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In this second of five episodes, Welsh host and wildlife expert Iolo Williams investigates the breeding and nesting behavior of birds. We watch great crested grebes make a spectacular courtship display at a reservoir near Pontypool; hen harriers perform an impressive sky dance in the dramatic Cambrian Mountains; and nuthatches use mud-like cement to prepare a nest in a woodland near Harlech. Williams then explores why long-tailed tits near Newtown...
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High in the mountains of northern Thailand, Meeh Neh and her fellow spirit women of the Akha hill tribe struggle to preserve their religion and culture. The Thai government, allied with missionaries of the Chinese Baptist Church, is determined to move the Akha out of their ancestral homes into the valley below-thereby separating them from their old ways, including their traditional faith. This means spiritual death for the tribe. As their link with...
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In an ordinary building in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, something extraordinary is happening. Men and women begin dropping to the floor, writhing, and speaking in tongues. Christian believers all, they have come here in search of healing. Welcome to the headquarters of Global Awakening Ministries, where pastor Randy Clark claims that secular society and mainline churches have denied North Americans the power of the supernatural. Clark is part of a...
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The very nature of Jewish identity is changing in the 21st century. In Israel, only a fifth of the population is religiously observant, but Orthodox Jews wield significant cultural and political power. In North America, many Jews have embraced a secular, humanistic form of Judaism, with nearly half marrying outside the faith. We meet a New York fashion designer who is bringing Jewish symbolism to a new audience, with provocative clothes influenced...
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In this fourth of five episodes, Welsh host and wildlife expert Iolo Williams explores how birds have adapted to living alongside humans, making use of our buildings, parks, gardens, and even the waste we throw away. When we think of notorious urban birds in Wales, we think especially of the gulls. Williams explains why these highly adaptable and intelligent birds are doing so well in Cardiff.
6) Valentino
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We are used to the idea of the celebrity designer-thanks, largely, to Valentino Garavani, who is arguably the prototype. A ruler in the world of fashion for decades, he became entirely identified with the lifestyle of his rich and famous clientele to the point where the women he dressed-Jackie O and Elizabeth Taylor, to name only two-became known as "Val's Gals." This program offers a retrospective of the life and career of the ineffably chic fashion...
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Sex and celebrity, sacrilege and excess, trash, flash, and glamour drizzled with drama, scandal, and contradiction. It has all worked wonders for Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, and the celebration of all things wild and wonderful has not only made them multimillionaires - it has also turned them into fashion figureheads for 21st-century Italy. This program introduces viewers to the irreverent and irresistible Dolce & Gabbana.
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In this episode, we venture into the Siberian wilderness to meet Jesus. Sergei Torop proclaimed himself to be "Vissarion," the son of God, in 1989. He now rules over a large swath of the Siberian mountains, commanding a flock of thousands. His followers are engineers, scientists, artists, and other intellectuals from all over Europe. They have chosen to join him in an agrarian-style community, living on strict vegan diets-and on prayer.
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In this last of five episodes, Welsh host and wildlife expert Iolo Williams explores the ability of birds to fly, the intricate structure of their beaks, and the way their camouflage enables them to live in the many diverse habitats of Wales. Using ultra-slow-motion photography, Williams reveals the precise control that garden birds have over takeoff and landing. He also explains why fulmars are one of the country's most supreme fliers.
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As one of the brightest stars on the British fashion scene, the late Alexander McQueen pushed the limits of what's possible while sparking a good deal of controversy along the way. During the early years, his provocative shows were confrontational enough to qualify as performance art, but underneath the showmanship McQueen was a master technician with an imagination that catapulted his career from the raw edginess of London to the aristocratic atelier...
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The fate of Jerusalem's Temple Mount, a site holy both to Jews and Muslims, is at the very heart of the Middle East conflict-perhaps the world's most important unresolved religious dispute. A billion Muslims will not rest until the site is under Islamic sovereignty. For Jews in Israel and around the world, however, it is part of their historic capital, never to be surrendered. Can anything short of divine intervention settle the issue? In this final...
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Demoralized and in decline, the Catholic Church in North America faces growing challenges. In this episode, we meet some of those who are working, in different ways, to ensure its future. Father Paul McNeil, a rural parish priest is coping with the stresses created by a shortage of clergy. Father Randy Hendricks, a Toronto priest reflects on the struggle with celibacy and loneliness. And Monica Kilburn-Smith, a Calgary chaplain, has risked excommunication...
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Ethiopia has maintained its Christian identity for more than sixteen centuries. With neighboring Somalia dominated by Islamic militants, Ethiopia has also become a key ally in the West's battle to contain al Qaeda. Father Mariam Taye, a high priest of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, offers viewers a rare glimpse of a Christianity that is still practiced much as it was nearly 2,000 years ago. Christian faith serves as a lifeline for the impoverished...
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I've got nothing to offer as a personality, insists Peter Sellers in this fascinating and surprisingly guileless 1960 conversation. Even today Sellers' assertion will strike some viewers as odd, given his obvious comic talents and the virtuosity of his many performances. But Sellers goes on to draw a distinction between a character actor and a genuine movie star, saying that the latter tends to let his or her natural inner self shape a role, while...
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One in four South Africans is HIV-positive. Most are unable to find work and are trapped in a spiral of poverty and despair. Reverend Sephopo J. Sephopo's Methodist church in Soweto has become a beacon of hope for the desperately needy. Rev. Sephopo has enlisted volunteers from his congregation to create small businesses that give HIV sufferers the chance to earn a living. Meanwhile, his wife, Martha, fights for the safety and rights of underprivileged...
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He revolutionized the thriller genre and inspired waves of subsequent filmmakers. He made movies designed for maximum commercial appeal but imbued them with intelligence, a subtle wit, and a profound knowledge of the human condition. In this 1964 interview, Alfred Hitchcock discusses the impact of horror films on society and human behavior while exploring the building blocks of cinematic storytelling-for example, analyzing Arbogast's death in Psycho...
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After directing Citizen Kane in his mid 20s, Orson Welles spent the next two decades involved in a dazzling variety of projects while struggling to control his own artistic destiny. By 1960, when this interview was filmed, the early promise of Welles' youth had transmuted into an oeuvre marked by scattered interests and problematic choices. Nevertheless, his creative fires were far from extinguished. Here viewers will find plenty of commentary from...
19) Women in Islam
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Throughout the Islamic world, growing numbers of women are demanding education and equal opportunities-a stance that sometimes places them in conflict with their societies. In this episode, we look at the experiences of Muslim women in Turkey, where the traditional headscarf has become a symbol of the country's struggle between the forces of secularism and religion. In Israel, activists are fighting to stop honor killings in the country's Muslim communities....
20) Dawn Chorus
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In this first of five episodes, Welsh host and wildlife expert Iolo Williams investigates how and why birds communicate. He first looks at the reasons that snipe use their tail feathers to make a very distinctive sound. Then in Aberystwyth he considers what's happening when thousands of starlings participate in dazzling aerial displays.