History Videos - The Documentary Network

Kolyma – Birthplace of Our Fear

Documentary.net staff — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 11:35:26 +0000

Film about the brutal Soviet penal camps under the rule of the dictator Josef Stalin. The 32-year-old Juir Dud travelled from Magadan on the Pacific to Jakutsk in Siberia to speak with descendants of Gulag prisoners. Gulag is an abbreviation for "main administration of the camps" and still symbolizes the reign of terror of Stalin. Prisoners had to build roads in all weathers and also mine gold or uranium. 20 million prisoners were accommodated in the camps, about two million people died.

Wandering Cosmos

Documentary.net staff — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 11:20:37 +0000

The Götan maailma has around one thousand wondrous items from ages long forgotten. You can find a 200 year old turtle head right next to minerals from pre-war Germany or a painting from renaissance era France. The small room smells like time and memories, due to a carefully designed perfume, mixed from amber, century old cigars, old leather and ashes. It is open to visitors, buyers and sellers of unusual things. Sometimes, it holds perfomances, plays and they even had a wedding once. Opened by Thomas Hamberg (33) in Helsinki, Finland, in February 2011, this collection is as much of a museum than it is a representation of his soul.

The Fallen of World War II – Visualization

Documentary.net staff — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 11:07:53 +0000

The Fallen of World War II is an animated data-driven documentary that examines the human cost of the second World War and the decline in battle deaths in the years since the war. The 15-minute data visualization uses cinematic storytelling techniques to provide viewers with a fresh and dramatic perspective of a pivotal moment in history. The film follows a linear narration, but it allows viewers to pause during key moments to interact with the charts and dig deeper into the numbers. The film was written, directed, coded, and narrated by Neil Halloran. Original music and sound design was created by Andy Dollerson. Editorial feedback and technical consulting by AlteredQualiea. Interative version: http://www.fallen.io/ww2/

Trial by Media

Documentary.net staff — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 06:55:00 +0000

In 1982, an Australian mother was convicted of murdering her baby daughter. She was later exonerated, but soon fell victim to a joke that distracted the world from the real story. A fresh look at a case that intrigued Australia for more than three decades. It’s the horrific story of the 1980 disappearance of 9-week-old Azaria Chamberlain while her family was camping in the Australian outback. Her mother, Lindy Chamberlain, said that a dingo (a wolf-like creature) had entered a tent and taken the baby; her body was never found. After an initial inquiry supported her account, another inquest was held, and soon Chamberlain stood accused of having slit Azaria’s throat. She was found guilty of murder in 1982, freed after three years when more evidence was found, but not given true justice until 2012. And for much of the public, Chamberlain will remain forever guilty. “The horrific story is that a woman is not believed because she doesn’t look like the anguished mother — or what we think the anguished mother should look like,” notes one expert in the Retro Report. Says Chamberlain today: “If I smiled I was belittling my daughter’s death. If I cried I was acting. The point is, until you go through something, you have no idea how you yourself will react. And I had no idea how I’d react until it happened to me.”

The Silly Bastard Next to the Bed

Documentary.net staff — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 15:23:07 +0000

In 1963, JFK recorded one of the most foul-mouthed telephone calls ever made from the White House. This is the story of the silly bastard who started it all. JFK places a salty call to his staff, questioning a potentially embarrassing expenditure. The blowback is hilarious… and a little haunting.

Going Dark: The Final Days of Film Projection

Documentary.net staff — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 06:32:01 +0000

Hollywood is forcing theaters to either go digital or go dark. Studios have decided they will no longer send out film prints of new releases after 2014, eliminating the need for a 35mm film projectionist in most theaters. Going Dark profiles two projectionists during their last days on the job. Going Dark was shot in Oklahoma City, OK at the Penn Square Mall over the course of one month in Oct. 2012 by a crew of two on a micro budget.

Style Wars – NY street culture and subway graffiti art of the early ’80s

Documentary.net staff — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 04:20:00 +0000

The film is regarded as the indispensable document of NY street culture and subway graffiti art of the early '80s, the filmic record of a golden age of youthful creativity that exploded into the world from a city in crisis. The documentary shows both the young artists struggling to express themselves through their art, and their points of view on the subject of graffiti, as well as the views of then New York City Mayor Ed Koch, one-armed, now deceased graffiti writer Case/Kase 2, graffiti writer Skeme and his mother, graffiti "villain" Cap, now deceased graffiti writer Dondi, Seen and Shy 147, graffiti documentarian (and co-producer of the film) Henry Chalfant, breakdancer Crazy Legs of Rock Steady Crew, police officers, art critics, subway maintenance workers, as well as several "people on the street". It won the Grand Prize for Documentaries at the 1983 Sundance Film Festival and continues to gain a following. Get the filmposter, bonus stuff and the DVD/bluray at shop.stylewars.com

The Silly Bastard Next to the Bed

Documentary.net staff — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 18:30:52 +0000

JFK places a salty call to his staff, questioning a potentially embarrassing expenditure. The blowback is hilarious… and a little haunting. Here's where the film has shown/will show in the next few months. Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2014 Audience Award -- Best Short Doc Florida Film Festival 2014 Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival Shorts Night 2014 Boston IFF 2014 Maryland Film Festival 2014 Sydney Film Festival 2014 Oak Cliff Film Festival 2014 SF DocFest 2014 Woods Hole Film Festival 2014 Bumbershoot One Reel 2014 DC Shorts 2014 Traverse City Film Festival 2014

Short Doc Portrait honors Computing Pioneer Heinz Zemanek who passed away at 94

Documentary.net staff — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 06:34:24 +0000

In the 1950's, a group of Austrian students led by Heinz Zemanek designed and built the Mailüfterl, one of the earliest fully transistorized computers. For a brief moment, this "Viennese spring breeze" put Austria at the vanguard of European computing. ...At the time, leading U.S. machines were named after types of wind, such as MIT’s Whirlwind and RCA Laboratory’s Typhoon. In a gentle nod to this, Zemanek nicknamed his computer Mailüfterl, meaning “May Breeze.” As he joked: "We are not going to produce… any of those big American storms, but we will have a very nice little Viennese spring breeze!” On May 27, 1958 the Mailüfterl ran its first calculation and became mainland Europe’s first fully transistorized computer—and one of the earliest in the world... Zemanek died on Wednesday July 16 2014 in Vienna at the age of 94 years. Film by Google.

Secrets of The Dead – Bugging Hitler’s Soldiers

Documentary.net staff — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 07:45:40 +0000

Spied upon by MI19 in a bugging operation of unprecedented scale and cunning, 4,000 German POW's revealed their inner thoughts about the Third Reich and let slip military secrets that helped the Allies win WWII. Based on groundbreaking research conducted by a German historian, the film tells the story of how those conversations were recorded and how they can now reveal, in more shocking detail than ever before, the hearts and minds of the German fighter. In total, more than 100,000 hours of these secret recordings were made.

Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster: Major Malfunction

Documentary.net staff — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 18:40:11 +0000

On Jan. 28, 1986, seven astronauts "slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God." America's space program was never the same. They died as they slipped the surly bonds of Earth. The last words of that sentence, haunting words, were written by John Gillespie Magee Jr., an American airman and poet who enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1940, before the United States entered World War II. He was killed the following year in a midair collision over England. He was all of 19...

From yu to me

Documentary.net staff — Thu, 29 May 2014 16:06:44 +0000

Through a wide range of archival materials and in-depth interviews, From yu to me narrates a history of the former Yugloslavia's .yu domain, the women computer scientists who administered it, and its relationship with the surrounding political upheaval.

Wonderful London in 1924 & 2014

Documentary.net staff — Thu, 08 May 2014 15:40:52 +0000

In 1924, Harry B. Parkingson and Frank Miller documented London in a fantastic series of short films, known as "Wonderful London". Over the last few months, Simon Smith has stood in their foot-steps, recapturing their shots exactly, and have blended the two together creating a window through time.

City of Imagination: Kowloon Walled City 20 Years Later

Documentary.net staff — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 17:09:26 +0000

The Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong was once the densest place on earth, a virtually lawless labyrinth of crime, grime, commerce and hope. This documentary tracks its colorful legacy and brings the place alive 20 years later.

The Umbrella Man

Documentary.net staff — Sun, 24 Nov 2013 18:16:12 +0000

On the 48th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Errol Morris explores the story behind the one man seen standing under an open black umbrella at the site.