S4C (Firm)
1) Judaism
Language
English
Description
This program explores how, over time, the Jews of the Diaspora have expressed their beliefs through architecture and art in a variety of countries. Architectural sites include Tempio Israelitico, in Rome, a sumptuous example of Italian Jewish architecture; the tiny Cordoba Synagogue; Budapest's Great Synagogue on Dohany Street, a mixture of Byzantine and Moorish design elements; and, in New York City, the largest synagogue in the world: Temple Emanu-el....
2) Christianity
Language
English
Description
This program sheds light on the evolution and spread of Christianity across 13 centuries of architecture and art. Selected sites and masterpieces include the 8th-century monastic settlement on Inishmurray Island, off the coast of Ireland; frescoes in the catacombs of San Domitilla and Caravaggios at Santa Luigi di Franchesi, in Rome; the Hagia Sophia, once a Christian cathedral, in Istanbul; the astonishing underground churches of Lalibela, in Ethiopia;...
3) Hinduism
Language
English
Description
In this program, Dennis Wholey has a conversation about Hinduism with Sadhvi Vrnda Chaitanya of Arsha Vijnana Mandiram. Topics of discussion include the history of Hinduism; the Vedas, which are typically committed to memory; the meaning of the words karma, samsara, and moksha and their relationship to one other; the concept that everything is God and that secular and sacred therefore are one; and the individual rather than congregational nature of...
4) Buddhism
Language
English
Description
In this program, Dennis Wholey has a conversation about Buddhism with Hyon Gak Sunim, guiding teacher of the Seoul International Zen Center at Hwa Gye Sah Temple in Seoul, South Korea. Topics of discussion include the principle of nowness; the meaning of dukkha; the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path; Buddhist resonances with the teachings of Jesus and Socrates; the Buddhist temple experience; how Hyon Gak Sunim, raised a Roman Catholic...
Language
English
Description
The Dadu is a swift and dangerous river, long associated with the defeat of armies that could not escape across it. For the Maoist Communists in 1935, crossing that river meant nothing less than the survival of their cause. This program documents the story of the Communist revolution in China, providing an excellent overview of the years before, during, and after the Party's rise to power. In addition, veterans of the Long March recount the story...
6) Matador
Language
Español
Description
A poetic and authentic look at the bullfighter and his bull-the importance of bullfighting in Spanish society; the breeding, rearing, and training of the bull; the human side of the matador; and the countryside and people who have provided a home for bullfighting for countless centuries. The program culminates at a bullfight at the Feria de Abril in Seville. Also available in English.
Language
English
Description
On October 9, 1967, Ernesto "Che" Guevara was summarily executed. After his mangled body was dumped in an anonymous grave, his killers hoped he would be forgotten-but Che's enemies had underestimated him. In this program, Edward George, of the University of Bristol; General Gary Prado, the officer in charge of Che's capture; and nurse Susan Osinaga, who cleaned Che's dead body, discuss Che's appeal as a Communist martyr, probe the contradictions in...
8) Paganism
Language
English
Description
Since the dawn of humankind, people have wondered: Is there a sentient power within or beyond our world that is involved in our lives? This program examines the practice of paganism through important prehistoric sites such as the capstone dolmen Pentre Ifan, in Wales; the megaliths of Newgrange, in Ireland; some of the 3,000 standing stones at Carnac, in France; and the Altamira caves in northern Spain, with their remarkable examples of pagan rock...
Language
English
Description
The Cultural Revolution, which started in 1966, had less to do with culture than with a violent attempt to control the minds of the Chinese people. Yet it was a play, which slyly criticized Chairman Mao, that raised the curtain on this horrendous period in China's history, acting as a catalyst for the brutal reforms. Beginning with an excerpt from The Dismissal of Hai Rui, this program presents the details of the movement that led to the deaths of...
Language
English
Description
In late 1922, Lenin wrote a secret speech censuring General Secretary Stalin, to be read the following spring at the Twelfth Party Congress. But on March 9, 1923, Lenin suffered a debilitating stroke, and the speech was never given. Featuring Orlando Figes, of Cambridge University; Boris Starkov, of St. Petersburg Academy of Economics; and Yuri Amiantov, chief archivist of the Communist Party, this program focuses on the sequence of events surrounding...
Language
English
Description
Destined by a spell, cast by his stepmother, to love only Olwen, Culhwch begins his quest to seek her hand, but the road to marriage is paved with seemingly insurmountable obstacles set by her father, the evil giant, Ysbaddaden. Thus begins one of the loveliest of the Tales of the Mabinogion, some manuscripts of which are at least 700 years old. The legends themselves are of course far older, though their spell is as powerful today as it was when...
Language
English
Description
Of the 27 compositions that comprise the New Testament, 21 are letters: some guide, some warn. This program explores the content as well as authenticity of the various letters attributed to Paul, James, Jude, and Peter. Location footage brings to life Paul's missionary journeys to Antioch, Athens, Corinth, and Rome. The Pastoral Epistles, Gospel of Thomas, letters of Pontius Pilate, and the theological differences between James and Paul are also examined....
Language
English
Description
Shot mainly in Lyons, this program looks at the problems faced by the city's mainly young Muslim population as they try to gain acceptance into French society while adapting their religion to break ties with North Africa and the Arabic world. A new kind of Islam is emerging, to which France appears to be reacting with the same old racism and religious intolerance.
Language
English
Description
On the night of October 24, 1917, a police patrol stopped two men on the streets of St. Petersburg, but failing to recognize their quarry, the police let them pass. One of them-disguised as a tramp-was the future founder and leader of the Soviet Union: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. In this program, Cambridge University's Orlando Figes, author of A People's Tragedy, and Vitaly Startsev, of St. Petersburg Herzen University, investigate the circumstances of...
Language
English
Description
The early Church saw a proliferation of writings all claiming divine authority. This program surveys many of these texts and their adherents, as well as traces the course of the New Testament's codification. Original manuscripts and critical commentary are used to explore the infancy gospels, St. Clement's letters to the Corinthians, and the Gnostic gospels, including the Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Mary Magdalene, and Gospel of Philip. Key figures...
Language
English
Description
Although the shocking murder of Sergei Kirov-the charismatic Party member whose popularity threatened the power base of his friend, Stalin-impacted the lives of millions, the truth behind it has long remained a mystery. Was it motivated by politics, or by something else? In this program, Boris Starkov, of St. Petersburg Academy of Economics, and Yuri Amiantov, chief archivist of the Communist Party, scrutinize the facts surrounding the momentous 1934...
Language
English
Description
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are generally regarded as the authors of the Gospels. But did they actually write them? And if not, who did, and when? This program focuses on accounts and theories pertaining to the identities of the four Evangelists, as well as the authenticity of the texts attributed to them. Scholars and clerics examine and discuss original manuscripts, such as Codex Sinaiticus, with its Shepherd of Hermas and the Epistle of Barnabas,...
Language
English
Description
In this program, Dennis Wholey has a conversation about the Greek Orthodox Church with Father Stephen Callos of Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Topics of discussion include primary distinctions between Orthodox Christianity and Roman Catholicism; similarities and differences among the Greek, Russian, and other Orthodox Churches; the Orthodox view of the incarnation of Jesus; and marriage and celibacy...
19) Islam
Language
English
Description
In this program, Dennis Wholey has a conversation about Islam with Imam Sayed Hassan al-Qazwini of the Islamic Center of America, in Dearborn, Michigan. Topics of discussion include the meaning of the words Islam, Muslim, and mosque; the two predominant denominations of Islam, Sunni and Shia; the Five Pillars of Islam; the Muslim view of life after death; and the deplorable hijacking of Islam by radical Muslims for use as a tool of hatred and violence....
Language
English
Description
Shot in Budapest, Debrecen, and the beautiful Great Plain, this program explores the link between Calvinism, with its belief in predestination, and Hungarian nationhood. Speaking with ordinary believers and such public figures as the Prime Minister and Bishop Laszlo Tokes, the program offers an insight into the spiritual side of Hungary.