The sarcastic account of the assassination of five Spanish politicians between 1870 and 1973 is mixed with the narration of five short stories by Edgar Allan Poe illustrated by five skillful pencil artists. A documentary, a video essay, a collage, a provocative experiment where various pop culture figures and icons perform unexpected cameos. The macabre joke of a jester. Never more.
Two Bangladeshi girls born and raised in London have weddings arranged for them against their will by their family. Shahanara, the rebel of the family, banished from the family in her teens for being "too Western", has to swap her pink hot pants for a sari as she goes off to the airport to meet her new Bangladeshi husband. Her sister Hushnara is the opposite of Shahanara; a devout Muslim who agrees to marry so she doesn't upset her parents.
A stationary camera, looking diagonally across a racetrack toward the infield, records the horses as they race past. Once they are out of view and the race is over, police officers run onto the infield. The crowd moves around.
Watched by crowds, Sir Redvers Buller, Lady Buller, the Mayor of Southampton and others walk along the gangway leading to the ship towards the camera. Sir Redvers pauses to be introduced to one of the ship's officers before embarking. According to BFI programme notes, the filmmaker William K.L. Dickson can be seen bottom left, attempting to introduce himself to General Buller as he passes. Film companies were in competition to film reportage of the Boer War and Dickson was one of those filmmakers keen to do so.
Spectators on the quayside at Southampton wave farewell as the crowded troopship Roslin Castle moves away to the right of the picture. Large numbers of troops on board wave back to loved ones and the crowd including thr 2nd Battaliion West Yorkshires. Date: 20th October 1899.
In the racially turbulent UK of the early 70s, a group of black musicians came together in South London with a common love of rhythms and a message of peace. Cymande – with the dove as their symbol – combined jazz, funk, soul and Caribbean grooves to form a unique sound. Despite success in the USA they faced indifference in their native Britain, becoming disillusioned and disbanding. But the music lived on, as new generations of artists imbibed and reworked their pioneering sounds in fresh ways. From Soul II Soul to De La Soul, MC Solaar to The Fugees, the Dove had spread Cymande's message far and wide, prompting their return after forty years. This is their story.
Born in Portugal, Paula Rego is one of Britain's leading artists. This intimate film follows the artist from her retrospective in Madrid to the privacy of her studio in London while she talks with humor and candor about her compulsion to produce works that, though accessible, deal with the most private themes.
Inaugurated in 1986 by François Mitterrand, a link between the Louvre and Pompidou, Orsay houses the largest collection of Impressionist art in the world. Project after project, the museum has been transformed to modernize and welcome more visitors, while preserving its historic character. Challenges taken up with each new project.
Dance for All
London's Burning
Chief curator of historic royal palaces Lucy Worsley provides an exclusive tour of London’s most extraordinary palaces: the Tower of London, Hampton Court, and Kensington Palace.
Rare archive footage reveals what Singapore was like dating back to 1900, showing coolies sharing lunch, rickshaw pullers, a grand Peranakan funeral, and more.
Gare du Nord : La Plus Grande Gare d'Europe
As the modernisation of London Underground continues, long serving A-Stock and C-Stock trains have been withdrawn from service, and their differing characters will slowly become a memory. London Transport Museum commissioned Geoff Marshall to record the transition between old and new trains.
Carousels, doubling up on the helter skelter and an enormous key feature in the annual funfair on Mitcham Green.
Traffic chaos and parking pandemonium in London is nothing new around the capital.
The family enjoys a sunny but windy day on the pier in Clacton-On-Sea.
Based on Geoffrey Fletcher’s book, this captivating documentary exposes the real London of the swinging sixties. Turning its back on familiar sights, the film explores the hidden details of a crumbling metropolis. With James Mason as our Guide, we are led on an tour of the weird and wonderful pockets of London from abandoned music-halls to egg breaking factories.
A Ghanaian fashion student and a Nigerian squash player are among the Africans making a life in 70s Britain.
The prodigious genesis of a monument of world literature, too often reduced to its popular success, also recounts the tormented conversion of its author, Victor Hugo, to the ideal of social progress.