The Dictator's Playbook

Mussolini: The First Fascist

December 2025 •French

Mussolini seized power in Italy in 1922, after his March on Rome. He would hold it in his grasp until his death in 1945, establishing a dictatorship that lasted more than 20 years. Long considered a buffoon and a second-rate dictator, Il Duce invented fascism that was imitated by Hitler, who viewed the Italian as his political master. He wanted to transform his country into a warrior nation and promised Italians a return to the grandeur of the Roman Empire. He governed by violence and trickery and was one of the first populist leaders of modern times, leading his country into the catastrophe of the World War II. But who was Mussolini, this former teacher who came from the extreme left to become a newspaper editor and creator of the Fascist Party? Why did he ally himself with Hitler? Were the Italians really behind him? With archives and interviews with the last-surviving witnesses of the era, this portrait takes a look back at one of the most notorious dictators of the 20th century.

Plots of Freedom – The Cry of Samba for Democracy

December 2025 •Portuguese

Enredos da Liberdade – O Grito do Samba Pela Democracia is a Brazilian documentary series available on Globoplay that delves into the pivotal role of samba schools during Brazil's transition from military dictatorship to democracy in the 1980s. Spanning five episodes, the series showcases how samba-enredo compositions became powerful tools of political resistance, addressing themes like censorship, economic hardship, and racial inequality. Through rare archival footage and interviews with prominent figures such as Martinho da Vila, Leci Brandão, and Rosa Magalhães, the documentary highlights the creative defiance of these cultural institutions. Each episode concludes with a reimagined performance of a significant samba, featuring artists like Teresa Cristina and Mart’nália, underscoring the enduring impact of these musical expressions in Brazil's democratic journey.

How to Become a Tyrant

December 2025 •English

The documentary series explores different political figures throughout history.

Despot Housewives

December 2025 •French

Verbotenes Begehren

December 2025 •German

Diktaturet

December 2025 •Norwegian

Tehran Confidential

December 2025 •French

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or IRGC is the protector of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the military arm of the Supreme Leader. Also known as the Pasdaran, this deep-state mafia comprising 120,000 men has extensive powers, ensuring bloody repression of the people. No strangers to smuggling and trafficking, the IRGC’s economic empire is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The Supreme Leader Khomeini has allowed the organization to infiltrate the state and its members are now mayors, members of parliament and ministers, cultivating their networks at the highest levels. The IRGC is responsible for Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and cultivates not only the art of deterrence, but also a strategy of asymmetrical warfare via the militias and terrorist organizations they finance, arm, and control across the Middle East.

PRI: Crónica del Fin

December 2025 •Spanish

In the past, there was only one path to success in Mexican politics: the path of the PRI. But the PRI is not just a political party; it is the institution that shaped Mexico's public and political behavior. It survived armed uprisings, student movements, economic crises, electoral defeats, and corruption scandals, but it was arrogance, corruption, inconsistency, and abuse of power that ultimately brought it down.

Evolution of Evil

December 2025 •English

Inside the minds of the heartless, corrupt, and cruel individuals who've seized control of their country through the infliction of appalling pain on their fellow man. From Kim Jong-il, to Osama Bin Laden, to Hitler, uncover the madness behind the merciless dictators responsible for unimaginable human atrocities that still haunt the world.

Inside North Korea's Dynasty

December 2025 •English

The Kim family's dark and surreal story provides a fresh perspective on North Korea.

Stalin

December 2025 •English

Three years in the making, this comprehensive study of the Soviet dictator blends documentary footage and interviews with experts and surviving witnesses.

Freedom

December 2025 •English

Freedom is a short-lived 2000 American science fiction television show on the UPN network. There were 12 episodes filmed but only 7 were aired in the US. Some episodes were further aired internationally, and the full series is still occasionally broadcast in Brazil.

Tyrant

December 2025 •English

The story of an unassuming American family drawn into the workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation. Bassam "Barry" Al Fayeed, the younger son of the dictator of a war-torn nation, ends a self-imposed 20-year exile to return to his homeland, accompanied by his American wife and children, for his nephew's wedding. Barry’s reluctant homecoming leads to a dramatic clash of cultures as he is thrown back into the familial and national politics of his youth.

Cuéntame cómo pasó

December 2025 •Spanish

Recounts the experiences of a middle-class family, the Alcántaras, during the last years of the rule of Francisco Franco and the beginning of the Spanish Transition to democracy.

Tell Me How It Happened

December 2025 •Portuguese

Television drama series which has been broadcast on RTP1 of Rádio e Televisão de Portugal from 2007 to 2011 and since 2019. It recounts the experiences of a middle-class family, the Lopes (Portuguese: Os Lopes), during the last years of the Estado Novo. In February 2019, RTP announced that the series, after eight years shelved, would be renewed, with the storyline moving firmly into the 1980s. The first episode of the sixth season was broadcast on 7 December 2019 with the Lopes entering 1984.

Victory or Death

December 2025 •Spanish

Under the regime of Augusto Pinochet in Chile, a group of young people declares war on the dictator. Their leaders are commanders Tamara and Rodrigo. Both leave behind their lives and families to fight against the dictatorship; together, they aim to change Chile and its history.

Julius Caesar

December 2025 •English

Twenty year-old Julius Caesar flees Rome for his life during the reign of Sulla but through skill and ambition rises four decades later to become Rome's supreme dictator.

Aquarela do Brasil

December 2025 •Portuguese

You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment

December 2025 •English

Identical twins change their diets and lifestyles for eight weeks in a unique scientific experiment designed to explore how certain foods impact the body.

Saddams danske gidsler

December 2025 •Danish