Living with Leopards

The Siberian discovery of the best-preserved woolly mammoth on record has teams of experts working around the globe, and around the clock, on some of the most ambitious projects in science. In Russia, paleontologists are conducting a historic autopsy on the 40,000-year-old beast to find out how it lived, and how it died. Meanwhile labs in South Korea and at Harvard University are using the latest advances in DNA manipulation in hopes of cloning the furry giant and introducing it to the modern world.

In the frigid valleys of Japan's Shiga Highlands, a troop of snow monkeys make their way and raise their families in a complex society of rank and privilege where each knows their place. Their leader is still new to the job and something of a solitary grouch. But one little monkey, innocently unaware of his own lowly social rank, reaches out to this lonely leader, forming a bond with him that manages over time to warm his less than sunny disposition. It is a rare and remarkable gesture that alters both their lives. Changing seasons bring new babies to care for, a profusion of insects and blossoms to eat, family disagreements to squabble over and tragedies to overcome. Mating season brings competition for females, as the days grow shorter and colder in a rush toward winter. But with their now confident leader to guide them and their families to shelter and care for them, this troop of snow monkeys is ready to face the world.

The Secrets of Life series (1934-50) may not conform to modern expectations of nature filmmaking, inclined as it is towards giving cute fluffy creatures human names and characteristics. But it couldn't be accused of shielding kiddies from the harsher realities of the food chain, as this exercise in ruthless Darwinism demonstrates to unintentionally hilarious effect. A more than usually eccentric narrator introduces us to the newborn bunny quartet of Donald, James, Charles and Clifford, but as the film's title gives away, "the boys" aren't all long for this world as they face an assault course of hungry owls, predatory badgers, shotgun-happy gardeners and aerial bombardment (no harm in a little anti-Nazi detour, this is 1942 after all). (from http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-once-we-were-four-1942/)

"Cause all the music you loved at sixteen, you'll grow out of. And all the times they will change, it'll all come around", Lorde humming in her song, Stoned at the Nail Salon (2021). It gets me, 15 years old Alma, into something that she fears the most. Getting old. With the fear that she can't be as joyful as her teenage years and living the life as she supposed to be. But in this love letter wrapped in video form, I just hope Alma and her little self know that her life is her own personal space, she can do anything, personalize everything, and get creative with all of her ideas. Your life supposed to be fun according to you, and your fears should be wrong because you have all of those control upon how she's going to live her life.

How did your body become the complicated, quirky, amazing machine it is today? Anatomist Neil Shubin uncovers the answers in this 3-part science series that looks at human evolution. Using fossils, embryos and genes, he reveals how our bodies are the legacy of ancient fish, reptiles and primates — the ancestors you never knew were in your family tree.

Humpback Whales takes audiences to Alaska, Hawaii and the Kingdom of Tonga for a close-up look at how these whales communicate, sing, feed, play and take care of their young. Humpbacks were nearly driven to extinction 50 years ago, but today are making a steady recovery. Join a team of researchers as they explore what makes humpbacks the most acrobatic of all whales, why only the males sing, and why these intelligent 50-foot, 48-ton animals migrate more than 6,000 miles round-trip every year.

A mockumentary following the rise, fall and continued tribulations of former internet personality Chet Larson and those associated with him.

Like a butterfly

Jamila is nine, Rachel eleven and Faseeha twelve when they take their first steps into a new hip-hop culture. The Berlin girls meet at a rap project, become friends and take off with their Sisterqueens crew. This documentary follows them over four years through their daily life with parents, siblings and their unusual chosen hip-hop family, where they learn a lot about hook lines and even more about self-respect.

Yellowtail is the story of a young Native American cowboy searching for meaning as his chaotic lifestyle begins to wear on him both physically and mentally. To find his purpose the young man has to reflect on his upbringing as a native to become the spiritually connect man he was meant to be.

Shida is the new kid in class in a private boarding school in Tanzania. He is shy, he has no self-esteem, he does not speak one word of English - the primary language in the school, and he suffers from albinism. Like most children with albinism in the country Shida was taken away from his parents to be protected from the witchcraft related killings. The film follows Shida during his first year at the new school where the rules are strict and tolerance low. He is trying his best to meet the demands. The school is a chance of an education and to escape a life on the bottom of society. With the help from his new friend Allan he is struggling to become better in school and to be accepted by the teachers and pupils.

Leonie’s dream is to become a pig farmer, just like her parents. She wanders happily around the farm, helping out in any way possible. She tends to the pigs, and is present from the fertilisation of the sows to the moment the truck leaves for the slaughterhouse. The family farm teaches her about the circle of life. However, new laws on nitrogen emissions have undermined the economic viability of the farm, and bankruptcy looms. Together with her cat Skeet, Leonie watches the last pigs disappear from the farm, and she realises that her dream of becoming a pig farmer might not come true.

The Serengeti's fight over life and death is between predator and prey. The omnipresence of grazing animals means abundant kills for prides of golden-maned lions. Solitary leopards haunt the acacia trees lining the Seronera River, while numerous cheetahs scour the southeastern plains. Almost nowhere else in Africa can all of the continent s jackal species be found in the same place. The immensity of this animal drama is equaled by the liberating vastness of open space so characteristic of the Serengeti Plains, which extend out from sun-baked savannas to shimmering golden horizons that seem to lie at the end of the earth.

Following Sir Brian May over a decade-long journey to understand the crisis caused by bovine tuberculosis and his opposition to the controversial badger cull, implemented to curb the spread of the disease in cattle. It’s a story surrounded by controversy, but one little known to many - a tale of tragedy for both humans and animals.

Gordon Buchanan goes to meet the world's cutest animals to reveal their hidden biology, and find out why people have such a strong emotional response to them.

Reclaiming what was once stolen from him, a man journeys back to the place of his childhood nearly 80 years after his world came crashing down.

A fascinating insight into three great African predators—lions, cheetahs and leopards— and their relationship with each other, and the rest of the African fauna. Their remarkable hunting strategies ensure their survival, but in the Mala Mala, South Africa, which will will the Big Cat Challenge?

A young adult's first-hand account of "accidentally becoming human again" after, and with, trauma induced depression. Lo-fi, vulnerable, and uniquely youthful, "The Afterlife" is a melancholic affirmation of life after death.

A conflicted gay man struggles to teach his younger self about the challenges of adult life. Searching for answers inside stories from his past, he must confront his nature and the man he will become. Documentary meets musical feature in this experimental coming of age drama about power and masculinity in modern day Australia.

Guinea Pig Diaries is an unfiltered look into the lives of guinea pigs and the people who adore them, breed them, show them, and rescue them.