Terre magellaniche

A brief visit to the unique wildlife and peoples of Ethiopia. Expect the unexpected.

In winter at Yellowstone National Park, the boiling water of the geysers meets 40-below-zero to create a seam of frozen ice crystals.

Filmmakers Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey chronicle a year in the lives of an Alaskan brown bear named Sky and her cubs, Scout and Amber. Their saga begins as the bears emerge from hibernation at the end of winter. As time passes, the bear family must work together to find food and stay safe from other predators, especially other bears. Although their world is exciting, it is also risky, and the cubs' survival hinges on family togetherness.

A gentleman is here shown partaking of a little lunch of bread and cheese, and occasionally is seen to glance at his morning paper through a reading glass. He suddenly notices that the cheese is a little out of the ordinary, and examines it with his glass. To his horror, he finds it to be alive with mites, and, in disgust, leaves the table. Hundreds of mites resembling crabs are seen scurrying in all directions. A wonderful picture and a subject hitherto unthought of in animated photography. Notable for being the first science film made for the general public.(IMDB)

In the clear waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the undulant beauty and violent potential of underwater life are carefully balanced within the reef community. The coral, the fish, the crabs all live within the balance of a delicate web of life connecting all creatures of the deep, from tiny microscopic plankton to the 2000-pound manta ray and the mighty sailfish. This web of life connects all sea creatures and man by his presence beneath the sea, threatens the very existence of life within the oceans.

Descend into the crater of the Nyiragongo Volcano (in Zaire, Africa) to witness the terrifying yet spellbinding explosion of molten lava at its very source. Set to the Toccata and Fugue of J.S. Bach, the film is at once stunningly beautiful, yet plunges us into the very depths of hell. The extreme beauty of the visuals, together with the power of the music, creates an unforgettable experience.

View up close some of the smaller inhabitants of the Red Sea off the coast of Sudan - a world filled with strange, fascinating, and often comic creatures.

Slovakia lies in the heart of Europe. What natural treasures the small country holds, what spectacular nature and what peculiarities of flora and fauna, it is told in "Wild Slovakia".

Jardins du Luxembourg

A train speeds through the country on its way to Berlin, then gradually slows down as it pulls into the station. It is very early in the morning, about 5:00 AM, and the great city is mostly quiet. But before long there are some signs of activity, and a few early risers are to be seen on the streets. Soon the new day is well underway. It's just a typical day in Berlin, but a day full of life and energy.

Woman Draped in Patterned Handkerchiefs is a 1908 British short silent documentary film, directed by George Albert Smith as a showcase his new Kinemacolor system, which features a woman displaying assorted tartan cloths, both draped on her body and waved semaphore-style. The patterned handkerchiefs are, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, “presumably the same cloths featured in Tartans of Scottish Clans (1906), this time shown from various angles.”

Documentary exploring the hundreds of species of life that thrive in total darkness at the hydrothermal vents along the Mid-Ocean Ridge, several miles below the ocean surface. Little food filters down from the surface and there is no sunlight to support photosynthesis.

By the end of the Ice Age - only ten thousand years ago - many great mammals had died out. The woolly mammoth, the dire wolf, the saber-tooth cat and others disappeared as a result of severe climatic changes that engulfed the planet. And yet other animals persevered. Today, they go on in dwindling numbers as the last of the Ice Age survivors. Scientists are piecing together their past while others work to safeguard the future of these living relics. Despite climate changes over the past 15,000 years and human predation, their descendants persist in a few unspoiled regions of the globe.

Filmed by Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Al Giddings, this timeless program takes a stirring look at the largest, tallest, longest-living things on the planet: trees. Stunning location footage captures the variety and the grandeur of the Pacific Northwest, the Florida Everglades, the Shenandoah Valley, and the Great Sonoran Desert. Quotations from Sierra Club founder John Muir and others who revere nature are interwoven with information on topics ranging from the function of forest ecosystems, to the effects of deforestation, to the integration of parks into urban landscapes.

The wildlife and cultures of southern Asia have been shaped by one of the greatest phenomena on Earth: the mighty monsoon winds that sweep across this vast region, turning drought into deluge. All life – human and animal – is dominated by this rampaging weather system. From the northern shores of Australia to the highest peaks of the Himalayas and the wind-blown deserts of northern India to the lush equatorial forests of Borneo, this series makes an exhilarating journey through the lands of the monsoon. Along the way, it offers a taste of the variety and colour of the different regions’ most extraordinary wildlife and cultures and the way they cope with the tumultuous weather. This is the story of a relationship between humans and nature that has grown across thousands of years – all living in the shadow of the monsoon.

The film shows the daily life of indigenous village Piyulaga, home of Waurá tribe --an ethnicity of 560 people who live at Xingu Park in Mato Grosso, Brazil. It also reveals how the indigenous community keeps its traditional culture while incorporating habits and technologies from the “white”.

Z ptačího světa

On the African plains, where only the strong survive, one big cat rules supreme. This is life in the raw: savage, beautiful and unforgettable. During the eight years that Jurgen Jozefowicz filmed a pride of lions in South Africa's Kruger National Park, he won the trust of the dominant male and, astonishingly, was accepted into the pride. This is his story. How does it feel to live amidst a group of the most feared predators on the African continent as they fight to survive in a harsh, unforgiving world? Jurgen's film shows what it's like and is the result of his remarkable adventures. Jurgen is one of the world's premier wildlife photographers. His story of his life with these lions is one that spans a period of political struggles, disease and drought, showing the highs and the lows of life in the lion pride.

Four top predators are compared, each champion in a type of environment, with key adaptations. On the ground, the cheetah outruns prey (approached in masterly stealth) and enemies. In the air, the peregrine falcon is a flight and diving machine. In sweet water, the Nile crocodile survives since the Dino age, without natural enemies, with several amazing metabolism stunts. Lurking under water, it snaps blindly at migrating wildebeest, then waits underground. In the oceans, the equally ancient shark, notably the great white, migrates seasonally to find abundant prey, such as young seals around South Africa.

In today's climate debate, there is only one factor that cannot be calculated in climate models - humans. How can we nevertheless understand our role in the climate system and manage the crisis? Climate change is a complex global problem. Increasingly extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and more difficult living conditions - including for us humans - are already the order of the day. Global society has never faced such a complex challenge. For young people in particular, the frightening climate scenarios will be a reality in the future. For the global south, it is already today. To overcome this crisis, different perspectives are needed. "THE UNPREDICTABLE FACTOR" goes back to the origins of the German environmental movement, accompanies today's activists in the Rhineland in their fight against the coal industry and gives a voice to scientists from climate research, ethnology and psychology.