Mission to Lars

By 1314, through effort and intrigue, Scottish King Robert Bruce had captured every major English-held castle except Stirling. Now English King Edward II would try to stop him - and subdue the Scottish rebellion forever. This is the story of the pivotal campaign culminating at the decisive Battle of Bannockburn, in the shadow of Stirling Castle. Today as Scotland contemplates a countdown to a referendum for renewed Scottish independence, we search the hearts and minds of the characters whose efforts at the Battle of Bannockburn would build a nation. Filmed in the style of 300 and Sin City and with intense and bloody battle scenes, we bring to life one of the most iconic times in Scottish history.

The vessel is Infinity, a 120-foot hand-built sailboat, crewed by a band of miscreants. The journey, an 8,000 mile Pacific crossing from New Zealand to Patagonia, with a stop in Antarctica. Unlike all the other boats heading to the Southern Ocean, Infinity is no ice-reinforced super-yacht crewed by professional sailors; rather, Infinity lives in the moment and sails on a whim. What can be found in abundance on board is blood, sweat, enthusiasm, risk tolerance, disdain for authority, and an ample supply of alcohol – all in all a mad voyage of reckless adventure just for the sheer joy of it. Along the way the crew will battle a hurricane of ice in the Ross Sea, assist the radical environmental group Sea Shepherd in their fight with illegal whalers, and tear every sail they have. At the heart of their journey is a quest for awe and a sense of wonder with the raw power of the natural world.

“Getting to the top matters,” or so says veteran alpinist Mark Richey as he prepares to climb Saser Kangri II, at 7,518 meters the world’s second highest unclimbed mountain. In “The Old Breed”, co- director and climber Freddie Wilkinson takes the audience with him on a journey to the heart of one of the last unexplored patches of mountain wilderness: the war-inflicted eastern Karakoram range. As Richey and Steve Swenson, both in their 50s, push the limits of physical health and will power to be the first to claim this final summit, a gripping psychological thriller unfolds.

Three National Geographic "Adventurers of the Year" embark on an insane kayaking mission in Greenland. Kite skiing, they tow their whitewater kayaks more than 1000 km over the Greenland Ice Cap to reach the northernmost river ever paddled.

On a journey to West Africa, award-winning documentarian Mathew Welsh fashions portraits of six 'middle class' Gambians - taking us beyond stereotypes about Africa - and teaching us that we in the Developed World have a lot to learn from West Africa about how we give, how we live. These are six personalities that will resonate with a Western audience.

Out of love for Huskies, nature and cold winters Dave and Kristen Olesen moved from Minnesota to the North West Territories in Canada 25 years ago to create their own little universe on the magnificent East arm of Great Slave Lake. With their two daughters Annika 15 and Liv 12 and their 37 dogs, the Olesens enjoy a unique lifestyle in the wide open wilderness far away from civilization. One winter they all leave their self-built homestead with ten dogs on a two and a half thousand mile family expedition allowing Annika to run the Junior Iditarod in Alaska. As unexpected obstacles all along the trip culminate in three heavily injured dogs the whole endeavor is at risk. Optimism, love and loyalty prevail on this exciting epic family voyage.

2006 was one of the deadliest Everest seasons on record. Experienced mountaineer Lincoln Hall was invited to join an expedition as a high altitude cameraman. It was his second attempt to summit the mountain, having turned back just short 22 years earlier. Shortly after reaching the summit, Hall began to behave irrationally, suffering from lack of oxygen. Aided by his loyal Sherpas for over 9 hours, he eventually collapsed and they declared him dead. His family were informed and the news hit headlines. But something happened that night that science cannot explain. The next morning Lincoln Hall was found alive by approaching climbers and his dramatic rescue began. Never before has a man been declared dead so high on Everest and survived. This is the remarkable true story of Lincoln Hall’s extraordinary journey back from beyond.

Share the Road is the latest release from Cirque Productions, the makers of TREK: A Journey on the Appalachian Trail. This unique documentary chronicles a 6,200 mile cross-country bike ride from Maine to Seattle down to Mexico. Four narrators offer their individual perspectives while biking across North America, camping in town parks, meeting Americans of all creeds, and living a dream. Epic scenery and an all-original soundtrack by Big Pretty and the Red Rockets will carry you through this four month journey. This film appeals to not only the biker, but to the adventurer in all of us.

A collection of short Unicycling documentaries, featuring Kris Holm and Nathan Hoover.

An appreciative, uncritical look at silent film comedies and thrillers from early in the century through the 1920s.

Father and son take on a 4500km epic motorcycle adventure from the chaos of India to the Himalayas. Enduring the perils of stray animals, trucks, cliff-edges, military confrontation and altitude sickness, their struggles help them appreciate the precious value of life.

A fascinating exploration of the legends accredited to the mysterious religious and military order of the Knights Templar. The Order of the Templar, created after the first Crusade and disbanded by the King of France in 1307, gave birth to fabulous legends which persist to this day. Despite in-depth research, many enigmas still surround this mythical order and its legends - not least whether mysterious discoveries at Gisors and Oak Island can really hold the fabled Templar treasures. Now, this insightful documentary relives an epic adventure based on facts, places, puzzles and legends that feed faiths and have fascinated generations.

What if you temporarily took leave from the safety of everyday life to battle through a challenge that scares you? What if your only worries were riding, finding food and water and a place to sneak a few hours of sleep? What if you forgot your self-imposed limits just to see what you were truly capable of for once? What if you were a racer at heart? Why wouldn't you want to take on the toughest races on the planet?

A new documentary film about the nature of play, risk and hazard, set in a European adventure playground. Here, children climb trees, light fires and use hammers and nails in a play-space rooted in the belief that kids are empowered when they learn to manage risks on their own.

James, giving himself 12 months before he has "a license to kill himself," sets off to the Amazon rainforest with hopes of finding a shaman who can save his life.

James Castrission and Justin Jones, dare to not only tackle the perilous journey across Antarctica to the South Pole and return, but to do it completely unassisted – no sled dogs, no wind kites, just two men dragging their food, their shelter and themselves across 1140 kilometres of barren ice. And back again. As they battle frostbite, hypothermia, crevasses and starvation over three months of torture in the harshest place on Earth, Cas and Jonesy discover their limits, the nature of sportsmanship and the boundaries of the human spirit.

The Douglas Mawson Antarctic Expedition of 1912 is considered one of the most amazing feats of endurance of all time. Although his two companions perished, Douglas Mawson survived, but how? In a bold historical experiment, scientist and adventurer Tim Jarvis is retracing the gruelling experience, with the same meagre rations, primitive clothing and equipment to uncover what happened to Mawson physically-and mentally-as a man hanging on the precipice of life and death.

Roald Amundsen's South Pole Journey is a Norwegian documentary film that features Roald Amundsen's original footage from his South Pole expedition from 1910 to 1912.

Canyoneering is the sport of descending canyons by means of hiking, climbing, rappelling and swimming. Relatively obscure, the sport was brought to the mainstream in 2003 with the news of Aron Ralston who had severed his own arm while trapped in a canyon. Experiencing an overnight spike in popularity by the late 90s - a result of information appearing on the internet - the sport became inundated with thrill-seekers of all backgrounds and skill levels. Facing a new era of off-the-couch recreationalists, three influential participants, a canyoneering instructor, pioneer, and guidebook author each respond to a growing interest in the incredibly dangerous activity. Gorging employs the story of canyoneering to examine larger questions about the pursuit of thrills and the consequences that follow.

The Chukchi reindeer breeders are peculiar people. They are nomads. Reindeers are their welfare, the purport of life. The mother-reindeer is the main divine being; it protects the Chukchi from misfortune and troubles. Nature is not friendly towards people here. Only Chukchi can survive in Tundra. A rush period for the Chukchi reindeer breeders comes in winter, when the temperature rises up to 50 degrees Celsius at night and in the sunlight of the day it doesn't exceed 40 degrees Celsius in tundra: they should separate young deers from the rest of the herd, the weak from the strong. And this, considering that the herds of the Chukchi reindeer breeders number some thousand heads...