S2.E3 ∙ Sham Marriages

Who were the Nabateans, caravan traders who once ruled over the Arabic peninsula all the way to Syria before building the majestic city of Petra?

Geology is the science that studies planet Earth, and geologists are the detectives looking for leads that allow the reading and interpretation of the pages of its history. In the cliffs of Zumaia we find the pages of this great book spread along several kilometers of coast line: A magnetic change, a drop in sea level, one of the greatest warming up periods the Planet has gone through, and a mass extinction that wiped out 70% of the species, with the dinosaurs amongst them. Would the human species survive now the changes that have already happened in the past?

A story about dreams and the manipulative power of films in a chaotic Kyrgyzstan, seen through the eyes of two cinema projectionists. The Kyrgyz town of Naryn is preparing for the 1000-year anniversary of Manas, their national hero. The complicated preparations are upset as a group of Islamic rebels invade Kyrgyzstan. The work and dreams of the film's protagonists, projectionists named Zarylbek and Murat, epitomise the present and the past in Kyrgyzstan, struggling through a process of transition. Through their eyes, we see a story that reflects the manipulative power that films exert on a colourful people influenced by socialism, the market economy, the Islamic faith and their nomadic culture.

Pool Party is the story of an abandoned WPA swimming Pool, once the largest in the world, brought to life by incredible music that filled its basin for 3 short summers. It's a final celebration of McCarren Pool as a unique venue set at the center of an international music scene in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Filmed in the 1960s with the Wounaan, an indigenous riverine people of the rainforests of western Colombia and eastern Panama, this film was edited in 1974 and meticulously digitized in 2012. (It is the first of a trilogy documenting Wounaan culture, none of which have been distributed.) Wounaan extended families live in spacious houses dispersed along the riverbanks. The film focuses on the activities and human interactions centered in these households -- food preparation and consumption, childcare, crafts, relaxation. The activities of a constructed 'day' afford the viewer a unique glimpse into the cooperative nature of a subsistence culture; in closeups and candid moments, these Wounaan present many of the best gestures we know of ourselves, and challenge us to rethink our industrial capitalist society.

This film, a compilation of still photographs and newsreel footage, traces the growth of international Communism from Karl Marx and his Communist Manifesto to the present day. Highlights include the early days of Lenin; the sinking of a Russian warship during the Russo-Japanese War; the fight for power between Trotsky and Stalin; Stalin's political purges, mass executions, liquidation of the Kulaks, and pacts with the Allies; the German invasion of Russia during World War II; Communism in China; the Korean War; Stalin's death; the coming to power of Khrushchev; the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian revolution; Khrushchev's famous "kitchen debate" with visiting Vice President Nixon; Khrushchev in Hollywood during his visit to the United States in 1959; and the rise of Communism in Cuba under Fidel Castro.