It’s the journey of her life: musician Petra travels all the way from Berlin to eastern Iran, via Anatolia, in search of the origins of her favorite string instrument: the. It’s the journey of her life: Petra Nachtmanova travels to both the end of the world and the centre of her heart. The Berlin musician heads off in search of the origins of a string instrument tangled in myths, which found its way to her in the streets of Berlin […]
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What happens within our system of values when economic interests and people’s lives become intertwined through tragedy? Why is the life of a firefighter who died in the Twin Towers on September 11 worth on average a million dollars less than that of a stockbroker who lost his life in the same disaster? How much money should BP pay the fishermen on the Gulf of Mexico who are fighting for their livelihoods after the largest oil spill in history? Questions […]
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Edward II ruled England in the early 14th century. He was the first king since the Norman Conquest of 1066 to be deposed. A portrait of a polarizing king and his unprecedented downfall. As historians and many of his contemporaries would agree, Edward II, who ruled England at the start of the 14th century, was not a good king. But it has to be said, they weren’t easy times either: from his father, Edward I, he inherited a bloody conflict […]
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Our world is defined by the failure of communism, the rise of market economics, and by the power of politicised religion. All of these forces came together in the dramatic year of 1979. The Islamic revolution in Iran under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, Pope John Paul II’s visit to Poland, the opening of China under Deng Xiaoping, Great Britain’s neoliberal shift under Margaret Thatcher and the invasion of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan – these are just some of […]
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Is it possible to untangle the hidden structures of the communication system of killer whales? Along the west coast of Canada an interdisciplinary, international team of researchers sets out to find answers. To understand the language of animals is an ancient dream of mankind. Do intelligent and highly communicative animals have real “languages” or merely simple communication systems? To find answers, an international team of researchers decides to adapt machine learning pattern recognition technologies for the first time to killer […]
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It’s impossible to stop and still difficult to forecast avalanches. We spend a winter season following scientists, snow profilers and trainers as they go about their work in the Alps. It doesn’t matter whether they’re snowshoeing or skiing, up to 100 people are killed by avalanches in Alpine countries every year. Stopping the rolling masses of snow is impossible and it’s still difficult, although not impossible, to forecast avalanches. At the world’s largest centre for avalanche research − the Institute […]
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On King George Island, the gateway to Antarctica, five different nations operate research stations located in the most extraordinary of environments. Only together can researchers survive such hostile conditions. King George Island on the edge of the coldest, loneliest continent on Earth. The island is the gateway to Antarctica. Located at its southwestern tip in an extraordinary landscape of rock and ice are research stations operated by five different nations: Chile, Russia, Uruguay, South Korea and China. Conflicting political views, […]
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Othmar Ammann, a Swiss-American structural engineer, designed more than half of the eleven bridges that connect New York City to the rest of the United States. We tell his adventure-filled story. The engineer Othmar Ammann left Switzerland in 1904 to redefine the art of bridge-building in America. He designed more than half of the eleven bridges that connect New York City to the rest of the United States. His constructions changed the face of New York forever. Beyond the life […]
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Linz in Austria was to become the cultural capital of the Nazis. Hitler spent years planning to transform the provincial town into a model city with the “Führermuseum” at its centre. An investigation into the city’s past. Linz, the rather sleepy city on the river Danube, was the city of Hitler’s youth, the city of his dreams. After the annexation of Austria in March 1938, he planned to transform the provincial town into a “national work of art”. He wanted […]
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On her quest to find out what motherhood means for herself, director Antonia Hungerland encounters all kinds of people, none of whom seem to correspond to our traditional notion of a mother. What is a ‘real mother? Motherhood is the most natural thing in the world. Or so it’s said. Yet the demands on women with children have rarely been as challenging and contradictory as they are in the Western world today. Hopes of happiness are often followed by discrimination, […]
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Of Polynesia’s once sacred sites, the stone temples or marae, all that is left today are ruins. We explore their secrets and significance for Polynesian culture. Polynesians once lived in harmony with the elements and the afterworld. Stones had a special religious significance in Polynesian culture. They were sculpted into representations of ancestral spirits to invoke protection, they were guardians of territories, windows to heaven and the stars. And they were used to build temples, or marae. Today, around 250 […]
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Once celebrated as a life saver, penicillin today is alarming researchers all over the world. A fascinating film about the history and current status of antibiotics. Ninety years ago, in the summer of 1928, Scottish doctor Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin by accident. It took another two decades and a world war for him and others to succeed in producing the antibiotic in such large quantities that the epidemics of that time – typhus, syphilis, gangrene and tuberculosis – could be […]
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Osteopathy is gaining more and more supporters, and yet the manual healing method with its holistic approach is controversial and not recognised everywhere. We show where it can help and where it has its limits. Osteopaths can feel tension in the body and gently release blockages, treating the musculoskeletal system and internal organs with their hands only. They view the body as a unit and try to activate its self-healing powers. Their work is based on cause-and-effect chains, the basic […]
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A rural Jewish family in Germany is torn apart, forced into hard labour, deported and murdered. We trace the steps of their destruction, from mere harassment to an incomprehensible end in Auschwitz. The film tells the story of a rural Jewish family in Germany that was torn apart, its members scattered and forced into hard labour and then, when no longer deemed useful, deported via different routes and finally murdered. Glambeck, the family’s hometown, is a quaint village north of […]
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When the world’s green lungs burn, international experts and politicians take notice. We investigate the unfolding ecological and humanitarian catastrophe wrought by the Amazon rainforest fires in summer 2019. The images of the burning Amazon rainforests horrified people all over the world in the summer of 2019. Suddenly the threat seemed real – the world’s lungs were burning, and politicians, journalists and everyone else agreed that something had to be done. Without the Amazon region, the entire earth is at […]
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A land of ancient cultures, diverse peoples and religions, and an eventful history between tradition and modernity. A journey to discover Nepal’s natural beauty and the people who live in this remote setting. Nepal – A land where primeval forests meet mountain deserts, with both tropical regions and icy peaks. One of the poorest countries in the world and yet a magical, mystical place, realm of the gods and a spiritual paradise. A country of ancient cultures, many peoples, multiple […]
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Ten years after the Arabellion, we tell the whole story of the uprisings, from the viewpoint of the protagonists. How did it all start and what is life like today in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt? On 10 December 2010, the Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire out of despair at his hopeless living conditions. His fate moved hundreds of thousands of mostly young people to take to the streets to protest against the regime. The protests not […]
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Is it possible to untangle the hidden structures of the communication system of killer whales? Along the west coast of Canada an interdisciplinary, international team of researchers sets out to find answers. To understand the language of animals is an ancient dream of mankind. Do intelligent and highly communicative animals have real “languages” or merely simple communication systems? To find answers, an international team of researchers decides to adapt machine learning pattern recognition technologies for the first time to killer […]
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It was found in 2015 in a Swiss bank safe: the painting of Isabella d’Este, long thought to be lost. The story of an alleged art crime that has never been solved. In 2013 an oil painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci appears in Lugano: the portrait of Isabella d’Este, Marchioness of Mantua. The owner of the painting, Emidia Cecchini, is about to sell it for 140 million euros when Italy accuses her of illegal export. The painting is confiscated, […]
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In the Mosaik art studio in Berlin, artists with disabilities are absorbed in their work. We accompany them in the course of creation. At the Mosaik art studio in Berlin, artists with disabilities are absorbed in their work. Sabine Herpich observes the artists in the course of creation and directs her gaze at the institution itself: its processes, staff and spaces. The film succeeds in maintaining its focus on the art itself rather than the handicaps of its creators. It […]
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A poetic journey into the world of Carlotta, where faces remain faceless. Carlotta cannot recognize faces, not even her own. For her, human faces are no bastion of trust, but places of fear and confusion. She is one of the 1% of all people whose part of the brain responsible for facial recognition does not work properly. With his film LOST IN FACE, neuroscientist Valentin Riedl travels through Carlotta’s universe, full of anthropomorphic animals, lucid dreams and bumpy false paths. […]
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With millions of species threatened with extinction, three world-class museum taxidermists prepare for the European Taxidermy Championship, trying to remind us what we are about to lose forever. The world is at a turning point. Human impact threatens millions of species with extinction – with the dramatic loss of biodiversity endangering the existence of human kind itself. However, there is one obscure profession that is at the forefront of reminding us of what we are about to lose forever: Maurizio, […]
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From the perspective of his son Jiří Mucha, the film tells the story of Czech artist Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), a pioneer of the Art Nouveau movement, who continues to influence artists all over the world today. At the end of the 19th century, Czech artist Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) ranked among the pioneers of the Art Nouveau movement. Virtually overnight, he became famous in Paris thanks to his posters of star actress Sarah Bernhardt. But at the height of his fame, Mucha […]
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Pope Benedict XVI led the Catholic Church into its greatest crisis since the Reformation: the global child sex abuse scandal. We tell the story of his rise and fall which is symptomatic of the failings of the Church. We tell the story of a man who dedicated his life to preserving the Church but instead led it into its greatest crisis: Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. During his 30 years working within the Vatican he was the key figure in […]
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