Summary: In this program, art critic Waldemar Januszczak travels through the heart of the Middle East and beyond to study a wide range of Islamic architecture, decoration, and art objects. Providing helpful historical background on the faith-with an eye on the explosive spread of early Islamic culture-the program examines the pristine beauty of India's Taj Mahal as well as one of the world's oldest...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Continuing his trek across the Muslim world, art scholar Waldemar Januszczak introduces viewers to masterworks in Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia-from the gigantic and surreal mud mosques of Mali; to a rare, 10th-century Egyptian ewer carved out of a single piece of rock crystal; to the inspired urban planning of the ancient city of Isfahan in Iran; to the stunning architecture of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: London's Victoria and Albert Museum contains one of the finest collections of Islamic art in Europe or America. It is housed in the V&A's recently constructed Jameel Gallery-a facility designed to increase awareness and appreciation of Islamic art. This program highlights the beauty and complexity of the Jameel collection; it also enables viewers to closely examine individual pieces-including...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: In 1940, Hitler's archaeologists excavated sites in Poland to try to prove that Germans had lived there before the Poles-an anthropological justification for political aggression and military invasion. This program explores the use of archaeology as a tool for propaganda and diplomatic machination by focusing on the long-standing connections between Germany and Greece. The program also looks at...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: In the last 250 years, archaeologists have changed the basic understanding of time and human existence. This program looks at the birth of modern archaeology, an event that stirred all of Europe's imagination: the unearthing of the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the 18th century, buried since Roman times under volcanic ash. It follows the early excavations of Pitt Rivers in Egypt and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Under Muslim rule, Spain became the most advanced, wealthy, and populous country in Europe, with great leaps forward in art, architecture, and many other fields. In this program, art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon travels from Cordoba to Seville and on to Granada as he tells the story of art in Islamic and medieval Spain. Richly designed and decorated buildings such as the Great Mosque in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: War in Palestine: Palestinian Arabs fighting (part 1)
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1946
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Summary: Islamic movements throughout the Muslim world are demanding an Islamic state. What is an Islamic state? What is its relationship to the people, and how democratic can it be? In this program, Dr. Hassan Turabi, widely regarded as the architect of the Sudanese Islamic state, describes the ideal Islamic state and its ideology; he also discusses the issues of human rights, women's rights, and the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: War in Palestine: Palestinian Arabs fighting (part 2)
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1946
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Summary: Seen as the spiritual head of the Hezbollah, Sayed Fadlallah-a leading political figure in the Lebanese Islamic Movement-gives his views of Jihad or Holy War, its rules, its origins, and the role of terror in such a war. The program also examines how Muslim thinkers see the role of war and violence in the contemporary world, and why some feel the need to wage a Holy War.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: In this program, Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia's Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister, explains his government's approach to multiculturalism within Islam. Although Malaysia is a multicultural and multireligious society, the official religion is Islam. Drawing examples from Islamic history, Anwar Ibrahim argues for a tolerant and pluralistic approach to Islam. He also explores issues of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: By replacing paganism with monotheism and tribal life with empire-building, the Arabs of the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties effected a complete paradigm shift in their worldview. This program studies the codification of Islamic law and assimilation of non-Arab texts-and the ensuing competition between the ulema, or doctors of the law, and the philosophers, who saw reason as an equal to divine...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: The Koran strictly forbids charging, earning, or incurring interest-a tenet that has kept the Islamic world from fully participating in global financial systems. But, thanks to a range of innovations, the ban is now seen as a building block in many of Asia's emerging economies. Visiting bustling commerce centers in Malaysia and Bangladesh, this program reports on the growing significance of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: What is a fatwa? Who is qualified to issue one? What is the role of traditional scholars in the Muslim world today? Egypt today is a battleground between liberal and radical Muslims, as the secular state and traditional scholars are being challenged by more militant forces. In this program, Sheikh Syed Tautavi, Mufti of Egypt, explores these and other vital questions that underlie current...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Jewish-Arab unrest in Palestine
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1947
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Summary: Jews and Arabs suffer casualties as fighting develops in Palestine
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1948
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Summary: Transjordan-the Oultrejordain of Crusader times, known to the ancients as Edom and Moab-is steeped in biblical history. In this program, archaeologists Fawzi Zayadine, Mohammed Waheeb, and Carmelo Pappalardo attempt to match up biblical events with the terrain where it is said that they occurred. The refuge of Lot, the trail of the Exodus, the place of Jesus' baptism, Moses' vantage point on...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Arab-Jewish conflict in Palestine
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1948
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Summary: Archaeology was born of treasure-seeking, but it became the stimulus for rampant pillaging of antiquities in the 18th and 19th centuries. This program charts the escalation of archaeological acquisition from gentlemanly passion to national plunder, from Lord Elgin and the marble friezes of the Parthenon to Richard Lepsius and his Egyptian collection that took sixty barges to transport to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: Exploring a clash between sacred customs and contemporary athletic aspirations, this program follows an Iranian women's soccer team daring to push traditional limits and pursue victories both on and off the field. Interviews with players and their families are combined with commentary by supporters of the sport as well as cultural leaders in the wider region who convey various opinions about...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: The mosque's minaret: alongside the dome, there is no more familiar symbol of a Muslim place of worship. But not all mosques have minarets-or even domes. This video describes the evolution of the mosque, or masjid, over time and across cultures by using the mosque at Cordoba, Spain; the Friday Mosque in Isfahan, Iran; and many others from around the world as examples. Common elements like...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: United Nations hearing on the issue of Palestine both Jewish and Arab views are presented
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1947
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Summary: From the executive producers of Super Size Me and Director Sara Sackner, this program examines the deplorable atrophy of arts education in America's classrooms by contrasting the crisis with the story of one very dedicated, inspiring high school drama teacher: Jay W. Jensen, who over a 50-year career touched the lives of many with the transformational power of the arts. Renowned pupils-actor...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program considers the debt Western civilization owes to paganism, Christianity, and Islam, showing how each religion has influenced the other and how the art of all three continues to exert an effect on the world. Highlighting the lifelike sculptures of ancient Greece that celebrate what it is to be human; the primitive daubs in Roman catacombs, shimmering Byzantine mosaics, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009