History Movies

The story of the romance between the King of Siam (now Thailand) and the widowed British school teacher Anna Leonowens during the 1860s. Anna teaches the children and becomes romanced…

After their production “Princess Ida” meets with less-than-stunning reviews, the relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan is strained to breaking. Their friends and associates attempt to get the two to work…

In 1429, a French teenager stood before her King with a message she claimed came from God; that she would defeat the world’s greatest army and liberate her country from…

Palermo, Sicily, 1984. Examining magistrate Giovanni Falcone allies with Tomasso Buscetta, a former mobster, to defeat the clan of Corleone, the ruthless Mafia faction that rules Cosa Nostra with an…

In 1944 Poland, a Jewish shop keeper named Jakob is summoned to ghetto headquarters after being caught out after curfew. While waiting for the German Kommondant, Jakob overhears a German…

The fate of a Hungarian Jewish family throughout the 20th century.

Fists of Freedom examines one of the 20th century’s most memorable moments — the dramatic “Black Power” demonstration of American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the victory stand…

One Man’s Hero tells the little-known story of the “St. Patrick’s Battalion” or “San Patricios,” a group of mostly Irish and other immigrants of the Catholic faith who deserted to…

CSS Hunley tells the incredible true story of the crew of the manually propelled submarine CSS Hunley, during the siege of Charleston of 1864. It is a story of heroism…

Rogue Trader tells the true story of Nick Leeson, an employee of Barings Bank who–after a successful trading run–ends up accumulating $1.4 billion in losses hidden in account #88888.

What was a cunning plan from Lord Edmund Blackadder V to fake a time machine on his gullibly incompetent friends, turns out to be the real thing and hurls him…

In 1943, while the Allies are bombing Berlin and the Gestapo is purging the capital of Jews, a dangerous love affair blossoms between two women – one a Jewish member…

The history of black newspapers in America.

Traces the Beats from Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac’s meeting in 1944 at Columbia University to the deaths of Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs in 1997. Three actors provide dramatic…

Sohrab, a provincial young writer, is lost in the desert on the way to Tehran to get a publication license for his book on old Persian poetry, but the trip…

The story of a group of men, an Army Rifle company called C-for-Charlie, who change, suffer, and ultimately make essential discoveries about themselves during the fierce World War II battle…

Young Shakespeare is forced to stage his latest comedy, “Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter,” before it’s even written. When a lovely noblewoman auditions for a role, they fall into…

Douglas is a foreign entrepreneur, who ventures to Russia in 1885 with dreams of selling a new, experimental steam-driven timber harvester in the wilds of Siberia. Jane is his assistant….

A shy and quiet World War II evacuee is housed by a disgruntled old man, and they soon develop a close bond.

Five Jewish Hungarians, now US citizens, tell their stories: before March 1944, when Nazis began to exterminate Hungarian Jews, months in concentration camps, and visiting childhood homes more than 50…

As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain John Miller and seven men are…

The Female Closet uses archival photographs, home movies, interviews, and other visual materials to explore the closeted lesbian stories of artists Alice Austen, Hannah Höch and Nicole Eisenman. Utilizing groundbreaking…

When six-year-old Ruby Bridges is chosen to be the first African-American to integrate her local elementary school, she is subjected to the true ugliness of racism for the first time.

Many people first became aware of the Shatila refugee camp in Lebanon after the shocking and horrific Sabra-Shatila massacre that took place there in 1982. Located in Beirut’s “belt of…

Produced and directed by Walt Missingham who, in 1983, became the first non-Chinese to practice Kung Fu at the Shaolin Temple, this authoritative and informative programme uses rarely seen archive…

British explorer Henry Stanley travels to Africa in 1871 seeking missionary David Livingstone.

Christmas abounds with traditions, from neighborhood carolers to lovingly decorated trees, but from where did all these rituals emerge? This enlightening program looks at the origins of the Western world’s…

Max is a handsome young man who, after a fateful tryst with a German soldier, is forced to run for his life. Eventually Max is placed in a concentration camp…

Fernando, a journalist, and his friend César join terrorist group MR8 in order to fight Brazilian dictatorial regime during the late sixties. César, however, is wounded and captured during a…

The story of the post World War II Jewish refugee situation from liberation to the establishment of the modern state of Israel.

The story of Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653), one of the first well-known female painters, including her youth, when she was guided and protected by her father, the painter Orazio Gentileschi.

The story of Oscar Wilde, genius, poet, playwright and the First Modern Man. The self-realisation of his homosexuality caused Wilde enormous torment as he juggled marriage, fatherhood and responsibility with…

In the 12th century’s Andalusia lives Ibn Rushd a prominent Islamic philosopher with his wife Zeinab and daughter Salma. The principality is ruled by Khalifa ElMansour who has two sons,…

Based on the novel by Bernard Cornwell, “Sharpe’s Waterloo” brings maverick British officer Lt. Col. Richard Sharpe to his last fight against the French, in June of 1815.

Napoleon has been exiled to Elba, the English have returned from the wars, and Major Richard Sharpe finds himself in a sort of exile to lead a company of Yorkshire…

Sharpe is framed as the thief who stole Napolean’s gold, and he must clear his name to avoid execution. Meanwhile his wife Jane – urged on by a friend –…

In pre-WWII Holland, the penniless, illegitimate son of a powerful bailiff sets out to become a lawyer as he spends a lifetime struggling to prove his worth to his relentlessly…

The true story of the US Government’s 1932 Tuskeegee Syphilis Experiments, in which a group of black test subjects were allowed to die, despite a cure having been developed.

Spurred by a white woman’s lie, vigilantes destroy a black Florida town and slay inhabitants in 1923.

Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine both received Emmy nominations for their performances in this made-for-TV movie. The plot follows Nelson Mandela’s 27-year struggle to end apartheid.