PBS Specials

Magic Skies: A History of Fireworks (2013x20)

Ausstrahlung: Jul 01, 2013

Fireworks enchant our senses – for a short but wonderful moment. Old family businesses have saved the tradition of fireworks to the present day. The film shows how this art form has developed over the centuries: Starting in China over a thousand years ago, we journey through the opulent Baroque era in Italy, Germany and France, experience Japanese hanabi artists in action and are also on hand to experience Guy Fawkes’ Night in the UK. We see how fireworks were democratised, becoming something that everyone could enjoy and have access to - before arriving in the present where the art of fireworks is again what it was in its heyday, a celebration of money, power and beauty. Each era is interwoven with contemporary stories and artists from Asia to the United States, because anyone in the 21st century who has dedicated himself to pyrotechnics is working in many similar ways to the artists of several hundred years ago. The film combines gorgeous firework displays of today with the past explaining how the makers are aiming to reconnect with the traditions of their art. Fireworks are and have always been a passion and a lifestyle.