PBS Distribution (Firm)
Summary
Mighty, elemental forces, fiery eruptions, titanic floods, the grinding of great ice sheets, and massive impacts from space molded North America. This spectacular road trip through our nation's tumultuous past sets out to answer three fundamental questions: How was the continent built? How did life evolve here? And how has its spectacular landscape shaped human lives and destinies?
Summary
The eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano in 2010 turned much of the northern hemisphere into an ash-strewn no-fly zone. Katla, an Icelandic volcano 10 times bigger, has begun to swell and grumble, and Hekla and Laki, could erupt without warning. Iceland is a ticking time bomb: When it blows, the consequences will be global. What can we do to prepare for the coming disaster?
Summary
It's a mystery on a global scale: five times in Earth's past, life has been nearly extinguished, the vast majority of plants and animals annihilated in a geologic instant. What triggered these dramatic events? And what might they tell us about the fate of our world? Joins scientists around the globe as they unravel the mysteries of two of the most dramatic mass extinction.
Summary
Over 60,000 years ago, the first modern humans left their African homeland and entered Europe, then a bleak and inhospitable continent in the grip of the Ice Age. But when they arrived, they were not alone: the stocky, powerfully built Neanderthals had already been living there for hundreds of thousands of years. So what happened when the first modern humans encountered the Neanderthals? Did they make love or war?
Series
Summary
At the beginning of the 20th century, coal was the engine of American industrial progress. Nearly three quarters of a million men across the country spent ten or twelve hours a day underground in coal mines. The Mine Wars brings to life the struggle that turned the coalfields of southern West Virginia into a blood-soaked war zone where basic constitutional rights and freedoms were violently contested.
Summary
"When Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, every living thing in the blast zone was buried. However, life began to bloom again, and biologist Charlie Crisafulli has been documenting the return of plant and animal life. Also the mountain, like the wildlife, is coming back to life. Nova presents a pioneering look at the interplay between biology and geology that may help scientists predict future volcanic eruptions"--Publisher.
Summary
"The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution is the first feature length documentary to explore the Black Panther Party, its significance to the broader American culture, its cultural and political awakening for black people, and the painful lessons wrought when a movement derails. Master documentarian Stanley Nelson goes straight to the source, weaving a treasure trove of rare archival footage with the voices of the people who were there: police,...
12) The address
Summary
A documentary about a Vermont school for boys with learning disabilities who memorize and recite Abraham Lincoln's iconic Gettysburg Address, which he gave 150 years ago this November.
13) Freedom riders
Summary
This inspirational documentary is about a band of courageous civil-rights activists calling themselves the Freedom Riders. Gaining impressive access to influential figures on both sides of the issue, it chronicles a chapter of American history that stands as an astonishing testament to the accomplishment of youth and what can result from the incredible combination of personal conviction and the courage to organize against all odds.
Series
Summary
Astrophysicist Mario Livio, along with a colorful cast of mathematicians, physicists, and engineers, follow math from Pythagoras to Einstein and beyond, all leading to the ultimate riddle: Is math an invention or a discovery? Humankind₂s clever trick, or the language of the universe? Join Nova for a mathematical mystery tour, a provocative exploration of math₂s astonishing power across the centuries.
15) Lethal Seas
Summary
A deadly recipe threatens the survival of countless creatures throughout Earth's ocean: carbon dioxide. With carbon emissions sharply rising, the silent killer is entering the seas at a staggering rate, raising the oceans' acidity. As a result, the skeletons and shells of marine creatures that form the foundation of the web of life are dissolving. Can experts crack the code of a rapidly changing ocean before it is too late?
Summary
This film explores Kennedy's childhood years as the privileged but sickly son of one of the wealthiest men in America, his early political career as a lackluster congressman, his successful run for the U.S. Senate, and the game-changing presidential campaign that made him the youngest elected president in U.S. history.
17) Your inner fish
Summary
Reveals a startling truth: hidden within the human body is a story of life on Earth. This scientific adventure story takes viewers from Ethiopia to the Arctic Circle on a hunt for the many ways that our animal ancestors shaped our anatomical destiny.
Summary
In his latest film, Marian Marzynski tells the extraordinary story of how he as a Jewish boy escaped the Holocaust, hiding from the Nazis, and surviving the war as an altar boy in a Catholic monastery. In a deeply moving and personal film he shares the poignant, painful recollections of other child survivors, many of whom are visiting scenes of their childhood for the last time.
20) Klansville U.S.A
Series
Summary
Investigate the reasons North Carolina, long seen as the most progressive state in the South, became home to the largest Klan organization in the country, with more members than all the other Southern states combined, during the 1960s.