A documentary series presented by Michael Wood, exploring magnificent masterpieces of the Western world in their cultural and historical settings. The series consists of eighteen episodes, each of which focusses on the artistic contributions of one period in the history of the West, from Ancient Greece to the late 1980s. From the classical ideals in Greek and Roman antiquity, through the Renaissance, to the postmodernism of the later 1980s, the series provides a panorama of 2000 years of architecture, painting and sculpture, and studies the art masterpieces as reflections of the Western culture that produced them.

Two episodes will be presented every week online

Episode 5 

The Early Renaissance in Italy (26 min) | Click here to watch
The rebirth of classical themes and humanistic ideas marked the Renaissance in Italy, as seen in Florentines Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Ghiberti, and Botticelli.
 

Children Full of Life (Japan, Canada) | (40 min; 2003; English subtitles) | Click here to watch
Director: Noboru Kaetsu

Recipient of the Global Television Grand Prize at the 25th Anniversary Banff Television Festival
Mr. Kanamori, a teacher of a 4th grade class, teaches his students not only how to be students, but how to live. He gives them lessons on teamwork, community, the importance of openness, how to cope, and the harm caused by bullying. He instructs each to write their true inner feelings in a letter, and read it aloud in front of the class. By sharing their lives, the children begin to realize the importance of caring for their classmates. Toshiro is an amazing example of what all teachers across the world should be like. He truly understands what teaching children is all about and certainly made a positive difference in the lives of these 10 year olds.

Gigi (USA) | (115 min; 1958; English) | Click here to watch
Director: Vincente Minnelli

With Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan

Multiple award winner - 9 Oscars awards including for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writing, Best Art Direction, Academy Awards, USA 1959; David for Best Foreign Production, David di Donatello Awards 1959; DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, Director’s Guild of America, USA 1959; among many others

An all-time classic film which was a runaway hit when it was first released. Weary of the conventions of Parisian society, a rich playboy and a youthful courtesan-in-training enjoy a platonic friendship, but it may not stay platonic for long…

Piano Recital | Click here to watch

By Joao Bittencourt, well known artist from Brazil

Joao Bittencourt is an accomplished pianist, accordionist, composer, producer and musical director from Brazil

(Collaboration: Embassy of Brazil)

Video recording of a programme for IIC 

Noam Chomsky: Internationalism or Extinction (56 min) | Click here to watch

A landmark lecture by Noam Chomsky about the threats to planetary survival that are of growing concern today. The prospect of human extinction emerged after World War II - the dawn of a new era scientists now term the Anthropocene. Chomsky uniquely traces the duality of existential threats from nuclear weapons and from climate change – including how the concerns emerged and evolved, and how the threats can interact with one another.

Video recording of the lecture delivered in 2016