Documentary
The story of the extraordinary artisans and designers who contributed to the construction of a dream.
How were the giant stone heads of Rapa Nui – also known as Easter Island – carved and raised, and why? Since Europeans arrived on this remote Pacific island over 300 years ago, controversy has swirled around the iconic ancient statues and the history of the people who created them. Now, a new generation of researchers is overturning old theories, revealing the rich history, innovation, and resilience of the Rapanui people, and uncovering intriguing new evidence about where they – and their practice of monumental stone building – came from.
Martin Shaw takes a fresh look at one of the most famous war stories of them all. The actor, himself a pilot, takes to the skies to retrace the route of the 1943 raid by 617 Squadron which used bouncing bombs to destroy German dams. He sheds new light on the story as he separates the fact from the myth behind this tale of courage and ingenuity. Using the 1955 movie The Dam Busters as a vehicle to deconstruct the raid, he tries to piece together a picture of perhaps the most daring attack in the history of aviation warfare.
Documentary looking into the history, origins, and highlights of the UK’s biggest music festival.
A focuses on 1957, one of the most prolific years for the Swedish director. During the year he shot two films, opened two of his most celebrated films (The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries), and produced four plays and a TV movie while juggling with a complicated private life.
John Wayne was a legendary actor and an embodiment of America itself. While he played men who always do the right thing on camera his real life is far more complicated.
A documentary of the prosecution of Jennifer and James Crumbley for their role in the 2021 Oxford High School shooting perpetrated by their son, Ethan Crumbley.
A documentary special that provides a rare view into the real Charles behind the headlines… told in his own words.
In Florida, a rare event between top ocean predators was captured on video: bull sharks attacking a great hammerhead. Dr. Heithaus and a team of shark experts launch an investigation pinning one against the other. They put experiments to the test to see what happens when these top predators come head-to-head.
A look at the life and work of the Austrian composer who pioneered the musical scoring of films – hundreds of them – from King Kong, to Gone with the Wind, to Casablanca and beyond.
The untold story of the prison years of Britain’s two most infamous female criminals; Myra Hindley and Rose West.
The special follows award-winning actor Mackie in his hometown of New Orleans, where he grew up boating and angling and still practices the sport to date, a passion he now shares with his four sons. Throughout the documentary, Mackie is on a personal mission to keep the peace between coastal communities and sharks. Diving fin-first, he comes face-to-face with the ocean’s apex predators, swimming with several enormous sandbar and silky sharks and tagging a formidable 7-foot bull shark.
Documentary follows Bobby Liebling, lead singer of seminal hard rock/heavy metal band Pentagram, as he battles decades of hard drug addiction and personal demons to try and get his life back.
A superb, moving and thrilling interview with American actor Sterling Hayden (1916-86), held in Besançon, France, on board a dilapidated barge, when he was 65 years old. An unparalleled portrait, in his own words and without any qualms, of a legendary Hollywood star, icon of film noir and the western, who was also a marine, an OSS agent, an anti-communist informer, a writer and a wandering sailor: the hero of his own life.
This unflinching documentary presents shocking new evidence and stunning testimony as we follow a brand new investigation, 20 years in the making, into one of modern America’s most heinous crimes and attempts to finally secure justice for Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. Norman Pardo, OJ’s former manager, unpacks a sordid tale of deceit, revenge and evidence that not only once and for all answers questions that have lingered for more than 25 years with this case – but finally answers the question, Who Killed Nicole? This film will make you question everything you thought you knew about this notorious case.
In this thrilling documentary, indomitable women fight back against the nuclear industry to expose one of the biggest cover-ups in US history: the 1979 Three Mile Island meltdown and its aftermath. The film reveals the never-before-told stories of four intrepid homemakers who take their case all the way to the Supreme Court, and a young female journalist who’s caught in the radioactive crossfire.
90-year-old architect Florian Yuriev is facing the destruction of his magnum opus: an avant-garde concert hall set to be repurposed as a shopping mall. Florian confronts the powerful real estate developer behind this investment project, and uses his visionary ideas to capture an unlikely victory. This is an architectural documentary with infusions of science fiction and horror film.
This time-lapse documentary follows the last years of former President Václav Havel’s life, creating a multi-layered portrait of a world-famous political icon and important playwright, but also an ordinary man plagued by health problems. Havel allows the filmmakers a glimpse behind the scenes of his life, revealing purely personal moments that present him in previously unrecognised contours. With a sense of humour, he reflects on his political legacy and universal human issues. The central motif is formed by the parallels between Havel’s life and the successful play Leaving, which Havel always wanted to direct as a film adaptation.
If you thought TV shows in which audiences and juries judge musical acts were a relatively new phenomenon, you’d better think again. In the 1970s, such “festivals” were incredibly popular in Brazil. They were recorded before a live studio audience, and usually featured a number of elimination rounds. They also formed the springboard for the career of many a big-name star, such as Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, Roberto Carlos and Gilberto Gil. Appearing on such a program was no cakewalk, however: audiences could be as wild in their condemnation as in their appreciation of an artist. Extensive archive footage (including performances and behind-the-scenes interviews) from a turbulent final of the Festival of Brazilian Popular Music one evening in 1967 paints a fascinating picture, not only of the transformation of Brazilian music into real “festival” music, but also of a society starting to buck against the yoke of military rule.
Records the sights and sounds of the many extraordinary street musicians from the Northeast of Brazil whose music and lyrics tell the stories of their lives with improvised humor, drama and colorful vulgarisms.
Love Island winner Amber Davies has landed the role of a lifetime in Dolly Parton musical 9 to 5, and ITVBe’s cameras are on hand to capture every moment, from audition to opening night. As Amber achieves her dreams of West End stardom in the hotly anticipated stage show, ITVBe has access all areas, following Amber as she heads to Nashville to meet Dolly Parton herself, and sets about preparing for the biggest moment of her life. Having trained in musical theatre before embarking upon her Love Island journey, Amber is going back to her first love, to rekindle her passion for the stage, working ‘9 to 5’ to make her big dream come to fruition. This one off special will feature appearances from Amber’s co stars Louise Redknapp and Brian Conley, both of whom will perform alongside Amber in the musical when it opens at the Savoy Theatre in January 2019.
Well-educated, New Hampshire mother, Linda Bishop, was determined to stay free of the mental health system after her early release from a 3 year commitment to New Hampshire State Hospital. Instead, she became a prisoner of her own mind, a fate which she documents in one of the most evocative and chilling accounts of mental illness and of our systemic failure to protect those suffering from it.
Balifilm was originally commissioned as a stage performance, created from diary images and sounds collected in 1990 and 1992 by Peter Mettler on the island of Bali. The soundtrack is a live recording of eight Gamelan musicians playing the bronze and wooden instruments of Indonesia during the projection of the film. balifilm is a personal, lyrical observation and expression of the creative pulse of an extraordinary culture.
Universally recognized as the greatest female skier ever, Lindsey Vonn went on a remarkable journey that was defined by unexpected twists and turns and dramatic peaks and valleys in its final chapter. LINDSEY VONN: THE FINAL SEASON intimately recounts the iconic skier’s last competitive campaign while looking back on her transcendent career, from child prodigy to decorated Olympian to global superstar.
The Heart of Man is a timeless tale of a father’s relentless pursuit of his son — interwoven with interviews of top thought-leaders on brokenness, identity, and shame.
From July 10 to October 31, 1940, England stood alone against Hitlerandapos;S Germany. The Battle of Britain does an excellent depiction of the first battle In history fought totally as an air war prior to U.S. entry into WWII.
Charts the descent into madness of veteran foreign correspondent Malcolm Brabant after a routine yellow fever vaccine for an assignment in Africa.
A candid and intimate film following the eventful life of activist, publisher, and creator of diversity awards, Linda Riley. Combining interviews with fly-on-the-wall filming gives an insight into the ‘Head Lesbian of the World’ as she navigates the world of celebrity and politics.
In a courtroom in Queens, women facing prostitution charges may earn a chance at redemption thanks to an experimental program established by a team of rebel heroines working to change the system.
Documentary on the Shackleton Antartic expedition. A retelling of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated expedition to Antarctica in and the crew of his vessel ‘The Endurance’, which was trapped in the ice floes and frigid open ocean of the Antarctic in 1914. Shackleton decided, with many of his crew injured and weak from exposure and starvation, to take a team of his fittest men and attempt to find help. Setting out in appalling conditions with hopelessly inadequate equipment, they endured all weather and terrain and finally reached safety. Persuading a local team of his confidence that the abandoned team would still be alive, he set out again to find them. After almost 2 years trapped on the ice, all members of the crew were finally rescued.
Eight student eyewitnesses from Stuyvesant High School in New York City recount their experiences of the Twin Towers attack on September 11, 2001, who as young teenagers, found themselves fleeing debris in the heart of the danger zone and faced with a harrowing journey home.
Julien Temple’s 2006 documentary film about the famous music festival from 1970 to 2005, featuring performances from artists such as David Bowie, Bjork, Blur, Oasis and Coldplay. The film is made up of footage shot by Temple at the festival in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005, as well as footage sent in by festival goers after a request on websites and newspapers for footage. Temple had initially only agreed to make a film of the 2002 festival after organiser Michael Eavis expressed concern that that would be the last year of the festival. Temple then realised that he wanted to make a film detailing the full history of the festival. The film also includes footage shot by Channel 4 and the BBC during their coverage of the festival since 1994. Text from Wikipedia.
Tucked in the trees of Oregon’s Mount Hood, an introspective young snowboarder camps alone, anticipating a winter of adventure and self-renewal in this experimental, moody documentary.
Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story is a documentary about the life and work of Michael “Mick” Ronson, the guitarist, songwriter, producer and arranger who, in the early part of his career, performed with David Bowie as one of the ‘Spiders from Mars’.
When The Bough Breaks is a feature length documentary about postpartum depression and perinatal mood disorders. When actress Tanya Newbould experienced PPD with her daughter she did not understand what was wrong with her or how to go about getting help. Tanya teamed up with Director Jamielyn Lippman to uncover this illness that affects one in five new mothers. One of the women they interviewed was Lindsay Gerszt who was currently suffering from postpartum depression. Lindsay agreed to let the cameras document her and give us an in depth look at her path to recovery. Babies are dying, women aren’t speaking out and the signs are being missed. Together these three women take us on a journey to find answers and break the silence.
In a word, “I’m Fine, Thanks” is a movie about complacency, or why so many settle for mediocrity in their everyday life at the expense of a greater passion. It’s a collection of stories on the choices we make and the paths we ultimately decide to follow.
Adopted at birth and raised in Louisiana, David Scotton is on a journey to Indiana to meet the birth parents he’s never known. His tattooed birth mother, Melissa, and reserved birth father, Brian, anxiously wait for him, concerned David will reject them for decisions they made before he was born. I Lived on Parker Ave. is a short documentary about a mother’s agony in choosing what’s best, the joy of a couple starting a family, and young man’s search for where his life began.
This film documents the 16 month journey of a Tunisian migrant, Kais Laabidi, through a French immigration camp as he attempts to reach his 8 year old son in England.
UK cage fighter and mixed martial artist Rob ‘C4’ Sinclair, battles to overcome a career-threatening injury in order to fulfill his dream of fighting in the USA.
This film chronicles the health and social problems that African albinos face and details the fight waged on their behalf by advocacy groups in Spain.