Trains: Two Centuries of Innovation (2017)

Schindler's List

The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.

Grizzly Man

Werner Herzog's documentary film about the "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in one man's attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

The Real Right Stuff

The story of America's first astronauts, known as the Mercury 7, told through archival news & radio reports, newly transferred & previously unheard NASA mission audio recordings, and more rare & unseen material.

Celebrating the Rice Media Center

Through the Fondren Fellows program, the Rice Media Center Archive Project has spent the past few months sifting through material stored at the now-defunct Rice Media Center. The team has identified several films as especially notable and will be presenting them in conjunction with documentary footage the team shot of people involved with the films. From lectures featuring Roberto Rossellini and Werner Herzog to films from former Rice students and faculty, the film presentation will tell the narrative of the Rice Media Center through the films and filmmakers that passed through its corridors.

Runaway!

A group of skiers are trapped inside a runaway train hurtling down a mountainside.

AC/DC : Forever Young

AC/DC, or three brothers in the service of music. The story of a unique sound that spanned fifty years of rock'n'roll: sharp, electric, boosted.

Mystify: Michael Hutchence

Michael Hutchence was flying high as the lead singer of the legendary rock band INXS until his untimely death in 1997. Richard Lowenstein’s documentary examines Hutchence’s deeply felt life through his many loves and demons.

30 Years and 15 Minutes

Romania is on the last place in Europe in terms of highway kilometers, but on the first place in the number of deaths in road accidents. Entrepreneur Stefan Mandachi builds 1 meter of highway on his private property.

Murder on the Orient Express

Agatha Christie's classic whodunit speeds into the twenty-first century. World-famous sleuth Hercule Poirot has just finished a case in Istanbul and is returning home to London onboard the luxurious Orient Express. But, the train comes to a sudden halt when a rock slide blocks the tracks ahead. And all the thrills of riding the famous train come to a halt when a man discovered dead in his compartment, stabbed nine times. The train is stranded. No one has gotten on or gotten off. That can only mean one thing: the killer is onboard, and it is up to Hercule Poirot to find him.

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.

The Man Who Stole Einstein's Brain

On April 18, 1955, the pathologist performing the autopsy on Albert Einstein covertly steals the genius's brain, hoping to uncover the secret of brilliance. His good intentions and scientific ambitions collide with harsh realities as his world crumbles.

Le fabuleux destin de Jean Dujardin

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SEVEN

What caused Building 7 to collapse on 9/11? Dr. Leroy Hulsey from the University of Alaska Fairbanks may have the answer, following an exhausting four year engineering study.

Jacques Tati, tombé de la lune

The crazy rise and fall of Jacques Tati, comedy genius, actor, director and athlete of laughter. Or how the inventor of the mythical Mr. Hulot made France laugh, then the world, flying from success to success, rising higher and higher, until he came a little too close to the sun.

Lawrence of Arabia: Britain's Great Adventurer

The epic story of Thomas Edward Lawrence the First World War military officer who united the tribes of Arabia against the Ottoman Turkish army. The film reveals that while being one of the most enigmatic figures of the 20th century, he was also a deeply troubled man, delving into his personal torment, the secret his family were hiding, and the punishment he endured.

The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt was America's 26th president and a larger-than-life legend whose incredible story must be seen to be believed. Narrated by George C. Scott, this documentary weaves extremely rare archival footage with meticulous recreations alongside the music of John Philip Sousa in a dynamic panorama of the great events of Teddy Roosevelt in the early years of the 20th century.

Max Manus: Man of War

Max Manus is a Norwegian 2008 biographic war film based on the real events of the life of resistance fighter Max Manus (1914–96), after his contribution in the Winter War against the Soviet Union. The story follows Manus through the outbreak of World War II in Norway until peacetime in 1945.

Hitler's Holocaust Railways

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Death Train

When a renegade Russian general sends a nuclear bomb hurtling toward the Middle East aboard a hijacked train, special agents are dispatched to disarm the deadly device. Ten tons of steel and one ounce of hot plutonium are now riding roughshod through Europe. With time running out, the agents launch a desperate, bullet-packed assault on a deadly moving target piloted by a cold-blooded mercenary.

42 Up

Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.

Téléphone, jolie petite histoire

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Artifishal

Narratives of ecologists and conservationists are pitted against the human tendency to engineer and control in this probing documentary on the lucrative salmon-hatchery industry.

Le Monde sous les bombes, de Guernica à Hiroshima

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Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine

A unique behind-the-scenes access to NASA’s ambitious mission to launch the James Webb Space Telescope, following a team of engineers and scientists as they take the next giant leap in our quest to understand the universe.

WHAM!

Through archival interviews and footage, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley relive the arc of their Wham! career, from 70s best buds to 80s pop icons.

Imagine: John Lennon

The biography of former Beatle, John Lennon—narrated by Lennon himself—with extensive material from Yoko Ono's personal collection, previously unseen footage from Lennon's private archives, and interviews with David Bowie, his first wife Cynthia, second wife Yoko Ono and sons Julian and Sean.

Avicii - I'm Tim

Before Avicii, there was Tim. Through his own words, witness how a prodigious musical talent became one of the defining artists of his generation.

How to Fix a Railway

A multibillion-pound investment is underway to make our railways bigger, better and faster. Over three years, we go behind the scenes with Wales’s newest rail body as they try to make ambitious promises a reality.

Breakpoint: A Counter History of Progress

An account of the last two centuries of the Anthropocene, the Age of Man. How human beings have progressed so much in such a short time through war and the selfish interests of a few, belligerent politicians and captains of industry, damaging the welfare of the majority of mankind, impoverishing the weakest, greedily devouring the limited resources of the Earth.

Back on Track: Rebuilding the Waupaca Depot

The film chronicles the remarkable saga of Mike Kirk, a devoted model train enthusiast, whose unwavering determination, along with the support of a dedicated circle of family and friends, spearheaded the decades-long restoration of the long-abandoned train depot nestled in the heart of rural Waupaca. Through Kirk's indomitable spirit and vision, the Waupaca Depot emerges as a phoenix rising from literal ashes, symbolizing resilience and community revival. ​ "Back on Track" transcends the boundaries of a mere restoration project, delving deep into the rich tapestry of American history and the birth of rural communities. This film explores the intertwined narratives of Kirk's personal quest and the broader narrative of American heritage.

Quand la télé dérape, 40 ans de scandales

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I'm in

A docufilm about the exciting story of the play-off between Cagliari and Piacenza in June 1997, when 20,000 Sardinians left for Naples to support the team then led by Carlo Mazzone, who needed a victory to avoid relegation to Serie B. Deu Ci Seu tells the story of the exodus of an entire island that mobilized to support one of the symbols of its identity.