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 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.
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.
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.
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.
A deep sea submersible pilot revisits his past fears in the Mariana Trench, and accidentally unleashes the seventy foot ancestor of the Great White Shark believed to be extinct.
Savo from Kikinda (Serbia) and his brother recall how they called communal service few years back to empty the septic tank in their backyard. As careless servicemen weren't coming for days, Savo staged his death by drowning in the hole. Communal service sent three trucks while Savo was looking at them from the attic. A story of a small man who fought the system and won, only to become a huge YouTube hero afterwards.
Comedy legend Martin Lawrence returns to the stand-up stage for a night of impressions and insight on everything from sex, relationships and President Obama, to Bill Cosby, Hollywood and more. Filmed live at LA's Orpheum Theatre.
A whimsical yet serious-minded look into the future sponsored by the appliance and radio manufacturer Philco-Ford. In the "1999 House of Tomorrow", each family member's activities are enabled by a central computer and revolve around products remarkably similar to those made by the sponsor. Power comes from a self-contained fuel cell which supports environmental controls, an automatic cooking system, and a computer-assisted "education room".
Off-camera, a Western traveler tells us of hearing singing from his hotel window in Bombay. He searches for the source, and discovers a caste of street performers, eking out a modest living. We see individuals and groups, old and young, snake charmers and those hired to sing at family celebrations. A few talk about their lives and refute accusations of kidnapping lodged against the caste. A troupe of women sing at a party for a pregnant woman - they are saucy and blunt, encouraging and sisterly.
A documentary about avant-garde composer Harry Partch.
This short documentary, shot in July 1976 at the Mannes College of Music on Manhattan's Upper East Side, marks the first collaboration between Merchant Ivory Films and composer Richard Robbins, who would go on to provide the musical scores for nearly all Merchant Ivory films. Later in 1976, 'Sweet Sounds' was shown at the New York and London Film Festivals. It was also broadcast on PBS.
Ivory's initial effort as a filmmaker was Venice: Theme and Variations, a documentary made as his master's thesis at the USC film school that, although only 28 minutes long, is rich in composition and aesthetic texture.
After a long exile in Venezuela, filmmaker Mario Handler returns to his country, Uruguay. There, the dictatorship is still present in the media, public opinion, and in the memory of people. The director feels he owes something to the comrades, those who could not leave the country. This debt translates into poetry, black humor and conscience, in a sharp and accurate atmosphere of this dark time of Uruguay.
Aftershocks is about the transformation of the Welfare State into an ally of the Corporation. It examines the acquisition and displacement of two earthquake-affected villages for lignite mining and power generation. It probes the microcosm in the nature of a study "from below" of globalisation of Economy and corporatisation of Democracy
Founded in 1972, this loose Parisian movement is known for having given radical visibility to homosexuals during the 1970s in the wake of student and proletarian uprisings of 1968, which had given little space to the liberation of women and homosexuals.
Getting involved is a comedy documentary film that focuses on youth engagement surrounding UK politics. Ross Uwen and his crew are on a mission to get young people involved in politics by any means possible which politicians and other organisations are consistently failing at. Believing that televised news is a great way to become politically educated they try to devise a plan to get young adults watching the news by combining it with adult softcore material to entice viewers to tune in regularly and therefore becoming politically aware and potentially engaged. When you run out of traditional methods you've got to think outside the box and that's what Getting Involved is all about.
Terezin, l'Imposture Nazie
A portrait of the timpani and percussion section of the Dutch Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Portrait of laureate architect Herman Hertzberger as a passionate, humorous, and modest man whose vision on what architecture means for people and society is valuable to this day.