In this extraordinary six-part series, film historian and critic Noel Burch uses clips of rare archival silent film treasures to take us on a riveting journey of discovery. How did silent film reach such incredible heights in a mere 30 years? Why did film in the United States so quickly become such a popular art form?
Year: 2022
The true story of John Chapman, a college president who took a sabbatical and went out and got a job as a general laborer, to try to experience life outside his well-ordered but insulated college environment.
A former priest becomes embroiled in the drama raging between a Mexican rancher, his unhappy daughter and psychotic son whilst dealing with his own issues of guilt and a loss of faith. A new relationship with the local brothel keeper seems to offer a fresh start but the rancher and his son are set on making him pay for his interference and his own inner demons are never far away.
This 30-minute Soviet biographical documentary shows the selfless work of Anna Ivanovna Zelenova, the director of the Pavlovsky Palace Museum, who devoted her entire life to the palace and survived with it years of occupation and rebirth from the ashes.
Anne-Marie, a well–off young woman, decides to become a nun, joining a convent that rehabilitates female prisoners. Through their program, she meets a woman named Thérèse who refuses any help because she says she was innocent of the crime for which she was convicted. After being released from prison, Thérèse murders the man she feels is responsible for her imprisonment and comes to seek sanctuary from the law in the convent. Anne-Marie clashes with her sisters and elders over her zealousness to reform Thérèse, who manipulates and antagonizes her.
Brian Anderson is an Army medic serving in Vietnam during the war who begins his service with an attitude of looking out only for himself. But to fulfill a promise to a friend who was killed in action, Brian agrees to work in a local orphanage. He gradually becomes so devoted to the children there that he risks his life and career in order to protect them.
Told in flashback as Prince Mieszko I lies feverish in his bed just before the Battle of Cedynia, Gniazdo recounts how the revered leader extended Poland’s borders, formed an alliance with Emperor Otto I, and ultimately strengthened his country’s autonomy by achieving victory during that crucial battle in the year 972.
A story of a middle-aged Jew methodically preparing himself to be shipped off to a concentration camp. The main character, Jacob Rosenberg, is a former industrial counselor, who is forced to work as a street cleaner. He knows what the fate is holding for him in the future, nevertheless he takes it with and implacable calmness.