North America: Its Rivers

Many geneticists and archaeologists have long surmised that human life began in Africa. Dr. Spencer Wells, one of a group of scientists studying the origin of human life, offers evidence and theories to support such a thesis in this PBS special. He claims that Africa was populated by only a few thousand people that some deserted their homeland in a conquest that has resulted in global domination.

Un jour en Italie

A New Yorker journeys to the jungle in the Darien Gap of Panama to reconnect with an indigenous tribe he met and photographed 20 years ago. Their reunion highlights the profound power of photos and the human connection that transcends cultural barriers.

The Balkans cradles Europe's last wild rivers and supports abundant wildlife and healthy, intact ecosystems. These rivers are "The Undamaged" – clean, pristine, and undammed. With over 2,700 small and large hydro power plants planned or under construction in the Balkans, corruption and greed are destroying the last free-flowing rivers of Europe. Follow the Balkan Rivers Tour, a rowdy crew of whitewater kayakers, filmers, photographers and friends who decided to stand up for the rivers, travelling from Slovenia to Albania for 36 days, kayaking 23 rivers in 6 countries to protest the dams and show the world the secret wild rivers of the Balkans. The film honours everyday people and local activists who are fighting to defend rivers and aims to spread the word of the plight of these rivers, showing a new style of nature conservation that is fun, energetic and effective.

The film deals with the process of globalization based on the thought of geographer Milton Santos, who through his ideas and practices, inspires the debate about Brazilian society and the construction of a new world. Santos discusses his views on the importance of respecting difference and his belief that an alternative globalisation model could wholly enfranchise all citizens of the world. An illustrious presence in 20th century social sciences, the man dubbed as ‘geography’s philosopher’ eloquently elucidates a developing world perspective on the global age.

A panoptic film on water, energy and climate, SunGanges (SuryaGanga) is a wild and intense ride three filmmakers take across the vast Indian landscape in an attempt to connect the dots between vanishing rivers, massive energy projects and the quiet rise of renewable energy.

In 2013, the world's media reported on a shocking mountain-high brawl as European climbers fled a mob of angry Sherpas. Director Jennifer Peedom and her team set out to uncover the cause of this altercation, intending to film the 2014 climbing season from the Sherpa's point-of-view. Instead, they captured Everest's greatest tragedy, when a huge block of ice crashed down onto the climbing route...

Travel across Vietnam on a breathtaking cultural and historical journey. Uncover ancient Chinese influences on Vietnamese traditions and striking examples of French Colonial architecture, and trace the impact of the Vietnam War in the north and south. Visit the country’s lively modern cities, taking in temples, floating markets, and the world heritage sites of Huế and Ha Long Bay.

A portrait of Toronto, as defined by the spaces its queer residents inhabit and the memories they’ve created there.

When an alien visitor discovers it can communicate with Earth’s oceans, it becomes the only intermediary between humanity and a vast marine intelligence whose patience with the human race is running out. Part survey, part discovery, the film explores a stretch of the wilderness that has largely slipped through the cracks of human attention, and in some places, bears the marks of human failure. The alien encounters a force both beautiful and terrifying, a voice as old as the planet itself, carrying memories, warnings and a power beyond human control. The film is a parable about nature on Earth by establishing an unidentified alien as interacting with the planet. By way of subtle messages the sea warns the alien that the existence of the planet is at stake. The alien discovers a controlling city but does not interfere with it and hopes that the sea will find a way to survive.

The interview, held on January 4, 2001, was the last given by Professor Milton Santos, who died from cancer on June 24 of the same year. The geographer is gone, but his thoughts remains. Its political and cultural ideals inspire the debate on Brazilian society and the construction of a new world. His statement is a true testimony, a lesson that the world can be better. Based on geography, Milton Santos performs a reading of the contemporary world that reveals the different faces of the phenomenon of globalization. It is in the evidence of contradictions and paradoxes that constitute everyday life that Milton Santos sees the possibilities of building another reality. He innovates when, instead of standing against globalization, proposes and points out ways for another globalization.

It shows the Neretva river from its source to the shores of the Adriatic Sea. The document also captures the original four-hundred-year-old bridge in Mostar.

How would natural habitats develop without human interference? In this documentary we follow an international team of scientists and explorers on an extraordinary mission in Mozambique to reach a forest that no human has set foot in. The team aims to collect data from the forest to help our understanding of how climate change is affecting our planet. But the forest sits atop a mountain, and to reach it, the team must first climb a sheer 100m wall of rock.

Der Rhein - Strom der Geschichte

The River of Life and Death captures the slow time in the well-known Indian pilgrimage place of Benares, the act of purification by water, the burning funeral pyres, and the dandling snakeheads under the temple stairs.

Horehronie

Decolonising the Curatorial Process is a forty-minute documentary which explores decolonial strategies in an academic and curatorial context. The film features academics, activists and practitioners, and contains case studies of institutions that are deploying critical, self-reflective forms of curatorial practice. The Museum of London Docklands exhibition on slavery and the sugar industry is examined as an example of how an institution can decolonise the curatorial process, utilise the work of artists in a museum context, and critically examine East London's imperial history. The Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford, who are working with Maasai activists from Kenya and Tanzania on a project centred on repatriating the museum's collection of sacred Maasai artefacts, also features in the film.

Host Peter Greenberg explores the hidden gems of Turkey's Aegean coast. Some of the stunning destinations include Bodrum, Izmir and the ancient city of Troy.

Take to the sky and come face-to-face with Washington states majestic mountains, including one of the Pacific Northwests most well-known symbols: Mount Rainier. Celebrate the diversity of the states landscapes in Over Washington, from the glittering Puget Sound in the west to the rolling Palouse in the east. Stunning aerial cinematography and original music bring these spectacular images to life.

Feel the rush of the breathtakingly beautiful National Parks of California with one deep breath of the summer air.