Untold History TVPUK
A journey back in time to our origins by following the trail of a team of scientists in the heart of the Namibian Bush! The objective of the Human Origins in Namibia mission is to have Namibia recognized as “the cradle of humanity” in the same way as South Africa. To do this, new fossils must be found
Answering the decades-old mystery of who really assassinated President John F. Kennedy this explosive documentary features a shocking confession from James Files, the man who claims to be the killer. The film presents compelling forensic and eyewitness evidence, previously unavailable to the public, supporting Files’ contention that he, and not Lee Harvey Oswald, fired the fatal shot at America’s 35th president.
It is the world’s most mysterious manuscript. A book, written by an unknown author, illustrated with pictures that are as bizarre as they are puzzling – and written in a language that even the best cryptographers have been unable to decode. No wonder then, that this script even has a part in Dan Brown’s latest bestseller, "The Lost Symbol". The Voynich Manuscript has captivated academics and occultists in equal measure since its discovery 100 years ago.
Caped avengers determined to defend the poor. Searching for Beati Paoli follows the tale of a mysterious sect in early 1700’s Palermo. This group was comprised of regular people whose mission it was to protect the lower classes from abuses of Nobles. A journey through the underground reveals their means, motives, and haunts. Various opinions will tell if they were real or just a great author’s creation.
7000 years ago, the men who populated the shores of the Atlantic erected thousands of stones on which they engraved signs, long remained mysterious. An international team of researchers led by the anthropologist and archaeologist Serge Cassen (CNRS) managed to decipher this original symbolic language.
Alfred Greven is still today an unsolved mystery for everyone. Who was this head of the Continental films, a French movie studio founded with Third-Reich money whose mission was one of propaganda but who ended up producing the most subversive masterpieces of French Cinema? Greven’s intentional disappearance after the war and his silence until his death in 1973 maintain a certain mystery around this elusive historical figure.
What’s the process of retrieving a sunken ship and preparing it for display in a museum? How do archaeologists work underwater? One of the biggest wrecks ever discovered in Spain was the ‘Triunfante’, sunk during a French siege in 1795. We follow the process from its discovery to its display in a museum and learn what makes this ship so special.
The Tokyo Trial – or the "International Military Tribunal for the Far East" - had been convened in 1946 to prosecute the leaders of the Empire of Japan for war crimes. It was to be the Nuremberg trial of the Far East, decided upon by the Allies to avenge decades of misery and death. But it would prove to be divisive from the start, the more so, since each of the judges represented one of the nations which had been at war with Japan.
On the walls of their caves, 17,000 years ago, the men of Cro-Magnon traced the first history of the sky and its stars. If Lascaux, the prehistoric Sistine Chapel, was first and foremost a temple dedicated to the celestial constellations. Crazy? Yet this is the demonstration that Chantal Jègues-Wolkiewiez, an ethnologist and astronomer, attempts. Between a police investigation and an astronomical tale, this film plunges us into the mists of time.
The astonishing, little-known story of men, women and children who were exhibited alongside animals in Europe, America and Japan from the second half of the XIXth century until WWII: an international story from a pre-globalization era concerning the most diverse populations from every continent.
The incredible giant iron skeletons that populate amusement parks defy the laws of physics for millions of passengers each year across the globe.Starting with the first attractions in Russia 4 centuries ago, this documentary traces the historical and technological evolution of these “terror tracks”, which are constantly evolving in order to generate new and extreme levels of excitement.
Civilian suffering and shortages didn’t stop as through by magic with the end of the war in 1945: the reconstruction process took many years to complete.In Caen, one of the cities worst affected by bombing, wartime and post-war children look back on a time of hardship, but also of hope and solidarity.
Princes of the Yen reveals how post-war Japanese society was transformed to suit the agenda of powerful interest groups, and how citizens were kept entirely in the dark about this. History is now repeating itself around the world.
Cold War Peacemaker is the amazing and unique story of the development of the B-36 very-long-long-range nuclear bomber. From its beginnings during WWII, through construction in a former wild-west cattle town and deployment into the Cold War, the story of the Convair B-36 and how it intimidated the Soviet Union is a fascinating study in politics and technology.
In 2014 Europe remembered the outbreak of the First World War. The fateful war, which raged for four years and cost 12 million lives, began a century ago in 1914. The catalyst of the disaster was the murder of the Austrian successor to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sophie on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo. This astonishing documentary conveys the dramatic events on the eve of the First World War.
On the 29th of August 1949, the USSR set off their first atomic bomb, just four years after the Americans. The speed with which they achieved this surprised the world. What nobody knew was that it was the result of espionage implemented at the heart of the United States. Stalin was able to obtain all the nuclear discoveries made by scientists who worked on the famous Manhattan Plan. At the centre of the operation was a very unusual female spy, Elizabeth Zaroubin.
In 19th century Germany, the Order of the Teutonic Knights had a romantic image and Prussia, their territory, had the allure of the land of heroes. So much so, that Hitler had been tempted to use their “image” as the symbol of national identity; their discipline and fighting spirit as the model for a conquerors’ mentality. But who really were the Teutonic Knights? This docu-drama sheds a new light on the fate of the order in the 13th and 14th century.
In 2014 the breathtaking landing of the Rosetta Mission on a comet unveils most secrets about our existence and the genesis of the solar system. After a 10-year-journey straight across the universe the space probe "Rosetta" finally landed its robot Philae" on the comet Tschurjumov-Gerassimenko. With his major mission scientists anticipate to get ong-desired information about our existence and the sun system‘s evolution.
500 years after it was built, this film tells a new story of the Castle of Chambord, showing the recent discoveries of two historians and revealing the secret codes hidden in the whole building.
On April 30, 1945, while the Russian Army surrounded Berlin, Hitler committed suicide in his bunker. His body was discovered a few days later by the Soviets. He would be positively identified after a top secret inquest in which Hitler's personal dentist would play a central role. And yet, at the same time, Stalin publicly declared that his army was unable to find the Führer's body, choosing to let the wildest rumors develop and going so far as to accuse some of his Allies.
The young Soviet Union ushered in an era of sexual freedom: out with bourgeois conventions! But in the ensuing social chaos, the regime soon operated a U-turn, exalting the virtues of toiling for the glory of communism. Sexual activity had been relegated to its strict reproductive function. 70 years of communist rule through the prism of sexuality!
Two extraordinary human destinies, caught up in the implacable political machinery of the burgeoning Soviet Union of the 1920s, prey to famine. Based on hitherto unreleased archives, this incredible scientific controversy takes on its full significance at a time when the whole world is wondering how on Earth it can feed the people of tomorrow.
In 2014 Europe remembered the outbreak of the First World War. The fateful war, which raged for four years and cost 12 million lives, began a century ago in 1914. The catalyst of the disaster was the murder of the Austrian successor to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sophie on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo. This astonishing documentary conveys the dramatic events on the eve of the First World War.
In 2005, an Italian, Massimo De Caro, succeeded in deceiving the rare-book world by offering for sale a remarkable copy of "Siderius Nuncius" signed by Galileo himself, dating from 1610 and containing four watercolours of the moon painted by the astronomer. The "Sidereus Nuncius" or "Starry Messenger" is certainly Gallileo’s most important work and a scientific revolution for the time.
In the 1970s, a hit soap opera broadcast on the leading Russian state channel, "17 Moments of Spring", served up Soviet propaganda during the Cold War. Stierlitz, the hero of the series, became incredibly famous in Russia and was the antithesis of James Bond, who promoted Western values.
Where do the soul-searching images of the First World War come from? Not merely telling the war, but seeing it, showing it in flesh and blood: this is what graphic novels offer us today. Exploring archives and history, the authors in this program converse with the depth of Time. They make First World War live again in our imagination: their drawings are more than strokes. These major artists have made the War the main subject of their graphic tales.
This documentary film tells the saga of Thell, a 28-year-old Cambodian, snatched from her home by the Khmer Rouge, and a survivor of the Cambodian genocide (1975-1979).The director uses the camera and a pencil to redraw these fragments of history, resurrecting them to recount the horrors endured and to fly the flag of freedom.
The history of the fishermen, from the open sea to the coasts of France, has never been written. From the post-war period (1945) to the present day, this film tells the story of French sailors. Their lives at sea, but also on land. Their passion, their loneliness, the dramas too, sometimes. This film is also the portrait of a profession that has suffered and still suffers from its brutal transformations over the years.
Part 1 : The Jesuits Conquering the Forbidden City. Matteo Ricci, a young Jesuit would be the first European to enter China at the end of the 16th century. Trained in geometry and algebra, he would soon discover that cosmology and the art of measuring time was at the very centre of Chinese civilization and imperial authority, the Emperor’s Mandate of Heaven.
Part 2 : The Trial of the Jesuits. Matteo Ricci, a young Jesuit would be the first European to enter China at the end of the 16th century. Trained in geometry and algebra, he would soon discover that cosmology and the art of measuring time was at the very centre of Chinese civilization and imperial authority, the Emperor’s Mandate of Heaven.
In the harsh winter of 324, a dazzling cavalry officer from the Roman Imperial Guard stop his horse in front of a nearly naked man, then take from his shoulders his immense white cloak, made from two pieces of fabric, one lined with sheepskin, and separate the two parts with his sword to make the unfortunate wretch warm. His charitable gesture contains all the force of this emblematic character from the dawn of Western Christianity.
Mary Magdalene, the faithful disciple of Jesus. She is one of the most important female figures in the Bible, resigned for centuries to the role of a repentant prostitute. According to an ancient tradition she died in France
If the sources related to the mysteries and the history of Jerusalem are essentially based on the Bible and on archaeological discoveries with controversial interpretations, there is a kind of established unity between the mythological beginnings and the historical times. In this film, we revisit mysteries while bringing new informations.
In the heart of Sudan lays an ancient Egyptian royal city deep in the sand. Under the lead of archaeologist and Egyptologist Michel Baud, an international team has been granted the exceptional authorization to dig the area. Through modern and traditional archaeological tools, they unveil the little known times of the Black Pharaohs.
This documentary deals with the Moche culture, which developed on the northern coast of Peru, between 100 BC and 600 AC. It is a fairly unknown culture that disappeared after reaching its peak. A Great Lord who governed and was buried with great honors, so that his message would endure in time, and a man, an archaeologist named Walter Alva, who rescued him from his tomb to fulfill his plan of the past. Today, everyone has heard of the Moches, thanks to the last discoveries.
The Lady of Cao is the first female ruler of pre-Columbian Peru to be discovered. She is believed to have governed in the Chicama valley, very close to the city of Trujillo, about 1700 years ago. The discovery of her tomb in 2006 was a major breakthrough in all previous theories about the Moche civilization. Through historical recreations, we will learn how the Moche society of the area was like and the importance of this mysterious tattooed mommy in her times.
