Lost Kingdoms of Africa (2010-2012/UK)
An eight-part BBC series in which British art historian Dr Gus Casely-Hayford explores the pre-colonial history of some of Africa's most important kingdoms.
Episode 1: Nubia (59 min) | Click here to watch
Director: David Wilson
The first episode looks at Nubia, in what is now northern Sudan, a kingdom that dominated a vast area of the eastern Sahara for thousands of years. Its people were described as barbarians and mercenaries, and yet Nubia has left us with some of the most spectacular monuments in the world.
Casely-Hayford traces the origins of this fascinating kingdom back to 10,000 BC. He explores how it developed and what happened to it and its people, discovering that its kings once ruled Ancient Egypt and that it was defeated not by its rivals but by its environment.
FOCUS ON WESTERN CLASSICAL MUSIC COMPOSERS
Stravinsky (Canada) | Click here to watch
(49 min; 1966; b/w; English)
Directors: Roman Kroitor & Wolf Koenig
This documentary is an informal portrait of the great modern composer Igor Stravinsky. Proudly American, though still very much an Old World figure with a long and alert memory for people and events in music, literature and art, Stravinsky is depicted here conducting the CBC Symphony Orchestra in a recording of his Symphony of Psalms.
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life (USA)
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life (USA)
(165 min; 1996; English)
Director: Michael Paxton
Recipient of the Golden Satellite Award for Best Motion Picture, Documentary, Satellite Award 1999
An Academy nominated feature-length documentary that illustrates the well-known author’s sense of life. It paints a portrait of a woman whose work has remained in print for over eighty years and continues to inspire new generations of readers. It incorporates interviews with the people who knew Ayn Rand best, photos from her personal archives, film clips, and original animated sequences to tell her remarkable story – a story of a “life more compelling than fiction”.
A Dialogue of Rivers (OP 108)
A Dialogue of Rivers (OP 107)
ART MATTERS
PHYSICAL PROGRAMME
Do Art Books Matter?
A discussion with Malvika Singh, author and publisher; Dayanita Singh, well-known photographer; Pramod KG, Managing Director, Eka Archiving Services, founder Director, Anokhi Museum of Handprinting and author and editor of several publications; Bhavna Kakar, Founder and Director, Latitude 28, and Editor and Publisher, TAKE on Art magazine; and Akshay Pathak, Head, Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council
Chair: Ashok Vajpeyi
(Collaboration: The Raza Foundation)
IIC DIAMOND JUBILEE LECTURES ON DIGITAL GOVERNANCE
IoT Security’s Hidden Depths - How regulators can enable a secure IoT
Speaker: Dr. Richard Hayton, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer and Chief Information and Security Officer, Trustonic
Chair: Ms Mahima Kaul, Head Public Policy, APAC Bumble
Treasures of Ancient Rome (2012)
A three-part documentary series presented by Alastair Sooke, taking an in-depth look at the art of the Roman Empire. In the documentary Sooke sets out to "debunk the myth that Romans didn't do art and were unoriginal". This is based on the view that Romans heavily incorporated Greek style in their art, and hence produced nothing new or original.
Episode 2: Pomp and Perversion (59 min) | Click here to watch
Director: Tim Dunn
Alastair Sooke follows in the footsteps of Rome's mad, bad and dangerous emperors in the second part of his celebration of Roman art. He explores the underwater remains of the Emperor Claudius's pleasure palace and ventures into the cave where Tiberius held wild parties.
The other side of the coin was the bombastic art the Romans are best remembered for - monumental arches and columns that boast about their conquests. Trajan's Column in Rome reads like the storyboard of a modern-day propaganda film. Sooke concludes with the remarkable legacy of the Emperor Hadrian.
Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision
(105 min; 1994; English)
Director: Freida Lee Mock
Recipient of the Oscar Award for Best Documentary, Features, Academy Awards 2015
This award-winning documentary is a portrait of the Chinese American sculptor who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial while an undergraduate student at Yale University. The film tells the gripping story behind the memorial and explores a decade of Maya Lin’s creative works, including the Civil Rights Memorial, revealing her ability to address major issues of our time through the power of art.
The Crisis of Civilization (UK)
The Crisis of Civilization (UK) | Click here to watch
(82 min; 2011; English)
Director: Dean Puckett
The Crisis of Civilization is a documentary feature film investigating how global crises like ecological disaster, financial meltdown, dwindling oil reserves, terrorism and food shortages are converging symptoms of a single, failed global system.