Product Description Take an extended journey through six countries with experienced guide Alfred de Montesquiou. Travel through time and meet specialists, historians, and everyday people who are passionate about their countries. From Bursa in Turkey to Xi'an in China, travel the ancient and mythic Silk Road. About the Actor Marlin Darrah is the executive director of International Film & Video (IFV), an award-winning production company based in the U.S. Over the course of Darrah s adventurous thirty-year career, more than fifty travel-adventure companies, educational organizations, and universities have contracted his producing, directing and shooting talents. Assignments and productions have taken him to more than 130 countries around the world. Darrah is particularly skilled at documenting unusual and intriguing cultural and geographical subjects. Darrah has been described as one of North America s most experienced and recognized producers of international video programs and stock footage. His company, IFV maintains a unique stock library, featuring 2000+ hours of pristine and original worldwide footage. Shot in both high definition and standard definition formats, all footage is available to television industry producers and educational organizations for either limited-use or royalty-free licensing purposes. PRODUCTION SUMMARY: Marathon, Darrah's first 16mm film, examined the drama of the Olympic Trials Marathon and won critical acclaim in the sports world. The film attracted the attention of Runner's World magazine in San Francisco. For three years, Marlin produced several films for the magazine, one of which, Moments of the Runner, was a finalist in the American Film Festival in NY. For that film, Darrah shot footage throughout the U.S., as well as in Moscow, and at the site of the first Olympic Games in Greece. In addition to his work with Runner's World, Darrah also produced NIKE's first film. In the early 1980s, Darrah traveled to many regions of India to shoot 16mm footage for two documentary programs. He traveled to India more than a dozen times from 1982 2002. Also during the 1980s, Darrah was contracted by a Seattle company, Society Expeditions, to film such countries and locations as Morocco, Senegal, the , New Guinea, Indonesia, Singapore, Burma, Yemen, Jordan, Egypt, and the icy continent, Antarctica. He produced several travel-adventure films describing those parts of the world. From 1982-2006, Darrah shot and directed documentaries and travel programs in more than 130 countries worldwide, for more than 50 international companies. His clients have included National Geographic, PBS, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, The Discovery Channel, and The History Channel. He has worked with such companies as Nature Expeditions International, Exploration Cruise Lines, Royal Viking Line, Holland America, International Expeditions TRAVCOA, Cultural Folk Tours International, TraveLearn, Eco-Expeditions, World Explorer Cruises, Varig Brazilian Airlines, Garuda Airlines, Federal Express, Lost World Adventures and the Univ. of Virginia s Semester at Sea program. In 2005 Darrah directed and shot a documentary television mini-series in Egypt for probable broadcast on the History Channel. For 2007-08, Darrah has been co-producing and will direct and shoot a docudrama set in Saudi Arabia. Darrah also recently completed a 7-part, 7-hour DVD series, World s Most Exotic Places. Profiled are Central & South America, New Guinea, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. EDI/Marathon, Inc. has distributed 20,000+ copies of the series throughout N. America to libraries and through direct VHS/DVD sales to the public. Darrah recently co-wrote, directed, and co-produced in SE Asia his first dramatic feature-length movie, Monsoon Wife. The movie was completed in September 2004 and has been a finalist or winner at more than a dozen international film festivals. The movie is about love, betrayal, and redemption in exotic and almost lawless Cambodia. Monsoon Wife is the first ever American-produced feature film to be shot entirely in Cambodia.
M**T
let the kids watch it too
I like history films. Very interesting if your looking for something other then boring. This is a good one not just for adults but also for children of school age. It'll give them something to tell their teacher and class mates other then the latest mind bending video games that are senseless.
R**Y
Buy only if only if you're a tourist.
This dvd is designed for tourists. It takes the viewer on a trip through the key cities along the Silk Road. It's very modern. It shows the cities the way they look today and covers what every tourist would want to know when taking a trip from China to Turkey. If you're looking for a "where to stop on your next tourist trip" dvd, this one will serve you well. It makes use of maps to show you where each city and mountain pass is located, which is nice. Where this dvd fails is in its modern approach. There is only a small portion of historical landscape in this presentation. You spend a lot of time on buses and planes watching people take pictures and stare out windows. He speaks on and on sharing tourist level information, nothing too detailed or analytical. If you want a vacation planner dvd, this is a good buy for you. If you want something more historical and more deeply interesting, this purchase will just let you down.
"**"
The Silk Road
The shipment and delivery was great. Just as promised. However the actual movie was a great disappointment. It had little educational content and was more a vacation video than a historical document. I truly felt I had wondered into someone vacation film shot by an old movie camera. This is one DVD I will certainly toss.
L**M
It was ok but not as polished as PBS specials ...
It was ok but not as polished as PBS specials. I thought it was a PBS special but it was not, confused it with In the Footsteps of Marco Polo.
S**Y
Excellent modern-day tour of the Silk Road
This video methodically documents the sights along the Silk Road, starting in Xian and ending in Istanbul. The pace of the sightseeing is adjusted appropriately: slower along the more interesting eastern portion, faster at the western end. The visits to the Uzbek cities of Samarkand and Bukhara are especially well done.
M**S
Fascinating tour of the ancient Silk Road
My church group is planning a large party with a Marco Polo/Silk Road theme so I picked up this video. It is very interesting and loaded with exciting cultural information that has helped with our party details.
A**K
TOO MUCH TURKEY
Good views of mountain areas and most of countryside.Part One OK but Part Two turns into a long travelogue for Turkey - OK if you wanna be a tourist. Shows much that narration ignores.Too much mosque coverage.Does not show significant impact of Silk Road very well for ANY of the places visited.Could be much, much better.
O**N
Tourist Trap
I thought I was buying a documentary led by an expert instead this is just a tourist trip and Martin Darrah obviously doesn't have any more knowledge of the silk road than the guides gave him. There are numerous shots of the tourists he traveled with usually of them taking pictures. Any body buying this is wasting money.
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3 weeks ago
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