Documentary offering a unique insight into the stresses of the workforce at Sellafield nuclear power station, as for the first time ever a film crew was granted full access to the plant.
Nick Broomfield's critically-acclaimed film chronicles the collapse of the white supremacist AWB party (Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging) in apartheid South Africa through a portrait of its leader, Eugene Terre'Blanche, his driver JP and JP's wife, Anita.
The Widow Makers follow the story of the USSR 658 nuclear class submarine fleet including the ill-fated K-19 USSR submarine which on 4 July 1961, suffered a complete loss of coolant to its reactor. With no backup system, the captain ordered members of the engineering crew to find a solution to avoid a nuclear meltdown. Sacrificing their own lives, the engineering crew jury-rigged a secondary coolant system and kept the reactor from a meltdown. With interviews and original source footage it is a compelling and cautionary tale of heroism versus ideology.
Award-winning documentary that focuses specifically on the conflict in the Drenica Valley of Kosovo during the late 1990s. The Kosovo Liberation Army contained many angry Albanians, sick and tired of a loss of rights, which had been revoked by their Serbian masters. Fighting to reclaim the land they believed to be historically theirs, they ran up against Serb forces who were full of their own righteous indignation and similarly fuelled by a strong and ancient claim to the land.
In this futuristic feature-length drama, an extremist group releases anthrax into a community of Kurdish asylum seekers in Glasgow, with devastating effects
One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari Folman about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there's a connection to their Israeli army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early 80s. Ari is surprised that he can no longer remember a thing about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal images... Folman's animated film won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar.
Dave Gorman attempts to travel coast to coast across America without giving any money to 'The Man' by avoiding large chains and multi-nationals and instead seeking out independent businesses in order to find the true spirit of the country.
In 1975 Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought their third and final contest. What unfolded in the searing heat of Manila is now considered the greatest ever-boxing match in history, with an ending so dramatic it defies belief and continues to provoke controversy.
WE ARE TOGETHER tells the moving and inspiring story of 12 year old Slindile and her remarkable friends at the Agape orphanage in South Africa. Filmed over three years, with unforgettable kids, soaring music and a plot full of surprises, WE ARE TOGETHER arrives as a stirring and uplifting theatrical documentary.
To tie in with the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, More4's True Stories is exploring independent minds. More4's True Stories: An Independent Mind traces the lives and tales of eight very different people. Among them are the Moustache Brothers - a comedy troupe from Burma who're under house arrest because they're banned by the Burmese military regime. As such, the three-strong act performs illegally for tourists from their home in Mandalay. There's reggae singer Tiken Jah Fakoly, who in December 2007 was declared persona non grata in Senegal after criticizing the president. What ties the above two, and other stories, together, is that in each case there's a desire to exercise a freedom of expression and the right to have an opinion. It's an insightful look into eight very different world's, but world's that still make an impact because their stories are all-powerful.
Thirty years on, three men dare to break the silence about sexual abuse in English private schools. Directed by Emmy and BAFTA-award winner, Brian Woods, Chosen tackles a subject often whispered but rarely spoken about - the sexual abuse of boys by teachers in Britain's private schools. For thirty years the boys, and the men they became, stayed silent, nursing the secret of the abuse they suffered. But in this film, Tom, Mark and Alastair break that silence with spellbinding articulacy and breathtaking honesty - telling their stories straight to camera. Chosen reveals how these boys were groomed, how the private school system was poorly regulated and how abuse goes undetected.
The Hunger Season tells the story of a young teacher called Justine and the children in his care as they struggle to survive in a year of drought and diminishing food handouts. Shot over a two-year period on location in the US, Europe and Southern Africa, the film explores the wider forces at work in an unfolding humanitarian crisis, bringing vividly alive the impact of actions taken by the Swazi government, United Nations agencies and Western donors on the fate of one small community. With a close eye cast on the system of food aid, crucial questions are asked about whether the international aid response is committing sufficient resources to end the cycle of hunger in the developing world.
WAITING FOR HOCKNEY is a comic and poignant tale of a man and the people who believe in him as they collude and collide for an entire decade in the service of a grand idea. The film explores the sometimes precarious line between dreams and delusion as it looks at the risks, payoffs and consequences when one man single-mindedly pursues his vision. Billy Pappas is a true American original. An art school graduate from a working class background living in rural Maryland, Billy has decided that his mission in life is to reinvent realism. He spends eight years on a single drawing, working to show a microscopic level of detail he hopes will reveal something deeper than photography. Literally, he hopes to create a new art form. Aided, one might even say enabled, by an eccentric cast of characters including a clergyman, a professor and an architect calling himself Dr. Lifestyle, Billy finally completes the portrait and then begins a quest to show it to renowned contemporary artist David Hockney, the one person he thinks can validate everything for which Billy has been striving.
A documentary focusing on Africa, football, and notably Ghana's football star Michael Essien, as he takes time out with his training at Chelsea to play for his country in the African Cup of Nations. Director Paul Yule.
Think of China and contemporary art may not be the first thing that springs to mind. It's now fast becoming a big player on the global art scene and True Stories documentary looks at this burgeoning industry. Only five years ago China's cultural ministers predicted that the highest living artist would be Chinese and their statement seems to be right on track. It appears that freedom of expression is not being restricted by the communist state, instead it is slowly being embraced by the government. Chinese works are being sold for millions and holding their own against international artists. Communist leader Mao Zedong declared that the only function of art was to serve society, but since his death in 1976, the art market has boomed. Key artists including Zhang Xiogang, Yue Minjun, Yang Fundong have come to the fore and two distinct movements - Political Pop and Cynical Realism - have emerged. China contributes to one third of the global economic growth and with its new found wealth there is more disposable cash around, and people are being granted more leisure time by the government to spend their money. Hence the boom in galleries and art work. The government plan is to open 1000 galleries over the next 10 years. But has contemporary art become a political tool in representing China? An interesting look at how art shapes society.
As Barack Obama takes office, More4 looks back to John F Kennedy and how acclaimed film-maker Robert Drew gained unprecedented access to his presidency. This intimate film takes a close look at Kennedy - from young campaigning Senator to a burdened President. "Now, more than ever it's important for us to look back at JFK and his legacy and learn what we can as we continue to create American history today," said Robert of his documentary. "I created A President To Remember from the realisation that young people today have never known what it's like to have a President who is celebrated both within the country and around the globe." Kennedy's decision to permit cameras to candidly record the action taking place within the White House and the inner sanctum of the Oval Office for the first time raised a storm of protest, but resulted in a journalistic breakthrough of historic proportions. The film travels in the company of Kennedy from his days as a young Senator campaigning for the Presidency; to his early days in the White House; through to his struggles grappling with major issues, from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the desegregation of the University of Alabama, vehemently opposed by Governor George Wallace, who physically barred the entry of the first two African-American students. At the close of the film, the shock and deeply-felt sorrow of Kennedy's assassination is captured in the faces of his compatriots. The result is an absorbing biopic of the much-loved leader, but in the true tradition of cinéma vérité, A President To Remember draws no conclusions from the events it bears witness to.
Co-directed by Nick and Marc Francis, this documentary is an eye-opening expose of the multi-billion dollar coffee industry and one man's fight for a fair price. Told through the eyes of Tadesse Meskela, manager of a co-operative union that represents 74,000 Ethiopian coffee farmers, the film highlights the complexities of an industry worth over $80 billion - the world's second most valuable trading commodity after oil.
Venezuela has the biggest oil reserves in the world. But where do the profits go? Filmed in the style of a Latin American telenovela, True Stories: Red Oil asks if a multinational oil corporation can deliver President Chavez' socialist dream. Told through the eyes of Marienalla, a soap opera writer turned oil company executive, this revealing documentary explores the greed, power and passion behind Venezuela's State Oil corporation.
Fiona Cunningham-Reid's documentary looks at the trial of Tom Cholmondeley, who is facing the death penalty after allegedly killing a poacher on his Rift Valley estate
Jennifer Baichwal's electrifying film aims to discover both the spiritual and physical after effects on those hit by lightning. It's all well and good commenting that lightning doesn't strike the same spot twice, but tell that little upbeat factoid to someone who happened to be standing there the first time around. Roughly 45 people are struck every year, and this documentary delves into the deep metaphysical end to explore the life-changing ramifications of such an event. One such victim was James O'Reilly, a playwright who goes on to vividly describe the moment he was struck 30 years previously, and Paul Auster, a writer who managed to survive a strike that also killed his friend. Part weather documentary, part human interest story, part biology lesson and part X-File, Baichwal's film is a thorough, charged and stimulating investigation into the raw, untamed and life-changing power of nature unleashed. Electrifying stuff.
The True Stories strand, which showcases the best international feature documentaries, uncovers the mystery behind a massive explosion that shook Siberia in 1908. The epicentre, Tunguska, was so remote that no-one went in to investigate immediately. The first scientist to eventually visit the site found 80 million uprooted trees lying in neat rows, and thought that a meteor may have been to blame - but failed to find any fragments or crater and so the mystery remained unsolved. One hundred years after the explosion, George Carey packed his camera and set off to Tunguska. He encountered a mixture of mystics, reindeer-herders, amateur sleuths and serious scientists and a range of theories, from meteorites and comets to alien spacecraft, anti-matter, spontaneous explosions and an unexpected passion for the Cosmos in the old Soviet Union. And on a lake near the epicentre, Carey witnesses a discovery that may finally reveal the truth.
Jeremy Stanford takes a behind-the-scenes look at the first ever 'World's Most Beautiful Transsexual Pageant' in Las Vegas, meeting the six hopefuls who are attempting to realise their diva dreams. With the dramatic competition to win the crown (and a starring role in a sensational new Vegas revue) as a high-stakes backdrop, the film explores the personal stories behind the pageant. Provocative profiles and interviews document the always intriguing, sometimes moving and often humorous journeys of the contestants. United by common histories of hardship and persecution, their ultimate triumph is a moving celebration of the human spirit.
The True Stories strand, which showcases the best international feature documentaries, presents Jorien van Nes and Femke Wolting's fascinating insight into online virtual worlds. Second Life, World of Warcraft, Metaplace, U World - all virtual worlds where the user can create their own paradise, far removed from real life. People can create societies that range from the democratic to the dictatorial, have avatars that resemble their ideal and can engage in actions that their real life personality would never dream of doing, from cyber-sex to virtual crime. But who creates these worlds and are they the right people to be crafting idealised societies that pretend to address and solve the inadequacies of the real world?
In 2003, the African nation of Liberia was in turmoil; its president Charles Taylor was involved in a vicious civil war with war lords who wanted to take his place. Caught in the middle were innocent civilians who bore the brunt of the violence. One woman, Leymah Gbowee, had had enough and she and her fellow church members, soon to be joined by their female Muslim counterparts, began their protests. Their plan was simple; every day they would gather in the central market of the capital of Monrovia wearing T-shirts and carrying placards simply asking for peace. As their numbers swelled, Taylor reluctantly bowed to the pressure and peace talks were set up in Ghana. From their actions came Taylor's exile and the election in 2005 of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first woman head of state.
moving, compassionate film following the women from the Eddie Warriors Correctional Center as they compete in a closed-doors prison rodeo against inmates from nine all-male penitentiaries. Prisoners compete on wild broncos and bucking bulls, risking life-long injuries. Danny Liles, a 14-year veteran of the rodeo, mentors the women, who include Jamie Brooks, serving 30 years for murder, and Brandy Witte, serving 20 years for firearm possession and drugs dealing. For them and their fellow inmates, the chance to battle livestock offers a brief respite from prison life as they become the heroes the public and guards applaud.
Riding in on a wave of optimism and real belief in their mantra that things can only get better, the New Labour government proceeded to enact some of the most authoritarian legislation in recent history. With fast-paced satirical style, this Bafta-nominated film shows how, in just over a decade, some rights and freedoms that took centuries to build up have been rolled back or cut away through a personal journey into the decline of civil liberties. The 82-year-old holocaust survivor Walter Wolfgang was lifted bodily from a debate at the Labour Party conference for, as Tony Benn points out, 'rightfully' saying that Jack Straw is talking 'nonsense' about Iraq. We see a man who tries to protest against the treatment of Mr Wolfgang also set upon by security, and learn that he was later handled roughly - and that poor old Wolfgang was next detained by the police under the 2000 Terrorism Act. We meet Moulad Sihali, an Algerian refugee. He was cleared of all charges relating to a non-existent plot to manufacture the poison ricin, but has now been made a prisoner in his own home. He's been fitted with a tracking device, is only allowed outside at certain hours - and then only within a one mile radius of his house - and is forbidden to meet anyone who hasn't been vetted by the Home Office. The specific charge against him? There isn't one. We hear how Maya Evans, a vegan chef, and her friend the writer Milan Rai were arrested under the Serious Organised Crime and Police act for reading out the names of people who have died in Iraq and occasionally ringing a (very quiet) Buddhist bell. Occasionally the footage is very funny. Protestors are told that if they step off the grass verge they have been crowded onto they could be arrested for blocking a public highway. They are told this by a massed group of policemen who are actually blocking the road. There are recordings of the police intimidating grandmothers; protestors being strong-armed; 80-year-olds being dragge
True Stories presents Kasim Abid's intimate portrait of everyday life in war-ravaged Baghdad in the years following the Saddam regime. Having lived in exile for 25 years, Iraq-born Kasim returned to his home country in 2003 and spent more than four years filming his family as they struggled to adapt to the massive changes in their city and country under the US-led occupation after the fall of Saddam Hussein. This is a gripping portrayal of one family's fight to survive. With estimates suggesting up to 70% of the population is under 30, it is through the eyes of Kasim's five nieces that there comes a powerful sense of the mindset of the nation's youth. They share the same concerns of young women everywhere - studying and planning for their careers - building their lives. Articulate and outspoken, they enthusiastically participate in the country's first free elections: 'I'm voting for the secular movement,' says Zeina, 21. 'Religion is between me and God. No one has the right to force me to pray or cover my head. Coercion is no part of Islam,' she adds. But by the film's end, the cousins are bitterly disillusioned. Fatima, 22, notes: 'Whatever we do, it's really the Americans who decide everything. The government is just empty.'
Sarah Feltes's film looks at the untapped artistic resources of the human brain. Can transcranial magnetic stimulation unlock the hidden potential that is dormant in all our brains? When builder Tommy McHugh and chiropractor Jon Sarkin suffered massive brain traumas, they suddenly revealed a previously hidden talent: to create art that amazed critics and collectors.
With unprecedented access to Rio de Janeiro's dangerous backstreets, Oscar-winning filmmaker Jon Blair provides an unflinching look at one of the bloodiest urban conflicts in the world, which leaves more than 1,000 people dead each year. What has previously only been portrayed in fictional films like the famous City of God is now on screen and for real, as Blair follows the lives of three very different men. 'Spiderman', a 28-year-old drug lord, patrols the shadowy streets of Coréia, the sprawling favela he controls. Inspector Leonardo Torres, a muscle-bound cop from Rio's drug squad, inches through the alleys of another shanty town, pursuing dealers and dodging bullets. And Pastor Dione dos Santos, a reformed gangster turned evangelical preacher, trawls the slums looking for souls to be saved on his quest to broker peace among all parties and end the city's drug conflict.
Graphic artist Johnny Hicklenton, who is battling against multiple sclerosis lives in an increasing state of immobility and frustration, escaping the confines of his front room through his artwork. The documentary follows the seven years of his life since he was diagnosed with MS, a moving expression of his thoughts and feelings as well as artistic interpretations of key moments in his fight against the disease.
The Shock Doctrine is the latest documentary from acclaimed director Michael Winterbottom, co-directed by Mat Whitecross. Based on Naomi Klein's bestselling book, The Shock Doctrine argues that America's 'free market' policies have come to dominate the world through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries. Both the film and the book argue that governments all over the world exploit natural disasters, economic crises and wars to push through radical free market policies. Klein calls this 'disaster capitalism' and in her view, disaster capitalism is as effective as psychiatric shock therapy at wiping our collective memory. The film concludes that the result is often catastrophic for ordinary people and hugely beneficial to big corporations. The documentary also adds to Klein's thesis - which was written before the recent market turmoil - and includes an analysis of how the financial world got into its current troubled state.
On 26 April 1986, reactor four at Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded, sending an enormous radioactive cloud over northern Ukraine and neighbouring Belarus. The danger was kept a secret from the rest of the world and the nearby population went about their business as usual. May Day celebrations began, children played and the residents of Pripyat marvelled at the spectacular fire raging at the reactor. But after three days, an area the size of England was contaminated with radioactive dust, creating a 'zone' of poisoned land. Based on Mario Petrucci's award-winning poem, this is the story of the people who dealt with the disaster at ground-level: the fire-fighters, soldiers, 'liquidators', and their families. The poetry is read by David Bickerstaff, Francine Brody, Juliet Stevenson, David Threlfall and Samuel West.
As the USA maintains a strict policy on immigration from Mexico, the Oscar-nominated Which Way Home shows the personal side of migration through the eyes of children trying to cross the border
Amanda Knox is currently serving 26 years in an Italian jail for the murder of her flatmate, Meredith Kercher. This True Stories documentary asks: who is the real Amanda Knox - and was she really capable of murder?
The True Stories strand, which showcases the best international feature documentaries, continues with Yoav Shamir's controversial, personal exploration which asks, "What is anti-Semitism today?" Is it a real and continuous danger that requires eternal vigilance or a tactic used by right-wing Zionists to discredit and cow their critics? Among those he interviews are Abe Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League, who is adamant that anti-Semitism is rife and must be exposed; while Norman Finkelstein, author of The Holocaust Industry: The Exploitation of Jewish Suffering, claims that anti-Semitism is being used for political gain. Opinions differ and tempers flare but Shamir's directness and wry humour, as shown in his other films including Checkpoint, 5 Days and Flipping Out, elevate the mood as he tackles extremely difficult questions.
Simon Chambers wants to find out if a large industrial complex run by the British mining company Vedanta in the Indian region of Orissa can help the local community flourish. But his attempts to hire local guides border on the ludicrous; they get lost, and then complain of leg pains to avoid taking him on tour. Even his chauffeur takes off. Then he realises why; although there there are hospitals, there are no doctors, wastewater has been leaking into the river and there are many other rumours from all sides. That's when Chamber realises that his guides are not incompetent - just fully aware they are risking quite a lot by accompanying an inquisitive foreigner...
Anders Østergaard's documentary, from the True Stories strand, captures the bravery of the young Burmese video journalists who, though risking torture and life in jail, live the essence of journalism as they insist on keeping up the flow of news from their closed country. Armed with small handycams, the Burma VJs stop at nothing to make their reportages; their material is smuggled out of the country and broadcast back into Burma via satellite and offered as free usage for international media. The whole world has witnessed single event clips made by the VJs, but for the very first time, their individual images have been put together with Østergaard's sparingly-used reconstruction to tell a riveting story which offers a unique insight into high-risk journalism and dissidence in a police state, while at the same time providing a thorough documentation of the historical and dramatic days of September 2007, when the Buddhist monks started marching.
This moving yet humorous film in the True Stories strand from Mat Whitecross follows two refugee families from Burma over the course of a year that will change their lives completely. Forced from their homeland by the repressive military junta, they have lived in a Thai refugee camp for almost twenty years. A UN relocation scheme offers them the chance of a new life, but their new home, in the British city of Sheffield, will be different to everything they've ever known. With intimate access, Moving to Mars depicts their struggles with 21st century Britain.
R J Cutler's documentary follows Anna Wintour, renowned editor of Vogue, as she prepares the September 2007 issue. Weighing in at a record 840 pages, it is also the magazine's most important issue, heralding the autumn fashions. With her trademark bob and omnipresent dark glasses, Wintour comes over as a woman who is a success because she knows exactly what the reader wants, as she supervises each and every page, aided and abetted by Grace Coddington, Vogue's creative director who acts as a foil to Wintour to produce a winning combination.
Corradino Durruti's film, showing in the True Stories strand, is a chilling insight into the 'Ndrangheta, the 'Cosa Nostra' of the Calabria region of Italy, told through the cat-and-mouse game in one small city between the local boss Toto Crea, the forces of law-and-order out to nail him and the corrupt officials who protect him. The 'Ndrangheta are just as fearsome and just as feared as their Sicilian brothers but being family based, rarely admitting non-blood members, are all the harder to infiltrate or divide. But in 2000, the people of the small city of Rizziconi had had enough and through a fierce anonymous letter writing campaign, managed to get the city council dissolved by the Italian president. In addition, the government appointed prosecutor Roberto Pennisi and Inspector Nico Morroni to look into the activities of the Crea family, an inquiry that was to take seven years before the truth was reached.
This 1975 documentary by Albert and David Maysles, showing in the True Stories strand, tells the true story of Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale, aunt and first cousin to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Although they lived in the select opulent suburb of East Hampton, New York, through a combination of failing finances and illnesses both physical and mental, they allowed the mansion to fall into decay until in 1972, the neighbours complained at the stench and animal infestation. The national press covered their plight and Jacqueline Onassis stepped in to assure their future. The Maysles became interested in their story and received permission to move in for two months, filming the pair every day. The product is a fascinating and affectionate portrait of two women who have become dependent only on each other but still retain a sense of wit and style throughout all their trials.
This is not a film about what might happen, this is a film about what has happened. The collapse of the cod population saw the end of 40,000 jobs; the bluefin tuna is being hunted to extinction; it takes five kilos of anchovies to produce one fish farmed salmon. And while there are some positive signs, with Walmart and McDonalds both selling fish from sustainable sources, some outlets still sell endangered species. But the final chilling conclusion is that unless more radical steps are taken globally, including the reduction of overfishing, it will take just 50 years for the world's ocean's to be all fished out.
Now showing in the True Stories strand, Content is described by Petit as, "an ambient 21st century road movie", a meditative essay inspired by the almost trancelike state the act of driving can bring. With the narrative provided by Hanns Zischler, the film is variously about memories of other journeys from Texas through to Poland, the impact of modern technology and the rise of the huge impersonal factory sheds which now line roads throughout the world.
Billy Corben's astonishing story, showing in the True Stories strand, tells of the sudden rush of cocaine into the then sleepy Miami in the 1970s and 1980s. Colombian drug lords and Cuban and American gangsters realised that America had developed a taste for the drug but the authorities were slow on reacting to the threat. There was profit for all with, initially, very little risk attached. The story is told through three key characters; Jon Roberts, who claims to have imported over $2-billion worth of cocaine, pilot Mickey Munday, who personally flew in some 10 tons and the chillingly attractive Jorge `Rivi' Ayala, enforcer and assassin for Colombian `grandmother' Griselda Blanco. With a score by Jan Hammer, this is the true story behind the films Scarface and Blow, when money and mobs ruled Miami.
After the success of The Yes Men, the New York political action co-operative return to embarrass and humiliate corporations in equal measure. Largely fronted by Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano, they use phony websites and business names to persuade presumably otherwise rational people to accept their ideas. Such as the 'Survivaball', presented as the latest terrorist survival product from Haliburton. It's a human sized beach ball 'suit' meant to protect the individual inside but if they fall over, they can't stand up again and would just roll around. At a conference for the security industry, not one expert questions its viability. Although the Yes Men's exploits are funny and illuminating, they do ask a deeper question - if they can fool all these powerful men (and it is largely men) who run America, in how many other and more frighteningly important ways are these people being conned?
Former police officer Jesus Vissarion is the soul of Siberia. His 4,000 disciples follow a strict regime of no meat, no eggs, no milk, no fish, no alcohol, no smoking and very little money. Filmmaker George Carey touches down in the obscure Siberian outpost of Minusinsk, just in time to join in the fun and frolics at Vissarion's big festival, taking place in Sun City, the new Promised Land, roughly 200 miles north of Mongolia. George is approached by Vissarion's closest apostle, a former rock singer called Vadim Redkin, who says he can take him to meet the great man... A True Stories film.
Chris Atkins' hilarious but shocking True Stories documentary about the celebrity-obsessed media romps through the real reasons behind our addiction to fame, and pulls the rug out from the media corporations and moguls that deal it out. Atkins sells fake celebrity stories to the tabloids, which they publish without any checks, and secretly films red-top journalists discussing the purchase of celebrities' cosmetic surgery medical records. Deliberately targeting the sacred cows of the media industry, the film features jaw-dropping secret camera footage of Max Clifford boasting about the lengths to which he will go to protect his clients. It culminates in an exposé of how media manipulation usurped Live 8 for its own ends, with powerful testimony from leading humanitarian charities like Make Poverty History. It also investigates and calls into question some of the key claims that have been presented to the public. The film reveals the harmful effect a celebrity-saturated media is having on children, and how media corporations are responsible for a global epidemic of narcissism. Atkins uses stunts, animation, expert testimony and undercover reportage to create a darkly humorous and terrifying exposé of one of the most important issues of our time.
In the light of the recent democratic elections in Afghanistan, the True Stories strand presents a season of programmes looking at the often unseen faces of war-torn Afghanistan. The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan reveals a dark side of Afghan culture which has up to now remained hidden. A tradition known as Bacha Bazi (literally `boy play'), which was banned by the Taliban, is spreading through the country and exploiting the desperation of many poverty stricken children. Young boys are lured from the streets with the promise of a new life as singers and dancers for former warlords and businessman. But as well as being trained, they are traded for sexual favours and subjected to abuse, rape and sometimes even murder. Afghan journalist Najibullah Quraishi gains extraordinary access to they boys and their masters and throws light on a subject that no-one wants to talk about, exposing how the authorities charged with stopping the practice are complicit in it themselves.
In the light of the recent democratic elections in Afghanistan, The True Stories strand, which showcases the best international feature documentaries, presents a short season of programmes looking at the often unseen faces of war-torn Afghanistan. Vote Afghanistan! tells the story of the gripping and controversial Afghan Presidential election of 2009. With unique and unprecedented access, this political thriller observes the elections through the eyes of the leading challengers on their campaign trail, their supporters and the personal stories of the everyday Afghan voter as across the country brave people literally risk their lives to challenge President Karzai and to make it a free and fair election.
Filmmaker David Bond attempts to disappear off the face of the earth for one month. But is it that easy when he lives in Britain, one of the most intrusive surveillance states in the world, where the average UK adult is registered on over 700 databases and caught daily on one of the four million CCTV cameras on almost every street corner? In what plays out like a Hitchcock thriller, Bond hires some of the UK¿s top private investigators to discover everything they can about him and track him down as he attempts to vanish. Is it still possible to live a private, anonymous life in the UK or do the state and private companies already know too much about ordinary people? Forced to contemplate the meaning of privacy and the loss of it, Bond¿s disturbing journey leaves him with no doubt that although he has nothing to hide, he certainly has something to fear as he discovers some alarming truths about what the state and private companies already know about ordinary citizens.
The incredible story of Pablo Escobar, the infamous boss of Colombia's Medellin drug cartel, told for the very first time by his son, Sebastian and his widow Maria Isabel Santos. In Nicolas Entel's film, showing in the True Stories strand, Sebastian tells of his extraordinary childhood, growing up with a father he loved but whom he knew to be Colombia's enemy number one. He tells of times of extraordinary luxury and extravagance, and other times on the run, and Sebastian and his widow open the family vaults to share their private and long hidden archives. He also meets with the sons of the late Colombian justice minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla and the late presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán, both killed on orders from Escobar after confronting his cocaine cartel. The film follows Sebastian as he tries to break the cycle of revenge and assassination by seeking reconciliation with the sons of his father's victims.
Andrew Thompson and Lucy Bailey's film in the True Stories strand tells of how one white farmer took on the Zimbabwe government and took Robert Mugabe himself to court. Mike Campbell ran a mango farm in Zimbabwe which was reallocated to a poor black family (in reality, the son of one of Mugabe's former ministers) under Mugabe's Land Reform Programme. But Campbell and his son-in-law Ben Freeth took their case to a tribunal of the Southern African Development Community, an international court in Namibia, arguing the eviction was based on racial discrimination, which is illegal in Zimbabwe. The case dragged on for over a year, during which Campbell and his family were intimidated by armed gangs, kidnapped and tortured to within an inch of their lives. This film is an intimate account of one family's bravery in the face of state brutality and whose fight for justice has implications for ordinary Zimbabweans who continue to suffer at the hands of Mugabe and his regime.
Paul Downes, a successful businessman with bipolar disorder, suffers from manic highs followed by depressive lows. Film-maker Mark James follows his extraordinary journey as he searches for a wife, hiring a castle in Jamaica and inviting 12 Ukrainian women to join him in the hope of finding his soul mate
This is the story of a unique football team. In recent years, albinos have been murdered in Tanzania, some as young as six months old, while others have been attacked with machetes and their limbs cut off while alive. Their body parts are used by witchdoctors in potions and remedies, and are sold for thousands of dollars, since they are believed to bring wealth and success in business. Albino United tells the story of a Tanzanian football team made up of albinos, a group of young men with the ambition to prove to the country that they are able to take part in everyday society, and more importantly, play football. Recently accepted into the Tanzanian 3rd Division, their journey will take them to the heart of the dangerous albino killing zones, playing in front of crowds, getting to see the World Cup, and even meeting Didier Drogba. But above all, this is an opportunity to show to huge crowds that attitudes towards people with albinism must change and the killings must stop.
Ondi Timoner's Sundance-winning film is a portrait of Josh Harris, one of the internet's visionaries and the man behind a psychological experiment that prefigured Big Brother. He was the classic young dot-com millionaire. In the early 90s, he sold his video webcasting company for a rumoured $80m, and embarked on new experimental and controversial projects. `Quiet' was a gathering of 100 of the best and brightest minds into an enclosed utopia, whose every move would be streamed live on the Web 24/7 as they ate, lived and worked. But the strange interventions of Harris meant that it began to spiral frighteningly into sinister territory. When that project was shut down, he and his girlfriend began `We Live in Public', where every aspect of their lives were caught and transmitted live, including their breakup. By now, Harris had spent most of his fortune and initially moving to an apple farm in New York State, he finally decamped to Ethiopia, where he lives now.
Martin Taylor's revealing behind-the-scenes look at Australia's longest running and probably most politically incorrect beauty contest, Miss Nude Australia. Best Undressed is an offbeat portrait of suburban Australia that's somewhere between Strictly Come Dancing and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; always entertaining, occasionally hilarious and sometimes a little tragic. It is an intimate insight into a group of young women and their families who share the same hopes and dreams as anyone and who are striving to be the very best at what they do but without any of the pretensions of more mainstream beauty pageants.
Eric Bana's documentary, showing in the True Stories strand, tells of his love for the treasured 1974 Ford GT Falcon Coupe his father gave him - nicknamed The Beast. The film follows Bana's participation in the epic five-day Targa Tasmania Rally. When he spectacularly wrecks the car during the race, Bana turns to Jeremy Clarkson and to talk show psychologist Dr Phil for advice and ends up trying to unravel the particular and lifelong love that men can feel for their cars. It's a film for petrol heads and those intrigued by Bana's personality. And it also fits in a tour of Jay Leno's enormous vintage car collection.
Double Cannes-winner Emir Kusturica's films is a portrait of one of football's most extraordinary characters. Diego Maradona - reviled in England (the Hand of God), adored in Argentina, where he won the World Cup as a player and has (at the time of writing) managed his team to the last eight in South Africa. Kusturica enjoyed unlimited access to the man himself and traces his story from the humblest of beginnings to world domination, followed by his fall from grace through drug abuse and weight problems before rehabilitation and rebirth. The result is an astonishing, personal story that is cemented by the strong personal bond between Kusturica and Maradona.
With the help of Richard O'Barry, a former dolphin trainer who has since recanted and become the mammal's strongest ally, filmmaker Louie Pshihoyos sets out to expose the illicit slaughter of large numbers of dolphins at Taijia, a rural Japanese cove. The pair have to contend with bureaucratic obduracy, police surveillance and attacks by the fishermen. Forced to film undercover and underwater, they use Industrial Light and Magic's latest technology to capture the heartrending massacres. Psihoyos links events at Taija to wider concerns: the lucrative global aquarium industry, which needs trained dolphins; the impotent regulatory checks in place; and a whaling industry that is flexing its muscles again. And there is an ironic coda to the slaughter; the dolphin meat is relabelled as whale meat and is particularly popular in children's lunchboxes. The meat is high in poisonous mercury toxins.
Kim Longinotto's critically acclaimed, Sundance-winning film follows the Bobbi Bears, a multiracial group of women based in Durban, South Africa who protect and shelter the child victims of sexual and physical abuse. Many of them have suffered such abuse themselves and they call themselves the rough aunties both because of their blue collar background and because of their tactics, making sure the perpetrators of the attacks are prosecuted in the face of bureaucratic indifference. But as well as following the women as they accompany police on night raids, it also follows their own personal stories, including the assault on one member and a tragic family loss to another. Their name comes from the toy bears they use to encourage their young victims to show the abuse they suffered, in the same way dolls are used in this country, by placing stickers to indicate where they were violated. Despite the tough subject matter, Rough Aunties is a positive, rewarding film.
Jerry Sladkowski's intriguing film about the search for a hastily buried treasure begins in September 1939. With the Germans about to invade Poland, Jack Atkin gathered together his Jewish family's valuables before burying them on his property in Lodz and fleeing to London. Seventy years later, his grandson, Mark Atkin, sets out on a voyage of discovery, not just back to Lodz but to Los Angeles, where distant cousins live and to London, where relatives might be able to explain why Jack returned to a war torn Europe, ending up in Riga prison camp. Finally in Lodz, he finds the family property intact. Are the buried valuables still there, will his relatives lay claim to a share and will Poland's ever-changing position on the restitution of Jewish property affect any discovery? As Mark digs into Polish soil, he also digs up a family history which reflects that of many European Jewish families during the war.
John Maringouin and Molly Lynch's film follows Slovenia's Martin Strel, swimmer extraordinaire. At first glance, Strel, 55, looks the opposite of the Olympic ideal, with his portly belly and distinctly unhealthy lifestyle but as a long distance swimmer, he has conquered the lengths of the Danube, Mississippi and Yangtze rivers. This film follows his attempt to swim the length of the Amazon, the world's longest river, to raise awareness of the depletion of the rain forests. But, rather like Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, the complexities of the adventure begin to spiral into chaos, with Strel's son and publicist Borut and navigator Matthew Mohlke caught up in Strel's grandiose plans.
DIrector Ricki Stern and co-director Anne Sundberg's film is an intimate portrait of American comedian Joan Rivers. Shot over a year when Rivers both staged an autobiographical play in London as well as appearing on America's Celebrity Apprentice, it also follows her gruelling schedule of one-night gigs. But the film also gets beneath the self-admittedly surgically altered skin of the comedian. She recalls how, when she left The Carson Show for her own on Fox, Johnny Carson never spoke to her again. She alse reveals how she felt when her husband Edgar, the show's manager, who had been stealing from her, committed suicide. Between the laughs emerges a portrait of a driven, successful woman - but one who cannot bear to be idle, because to be so would lead to unwanted self-examination.
James Toback's film of Mike Tyson's life, told in the ex-fighter's own words, finds the controversial ex-heavyweight champion ruefully reflecting on his past, which has included a failed marriage, a conviction for rape, drugs use and fights where he didn¿t bother training, happy just to pick up the cheque at the end. But he is also forthcoming about his difficult childhood and what the loss of trainer Cus D'Amato, who was also a father figure and mentor, meant to him. Toback has know Tyson for 20 years but this is no whitewash, more a film of a troubled man unburdening himself with an honesty a stranger could never elicit.
Laura Fairrie's film records an historic moment in British politics through the microcosm of one east London constituency. Made over the course of a year, the film follows two very different political opponents as they battle towards the 2010 General Election. Long-standing Labour MP Margaret Hodge is a stalwart of the New Labour establishment. Running against her is Nick Griffin, the British National Party leader. Griffin is a controversial figure, with a conviction for inciting racial hatred, who nonetheless commands considerable support. As it chronicles the rise and fall of the far-right BNP, it gives a fascinating insight into the inner workings of the 'BNP family' and the working class disillusionment with the Labour party that fuelled the BNP campaign, offering an honest, moving and humorous portrait of a white working class community forced to face the changes brought by new immigrant populations.
Laura Poitras' film is the story of two men whose lives were intimately caught up with the Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the very different paths those lives took after the American invasion of Iraq. Poitras originally intended the film to be about Guantanomo Bay prisoner Salim Hamdan, who was bin Laden's driver but then she met Abu Jandal, Hamdan's brother-in-law, bin Laden's bodyguard and a self-admitted recruiting officer for Al Qaeda. Jandal is a free man, working as a taxi driver in Yemen, now reformed (or so he says), who gained his freedom by naming names post 9/11. An engaging character, his on-screen presence is counterpointed by the absence of Hamdan, who is represented on screen by stills, letters to his family and his charismatic defence lawyer Lt Cmdr Brian Mizer, who is determined to gain his client a fair trial and his freedom. As Hamdan's trial continues, the film contrasts the two men's lives and beliefs in this intriguing interlocking drama.
This moving film follows Vanessa and Maurice Melton in their search for their fortunes. The African American couple, with five children, seek to escape the economic downturn by leaving their hometown of Anchorage, Alaska, and setting out in search of new horizons. With less than $300 and nothing but their car to live in, they embark on a road journey which eventually leads to Las Vegas, where plentiful jobs and cheap housing made it America's fastest growing city. But as boom turns to bust, the Meltons face infidelity, drugs problems and poverty, all of which threaten to overwhelm them. Filmed by Jason Massot over four years, Road to Las Vegas is a dysfunctional love story about new beginnings, past ghosts and the infinite promise of the American West.
Deborah Scranton's film looks at the 1994 genocide in Rwanda from both political and personal perspectives. In 2008, Rwandan President Paul Kagame released a report detailing France's hidden role in the genocide. Three months later, his closest aide, Rose Kabuye, was arrested in France on charges of terrorism. Jean Pierre Sagahutu is a genocide survivor haunted by his father's unsolved murder. Scouring the Rwandan countryside on a fifteen-year search for clues, he ultimately finds himself face-to-face with his father's killer. As Kagame fights to free Rose and expose the truth of what really happened and Sagahutu faces his father's killer, each finds himself faced with a choice: to enact vengeance or to turn the other cheek.
Doug Block's very personal film is about his only daughter Lucy. Block has spent much of his and Lucy's life filming their relationship and now, aged 17, she is just a year away from leaving home for college. Block had long mulled over incorporating the footage into a film about parenting but with Lucy's departure imminent, he realised the real subject was the emotionally charged period when children separate from their parents - and vice versa. The result is a funny, poignant account of learning to let go as Block braces himself for Lucy's departure and the looming empty nest.
True Stories continues with some of the most powerful and compelling documentary feature films from around the world. Filmed over a year, The Nurture Room follows three Glasgow primary school children on an incredible journey that will completely transform their lives. Nurture Rooms offer a bridge between home and school: a safe place where children can be children. In these small, special classrooms children can re-visit early 'nurturing' experiences that they missed or didn't get at home.
Yuwali was 17 when her first contact with white men was filmed. In 1964, as part of a rocket-launching exercise, a native welfare patrol officer was checking that an area in Australia's Western Desert was not inhabited when he met Yuwali and 19 other Aboriginal women and children. They were from the Martu people, traditional nomadic herders. Confusingly, there were no men in their group, and the welfare officer could not speak their language. And they had to get out of the desert before the rockets were launched. The women and children were taken to Jigalong Mission. Yuwali is now 62 and still lives at Jigalong. This Sydney Film Festival award-winning True Stories film follows Yuwali as she returns to visit her homeland.
This gripping, feature-length documentary charts the first year in the life of Britain's new Supreme Court - the highest court in the land. With unprecedented access the film meets the judges, lawyers and ordinary people whose cases will have a far-reaching effect on the everyday lives of others across the UK. For those bringing these high-profile cases to court there is a lot at stake, and the programme reveals their hopes and fears as they and their legal teams come face-to-face with the most powerful judges in the UK. The judges have allowed proceedings to be filmed and, uniquely, justice is seen unfolding as judges and lawyers - the finest legal minds in the country - debate key contemporary issues. See David and Goliath battles of individuals challenging the state, the outcomes of which help to define the nature of society today. True Stories commissions and showcases the best feature documentaries from around the world.
Following on from his 2010 Dispatches: Children of Gaza, Bafta Award-winning filmmaker Jezza Neumann provides a second shocking portrait of children living in the aftermath of war. On 27 December 2008, the Israeli Defence Force unleashed Operation Cast Lead in Gaza: a 22-day campaign to destroy the ability of Hamas to launch rockets and mortars into Israel. Over 1300 Palestinians were killed, many of them children. Surrounded by rubble and increasingly isolated by the blockade that prevents them from rebuilding their homes and their lives, many of the surviving children's lives have been irreversibly damaged by war. War Child gives a voice to a handful of them. True Stories commissions and showcases the best feature documentaries from around the world.
In 2003, Mark Henderson was one of eight backpackers taken hostage while trekking in the Colombian jungle. What started as an innocent tourist adventure ended up as 101 terrifying days of captivity. Eleven months after his release Mark received an email from Antonio, one of his kidnappers. Another of the hostages, Reini from Germany, received a facebook friend request from Antonio's girlfriend, another of their captors. That email was the start of a five-year correspondence between hostage and kidnapper that eventually drew Mark back to the one part of the world he thought he'd never see again and face-to-face with the man who had once held the key to his freedom. This deeply personal, authored documentary follows Mark and three of his fellow hostages as they return to the Sierra Nevada mountains in northern Colombia: the place where they lived out their worst nightmares. As they travel deeper into the jungle, they discover the truth behind their kidnapping, come to understand how they all dealt with the ordeal and finally confront two of their kidnappers. My Kidnapper is an emotional journey into the heart of a kidnapping, told from all sides. True Stories commissions and showcases the best feature documentaries from around the world.
The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical tells the story of a slum school choir in Mumbai who performed a concert of songs from The Sound of Music with a full orchestra, before an audience of over 1,000 people. At the centre of the story is 11-year-old Ashish, whose wide smile and optimism defy his family's constricted slum shelter. He admits to lacking confidence as he copies out in his notebook 'I will not be self-conscious'. His natural charisma suggests that he could go far if given the right opportunity. Now he's tasked to perform a solo piece from The Sound of Music at Mumbai's National Centre for the Performing Arts, a venue that's normally inaccessible to the poor. He can't help but attach dreams to the event; he hopes to win the affections of an upper-class girl and inspire a patron to sponsor his education. With so many hopes riding on this single performance, the stakes are high for everyone. True Stories commissions and showcases the best feature documentaries from around the world.
Based on recordings and transcripts from psychoanalyst Ralph Greenson's sessions with Marilyn Monroe in the dark months prior to her controversial death in 1962, Marilyn, the Last Sessions tells the fascinating story of how the troubled star turned to Greenson, who attempted to aid and protect her but was later considered by many to be suspect. The film features rarely seen archive footage of Monroe, and those who surrounded her towards the end of her career, such as the Kennedys, Arthur Miller, John Huston and Truman Capote. True Stories commissions and showcases the best international feature documentaries.
Award-winning director Gillian Anderson has been following the lives of Josie, Diana and Kerry since 1976, when they were teenagers in suburban Australia. Love, Lust and Lies documents how their lives have changed in the last 35 years, from new relationships starting and breaking up with partners, to becoming mothers and grandmothers. The women reveal their stories and secrets with remarkable honesty as the film demonstrates how fascinating and complex 'ordinary' life can be.
Every four seconds a romance novel published by Harlequin or its British counterpart, Mills & Boon, is sold somewhere in the world. Julie Moggan's Guilty Pleasures takes an amusing and touching look at this global phenomenon. Ironies abound in the contrasts between the everyday lives of the books' readers and the fantasy worlds that offer them escape. Guilty Pleasures portrays five romance devotees who must, ultimately, find their dreams in the real world.
Documentary using surveillance footage obtained as part of a sting conducted by Illinois' Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to reveal the inner workings of a drug den. The film provides an insight into operations under dealer Darrell `Duck' Davis, who took over Rockford's narcotics trade in 2001, and recruited men from the South Side of Chicago to help him sell an average of a kilo of hard drugs each week
In October 2008, Alan Greenspan, the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, admitted to Congress that he'd found a flaw in his economic model of how the world works. He'd placed too much faith in the self-correcting power of free markets. In a system based on the unsustainable lending necessary to fuel continued spending, the world found to its cost what happens when that credit bubble bursts. Drawing on interviews with leading world economists, The Flaw attempts to explain - in unprecedented depth - the underlying causes of the global financial crisis. Unless the root causes of the problem are addressed, the system may collapse again, and next time it may not be possible for governments to rescue it.
During the Soviet era, the people of Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan were used as human guinea pigs in the testing of nuclear weapons. Today the residents believe they are living with the consequences: one in 20 children is born with defects. This True Stories film focuses on those whose lives have been shaped by this past, including a maternity doctor who enthusiastically pilots a 'genetic passport' scheme to stop women with bad genes from getting pregnant, and a local resident fighting for her right to have a child. There is no scientific consensus on how radiation affects human genetics, but this does not detract from the harrowing scenarios this community faces and its struggle to cope with the country's history. True Stories commissions and showcases the best international feature documentaries.
Babes in Hollywood follows a dozen aspiring child actors over three months as they try to win US television roles against staggering odds. Every spring, thousands of aspiring child actors - and pushy parents - flock to Hollywood for the casting period for new television shows.
The definitive account of the 'wiki-saga', featuring the first major television interview with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The film unites all the major protagonists for the first time, including Assange's erstwhile partner Daniel Domscheit Berg, and the editorial teams at the Guardian, Der Spiegel and New York Times newspapers, as well as the US state department spokesperson who had to deal with the leaks. At the film's core the largely overlooked story of US Private Bradley Manning, accused of the biggest leak in history. Without that leak, there would have been no story at all. When Assange launched his whistle-blower website he was heralded as a hero, bravely publishing classified material to highlight government wrongdoings to its peoples. He won awards around the world and was credited with creating a historic moment for journalism. But the story took a dark twist when Assange was accused of rape and sexual assault in Sweden. Award-winning film-maker Patrick Forbes presents the story of Wikileaks, using the words of people at the heart of the story, and on both sides of the fence. This is the story of Wikieaks told by the people involved: sulphurous, personal and moving, it documents history in the making and the frontier of new technology and journalism. It's also a story of human emotions clashing with the advent of new technologies, summed up in the words of Guardian journalist Nick Davies as 'a Greek tragedy... as triumph was turned into disaster through the actions of one man.' True Stories commissions and showcases the best international feature documentaries.
Documentary exploring the lives of Maggie, Sana and Shaboo, three members of Karachi's colourful but sometimes grim transgender subculture. Often turned out onto the streets as children for their unorthodox attitudes, Pakistan's transgender citizens have formed an underground network of `families' that provide them with support, but many become trapped in a culture of prostitution, violence and forms of slavery. The programme reveals how cunning government officials are planning to offer members of the clandestine community jobs as tax collectors - hoping even the most stubborn evaders will be embarrassed into paying up when faced with a visit from a flamboyant unit of collection agents.
Nick Broomfield heads to Alaska to find the real Sarah Palin and meet the friends, family and colleagues that gave their heart, soul and belief to the charismatic ex-hockey mum. [S]
Ecologist Mike Hands has spent over 20 years studying the problem of slash-and-burn farming and has been trying to come up with a better way for subsistence farmers to make ends meet.
The Redemption of General Butt Naked confronts the contradictions of reconciliation in war-ravaged Africa, through the story of Joshua Milton Blahyi. Blahyi - also known as General Butt Naked - used to operate as a feared and despised warlord who, by his own reckoning, was responsible for the savage slaughter of 20,000 men, women and children during the Liberian civil war, before he laid down his arms and became an evangelical preacher. Blahyi and his army of conscript children went on the warpath wearing only shoes, believing their nakedness would magically protect them from bullets. They mowed down everyone in their path with blades or bullets, and even practised cannibalism and human sacrifice. Since his alleged spiritual epiphany, Blahyi has poured the same manic enthusiasm that fuelled his killing sprees into impassioned sermons. But is his conversion no more than a cynical trick to escape retribution for his horrific war crimes?
Gypsy Blood examines the violent culture that some gypsy and traveller fathers hand on to their children, exploring its impact on two fathers and their young sons
Over the last two years police have discovered 11 bodies on an isolated road on Long Island. Four of them were sex workers who'd advertised online. This film examines the story.
Documentary following the story of Ruth Jeffery, who was subjected to more than three years of online abuse by her boyfriend Shane Webber. After being driven to the brink of suicide by a stalker who had posted naked images of her on adult websites, and distributed them to family and friends, Ruth was forced to deal with the shocking discovery that the perpetrator was the man who claimed to love her. Webber was sentenced to four months in prison in October 2011, and will be subject to a restraining order until 2016.
After four decades, America's most notorious con man has been caught - unravelling a shocking and extraordinary story of multiple identities and deception that stretches from a Bavarian village to California, where, in January 2012, he was charged with murder.
Documentary telling the story of Terry Thompson, who released his collection of exotic animals onto the streets of Zanesville, Ohio, before killing himself in October 2011. The authorities were forced to shoot 48 of the dangerous creatures, including tigers, lions and bears, to bring the situation under control. Only six animals survived, and were taken to a local zoo. This film explores the events in Thompson's past that led up to the incident, and includes interviews with the police officers involved.
The astounding story of Tanya Kach made international headlines when she revealed she had been kept in captivity for 10 years by school security guard Thomas Hose, just a stone's throw from her home in Pennsylvania. This programme gains an insight into how a 14-year-old girl disappeared in 1996, only to resurface a decade later still living within the same community, and Tanya, now 31, talks about her ordeal. With contributions by friends and family, plus the police officers who worked on the missing persons investigation.
An extended edition of the Oscar-winning film Saving Face follows the journey of pioneering British plastic surgeon Dr Mohammad Jawad as he returns o Pakistan to help with the recovery of acid-attack victims.
Many people have heard of dogging, or know places where it apparently happens, but very few know what goes on in this secretive world. Dogging Tales, is an intimate and compelling documentary told through doggers themselves, who share their experiences of a mysterious, little understood neck of the woods. Filmed over ten months, the documentary follows a range of people whilst attempting to gain insight into why men and women engage in or watch sexual activity in front of strangers in public areas under the cover of darkness. Part of the True Stories strand, showcasing the best of feature length documentaries, Dogging Tales is directed by award-winning photographer Leo Maguire – who made his critically-acclaimed debut in 2012 with Gypsy Blood: True Stories (Best Newcomer at Grierson Awards, Bafta-nominated for Photography). The first interviews with doggers take place in the ‘real world’ – as their day draws to a close and they consider their life, families and relationships. As they prepare to go out they begin to slowly shed their daily personas in anticipation, and Maguire accompanies them on excursions to lay-bys, woods and picnic spots around the UK that often double as dogging locations after dusk. Going beyond the ‘caught in the act’ image often portrayed in the media, the documentary delves into the physical and psychological realm of dogging. The characters allow themselves to be filmed during their sexual encounters but, in subtle yet revealing interviews, they also open up about their attraction to dogging: how they were introduced to it; why they may feel a lack of fulfilment without it and how their relationships are enhanced or damaged by it. Not just about sex or fetishistic behaviour, this is a human story about alter egos, connections and acceptance. With a cinematic quality, this beautifully shot, distinctive film captures the intimate night-time journeys that few people see or experience, but that allow this covert commu
In 2010, in a small town in America, 12-year-old Paul Gingerich helped his friend shoot and kill his stepfather.
Recent years have seen a step-change in Britain's drug culture. Out go the 'old' illegal drugs - cocaine, heroin, speed - swept to one side by a younger generation who can get their hits not only more cheaply but also legally. The new drugs are legal to buy because they're sold as research chemicals and labelled 'not for human consumption'. This hard-hitting observational documentary - directed by triple BAFTA-award winner Dan Reed - takes a trip into a murky world where underground chemists invent new drugs faster than the government can legislate against them.
