Three farming families in Hanyuan, China, strive to give their children a good life in the midst of an ecological crisis, as widespread use of pesticides leads to a dramatic decline in bees and other pollinating insects in the valley.
David Attenborough returns to the island of Madagascar on a very personal quest. In 1960 he visited the island to film one of his first ever wildlife series, Zoo Quest. Whilst he was there, he acquired a giant egg. It was the egg of an extinct bird known as the 'elephant bird' - the largest bird that ever lived. It has been one of his most treasured possessions ever since. Fifty years older, he now returns to the island to find out more about this amazing creature and to see how the island has changed. Could the elephant bird's fate provide lessons that may help protect Madagascar's remaining wildlife? Using Zoo Quest archive and specially shot location footage, this film follows David as he revisits scenes from his youth and meets people at the front line of wildlife protection. On his return, scientists at Oxford University are able to reveal for the first time how old David's egg actually is - and what that might tell us about the legendary elephant bird.
Recorded by pioneers as far back as 1805, the Tasmanian tiger has become an intensely mystifying Australian icon, whose entire existence has become the stuff of both fable and legend. This program investigates a chequered past and puts the speculation into perspective, taking into account the tragic culling and ‘bounty era’ where the carnivorous creatures were thought to be solely responsible for a considerable loss of farmers’ livestock. Balancing the facts with personal reflections from Tasmanian locals, scientists and other informed practitioners, The Tasmanian Tiger is a thought-provoking and revealing look at the extraordinary life and death of one of Australia’s most mysterious marsupials.
Recent studies show that insects are in decline across the globe and there may be a direct connection between the current climate crisis and these declining populations. DESYNCHRONIZED focuses on Pope Canyon Queens, a beekeeping and queen breeding company in Northern California. Pope Canyon Queens is currently trying to rebuild after the 2020 LNU Lightning Complex fires destroyed their farm, shop, and half of their hives. Their crucial work to breed honey bee queens with stronger genes fortifies beekeepers' hives across the country while they face the effects of climate change and unregulated industries. Dr. Nicholas Teets, PhD Entomology, explains how shifts in phenology are predicted to cause bigger issues. Howard Goldstein, Senior Forest Ecologist at the Prospect Park Alliance explores how community gardens and green spaces in large metropolitan areas may help insect populations recover from loss of habitat and food scarcity.
A trio of experts venture into Tasmania's undeveloped wilderness in search of the Tasmanian Tiger, one of the most terrifying predators ever to walk the earth.
There are about 250 people with a unique ancestry. Livonians – one of the smallest and most endangered nations. Each of Livonians has a duty to preserve their identity and the great history of their ancestors. Trillium follows the footsteps of a poet and researcher Valts Ernštreits, who is one of 20 people able to speak fluent Livonian – an indigenous language related to Estonian and Finnish – in his efforts to look after the language and culture of these ancient settlers of the Baltic Sea coast.
A beautiful session between dancer Tanaka Min and director Wim Wenders that illustrates something before we started speaking with words.
In 2015, a Magdalene in Ecstasy was discovered in the modest collection of an Italian family. Was it the original by Caravaggio, who disappeared after his death in 1610, or one of the many copies made subsequently? After an expert appraisal, Mina Gregori, one of the greatest specialists on the artist, was convinced of the authenticity of the work. On her advice, the owners searched their archives and unearthed three documents: two inventories of paintings, dating from 1842 and 1864, as well as an old paper mentioning a "Madeleine inverted by Caravaggio". Starting from these pieces of evidence, an expert in ancient archives and an Italian art historian then launched into a vast investigation to try to retrace the route of the painting.
Hockney talks about his 40 year love affair with photography.
Intimately following 1st and 6th graders at a public elementary school in Tokyo, we observe kids learning the traits necessary to become part of Japanese society.
To fill the absence of his six-year-old daughter living in Berlin, a Montreal filmmaker keeps a film diary which takes him back to his relationship with his adoptive father and his biological father, whom he never knew. His diary also becomes a reflection on cinema by revisiting the work of filmmakers who influenced him such as Ingmar Bergman and Wim Wenders. Diary of a Father is a poetic response to making the separation between a father and his child bearable.
A weary-looking middle-aged couple shuffle around their cluttered loft in Yangon, Myanmar. There is stuff everywhere, and a mountain of pills in blister packs lie haphazardly on top of a glass case. The loft turns out to be a clinic and the couple are qualified doctors. They are also artistic: she paints and draws, he is making a feature film, and their patients receive creative therapy in addition to regular treatment. This might not be a sterile, efficient hospital full of white coats, and the treatment rooms might look shabby, but there is real time and attention for people here.
Abdurrahman Keskiner is one of the big guns of Turkish cinema. In Türkiye's national productions' history, his working method distinguishes him as a producer from the rest. Even though it may seem contradictory at first glance, he never gives up on investing in subtlety. Other producers have not pursued the same hope over and over and invested all of their earnings in shooting films ambitiously after making a loss. Yet, Abdurrahman Keskiner was an exception to this. He took great strides in promoting Türkiye's cinema to the world.
Who and why shot Hungarian and German infants and young children in the head and exterminated entire families near the town of Prerov (Prerau) in Moravia on the night of June 18, 1945? Why did the bodies of the women and children killed here had to be cremated two years after this massacre - after these bodies were disinterred by army units - in the crematorium of the also Moravian city of Olomouc? Why didn't the Czech historian, who investigated the fate of the slaughtered Hungarian and German families and who also fought for the last honors to be paid to them, receive no praise or medal from Budapest? And what was the fate of the 90 Hungarian leventes handed over to the soldiers of the Slovak army by the soldiers of the Soviet army occupying Austria at Ligetfalu below Bratislava? This documentary explores the story of two hitherto unexplored mass murder in Pronov and Bratislava in the village of Bratislava.
In the summer of 2004, audiences looked on in disbelief as the Greek National Football Team, a country that had never previously won a single match or even scored a goal in a major tournament, took down the giants of world football to become the unlikeliest of European Champions. The architect behind this unprecedented triumph was legendary German football coach ‘King’ Otto Rehhagel. After accomplishing every major success in Germany, he made the bold decision to leave all he knew behind and work in a foreign country with the underachieving Greek National Team. This is the story of how these two contrasting cultures came together to speak the same language and write a new chapter of Greek mythology.
Two tons of snow—flown from New Hampshire to Puerto Rico in 1952 in order to “gift” Puerto Ricans a “white Christmas”—become a metaphor for the colonialist paternalism of America’s relationship to Puerto Rico.
A television recital by a singer who can breathe life into poetic lyrics like few other performers. It features a selection of her most famous songs and her memories.
Filmed primarily in Alaska, The Aquarium contrasts the openness of the primeval Arctic landscape with the entrapment of captured sea mammals in aquariums. It speaks of the progressive destruction of these animals’ habitat, seeing beyond the alluring spectacle.
The life of legendary actor Anthony Perkins is recounted by friends and family, colleagues and co-stars, revealing the man underneath Norman Bates.
25 years have passed since Andrea Romanelli, a yacht designer and sailor, disappeared at sea: he was attempting, with Giovanni Soldini, the record in the Atlantic crossing. His son Tommaso was 4 years old and now, as a filmmaker, he faces a journey through memory to discover who his father was.