Actor Ken Ogata takes you on an archaeological journey down the legendary Silk Road, the ancient trading route between China and the West. Also explored are the controversial claims of French scholar Paul Pelloit, who posited the existence of another route for the Silk Road across great stretches of desert. This remarkable documentary provides a fascinating glimpse into a rarely explored region, opening a window onto the past.
Actor Ken Ogata takes you on an archaeological journey down the legendary Silk Road, the ancient trading route between China and the West. Also explored are the controversial claims of French scholar Paul Pelloit, who posited the existence of another route for the Silk Road across great stretches of desert. This remarkable documentary provides a fascinating glimpse into a rarely explored region, opening a window onto the past.
2005-01-01
0
Silk Road Ghosts takes the viewer off the beaten path as I ply a circuit, following in the footsteps of the ancient conquerors, passing through some of the more remarkable parts of Central Asia's Silk Road. From Almaty in Kazakhstan, I set out towards a daunting rendezvous with the Darvasa Gas Crater in Turkmenistan. Along the way I dot many of the road's pivotal locations, bearing witness to its myriad ghosts which served to glorify the annals of our planet's history.
The NHK Tokushu and China's CCTV documentary series The Silk Road began on April 7, 1980. The program started with the memorable scene of a camel caravan crossing the desert against the setting sun, with Kitaro's music and a sense of timelessness. It was the start of an epic televisual poem. The first journey described in the series began in Chang'an (now Xi'an), at the eastern end of the ancient route. On 450,000 feet of film, the NHK crew recorded the path westward to the Pamir Heights at the Pakistan border and this material was edited to make 12 monthly broadcasts. In response to viewers' requests that the series be extended to cover the Silk Road all the way to Rome, sequels were made over the next 10 years. Seventeen years after the program was conceived, the project was completed.
Part two of the Mysterious China series chronicles Marco Polo's adventures and discoveries along the Silk Road as he heads toward the Mongol Empire in China. This documentary reveals the pivotal trade route as experienced and written about by the 13th-century explorer. Follow the tracks of the Venetian adventurer -- one of the first Westerners to journey into China -- and uncover the mysteries of the Silk Road.
The Yellow Cruise is a French documentary film initially directed by André Sauvage and taken over by Léon Poirier following the intervention of André Citroën. The film was presented in Paris in 1934. André Sauvage was hired by the Pathé-Natan company to follow the yellow cruise through Asia. In 1931 and 1932, forty-two men, including Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, scholars and doctors traveled thirty thousand kilometers on the Silk Road through the Middle and Far East, in caterpillar propellants. Together, despite the bad weather, the difficulties of the terrain, the mechanical failures and the political conflicts, they reached Beijing on February 12, 1932. André Citroën who asked to see the film, dissatisfied with the result, bought it from Bernard Natan and entrusted the editing by Léon Poirier, who had filmed La Croisière Noire in Africa in 1926. This film will mark the break in the film career of André Sauvage.
The Silk Road, one of history's most famed trade routes, linked China to Europe, the Middle East and India and was traveled by such legends as Alexander the Great, Marco Polo and Genghis Khan's Mongol warriors. Follow in the footsteps of the iconic figures and see how the road's ancient past is wrapped up in the fast-changing world of modern China, particularly the country's remote western region.
A collection of 11 various urban legends from the internet.
Philosophical twenty-something Ross Ulbricht creates Silk Road, a dark net website that sells drugs, while DEA agent Rick Bowden goes undercover to bring him down.
Documentary about the making of Ang Lee's 'The Wedding Banquet.'
A film about teenagers with growing pains, who discover their own voice and talent through riding and grooming toy horses.
A view of the religious tensions between Muslims and Buddhist through the portrait of the Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu, leader of anti-Muslim movement in Myanmar.
As the Egyptian society is hit with a wave of religious and national extremism, filmmaker Nadia Kamal and her grandmother Mary resort to storytelling as they recount to the grandson Nabeel the history spanning 100 years of changes. What's a better way than storytelling to preserve identity?
Balkan Erotic Epic explores the sexual aspects of Serbian folklore. Ancient myths that have trickled into everyday household remedies or explanations are juxtaposed with the joys of the female and male sexual forms from which all human life originates. Functioning as both sexual liberation and reinvented modern myth, Balkan Erotic Epic is a display of the need for a cultural change in viewpoint around sex.
Documentarian Jose Sanchez-Montes turns his attention towards the late Cuban musician Ignacio Villa, known throughout the world as Bola de Nieve (Snowball), with this 2003 biographical documentary entitled simply Bola de Nieve. A master pianist, Bola de Nieve was a mainstay through the middle portion of the 20th century, with his music almost omnipresent in South America cinema throughout those formative decades. With Bola de Nieve's famous statement "I'm a sad person, but my songs sound happy" in mind, Sanchez-Montes also looks at the influence of the musician's African heritage and homosexuality upon Bola de Nieve's unique musical style.
Who Wants to Live Forever, the Wisdom of Aging is a one hour documentary film about the myths, facts and contradictions in the never-ending battle for both longevity and healthy aging.
Through a mosaic of memories, this documentary celebrates music star Vladimír Mišík and highlights one of the great explorations left in his life.
A portrait of a hard rocking band known for their substance-fueled live performances on their evolutionary journey to become one of the greatest cult rock bands of our time.
In 1969, Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped 2.5 kilometers of coast and cliffs up to 26 metres along the coast of Little Bay, in Southeast Sydney, Australia.
Ed Ruscha made his very first art in his native Oklahoma, but soon became attracted to Los Angeles . Curator Margit Rowell has examined his extensive body of work and created a brilliant exhibition of his seldom seen drawings. Rowell visits Ruscha in his studio, looking at new paintings with the artist, discussing his progress over the decades and asking him to comment on the many milestones in his large retrospective exhibition at MoCA in Los Angeles.