Documentary
Art movements were rife with hocus pocus during the early part of the twentieth century. Commissioning Editor Waldemar Januszczak as part of a major arts series looking at the history of Modernism.
The occult roots of abstract painting, especially the influence of Theosophy on Vasily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian. Kazimir Malevich and Frantisek Kupka are also mentioned at the beginning of the programme but we don’t hear anything more about them.
A history of the Congress for Cultural Freedom, a CIA front for channelling money to avant-garde exhibitions and literary magazines during the Cold War.
Modernist architecture as a reaction to, and proposed solution for, the squalor of 19th-century city life. Also the similarity between the impulses that drove the Modernist architectural ideal, and the later health and purity obsessions of European fascist states.
The inadvertent way in which the animus towards “degenerate art” shared by the Nazis and the Vichy regime in occupied France helped sustain Modernism during the war years.
No cast information available.
For centuries, explorers have searched for the Bible’s most sacred religious artefacts. One of the most mysterious of these objects is the famed Ark of the Covenant. The gold-plated wooden chest – one of the most instrumental symbols of faith and God's presence – was believed to house the two tablets bearing the Ten Commandments. The Ark’s exact whereabouts has long puzzled scholars. Where did it go? And why has it remained such a mystery?
Over six episodes, Maisonneuve looks at the repercussions flowing from the arrest of 11 students at Montreal’s Collège de Maisonneuve as they prepared to join the ranks of the Islamic State in Syria. From the initial shock to a gradual opening for dialogue, the series follows the paths of six exceptional young people who share their points of view. Through their eyes, Maisonneuve highlights both the importance and the fragility of living together in harmony in Quebec.
Where does the impulse that leads us to create come from and how does it transform us? At what point does the artist begin to be built by the object he creates? Six artisans from Buenos Aires today take us to know the depths of their trades, seeking to vindicate the importance of the circularity of their production, mutual aid, the transmission of knowledge and the value of the manual tradition that they carry on.
Despite decades of research, many mysteries remain about the ancient Maya. Now, archaeologists are unearthing new clues that transform long held ideas about how these people came to dominate vast areas of Mexico and Central America. Through immense lost monuments, ancient inscriptions and new forensic evidence, this series tracks the Maya from their earliest origins all the way to the present day, unlocking the dark secrets of the rise and fall of the Maya.
