Shinto: Nature, Gods, and Man in Japan

A documentary tracing the development of Shinto to the present day. Explores ancient ritual sites that are still used today, as well as major shrines and great works of Shinto religious art.

The Minoans

The mysterious island of Crete has always loomed large in imagination, as the home of the Minotaur -- that monstrous creature, half-man half-bull -- imprisoned in Daedalus' labyrinth. Before Crete collapsed in fire and violence, it gave birth to Europe's first civilization nearly 5,000 years ago, and boasted an advanced, prosperous Mediterranean civilization with hinged doors, flush toilets, and magnificent palaces. How did the Minoans live, and what brought this great society to such a sudden, obscure end? Modern archeology offers new insights into the everyday life in Minoan culture, and tantalizing clues about its tragic destiny.

Congo: A Journey to the Heart of Africa

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a vast, mineral rich country the size of Western Europe. Alastair Leithead takes an epic journey from the Atlantic Ocean to the far reaches of the Congo river to explore how history has shaped the Congo of today and uncover the lesser told stories of this beautiful, if troubled country. In the largest rainforest outside of the Amazon he comes face to face with its gorillas and hunts with pygmies, he travels into the heart of the Ebola outbreak with United Nations peacekeepers, and explores the cobalt mines which will drive our electric cars of the future.

Bloodlines: The Dracula Family Tree

Almost 30 years ago, two scholars from Boston revealed the historical truth behind the legendary vampire known as Dracula. For the first time, their 15-year research demonstrated the link between Bram Stoker's infamous vampire and a 15th century prince named Vlad Tepes, or "Vlad the Impaler."

Ägypten - Das Grab der heiligen Stiere

On the mythical site of Saqqara, the Apis bulls were buried for more than a thousand years in the immense underground necropolis of the Serapheum. Discovered in 1850 by the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, this place shelters a treasure of which a part is preserved in the Louvre. The collapse of the ceiling of one of the galleries had however prevented the archaeologist from venturing into the entire necropolis. More than 170 years later, the museum's Egyptologists are continuing the work of their famous predecessor. Investigating the cult of the Apis bull and the mysterious rituals that surrounded it, the team is especially looking for access to the unexplored parts, which have at least eight burial chambers, with the hope of finding intact tombs.

Egypt: The Treasure Of The Sacred Bulls

This documentary follows a team of archaeologists, mandated by the Louvre Museum, as they pick up where Egyptologist Auguste Mariette left-off with his discovery of the Serapeum tomb of the bull of Apis - one of the most sacred places in Saqqara, Egypt, in 1850. Mariette also managed to map out a network of underground tunnels leading to other burial sites that he did not have time to uncover. With exclusive access, we follow a team of archaeologists continue the research of Mariette.

Paris on the Seine

A history of the bridges of Paris, through modern views and historical engravings.

Specters of Watch Oak

Mariners Marsh, Bloomfield, Watchogue, Old Place. History, mythology, nature, anthropogenic industry, and digitally-demarcated landscape collide in the salt meadows and brownfield beaches of northwestern Staten Island. A human-haunted nature film. All stories are ghost stories. Narration drawn from the writings of Staten Island's preeminent historian, naturalist, and mythographer William T. Davis (1862 - 1945).

The Samurai's Footsteps

A group of residents from Coria del Rio uncover a key figure in their town's history -- a samurai on a quest for redemption.

Imjin War - Japanese Invasion of Korea 1592-1598

Kings and Generals animated historical documentary series on the history of Japan continues with an episode episode on the Imjin War - the Japanese Invasion of Korea between 1592 and 1598, during which the armies of the Shogunate fought against the allied Korean and Chinese armies. This conflict is famous for many dramatic battles and sieges, and the naval heroics of the Korean admiral Yi Sun-sin.

Fumiko Hayashida: The Woman Behind the Symbol

Fumiko Hayashida: The Woman Behind the Symbol is both a historical portrait of Fumiko, her family and the Bainbridge Island Japanese American community in the decades before World War II as well as a contemporary story which follows 97-year old Fumi and her daughter Natalie as they return to the site of the former Minidoka internment camp, their first trip back together in 63 years. The film reveals how the iconic photograph became the impetus for Fumiko to publicly lobby against the injustices of the past.

Zwei Leben für Europa

The Man Who Drank the Universe

It is late 2004, and 34-year-old Englishman Alistair Appleton is about to fly from London to the Brazilian coast, where he will drink ayahuasca for the first time. With wit, insight, and sensitivity, Alistair shares this experience with us, and chats with some fellow participants before and after the ayahuasca ceremonies. For the past few years, Alistair had been working as a television presenter. In 2000, he started making trips to the Centre for World Peace and Health in Scotland to learn how to meditate. When clinical psychologist Silvia Polivoy opened an ayahuasca healing center in Bahia in 2004, Alistair faced his fears and seized the opportunity to attend.

The Medicine of Forgiveness

Benito Arévalo is an onaya: a traditional healer in a Shipibo-Konibo community in Peruvian Amazonia. He explains something of the onaya tradition, and how he came to drink the plant medicine ayahuasca under his father's tutelage. Arévalo leads an ayahuasca ceremony for Westerners, and shares with us something of his understanding of the plants and the onaya tradition.

L'Iboga: Les Hommes du bois sacré

A documentary about iboga, a medicinal tree root that is the basis of the bwiti religion in Gabon.

Thylacine Film

The original film of the Tasmanian tiger (also known as the thylacine) was shot by Australian zoologist David Fleay in 1933 on black-and-white film. Recently, this historic footage has been colorized and digitized by a team of international experts. You can watch the remastered footage of the last-known surviving Tasmanian tiger here. The thylacine, which resembled a medium-to-large-sized canid, had dark transverse stripes radiating from the top of its back. Sadly, the last known thylacine died in 1936 at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.