Debate Team is a documentary exploring the weird subculture of competitive college debate. Competitors battle at 360 words per minute, hauling around mountains of evidence called "cards" and nearly every debate ends in global nuclear annihilation. In 2005, some 200 teams converged on San Francisco State to compete in the National Championship. The documentary follows four teams, from Michigan State, Harvard, West Georgia, and Berkeley in their quest for the national title. What emerges is not simply the chronicle of the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, but a more disturbing examination into the nature of competition itself and the American fetish with championships and champions.
If your bedroom has become too small a stage for your air guitar antics, take inspiration from the competitors featured here as they battle their way from the inaugural U.S. Air Guitar Championship to the world championship in Oulu, Finland. Along the way, filmmaker Alexandra Lipsitz documents the fierce rivalries that develop as would-be rock legends vie for top honors in technical accuracy, stage presence and "airness."
A dead man who felt from the sky is turned into a saint by a village. Turns out this man used to be a victim of the Argentina's Dirty War a few years back. This documentary tracks his real story.
One of the most controversial conflicts in U.S. history, the Mexican-American War erupted as President James K. Polk sought to extend the borders of the nation to the Pacific, taking by force whatever territory stood in the way. This special, produced by The History Channel and hosted by Oscar de la Hoya, looks at the war from the perspective of both countries, and chronicles the fighting from its inception to its conclusion with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
The first 3D film tour through the wonders of Florence and the Uffizi Gallery.
Sexual violence against women has accompanied almost every large-scale conflict, yet most of its victims are silenced. One such sad episode is that of the "comfort women," or more accurately, the estimated 200,000 women who were recruited to sexually serve the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. As part of this immense system, many young women from all over Japan's occupied territories in Asia were forced into service where they faced rape, torture and extreme violence at military camps, euphemistically termed "comfort stations.'
Julius Caesar's Greatest Battle
An Irish doctor survived the atomic bomb attack on Nagasaki and was given a Samurai sword for the lives he saved. 70 years later his family searches for the origin of their father's sword.
100's of bands+60 buses +30 semi's +75 vans+55 trailers+22.000 miles +57 days+47 cities+49 shows. Takes viewers on a 2 month journey across north america following the performers and their day-to-day lives on the world's longest touring music festival.
David Attenborough tells the story of the discovery and reconstruction in Argentina of the world's largest-known dinosaur, a brand new species of titanosaur.
Filmed in North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia, from 2000 until Sutton’s death in 2009, A HELL OF A LIFE is an unforgettable portrait of the last great moonshiner. featuring Popcorn Sutton, Jesco White, JB Rader. music by Dana & Susan Robinson, Grifters & Shills, Henry Queen, Ola Belle Reed, Patty Hurst Shifter and Joe Knowlton.
A collection of BBC archive material about painter Francis Bacon, including a previously unseen interview recorded in 1965.
Between 1950 and 1958, John Marshall made four expeditions to film the Ju/'hoansi (a group of !Kung Bushmen) of the Nyae Nyae region of Namibia (then South West Africa). During this time, Marshall shot over 300,000 feet of 16mm film (157 hours). He later produced a total of 23 films exclusively from this footage. In this short film, children tempt fate by playing with scorpions.
For Jimmy Smith, Jr., life is a daily fight just to keep hope alive. Feeding his dreams in Detroit's vibrant music scene, Jimmy wages an extraordinary personal struggle to find his own voice - and earn a place in a world where rhymes rule, legends are born and every moment… is another chance.
Form small beginnings on a Victorian farm to globetrotting punk rock icons, the Cosmic Psychos became one of Australia's most influential bands. Now after thirty years of music making, 'Cosmic Psychos: Blokes You Can Trust' documents the highs and lows of the group's musical career as told by members from the Melvins, L7, Mud Honey, Pearl Jam, and The Hard-Ons with other international music producers and from the Cosmic Psycho band members themselves.
In 2002, documentarian made his first "Art Safari" style film about the German photographer Andreas Gursky. It contains the ‘famous’ ‘Is it Gursky? in Reading’ ‘sketch’ and the European languages ‘sketch’. The documentary is the first art comedy documentary by Ben Lewis, featuring 20 years of gags about the art world stored up and released in this film.
His new adventure takes Zanardi to one of the most famous endurance races in the world: The 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. He shares the cockpit of the BMW GT race car with two of the fastest men in the sport: Ex-Formula 1 driver Timo Glock and touring-car champ Bruno Spengler. They form nothing less than an all-star team of race-track pioneers, going beyond limits and limitations. Never before has a handicapped driver competed in a 24 hour race on this level with able-bodied drivers. The documentary covers the whole story: From their first get-together at BMW headquarters in Munich until the lights turn green in Belgium and the Iron Man with plastic legs limps into his racing car, changing seat and steering wheel with his teammate. But for Alex Zanardi, even after the marathon race, his mission is not over. Only four days later, he is eager to defend his white jersey at the Handcycle World Championship in Switzerland - an outrageous challenge, even for the man with no limits.
Freewheeling, motorcycle-riding musician Johnny rolls into a small town with his band, and meets Kathy, an honor student who catches his eye. Meanwhile, Kathy's father, after being in the Witness Protection Program, is finally tracked down by two corrupt cops he escaped from years ago, who want the money he owes them.
Cicero, the future Consul of Rome, is just starting out as a trial lawyer in crime-ridden Rome where assassinations for political advantage and for estate grabbing had become de rigueur. The matriarch of a prominent family hires him to defend a relative on a charge of patricide. He faces one of the shrewdest criminal trial prosecutors in the Republic who is backed by powerful political forces with motives to see that his client is convicted and executed in one of the most horrible manners possible.
Alex Zane counts down the top 20 Star Wars moments as voted by the public. Includes contributions from famous fans as well as the stars and crew of the intergalactic saga.