Arts, Biography Documentary hosted by Alan Cox, published by PBS in 2024 - English narration
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DANTE: Inferno to Paradise, a groundbreaking two-part, 4-hour film, presents and explores the extraordinary power, beauty and drama of Dante's great masterwork, The Divine Comedy, set within the riveting circumstances of the poet's own life, and of the turbulent times he lived in.
The film explores the life and legacy of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) and his soaring masterpiece The Divine Comedy - inarguably one of the greatest achievements in the history of literature. The ambition of the DANTE, which combines powerful dramatic reenactments, colorful interviews with renowned scholars, exquisite archival material and scenic filming, is to bring to life and make accessible, to the widest possible audience, the transformative power and beauty of this singular work of art. The film is divided into two two-hour episodes.
No feature-length documentary film has ever fully exploited for an English-speaking audience the stunning power, reach and drama of Dante's biography, or of the soaring poetic masterpiece he created - a poem that stands to this day at the very apex of world literature and culture.
DANTE will bring deep and widespread awareness of Dante's significance and immense contribution to world culture: an impact that has reached now across 700 years with a text that speaks as powerfully to contemporary readers today as it did to the men and women of Dante's own time. The modern-day relevance of the story of Dante's life and work is astonishing, as people everywhere look for signs of hope and redemption and a way forward in circumstances as challenging in their own way as Dante's own.
Directed by Ric Burns, the film chronicles the mesmerizing story that unfolds within the poem itself, how the exiled poet managed to create it under the most unpromising circumstances, and its relevance today.
Writer/Director: Ric Burns ; A Production of Steeplechase Films & Dante Productions
1) The Inferno (1216-1308)
Part One: The Inferno (1216-1308) explores the turbulent background of medieval Florence from 1216 to Dante's birth in 1265, and chronicles Dante's childhood, education and early career as a poet and politician -- culminating in his exile in 1302. The film also examines his decision to begin The Divine Comedy in 1306 - plunging with Dante and his readers into the underworld itself where, guided by the great Roman poet, Virgil, he will meet a vast cohort of historical and mythological figures - and arriving finally at the very bottom of hell, in their encounter with Lucifer himself.
