Summary: This program looks at the British Museum's extraordinary collection of Near Eastern antiquities from Sumer, Babylon, and Assyria, from 5000 BC to the 7th century AD. The Assyrian friezes, reliefs, and statuary provide a stark portrait of a brutal, efficient war machine on which depended the land of Nineveh and Nimrud. The camera also moves to the sites in Iraq where these and other excavations...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Starting from the collection of Roman art and artifacts in the British Museum, this program illustrates the many ways in which the Romans of the late republic and early empire are understandable to us through what they held dear and how they saw themselves. Cicero's letters describe (and coins portray) Caesar, Pompey, Brutus, Marc Antony, Cleopatra, and Augustus; the appearance of art in the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: Nairobi is home to a massive influx of immigrants, exiles and dreamers. This metropolis of skyscrapers and slums is the backdrop for an absorbing tale of two clashing worlds. Perhaps no one understands the fragile intersection between traditional and modern life better than Moses ole Samante. An ambitious young Maasai, he runs a successful safari business from Nairobi but works hard to maintain...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: South Africa is now the most powerful commercial center on the continent and attracts eager investors from around the globe. In Soweto, meet a woman who began life sleeping with six siblings on one blanket, selling corn to black commuters. Today, Nancy Nxumalo is one of the most influential businesspeople in this energetic, storied township. The former anti-apartheid activist symbolizes the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: Tiken Jah Fakoly is a star with a conscience. A hugely popular reggae singer from the Ivory Coast, he criticizes politicians through lyrics. As a result, he lives in exile in Mali. Unafraid of controversy, Fakoly believes that the real freedom Africans deserve will only start when education is accessible to all. Malian actress and social activist Fatoumata Coulibaly leads a campaign against...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: In Africa, as in so many other places, sports have traditionally been a man's world. And until recently, women entered at the risk of being scorned or laughed at. But Sahar El-Hawary and her female soccer team are no joke. She is the first women's referee in North Africa and also the first female member of the Egyptian Football Federation. She has put women's soccer on the map - not just in her...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: Marriages, they say, are supposed to last forever. Why then have courts and legislatures made it so much easier to get a divorce? How did they imagine it would help society? And have women and children really reaped the intended financial and social benefits? This program examines the state of divorce in America as it argues that the time has come for the pendulum of legislation to swing the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: The institution of marriage is facing strong challenges in the 21st century, as diversity and inclusivity continue to reshape its underlying principles. Supported by some and opposed by others, issues such as same-sex marriages and the raising of families outside of marriage are ongoing sources of debate. Can marriage evolve? This program focuses on the efforts of religion and society to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Topping a million per year, the number of divorces in the United States has tripled since 1960, and one in three babies in America today is being born to single parents. A growing body of evidence suggests that these trends are threatening the very fabric of society. Is it too late to infuse new life into a time-honored relationship? This program spotlights the efforts of those committed to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Like most living things, humans are programmed to die. Can science change that? This film examines mechanisms within our bodies that eventually wind down and stop, and shows how medicine may one day find a method for reversing the biological effects of time. Host Michio Kaku interviews Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Sir Paul Nurse, who has spent a lifetime analyzing cellular division and other...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: String field theory pioneer Michio Kaku hosts this fascinating look at the cosmic landscape and its relationship to time. The program examines time's curious behavior on a wide range of scales-from atomic nuclei, in which particles can appear to be in two places at once, to black holes, which warp the fabric of space and squeeze time until it stands still. Demonstrating that time travel is...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: In the 17th century, an Irish bishop judged the year of Earth's creation to be 4004 BC. Although laughable by modern scientific standards, James Ussher's calculation was among the first rigorous attempts to comprehend the vastness of geological history. This program opens a window into time frames that dwarf human life spans-evoking the insignificance of civilization in comparison to the age of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: What exactly is love? What are its biological underpinnings, and how have cultural definitions of that word, so heavily endowed with meaning, evolved? Beginning with the Sumerians and other ancient civilizations, this program seeks to understand love's social rituals and its interrelated physiological imperatives. Topics under consideration by anthropologist Helen Fisher of Rutgers University,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: What does it mean to die? Is death a form of transition to a higher plane, mere physical dissolution, or something else altogether? In this program, Robert J. Kastenbaum, Professor of Communication at Arizona State University; historian Michel Vovelle, of the Sorbonne; anthropologist Luce Des Aulniers; and clinical psychologist Marie-Frederique Bacque delve into the ways in which science and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Beginning about 500 BC, Greek artists and architects began working at an unprecedented level of sophistication, paralleling the rise of Athens as a Mediterranean power. This program illustrates the awakening of that classical Greek vision, from which emerged the most influential sculptures and buildings of Western culture. With detailed visual analysis of the Parthenon, its frieze in the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Far from disappearing after the Hellenistic age, Greek art flourished with the rise of Christianity and the Orthodox church. This program explores the development of icon painting, the influence of Greek artists on later European movements, and the advent of neoclassical architecture as a manifestation of an age-old cultural legacy. With historical context from the conversion of Constantine...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program studies cultural transformations that began in the fifth century BC as Greek art discarded religious functions and moved toward human-centered concerns. Views of Cycladic sculpture and Koiros statues demonstrate an evolving realism, leading to stunning examples of the idealized human figure: the Kritios boy, the Temple of Zeus pediments, Praxiteles' Hermes, and others. With...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: An institution supported by religious and civil authorities, marriage bestows both freedoms and restraints designed to promote social stability. But as divorce rates continue to soar, is marriage getting a bad name? In this program, author Sabine Da Costa and anthropologists Helen Fisher, of Rutgers University, and Peter Lovell, of the University of New Brunswick, track the development of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: From childhood on, biological and social factors combine to shape an individual's sexual identity. In this program, Ruben Gur, Professor of Neuropsychology at the University of Pennsylvania; sociologist Rhoda Reddock, of the University of the West Indies; philosopher Elisabeth Badinter; historians Arlette Farge and Jennifer Stoddart; and others evaluate gender-related behavioral models from a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program focuses on General Stilicho, who, as guardian of the young Emperor Honorius, became the de facto commander-in-chief of the Roman armies in the West.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: In the early years of his dental practice, Alaa Al Aswany had an office in Cairo's deteriorating Yacoubian Building-eventually turning his experiences there into a successful novel by the same title. This interview with the Egyptian author highlights his views on social issues affecting the Islamic world as well as his attitudes towards literature and the West. Guiding viewers through his...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: From prehistoric extended families to today's double-income and single-parent families, the family as an institution has undergone dramatic change. This program examines the concept of family as viewed around the world and down through time. Historians Andre Burguiere and Pieter Spierenburg; authors Beatrice Gottlieb and Helene Tremblay; Henri Leridon, of the Institute for Demographic Studies;...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: A novel is a "map of contradictions," says German-Austrian writer Daniel Kehlmann-an arena of clashing viewpoints, each with its own persuasive logic. This program presents an interview with Kehlmann in which he discusses his literary goals and his search for fertile soil in the dichotomous history of Western Europe. Specific topics include personal freedom, cultural and religious tolerance,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
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