James May presents a celebration of the toys which have survived across the decades, including Meccano, Lego, Scalextric and Airfix. James's all-time number one is the train set.
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The people behind it
James May
Himself - Presenter
A film that captures the memories and experiences of those who lived in the first independent state of Slovakia in modern history. This document is not an attempt to create an alternative history but an attempt to keep testimonies.
Reaching 5 1/2 miles into the sky, Mt. Everest is a massive pyramid of intimidating rock, freezing cold and hurricane force winds. This extraordinary mountain is the highest point on Earth and has become the ultimate test of man's strength, endurance and will power. It is also deadly...for every five people who reach the summit, one dies trying. All who attempt its slopes risk their lives. Some survive in triumph, but many others never return from its icy heights.
A travel documentary essay, interspersed with specially composed songs, about the early life and legacy of Chin Peng, exiled leader of the banned Communist Party of Malaya.
The truth about the million British horses that served in World War I is even more epic than Steven Spielberg’s War Horse feature film. This documentary tells their extraordinary, moving story, begining with the mass call-up of horses from every farm and country estate in the land. Racing commentator Brough Scott tells the tale of his aristocratic grandfather General Jack Seely and his beloved horse Warrior, who would become the most famous horse of the war. The British Army hoped its illustrious cavalry regiments would win a swift victory, but it would be years before they enjoyed their moment of glory. Instead, in a new era of mechanised trench warfare, the heavy horses transporting guns, ammunition and food to the front-line troops were most important. A quarter of a million of these horses died from shrapnel wounds and disease. But the deep bond that developed between man and horse helped both survive the hell of the Somme and Passchendaele.
The Pharmacratic Inquisition isn’t a documentary—it’s conspiracy pseudoscholarship masquerading as revelation. This Gnostic Media film by Jan Irvin claims Jesus’ story, Christian symbols, and traditions are just recycled astrology (12 disciples = zodiac) and shamanic drug rituals, not historical truth or divine revelation. It cherry-picks ancient myths, mushroom theories (à la John Allegro), and fertility symbols to “prove” Christianity is pagan sun worship with hidden entheogens. No balance—just a sensational sales pitch for their book Astrotheology & Shamanism, covering ~25% of its content with flashy images but zero rigorous sources. The problem? It ignores centuries of textual criticism, archaeology, and historiography affirming Jesus’ historicity while reducing faith to tripped-out paganism. It’s not eye-opening; it’s agenda-driven myth-making for the “ancient aliens” crowd, shaming believers as dupes. Watch if you must, but know it’s propaganda, not scholarship.
Four young women joined the Resistance to fight Nazi oppression and brutality in occupied France. They were arrested and deported to Ravensbruck concentration camp, where they helped each other to survive. SISTERS IN RESISTANCE captures their recollections and the intense friendship that has survived with them.
Pussy Riot: The Movement embarks on the odyssey of the girls who rocked a country and continue to fight for human rights throughout the world. Documentary follows Masha Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich through their harsh two year sentences for playing music to their freedom. What started as a punk rock collective has catapulted to a world movement for human rights.
Unauthorized Access is one of the earliest independent documentaries on the subject of the computer underground. Shot in 15 cities and 4 countries, this documentary offers an impressive array of topics dealing with hacking culture, such as phreaking, lockpicking, conspiracy theories, and ninja clad dumpster divers.
He was the most prolific within the New Portuguese Cinema generation. He would try western spaghetti, esoteric allegory, supernatural, and science-fiction. Without state subsidies, he would quit filmmaking in the 1990s. Who remembers António de Macedo?
Resorting on a vast archive material of newsreels, photographs, letters, family videos, fiction movies, diary and popular songs excerpts, the documentary reassesses the legacy of the dictatorial period of Getúlio Vargas (1937-1945). Through the comparison and analysis of these heterogeneous records, produced for different purposes, from political propaganda to family celebration, the film explores the several layers of the political web of the Estado Novo, exposing its external inspirational sources, functionality and contradictions.
JEWS excavates a lost world of manners and ritual in home movies shot by several Chicago families from the 1920s through the 1940s. Much as in similar found footage soliloquies by Péter Forgács, Jay Rosenblatt and Ken Jacobs, director Roger Deutsch wrings unexpected pathos from mundane traces of the past. Children mug for the camera with dances of the day, upright mothers march their strollers up the avenue, men smoke, the family gathers around the table to light the candles. The bare title cannot help but raise the specter of contemporaneous events in Europe, lending an extra degree of urgency to the film's meditation on disappearance. - Max Goldberg
This short celebrates the 20th anniversary of MGM. Segments are shown from several early hits, then from a number of 1944 releases.
Inspired by their beloved Dolomite area in Northeast Italy, a battle theater in World Wars I and II, Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi continue to explore issues of war and peace in their most recent production. The film uses shots of ordinary toys found in the area, many missing limbs and other pieces, to represent, in both direct and oblique ways, the historical period between Fascism, Nazism, and the postwar era.
"Trotsky and Mexico, two revolutions of the twentieth century" tells us of the famous Russian revolutionary asylum by President Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico.
Examine the history of bluegrass music, from its origins to its eventual worldwide popularity, and hear from dozens of musicians who explain the ways bluegrass music transcends generational, cultural and geographic boundaries.
Buddhist monks open up about the joys and challenges of living out the precepts of the Buddha as a full-time vocation. Controversies swirling within modern monastic Buddhism are examined, from celibacy and the role of women to racism and concerns about the environment.
This documentary explores the creation of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin as designed by architect Peter Eisenman. Reaction of the German public to the completed memorial is also shown.
Explore the evolution of Buzz Lightyear from toy to human in the making of Pixar’s Lightyear. Dive into the origin and cultural impact of everyone’s favorite Space Ranger, the art of designing a new “human Buzz,” and the challenges faced by the Lightyear crew along the way.
The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.
Daniel Craig candidly reflects on his 15 year adventure as James Bond. Including never-before-seen archival footage from Casino Royale to the upcoming 25th film No Time To Die, Craig shares his personal memories in conversation with 007 producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.
A look at the origins, history and conspiracies behind the "Majestic 12", a clandestine group of military and corporate figureheads charged with reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology.
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
A documentary that explores the downloading revolution; the kids that created it, the bands and the businesses that were affected by it, and its impact on the world at large.
A look at the global culture and appeal of the LEGO building-block toys.
When a cross-section of seven-year-olds were interviewed for 7 Up in 1964 it was immediately evident that their social backgrounds influenced their attitudes towards life. While the upper class children were confident and self-assured, those from middle and working class backgrounds were resigned to a challenging life of hard work. This premise was put to the test every seven years when the same group were interviewed about the progression of their lives. 49 years in the making, the changes that occurred to the original 14 make for fascinating television and are in many ways the stories of all our lives. From success and disappointment, marriage and childbirth, to poverty and illness, nearly every facet of life has been captured on film. Now, at the age of 56, the group are once more brought together and, with the benefit of hindsight, assess whether their lives have been ruled by circumstance or self-determination.
The life and career of an actor, artist, and icon. His own journey through his own camera.
A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.
Five broken cameras – and each one has a powerful tale to tell. Embedded in the bullet-ridden remains of digital technology is the story of Emad Burnat, a farmer from the Palestinian village of Bil’in, which famously chose nonviolent resistance when the Israeli army encroached upon its land to make room for Jewish colonists. Emad buys his first camera in 2005 to document the birth of his fourth son, Gibreel. Over the course of the film, he becomes the peaceful archivist of an escalating struggle as olive trees are bulldozed, lives are lost, and a wall is built to segregate burgeoning Israeli settlements.
A documentary about ten very different lives connected by having appeared onscreen wearing masks or helmets in Star Wars.
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
Lupita Nyong'o narrates a documentary about Peanuts and its creator, Charles M. Schulz. Famous fans—including Drew Barrymore, Kevin Smith, and Al Roker—share its influence on them, and a new animated story finds Charlie Brown on a quest.
James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici go on an adventure to find the lost city of Atlantis by using Greek philosopher Plato as a virtual treasure map.
The story of the triumphs and hurdles of brothers Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb, otherwise known as the Bee Gees. The iconic trio, who found early fame in the 1960s, went on to write over 1,000 songs and have 20 No. 1 hits throughout their career, transcending more than five decades of changing tastes and styles.
The Captains is a feature-length documentary film written and directed by William Shatner. The film follows Shatner as he interviews the other actors who have portrayed starship captains in the Star Trek franchise.
Martin Scorsese's documentary intertwines footage from The Band's incredible farewell tour with probing backstage interviews and featured performances by Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, and other rock legends.
A look at the "Hell House" performed annually in October by the youth members of Trinity Church (Assemblies of God) in Cedar Hill, Texas (a Dallas suburb) — seen by over 10,000 visitors each year.
THE SPIRIT MOLECULE weaves an account of Dr. Rick Strassman's groundbreaking DMT research through a multifaceted approach to this intriguing hallucinogen found in the human brain and hundreds of plants, including the sacred Amazonian brew, ayahuasca. Utilizing interviews with a variety of experts to explain their thoughts and experiences with DMT, and ayahuasca, within their respective fields, and discussions with Strassman’s research volunteers, brings to life the awesome effects of this compound, and introduces us to far-reaching theories regarding its role in human consciousness.