The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance

The Lenz Papers

Four-part german limited serial about the baden revolution in 1848 and 1849.

Donatello: Renaissance Genius

Portrait of the Italian sculptor Donatello (1386-1466), a precursor of the High Renaissance who considerably influenced sculptural art with his innovative way of conceiving space. Donatello is already a legend in his own lifetime. The sculptor is the forefather of the High Renaissance and pioneer for artists such as Raphael or Michelangelo. His bronze sculpture of the "David" or the "Pazzi Madonna" in marble are icons of art history and testify to his sculptural power of renewal.

Prince of Foxes

In 1500, Duke Cesare Borgia hopes to marry his sister to the heir apparent of Ferrara, which impedes his conquest of central Italy. On this delicate mission he sends Andrea Orsini, his sister's lover and nearly as unscrupulous as himself. En route, Orsini meets Camilla Verano, wife of the count of Citta' del Monte, and sentiment threatens to turn him against his deadly master, whom no one betrays twice...

Carlos

The story of Venezuelan revolutionary, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, who founded a worldwide terrorist organization and raided the OPEC headquarters in 1975 before being caught by the French police.

Nostradamus and the Queen

An elderly Catherine de Medici reflects back on how the prophecies of Nostradamus accurately predicted the fates of her husband, her three sons and herself.

Raffaello. Il mito e la modernità

The Private Life of Plants

David Attenborough takes us on a guided tour through the secret world of plants, to see things no unaided eye could witness. Each episode in this six-part series focuses on one of the critical stages through which every plant must pass if it is to survive:- travelling, growing, and flowering; struggling with one another; creating alliances with other organisms both plant and animal; and evolving complex ways of surviving in the earth's most ferociously hostile environments.

Catherine de Médicis

This film, in two parts, is considered a cultural work admirably embodied by Alice Sapritch. The TV movie focuses on the period of the late 16th century in France, ravaged by religious wars, and highlights the efforts of Catherine de Medici to defend the throne of her sons and maintain the unity of the kingdom. The role of Catherine de Medici in this TV movie is an interpretation that gives more humanity to this historical figure often presented in a negative light in history.

Barbados at the Races

Miniseries looking at Barbados through the lives of the island's horse racing community.

Keepers of the Kingdom

This documentary, produced in 2001, profiles the unique characters found at Texas Renaissance Faires. It screened at a few festivals and was accepted to screen at New Yorks' IFP (Independent Feature Project).

Radetzkymarsch

The story of the Trotta family during the rise and fall of the Austrian-Hungary empire. Based upon the novel by Joseph Roth.

The Conclave

In 1458, five years after the fall of Constantinople to the Turk, eighteen cardinals meet to elect a new pope. Rodrigo Borgia, a 27 year old cardinal learns to play a very dangerous game.

A Season of Giants

At the turn of the sixteenth century, Michelangelo (Mark Frankel), Raphael (Andrea Prodan), and Leonardo Da Vinci (John Glover) create their masterpieces, while dealing with religious persecution, political turmoil, and the discovery of America.

The Best of Youth

After a fateful encounter in the summer of 1966, the lifepaths of two brothers from a middle-class Roman family diverge, intersecting with some of the most significant events of postwar Italian history in the following decades.

Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire

Japan blossomed into its Renaissance at approximately the same time as Europe. Unlike the West, it flourished not through conquest and exploration, but by fierce and defiant isolation. And the man at the heart of this empire was Tokugawa Ieyasu, a warlord who ruled with absolute control. This period is explored through myriad voices-- the Shogun, the Samurai, the Geisha, the poet, the peasant and the Westerner who glimpsed into this secret world.

The Roman Empire in the First Century

Two thousand years ago, at the dawn of the first century, the ancient world was ruled by Rome. Through the experiences, memories and writings of the people who lived it, this series tells the story of that time - the emperors and slaves, poets and plebeians, who wrested order from chaos, built the most cosmopolitan society the world had ever seen and shaped the Roman empire in the first century A.D.

Orlando

With an original staging of text and music, Orlando follows the trail of one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance: Orlando di Lasso (also known as Roland de Lassus). His life and masterful oeuvre continue to move people to this day. Although he was a European star at the time, di Lasso had to endure the indignities of his social status as a servant. This documentary explores the relationship between art and power, musically accompanied by the ensemble La Tempête.

Prehistoric Park

A BBC miniseries about Nigel Marvin's quest to bring the extinct dinosaurs through time to Prehistoric Park.

Leonardo Da Vinci The Tragic Pursuit of Perfection

A portrait of the artist as a "sublime demon with the archangel's face", with an innovative musique concrète soundtrack.

December 20th

Set in December of 1917 after the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. Lenin and the communists are making every effort to strengthen their power. Lenin appoints Felix Dzerzhinsky the Commissar for Internal Affairs and the head of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage (CheKa). It became the predecessor of GPU and KGB.