Artifice

Joe’s Pub Presents: A Holiday Special

Taping at the iconic Joe’s Pub inside the historic Public Theater in downtown Manhattan, Joe’s Pub Presents: A Holiday Special will feature a variety of holiday themed performances from acclaimed comics, singers and actors including Bridget Everett, Jo Firestone, Jen Kirkman, Nick Thune and many more. Funk and soul group THE DAP-KINGS will serve as the house band for the evening.

A Norman Rockwell Christmas

Could there ever really be a Christmas without Norman Rockwell? For three generations, America's most beloved and popular artist treated us with his inspiring, fun-loving and wonderfully optimistic portraits of American life. To Rockwell, people were at their best during holidays and Christmas was certainly his favorite. Join Eddie Albert and Ross Malinger (TV's Good Advice) as they host this nostalgic, heartwarming look at the illustrious world of Norman Rockwell. With the help of the magnificent 170 voices of the world famous Pacific Chorale, you'll experience these Christmas scenes springing to life with all the magic and wonder Rockwell originally envisioned. Lift your spirits with this Christmas adventure you'll watch again and again!

The American St. Nick

On Dec. 5, 1944, American soldiers, led by Harry Stuts, put their guns down for one day and organized a party celebrating the town's centuries-old Saint Nick tradition. Soldiers made hot chocolate from their D-rations, company cooks made donuts and cookies for the children, and 22-year-old corporal Richard Brookins from Rochester, NY played the role of Saint Nick. An emotional and heartfelt story, THE AMERICAN SAINT NICK illustrates how American soldiers and residents of the hamlet were able to bond over a moment in time, creating a tradition that continues to this day.

The First Silent Night: The Christmas Carol That United the World

Renowned actor Simon Callow traces the 200-year history of Silent Night, traveling to Oberndorf and Salzburg to uncover the carol’s humble beginnings. The film follows the lives of Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber, two impoverished Austrian children whose paths converged in a small church, where Gruber’s melody joined Mohr’s lyrics to create the world’s most beloved carol. Born from hardship and hope after the Napoleonic wars, Silent Night transformed a quiet night’s story into a universal message of peace.

A Big Lego Christmas

A look behind the scenes as the world's most profitable toy maker opens its biggest ever Lego store, in London. Designer Justin's first ever kit finally hits the shelves, and Lego pro Duncan prepares to make the largest model ever - a replica of Tower Bridge.

Jingle Bells: RFK - 1964

Surrounded by his children, his wife Ethel, and Sammy Davis, Jr., RFK visits schoolchildren around the city, and is every bit the good patriarch and dutiful public servant. But it’s the films’ fleeting, in-between, moments where Pennebaker most precisely hits the mark, offering reflection on the possibilities that Robert Kennedy’s all too brief life foreclosed. Set against the pageantry of a long ago Christmas, the film speaks to tragic contingencies of history lying far beyond the ken of politics that continue to circumscribe the tortured destiny of our country.

A Midnight Clear

In 1944 France, an American Intelligence Squad locates a German Platoon wishing to surrender rather than die in Germany's final war offensive. The two groups of men, isolated from the war at present, put aside their differences and spend Christmas together before the surrender plan turns bad and both sides are forced to fight the other.

Bach - A Christmas Miracle

Leipzig, December 1734: Christmas brings the Bach family together. The first snow has fallen and the children Gottfried and Elisabeth are delighted about the arrival of their older brothers Friedemann and Emanuel. The Thomaskantor has retired to his music room. Anna Magdalena supports her husband, as there are only a few days left and his latest work, the six-part "Christmas Oratorio", must be finished on time. It is awaited with suspicion by the city council and the gentlemen of the consistory, who have long found Bach's waywardness a thorn in their side and fear that, after the premiere of the St. Matthew Passion a few years earlier, the St. Thomas Church will once again be filled with "operatic" music. With the oratorio, Johann Sebastian Bach hopes that he will finally become court composer in Dresden. And, as always, he demands that all members of the family join forces to help him. But differences of opinion are increasingly delaying the completion of Bach's most famous work.

Sacred Music: A Christmas History

Simon Russell Beale takes a journey through Italy, Britain, Germany and Austria as he explores how the sound of Christmas has evolved in response to changing ideas about the Nativity. His story takes us through two millennia of music, from a fragment of papyrus preserving the earliest known piece of Christian music to the stories behind Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Silent Night and In the Bleak Midwinter, and the work of popular Christmas composer, John Rutter. Music is performed by Harry Christophers and his choir, The Sixteen.

The Lion in Winter

Henry II and his estranged queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, battle over the choice of an heir.

Joyeux Noel

France, 1914, during World War I. On Christmas Eve, an extraordinary event takes place in the bloody no man's land that the French and the Scots dispute with the Germans…

The Man Who Invented Christmas

In 1843, despite the fact that Dickens is a successful writer, the failure of his latest book puts his career at a crossroads, until the moment when, struggling with inspiration and confronting reality with his childhood memories, a new character is born in the depths of his troubled mind; an old, lonely, embittered man, so vivid, so human, that a whole world grows around him, a story so inspiring that changed the meaning of Christmas forever.

Christmas at Hampton Court

A special one-off programme going behind the scenes of preparations for Christmas at the palace. Shows what it takes to bring the magnificent palace to life over the festive season, from cooking traditional Tudor recipes to harvesting mistletoe from the gardens. Joint Chief Curator Tracy Borman also explores royal Christmas traditions through the ages, including gifts from the past.

The Merchants of Joy

In the city that never sleeps, five families hustle each winter to turn sidewalks into holiday outposts.

The Days Before Christmas

This short documentary depicts Christmastime in Montreal. The milling crowds, department store Santas, Brink's messengers, kindergarten angels and boisterous nightclubs all combine to make a vivid portrait of the holidays.

Christmas at Biltmore Estate

The day before Christmas in 1895 George Washington Vanderbilt opened his 250-room Biltmore Estate in the breathtaking mountains of North Carolina. Today, Christmas at Biltmore is like stepping back in time, glowing with Victorian history. Embrace the rich tradition of the past and learn how holiday decorations, feasts, games and entertainment became a part of the customs of today. Join host Joan Kohn for a behind-the-scenes look at this magnificent estate and see how months of planning and preparation make Biltmore Estate an extraordinary and magical place to visit during the holiday season.

A Merry Tudor Christmas with Lucy Worsley

Recreating festivities from Henry VIII's era, Lucy Worsley dresses, eats, drinks, sings and parties like it is 500 years ago - discovering long-lost traditions as well as familiar customs.

Boys Night

Two teenage boys partake in a hectic sleepover within their parents basement

Vianočný dar

High School Musical: The Musical: The Holiday Special

The cast of “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” delivers an abundance of feel-good holiday cheer as they perform their favorite Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s songs and share their fondest holiday memories.

The Nutcracker Prince

After young Clara receives a wooden nutcracker as a Christmas gift, she dreams about a fantastical battle between her Nutcracker Prince and the evil Mouse King. At stake is the Nutcracker's freedom - and Clara's future happiness.

Stick Man

Stick Man lives in the family tree with his Stick Lady Love and their stick children three, and he's heading on an epic adventure across the seasons. Will he get back to his family in time for Christmas?

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God

Alex Gibney explores the charged issue of pedophilia in the Catholic Church, following a trail from the first known protest against clerical sexual abuse in the United States and all way to the Vatican.

Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas

When Sid accidentally destroys Manny's heirloom Christmas rock and ends up on Santa's naughty list, he leads a hilarious quest to the North Pole to make things right and ends up making things much worse. Now it's up to Manny and his prehistoric posse to band together and save Christmas for the entire world!

Naqoyqatsi

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

Magic Stocking

A young widow finds a tattered old Christmas stocking at a Holiday craft sale, but is skeptical of its magic when it seems to create small trinkets on its own.

A Trash Truck Christmas

When Santa crash-lands in the junkyard on Christmas Eve, Hank, Trash Truck and their animal friends all have a hand in rescuing the holiday for everyone.

The Christmas Note

Having just moved back to her hometown without her serviceman husband but with her young son, Gretchen Daniels finds her life in disarray as Christmas approaches. But she discovers new purpose when she helps to deliver a message to her neighbor, Melissa, which makes her an ally in the quest to find the neighbor's sibling she never knew she had. The women become bonded not only by the search, but by the understanding that being there for each other means they're no longer alone. This friendship becomes the greatest Christmas gift of their lives. Based on a bestselling novel by Donna VanLiere.

Mickey's Christmas Carol

Ebenezer Scrooge is far too greedy to understand that Christmas is a time for kindness and generosity. But with the guidance of some new found friends, Scrooge learns to embrace the spirit of the season. A retelling of the classic Dickens tale with Disney's classic characters.

The Sound of 007

Pull back the curtain on the remarkable history of six decades of James Bond music, from Sean Connery’s Dr No through to Daniel Craig’s final outing in No Time to Die.

Ronaldo

Filmed over 14 months with unprecedented access into the inner circle of the man and the sport, this is the first official and fully authorised film of one of the most celebrated figures in football. For the first time ever, the world gets vividly candid and un-paralleled, behind-closed-doors access to the footballer, father, family-man and friend in this moving & fascinating documentary. Through in-depth conversations, state of the art football footage and never before seen archival footage, the film gives an astonishing insight into the sporting and personal life of triple Ballon D'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo at the peak of his career. From the makers of ‘Senna’ and ‘Amy’, Ronaldo takes audiences on an intimate and revealing journey of what it’s like to live as an iconic athlete in the eye of the storm.

Louis Theroux: Twilight of the Porn Stars

In 1997, Louis Theroux made a documentary about the world of male porn performers in Los Angeles. 15 years later, he returns to find a business struggling with the deluge of free porn on the internet. Louis revisits some of the original programme's contributors as well as meeting the latest crop of porn performers dreaming of porn stardom.

Beyond the Mat

A heartfelt documentary focusing on the day-to-day lives of professional wrestlers, some on the rise, some on the wane, and others fighting for their lives.

Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert

In this concert film, 'Hannah Montana' star Miley Cyrus performs a slew of hit songs, including 'Just Like You' and 'Life's What You Make It.'

Fuck

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special

Faced with a holiday cheer crisis, the North Pole knows there's only one person who can save the day: Santa's great friend Mariah Carey. The Queen of Christmas creates a fabulous and star-studded spectacular to make the whole world merry!

Christmas in the Heartland

Kara and Jessie are two teenage girls from very different worlds, but with a little Christmas magic, they find they have much more in common than they ever imagined.

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound

The history of cinematic sound, told by legendary sound designers and visionary filmmakers.

The Show Must Go On: The Queen + Adam Lambert Story

A documentary chronicling Queen and Lambert's incredible journey since they first shared the stage together on "American Idol" in 2009.