Films for the Humanities & Sciences (Firm)

The Geneva Summit brings Dwight D. Eisenhower together with representatives of Britain, France, and the Soviet Union in an effort to reduce international tensions. Adlai Stevenson makes another presidential bid, covered in this episode of Year by Year.

Sifting through questions surrounding oppression and terrorism, Spanish essayist and philosopher Fernando Savater has often analyzed religious dogma-studying those who promote it and those who oppose it. This program documents Savater's views on the social and intellectual wellsprings of terrorism and militant fundamentalism, as well as the eternal conflict between science and religion. The author of Ethics for Amador and The Task of the Hero examines...

When Spain's army mutinied against the Second Republic in 1936, it marked the beginning of a bitter civil war that lasted three years and cost one million Spanish lives. In this program, respected authorities elaborate on the writings and personalities of those who captured this devastating period in poetry and prose. Dramatic readings include excerpts from Rafael Alberti's "Romancero General de la Guerra," Antonio Machado's "Muerte de un Niño Herido,"...

A passionate dissatisfaction with Spain's immediate past and a keen awareness of the need for a rebirth of spirit and letters was a mindset held in common by a disparate group of writers later renowned as the Generation of '98. They also enjoyed a shared love of old towns and the countryside and early poets such as Berceo and Juan Ruiz. This program seeks to understand the icons of that Generation through dramatic readings from Antonio Machado's El...

With the death of Franco came a loosening of political restrictions and a restoration of many civil liberties. In this program, respected authorities look at the first 25 years of literature in post-Franco Spain and the literary inclinations of the next up-and-coming generation of poets, authors, and playwrights. Dramatic readings include excerpts from Manuel Vázquez Montalbán's "Sin Memoria," Francisco Umbral's Mortal y Rosa, Juan Goytisolo's...

The mariachi sound is the heart and soul of Mexico-and a form of music that today is enjoyed throughout the world. In this down-to-earth program, mariachi aficionado Cornelio Garcia introduces viewers to the music, history, and cultural importance of mariachi bands in Mexico and elsewhere. Whether they are marching in a parade, performing onstage in a restaurant or at a fiesta, or even serenading mourners at a funeral, mariachis bring pleasure to...

Beginning with the brief tenure of Amadeus I, continuing on through the short-lived First Republic, and concluding with the reign of Alfonso XII and the early years of Alfonso XIII, this program thoroughly acquaints viewers with the second Bourbon restoration. Using dramatizations, architectural landmarks, artwork, and film clips, it covers upsurges of regionalismo and cantonalismo, the Third Carlist War, Cuban separatism, socialism, ongoing industrialization,...

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born in 1928 in Colombia, where he was raised by grandparents in a house filled with countless aunts and rumors of ghosts. This program examines the Nobel Laureate's literary works for traces of a life story that has been as fascinating as any novel. Recollections by the renowned author, recounted in his own voice, bring to light some of his many memories of his childhood years, Aracataca/Macondo, his work as a journalist...

A child of Belgium, a speaker of French, and a Habsburg on his father's side, there was little Spanish about Charles V, yet Spain was the core of his kingdom. This program follows the cosmopolitan "Carlos Quinto," King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, through two coronations, a wedding, wars with France and the Ottoman Empire, the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, and his retirement to the Monastery of Yuste. Dramatizations, maps, artwork,...

This program charts the turbulent history of the Iberian Peninsula under the Romans and Visigoths. The feudalistic divide between landowners and farmers, the brutal suppression and subsequent legalization of Christianity, barbarian invasions and the disintegration of the western Roman Empire, Visigothic rule, and incursions by Muslim armies are described through dramatizations, maps, artifacts, paintings, and footage of early churches. Many 3-D computer...