China - Treasures of the Jade Empire

Eastern Memories

January 2018 •Finnish

At the turn of the 19th and 20th century Finnish philologist G. J. Ramstedt travelled around Mongolia and Central-Asia. In this documentary Ramstedt’s memoirs are heard in the modern day setting, where tradition is replaced with hunger for money, and deserts give way to cities.

The Search for Alfred the Great

January 2014 •English

Neil Oliver is given exclusive access to a team of historians and scientists investigating the final resting place of Alfred the Great. Alfred's bones have been moved so many times over the centuries that many...

La guerre de Troie a bien eu lieu

May 2021 •French

Ascension

October 2021 •English

The absorbingly cinematic Ascension explores the pursuit of the “Chinese Dream.” Driven by mesmerizing—and sometimes humorous—imagery, this observational documentary presents a contemporary vision of China that prioritizes productivity and innovation above all.

The 1001 Faces of Palmyra

April 2021 •French

Two thousand years ago, it was a flourishing city in the middle of what is now a Syrian desert. At the crossroads of trade routes, Palmyra attracted caravanners from Mesopotamia, India and China. In what remains of its ruins, rediscovered by Europeans in the 17th century, its numerous necropolises bear witness to a prosperous past. Carved in limestone in the first centuries of our era, the faces of the representatives - men, women and children - of its greatest families adorn the walls of its tombs. Since 2012, Danish archaeologist Rubina Raja has been leading a long-term project to find, document and retrace the family trees and daily life of these Palmyrenians.

Prehistoric Women

May 2022 •French

The Guanche Mummies of Tenerife

November 2020 •Spanish

Documentary that discovers all the secrets of mummification in the Canary Islands thanks to pioneering research. Regis Francisco López approaches the mummification techniques that took place in Tenerife for more than 10 centuries.

Die besten Frauen der Welt

January 2008 •German

The director accompanies the German women's national soccer team.

Ardal O'Hanlon: Tomb Raider

May 2022 •English

Ardal O’Hanlon explores a 1930s quest to find the first Irish men and women using archaeology, answering his deepest questions about what it means to be Irish.

Egypt's Lost Queens

September 2014 •English

Professor Joann Fletcher explores what it was like to be a woman of power in ancient Egypt. Through a wealth of spectacular buildings, personal artefacts and amazing tombs, Joann brings to life four of ancient Egypt's most powerful female rulers and discovers the remarkable influence wielded by women, whose power and freedom was unique in the ancient world. Throughout Egypt's history, women held the title of pharaoh no fewer than 15 times, and many other women played key roles in running the state and shaping every aspect of life. Joann Fletcher puts these influential women back at the heart of our understanding, revealing the other half of ancient Egypt.

Expedition China

December 2017 •English

Expedition China invites you on location in some of the world's most intense, hard-to-reach environments with the filmmakers of Disneynature's big-screen adventure Born in China.

Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer

March 2009 •English

Cleopatra - the most famous woman in history. We know her as a great queen, a beautiful lover and a political schemer. For 2,000 years almost all evidence of her has disappeared - until now. In one of the world's most exciting finds, archaeologists believe they have discovered the skeleton of her sister, murdered by Cleopatra and Mark Antony. From Egypt to Turkey, Neil Oliver investigates the story of a ruthless queen who would kill her own siblings for power. This is the portrait of a killer.

Xiao Jia Going Home

January 2007 •Chinese

Leading Chinese Sixth Generation filmmaker Jia Zhangke returns home to Fenyang in Shanxi province after winning the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival for Still Life (2006). The experiences of his childhood, the people he grew up with, and the changing landscape of his home town gave Jia the inspiration to make his first films. The documentary forms a poignant inquiry into the past of the director's life and Chinese society at the same time.

The Exodus Revealed

August 2001 •English

During the Exodus, one of the most famous miracles of the Old Testament took place. More than 3000 years have passed since Moses led two million Israelites across the Red Sea and out of the bondage of Egypt. Christians, Jews, and Muslims throughout the world still embrace the accounts of this remarkable event. It is an epic that so fascinated Hollywood director Cecil B. DeMille that he made THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, twice. Now THE EXODUS REVEALED follows the footsteps of the children of Israel in an unforgettable journey of discovery. A journey that reveals physical evidence for the Exodus including: the remains of 3800 year old Hebrew settlements in Egypt's Nile Delta; Egyptian records of the Israelites bondage under Pharaoh; the precise route they may have followed to freedom; their crossing site on the shore of the Red Sea; and the location of Mt. Sinai. THE EXODUS REVEALED brings to light the first significant archaeological "find" of the 21st century.

Visions Cinema: Film as a Way of Life: Hong Kong Cinema - A Report by Tony Rayns

June 1983 •English

Examines the early 1980s Hong Kong filmmaking community. Tony Rayns interviews some of the new generation of filmmakers and figures from the wider film culture.

Pompeii: The New Revelations

February 2020 •English

Archaeologist Raksha Dave and historian Dan Snow return to Pompeii to gain special access to a variety of new excavations, including two never-before-seen discoveries.

La Grotte Cosquer, un chef-d'œuvre en sursis

June 2022 •French

A short distance from Marseille, at Cape Morgiou, in the depths of the Calanques massif, lies the Cosquer cave, discovered only about thirty years ago by a diver, Henri Cosquer. With its bestiary of hundreds of paintings and engravings - horses, bison, jellyfish, penguins - the only underwater decorated cave in the world allows us to learn a little more about Mediterranean societies 30,000 years ago. Today, threatened by rising water levels accelerated by global warming, this jewel of the Upper Paleolithic is in danger of being swallowed up. To save the cave from disappearing, the Ministry of Culture has chosen to digitize it. From this virtual duplicate, a replica has been made on the surface to offer the public a reconstruction that allows them to admire these masterpieces.

Ta'ang

March 2016 •Burmese

The Ta'ang or Palaung people, an ethnic minority living in the mountainous area between Myanmar's Kokang region and China's Yunnan province, have historically suffered many forced migrations due to war. When their survival is threatened again in 2015, thousands of them flee across the border. Filmmaker Wang Bing accompanies them and becomes a privileged witness to a human story that is both a modern reportage and a mythical epic.

Archäologie 2.0 – Mit Hightech auf Spurensuche

June 2017 •German

Ancient Armageddon

June 2023 •English

This explores the mysterious and catastrophic collapse of ancient civilizations during the late Bronze Age, from the Hittites to the Mycenaeans and the Egyptians, revealing the tumultuous events that brought an end to a thriving era of human history, and warns we may be facing similar threats today.