| Brief Description: | This is an intelligent, three-part documentary about frontiers in
intellectual history, including the Orient and the Middle East. The
first volume, The Raft of the Medusa: Five Voices on Colonies, Nations
and Histories (99 mins.), focuses on issues of emergent nationalism in
Asia, with particular attention to the unique cases of Hong Kong and
mainland China, Eastern Modernism and Islamic Fundamentalism. In the
second installment, Into the European Mirror (56 mins.), Julian Samuel
explores the concept of frontiers, both real and imaginary. Highlights
include Columbus' voyage of 1492 and the Palestinian/ Israeli question
of today. Issues of "euronationalism" are examined by experts in this
thought-provoking video. In the final segment, City of the Dead and
The World Exhibitions (76 mins.), Samuel takes an in-depth look at
modern Islamic culture, including the rise of fundamentalism and the
role architecture plays in keeping the sexes separate. Also explored
in this video are the way turn-of-the-century World Exhibitions
created an international perception of Asia and Asian culture, and the
effects of terrorism in modern Egypt. English and French with English |