage clips and the music of many Blues legends long gone, the history of this richly felt music is illuminated - from its African roots to its American urban expression - along with its profound place in our cultural heritage. The result is a rare, first-hand glimpse into the lives of these vanishing artists, and a moving, insightful and informative look into a music that continues to be loved by millions throughout the world.

Dam Busters Declassified

Martin Shaw takes a fresh look at one of the most famous war stories of them all. The actor, himself a pilot, takes to the skies to retrace the route of the 1943 raid by 617 Squadron which used bouncing bombs to destroy German dams. He sheds new light on the story as he separates the fact from the myth behind this tale of courage and ingenuity. Using the 1955 movie The Dam Busters as a vehicle to deconstruct the raid, he tries to piece together a picture of perhaps the most daring attack in the history of aviation warfare.

Egypt's Treasure Guardians

Egypt is home to many of the most famous archaeological treasures on Earth, but over the last five years, Egypt has suffered a tumultuous revolution and tourist numbers have plummeted. This program follows a select cast of individuals, determined to bring Egypt back from the brink of disaster: to discover more of Egypt’s history, to keep its heritage safe and to get tourists to visit the country again.

Reunion of Giants

It had been 50 years since two Avro Lancaster bombers flew side by side. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Avro Lancaster, VeRA, flew from Hamilton, Ontario to meet her British counterpart, Thumper - the only other surviving flight worthy Lancaster bomber in the world - the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's (BBMF) Lancaster in England. This documentary includes first-hand accounts from the men and women who experienced the war and were connected to the Lancaster. It transports the viewer back in time as they share what it was like during the Lancaster's glory days. REUNION OF GIANTS documents this historic mission as it unfolds through the eyes of the flight crews, veterans, friends and family. It includes all parts in this new chapter of the bomber's history, as VeRA crosses the Atlantic.

First Person Singular: I.M. Pei

Architect I.M. Pei speaks about his famous works, such as the addition to the Louvre in Paris, the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas. Footage of these projects shows both interiors and exteriors. Various other experts comment on the impact and importance of Pei's work.

Tales from the Royal Wardrobe

Today, few people's clothes attract as much attention as the royal family, but this is not a modern-day paparazzi-inspired obsession. Historian Dr. Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, reveals that it has always been this way. Exploring the royal wardrobes of our kings and queens over the last four hundred years, Lucy shows this isn't just a public fascination, but an important and powerful message from the monarchs. From Elizabeth I to the present Queen Elizabeth II, Lucy explains how the royal wardrobe's significance goes far beyond the cut and color of the clothing. Royal fashion is, and has always been, regarded as a very personal statement to reflect their power over the reign. Most kings and queens have carefully choreographed every aspect of their wardrobe; for those who have not, there have sometimes been calamitous consequences. As much today as in the past, royal fashion is as much about politics as it is about elegant attire.

The Popes and Their Art

A visit of the art collections of the Vatican Museums with British actor James Mason.

B.Traven: A Mystery Solved

B. Traven is one of the most mysterious figures of the 20th century. He wrote The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and a dozen other fine books which have sold in millions around the world, but no publisher, no agent, and no fellow author ever met him -he has remained the Marie Celeste of literature, a name without an identity. Nobody knew in what language he wrote. Nobody knew in what country he had been born. Nobody knew if he were one man or several. It was even said that those who sought him were struck down and destroyed. Was this photograph, taken in London in 1923, a picture of Traven? It was certainly a vital clue.

Tornado Rampage

Tornado Rampage 2011 finds the people who were pulled into the raging tornadoes and tells their stories first-hand, with remarkable and terrifying video footage they shot in the heat of the storm. Discovery Channel's 'Stormchaser' Reed Timmer joins the hunt on the 27 April, tracking down the twisters as they form - with exclusive pictures of their progress across Alabama and Mississippi states.

WWII in 3D

For the first time, you will see dramatic moments of WWII that were captured in 3D with stereographs and then shuttered away in secret archives and attics, until now. This stunning collection of color 3D photos includes Allied reconnaissance photos, a trove of images that documents the rise and fall of the Third Reich, and photos secretly taken by a civilian in occupied France. WWII IN 3D also features an actual 3D motion picture film shot by the Nazis in 1943 and creates a fully immersive, three dimensional portrait of history's largest and bloodiest conflict.

From the Sea to the Land Beyond

From the Sea to the Land Beyond is a film about the British coast made from 100 years of our film heritage stored in the British Film Institute collection, edited by Penny Woolcock with a soundtrack by British Sea Power

The World of Liberace

In 1976 the pianist, entertainer and one of the biggest stars of the day, published a coffee table book about his collection of homes, jewellery and costumes called The Things I Love. This DVD is nothing more-nor-less than precisely that, as told to the acclaimed film-maker Tony Palmer. Liberace himself takes us on a guided tour of his Hollywood and Palm Springs homes and his treasured possessions.

Britain's Most Fragile Treasure

Historian Dr Janina Ramirez unlocks the secrets of a centuries-old masterpiece in glass. At 78 feet in height, the famous East Window at York Minster is the largest medieval stained-glass window in the country and it was the creative vision of a single artist - a mysterious master craftsman called John Thornton, one of the earliest named English artists. The East Window of York Minster is far more than a work of artistic genius, it is a window onto the medieval world and the medieval mind - telling us who were once were and who we still are, all preserved in the most fragile medium of all.

China's Lost Pyramids

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".

Two People

NHK TV special about the making of the Japanese animated film "From Up on Poppy Hill" (コクリコ坂から)

Botticelli's Venus: The Making of an Icon

Sam Roddick explores the enduring appeal of Botticelli's masterpiece The Birth of Venus, one of the most celebrated paintings in western art. A joyous celebration of female sexuality, its journey to worldwide fame was far from straightforward and it lay in obscurity for centuries. Artist and entrepreneur Sam explains why Botticelli's nude was so revolutionary, and explores its impact on contemporary culture with artists such as Terry Gilliam, who memorably reinvented Venus for his Monty Python's Flying Circus animations.

The Devil Wears Ju-Ni Hitoe Kimono

Rai, a frustrated student and part-time labourer, is wandering home after setting up a museum exhibition on the classic novel "The Tale of Genji". There is a blinding flash of light and he finds himself mysteriously time-slipped into the Heian period, the setting for the famous novel. Armed with a pamphlet on the history of the period and a bottle of headache tablets he passes as an onmyoji (magical protector of the capital) and is hired by the emperor’s wife Nyogo Kokiden. Fearless and coldly analytical she plots to have her son take over the Emperor’s position. Rai is expected to help. This light-hearted historical fantasy is a treat for lovers of sumptuous kimono.

Mysterious Raiders

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, most of the people in the city contracted strange diseases. He Miao, who cares about the fate of the country, hopes that Zhang Xiaozhi will help him to get the treasure in the underwater underground palace. But several other forces started a big fight in order to obtain the treasures of the underground palace.

The Palace

In Qing Dynasty, Chen Xiang and Liuli became maids and friends in the imperial palace. Liuli wanted to be famous whereas Chen Xiang just wanted to live a normal life. Liuli attempted to change her life by knowing the prince, even at the cost of betraying Chen Xiang.

Hurray Mexico!

Unedited film that Sergei Eisenstein, Grigoriy Aleksandrov and Eduard Tisse shot in Mexico 1931-32. This record only represents the 200,000-plus feet of unedited film that Sergei Eisenstein, Grigoriy Aleksandrov and Eduard Tisse shot in Mexico 1931/32 for Mary and Upton Sinclair and three American co-financiers. It was Eisenstein's vision to end up with movie about Mexico in six parts called "Calavera", "Sandunga", "Maguey", "Fiesta", "Soldadera", and "Epilogue". The project was canceled before it was completed due to cost overruns and months-delayed completion, and the producers refused to let Eisenstein attempt to edit anything from the material he had finished after Iosif Stalin called him back to the USSR. From this footage the following pictures were subsequently edited by other hands: Thunder Over Mexico (1933), Eisenstein in Mexico (1933), Death Day (1934), Time in the Sun (1940), and Que Viva Mexico (1979).

Britain at War: Imperial War Museums at 100

Documentary about the Imperial War Museums in the centenary year of its establishment. Celebrity advocates explore ten key objects from the IWM's collection.

The Picture Taker

From his Memphis studio, Ernest Withers’ nearly 2 million images were a treasured record of Black history but his legacy was complicated by decades of secret FBI service revealed only after his death. Was he a friend of the civil rights community, or enemy—or both?

Assassin on the String

Wen Muge, an assassin, received a mission to despoil The Book of Boya from the Jiang family. (Boya is a famous musician in ancient Chinese history.) However, the Jiangs were killed at the inn they run, and The Book of Boya disappeared. Unexpectedly, Jiang Miaoxuan, the only survived daughter of the Jiangs and Wen Muge became the wanted criminals of the murder. Two of them had to begin the journal together to find The Book of Boya and the truth of the murder.

The Forbidden City

The daughter of a Chinese mandarin is sentenced to death for her secret marriage to an American. Their child, raised in the mandarin's palace, grows up and escapes to seek her father, now a high-ranking official in the Philippines.

Harry Potter: A History Of Magic

A thrilling journey through legends, belief and folklore, this film goes behind the scenes with the British Library as they search to tell that story through objects in their collection, in an ambitious new exhibition: Harry Potter: A History Of Magic. J.K. Rowling, who is lending unseen manuscripts, drawings and drafts from her private archives (which will sit alongside treasures from the British Library, as well as original drafts and drawings from Jim Kay) talks about some of the personal items she has lent to the exhibition and gives new insight into her writing, looking at some of the objects from the exhibition that have fired her imagination.

The Price of Everything

Featuring collectors, dealers, auctioneers and a rich range of artists, including market darlings George Condo, Jeff Koons, Gerhard Richter and Njideka Akunyili Crosby, this documentary examines the role of art and artistic passion in today’s money-driven, consumer-based society.

Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies

This documentary traces the life and work of the legendary "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford, silent film star, movie pioneer and keen businesswoman. Pickford's life also parallels an even larger story, telling of the birth of the cinema itself.

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