BIG MEN

MONDAY, AUGUST 25 @ 8:00PM

Over five years, director Rachel Boynton and her cinematographer film the quest for oil in Ghana by Dallas-based Kosmos. The company develops the country’s first commercial oil field, yet its success is quickly compromised by political intrigue and accusations of corruption. As Ghanaians wait to reap the benefits of oil, the filmmakers discover violent resistance down the coast in the Niger Delta, where poor Nigerians have yet to prosper from decades-old oil fields.

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SECRETS OF THE TOWER OF LONDON

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28 @ 6:00PM & 10:00PM

The Tower of London is England’s most formidable royal fortress, standing guard on the banks of the great River Thames. It is home to a thousand years of bloody history and is one of Britain’s most iconic landmarks. At almost every chapter in London’s history, ‘the Tower’ has had a starring role. Built by William the Conquer as part of the Norman Conquest of England in the 11th century, it was designed to dominate London’s skyline. The ancient fortifications are set in grounds the same size as those of the White House, but this is far more than just a castle, protecting London from her enemies.

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BREATHLESS

SUNDAY, AUGUST 24 @ 7:00PM & 11:00PM

When the brilliant Dr. Otto Powell takes over a surgery before his junior colleague, Dr. Richard Truscott, botches it, Truscott’s long-simmering resentment is compounded. But the encounter is lost on the powerful surgeon who whisks his striking new nurse Angela off to assist him, against her principles, on a highly illegal procedure: abortion. Incurring her wrath for making her complicit, Otto – trapped in a loveless marriage, bound to his glamorous wife Elizabeth by a dangerous secret – is ablaze with attraction for the young nurse who is determined to resist temptation. (90 Minutes)

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VIENNA PHILHARMONIC

SUMMER NIGHT CONCERT 2014

SATURDAY, AUGUST 23 @ 6:00PM

Led for the first time by a guest conductor Christoph Eschenbach, the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic returns for their 11th open-air concert in the magnificent gardens of Austria’s Imperial Schönbrunn Palace, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. The Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2014 airs on THIRTEEN’s Great Performances, Friday, August 22, 2014, at 9 p.m. on PBS. (Check local listings.)

The concert soloist will be the internationally acclaimed piano virtuoso Lang Lang who plays Strauss’ “Burleske.” As it happens, Eschenbach (a former star pianist himself) was one of the conductors who recognized and encouraged Lang Lang’s talent very early, initiating a long-standing artistic friendship. The Chinese pianist encores Mozart’s famous “Turkish March.”

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WITH GWEN IFILL

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22 @ 9:00PM

Simmering racial tensions on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri and U.S. military action in Iraq were just two of the issues President Obama addressed during his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard this week.

Calm is slowly returning to the streets of Ferguson where clashes between police and protestors upset over the shooting death of an unarmed teenager have gone on for nearly two weeks.

As the story in Ferguson plays out, President Obama is also working on the international threat posed by ISIL, the terrorist group also known as the Islamic State. The militants released a video this week showing the savage execution of journalist James Foley. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel calls the extremists an imminent threat to America….

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THE MAN BEHIND THE STORY OF UNCLE TOM’S CABIN

TUESDAY, AUGUST 19 @ 9:00PM

Josiah Henson’s 1849 autobiography inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and galvanized abolitionists. But for 30 years, he was enslaved here, on what was once a 270-acre plantation run by Isaac Riley. An acre of land and an old house are all that remain. Time Team America descends on a upscale DC suburb, digging for clues beneath the manicured lawn and peeling back layers of the old kitchen floor to tell the story of one of the most important Americans of the 19th century.

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A TIME TEAM AMERICA PRESENTATION

TUESDAY, AUGUST 19 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM

At Badger Hole, Oklahoma, the Time Team America crew excavates what may be the largest Folsom-period bison kill site in North America. Long extinct, Bison Antiquus roamed the plains 10,000 years ago. How were Paleoindian hunters able to kill so many of these massive bison—weighing 1500 pounds each—without the help of bows and arrows or even horses? The lives of these ancient ancestors seem elusive, but by investigating bison bones, arrowheads and more, the Team discovers clues about their habitat, hunting range, and their ingenuity that will help us understand them.

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A WORLD NOT OURS

MONDAY, AUGUST 18 @ 8:00PM

A World Not Ours is a passionate, bittersweet account of one family’s multi-generational experience living as permanent refugees. Now a Danish resident, director Mahdi Fleifel grew up in the Ain el-Helweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon, established in 1948 as a temporary refuge for exiled Palestinians. Today, the camp houses 70,000 people and is the hometown of generations of Palestinians. (90 minutes)

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WITH GWEN IFILL

FRIDAY, AUGUST 15 @ 9:00PM

The police-involved shooting death of an unarmed Missouri teen has sparked four days of violent confrontations between law enforcement and protestors in the town of Ferguson. Eighteen-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed last Saturday while walking with a friend in his grandmother’s neighborhood outside St. Louis. Tensions on the street escalated all week and on Wednesday night police used tear gas and stun grenades to try and control crowds.

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THE SCIENCE, ART AND IMPACT OF DIGITAL CINEMA

FRIDAY, AUGUST 15 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM

Side by Side: The Science, Art and Impact of Digital Cinema is an in-depth examination of how digital filmmaking is challenging traditional celluloid film as the gold standard in moviemaking. Side by Side captures the essence of the film versus digital debate through unprecedented access to influential filmmakers such as James Cameron, David Fincher, George Lucas, David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Robert Rodriguez, Lana and Andy Wachowski, Steven Soderbergh and many more.

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