Social & External
The people behind it
Writer and historian Dr Helen Castor explores the life - and death - of Joan of Arc. Joan was an extraordinary figure - a female warrior in an age that believed women couldn't fight, let alone lead an army. But Joan was driven by faith and today, more than ever, we are acutely aware of the power of faith to drive actions for good or ill. Since her death, Joan has become an icon for almost everyone: the left and the right, Catholics and Protestants, traditionalists and feminists. But where, in all of this, is the real Joan - the experiences of a teenage peasant girl who achieved the seemingly impossible? Through an astonishing manuscript, we can hear Joan's own words at her trial and, as Helen unpicks Joan's story and places her back in the world that she inhabited, the real human Joan emerges.
We think we know what ethnic profiling is, but what does it feel like? Dutch citizens report on at times bizarre and disconcerting experiences with police checks, where their skin colour routinely makes them suspicious. For years, the police has been aiming to proactively execute security checks in order to arrest more riff-raff. But practise shows that Dutch people with a migration background are regularly stopped without any suspicion of criminal offences. Poignantly, the teacher, the soldier, the lawyer, the rapper, the fellow police officer and other coloured Dutchmen talk about helplessness, frustration, humiliation, alienation, anger and what it feels like to be a suspect from the start. Wry, but insightful indictment of ethnic profiling.
From Victor Hugo`s classic French novel of the nineteenth century to Tom Hooper`s award winning blockbuster, Les Misérables has undergone one of the most successful transitions from book to stage to screen. In this new documentary, the scintillating journey of Hugo`s universal story is traced from book to stage to screen with contributions from those who have starred in and helped to create the entertainment phenomenon which has captured a place in everyone`s hearts. Helmed by entertainment and celebrity journalist Neil Sean, this insightful documentary traces the events of the Paris insurrection in 1832 and features excerpts from the restored 1978 Les Misérables lm starring Anthony Perkins alongside interviews with Frances Ruffelle, Hugh Jackman, Nick Jonas, Tom Hooper, Alfie Boe, Amanda Seyfried, Sir Cameron Mackintosh and Anne Hathaway.
Bienvenue en…. Los Angeles! Film executive Kyle and filmmaker Arran rendez-vous for a tête à tête in this crème de la crème of Cinéma Verité.
Charlie, Wendy and Holly are joined by Regis, Jocelyne and Armelle investigate the naturist opportunities on Corsica. They visit the lovely seaside resorts of Bagheera and Villata with their splendid beaches and numerous facilities, before heading to the mountainous resort of U Furu where waterfalls and sparkling pools provide enchanting delight.
September 3rd, 1939. Britain and France declare war on Nazi Germany, only two days after the Wehrmacht invades Poland. This day, the sad date when the fate of the world changed forever, the Phoney War began: eight months of uncertainty, preparations, evacuations and skirmishes.
Documentary about the suicide of Mitchel Winters.
In February, Just Jam's event at The Barbican was cancelled at the last minute. It was an event that seemed to be yet another victim of the London authorities now notorious risk assessment procedure, Form 696.
Since August 2024, in Martinique, a popular protest movement against the high cost of living has been reemerging under the leadership of the RPPRAC (Rassemblement Pour La Protection Des Peuples Et Des Ressources Afro-Caribéens – Gathering for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources). On the island, food prices are on average 54% higher than in mainland France.* Through various cultural figures, the people of Martinique are expressing their anger and seeking concrete solutions. *Source: Kiprix, Price comparison between supermarkets in the French overseas territories and mainland France.
When asked to make a documentary about her friend’s mother—a Parisian astrologer named Juliane—the filmmaker sets off for Montmartre with a Bolex to craft a portrait of an infectiously exuberant personality and the pre-war apartment she’s called home for 50 years.
For almost three years, nature filmmaker and ecologist David Cebulla has been observing wild Common hamsters. He not only tries to learn more about the species, but also documents why hamsters are globally threatened with extinction. David travels from the western border of the distribution area in France via Germany, Poland, Austria and Hungary to the eastern border of the distribution area in the Kazakh steppe. In the process, he manages to capture some unique and fantastic images. But during the project, it becomes increasingly difficult to find animals living in the wild.
The documentary is an immersive chronicle of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, when thousands of American citizens from across the country gathered in Washington D.C. to protest the results of the 2020 presidential election, many with the intent of disrupting the certification of Joe Biden's presidency.
He's devoted his career to uncovering stories the powerful want buried. From My Lai to Abu Ghraib, dig into the life's work of journalist Seymour Hersh.
Alex Gibney explores the charged issue of pedophilia in the Catholic Church, following a trail from the first known protest against clerical sexual abuse in the United States and all way to the Vatican.
Bastien is twenty years old and has been an activist for five years in the main extreme right party. When the presidential campaign begins, he's invited by his superior to commit even further. Initiated into the art of decking himself out like a politician, he starts to dream of a career, but old demons surge forth...
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
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.
Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.
This documentary revisits the French football team's controversial 2010 World Cup and the bus strike that sparked global headlines and national outrage.
Police bodycam footage reveals how a long-running neighborhood dispute turned fatal in this documentary about fear, prejudice and Stand Your Ground laws.
An inside look at one of the most anticipated movie sequels ever with James Cameron and cast.
The subject of the film was the Hauka movement. The Hauka movement consisted of mimicry and dancing to become possessed by French Colonial administrators. The participants performed the same elaborate military ceremonies of their colonial occupiers, but in more of a trance than true recreation.
Hugo Chavez was a colourful, unpredictable folk hero who was beloved by his nation’s working class. He was elected president of Venezuela in 1998, and proved to be a tough, quixotic opponent to the power structure that wanted to depose him. When he was forcibly removed from office on 11 April 2002, two independent filmmakers were inside the presidential palace.
Alex Gibney explores the phenomenon of Stuxnet, a self-replicating computer virus discovered in 2010 by international IT experts. Evidently commissioned by the US and Israeli governments, this malware was designed to specifically sabotage Iran’s nuclear programme. However, the complex computer worm ended up not only infecting its intended target but also spreading uncontrollably.
The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.
An intimate portrait of the small shops and shopkeepers of the Rue Daguerre in Paris, a picturesque street that has been the filmmaker’s home for more than 50 years.
In a crime-plagued neighborhood near Miami, brutal, bare-knuckled backyard fights give young men a chance to earn money -- and self-respect.
In 1997, Louis Theroux made a documentary about the world of male porn performers in Los Angeles. 15 years later, he returns to find a business struggling with the deluge of free porn on the internet. Louis revisits some of the original programme's contributors as well as meeting the latest crop of porn performers dreaming of porn stardom.
This raucous journey into the heart of democracy captures an unusual rite of passage: 1,100 teenage boys from across Texas coming together to build a representative government from the ground up.
A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.
The film is based on interviews with 2,000 women from 50 countries, and covers the status of women all over the world. The topics covered include forced marriages, sexual assault, female genital mutilation, acid attacks, motherhood, sexuality, menstruation, education and the professional success of women.