Sniper: Bulletproof deconstructs and analyzes the little-known sniper events that have occurred when no other course of action was possible. The people who planned the takedowns, or pulled the trigger, share their techniques and bring to light the many factors that had to be considered in each mission: terrain, wind speed, temperature, elevation changes... all are critical to taking out targets considered bulletproof. A sniper has one chance, one breath, to rise to the occasion and save the day... if they miss, there may never be another opportunity. As these never told before stories unfold, the viewer also learns about the high-tech gear each sniper carries on their classified missions.
Take an epic overland train, boat and car journey through New Zealand’s breathtaking landscapes. The voyage begins in Auckland, but the city soon gives way to rolling pastures, volcanic extremes, tranquil waterways, the snowcapped grandeur of the Southern Alps and the beauty of Fiordland.
A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.
Dr George McGavin and Dr Zoe Laughlin set up base camp at one of the UK's biggest sewage works to investigate the revolutionary science finding vital renewable resources and undiscovered life in human waste. Teaming up with world-class scientists, they search for biological entities in sewage with potentially lifesaving medical properties, find out how pee can generate electricity, how gas from poo can fuel a car and how nutrients in waste can help solve the soil crisis. They follow each stage of the sewage treatment process, revealing what the stuff we flush can tell us about how we live today, and the mindboggling biotechnology being harnessed to clean it, making the wastewater safe enough to return to the environment.
The film interweaves the personal accounts of polio survivors with the story of an ardent crusader who tirelessly fought on their behalf while scientists raced to eradicate this dreaded disease. Based in part on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky, Features interviews with historians, scientists, polio survivors, and the only surviving scientist from the core research team that developed the Salk vaccine, Julius Youngner.
Since the invention of the wheel we have striven to make great machines that would make our lives more productive and efficient, however we will almost certainly never invent a machine as efficient as the human body. Each component of the machine is given in depth attention with the same clarity and insightful touch you have come to expect from the Eyewitness books. There are over 206 bones, half of which are in the hands and feet. A total of 640 muscles contract and exert pressure, working together with our skeleton to turn power and strength into movement and precision. Our bodies are incredibly resilient machines, and conversely life is very fragile. After all, unlike any other, this machine can reproduce itself.
A documentary series from Channel 4, hosted by professor Richard Dawkins, well-known darwinist. The series mixes segments on the life and discoveries of Charles Darwin, the theory of natural selection and evolution, and Dawkins' attempts at convincing a group of school children that evolution explains the world around us better than any religion.
A light and somewhat satirical look at the problems and pleasures of Continental holiday travel. A passenger on the Hook Continental Express from Liverpool St. imagines the possible destinations of his fellow passengers.
On October 3rd of 2007 in Birmingham, Alabama, Professor Richard Dawkins and his Oxford University colleague Professor John Lennox engaged in a lively debate over what is arguably the most critical question of our time: the existence of God. The debate centered on Dawkins's views as expressed in his best-seller, The God Delusion, and their validity over and against the Christian faith. Both presenters agreed to the format and topics of discussion. It was one of the great debates of the last 100 years and is well worth watching and studying.
Illustrates the reconstruction and electrification of the main railway line between Manchester and Sheffield. Showing the plan for the modernisation and re-equipping of British Railways. This film was produced for televising by the BBC during the evening that the plan was debated in parliament.
Peter Westerveld, artist and visionary, doesn’t want institutions to resolve the problems linked to earth’s problems. Growing up in Africa, he witnessed the advance of the desert and dedicated himself to finding solutions for the ongoing erosion and desertification of the land. The film follows Peter and the NGO working with him to realise his project; to build contour trenches that capture and store rain water under the surface and replenish the desert land.
Nasim is a free climber, the only woman able to open new routes in Iran. She’s facing a double mountain to climb, both physical and cultural, as her passion collides with the strict policies concerning women freedom in her country. And she has a dream: open a new route in the Alps.
Supersonic: The Great Adventure
Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Pyramid is the only one to survive. Many believe that even with our 21st-century technology, we could not build anything like it today. Based on the most up-to-date research and the latest archaeological discoveries, here is how the Pyramid came to be.
The American mountaineer Gary Hemming marked the era of the 1960s. The story of this "exceptional" character is intimately linked to that of the rescue of the two German mountaineers on the west face of the Drus, in 1966, a rescue which he had took the initiative. While the official emergency services of the EHM try to reach them from above, a pirate rope made up of Gary Hemming, René Desmaison, Lothar Mauch, Gil Bodin, Mike Brurke, François Guillot, the filmmaker Gérard Bauer organizes to join them from below and succeeded after a fierce struggle the rescue. The press seizes the event and elevates Gary Hemming to the rank of national hero. All the newspapers feature this big guy with a cool attitude, mismatched clothes, jovial smile and long blond hair on the front page. From then on, he was nicknamed: "the beatnik of the peaks".
Jonathan Stavleu explores, in a stream-of-consciousness video essay, the relationship people have with water and what happens when access to it is taken away. For this work, he examines anecdotal histories he has heard from Estonians, as well as stories from his own family history in the Netherlands, weaving them together into a journal-like narrative.
An absurd game of “finding happiness” is being played by local Latvian coyotes* and illegal immigrants on the Russian and the European Union border. It is a game with no winner – all participants are driven to play by the sense of despair. While one side leaves home and undertakes a perilous journey to the other side of the globe, hoping to spend the rest of their lives in a free country, the other side risks their freedom to earn a chance to stay right where they are, in their homeland. *coyote – someone who smuggles illegal immigrants
The wonders of the universe have long propelled our insatiable desire to learn more about who we are and where we came from. With the advancing age of science and technology, we're able to explore our world and the cosmos like never before. We are exploring the unknown at the farthest reaches in space unlocking new wonders and mysteries that are both shocking and amazing. From colling planets, to disappearing comets, to unexplained activity on the surface of planets in our solar system, the next evolution of mankind is well underway.
Take a fascinating journey inside the bizarre world of a living human being with this compelling documentary from National Geographic, where microscopic cameras and other state-of-the-art technologies reveal perspectives that will blow your mind. Tracking the body of a female from infancy to old age, viewers will observe the digestion of a meal, the development of the cardiac system and other mesmerizing aspects of the body's inner workings.
Edward de Bono literally sketches out the future in a 90 minute lecture filmed in Copenhagen. He explains 2040 as seen by someone frozen cryogenically in 1997.