This is the story of the movies that tried to change the world in the 70s. We start in Germany with Wim Wenders, head to Britain in the 70s and talk exclusively to Ken Loach, travel to Italy, see the birth of new Australian cinema, and then arrive in Japan, which was making the most moving films in the world. Even bigger, bolder questions about film were being asked in Africa and South America, and the story ends with John Lennon’s favorite film,...

This part explores the story of sex and melodrama in the movies of the 50s. We discover James Dean, On the Waterfront and the glossy weepies of the time, but also travel to Egypt, India, China, Mexico, Britain and Japan to find that movies there were also full of rage and passion. Features exclusive interviews with the people who worked with Satyajit Ray, with legendary actress Kyoko Kagawa--who starred in films by Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu,...

ANTARCTICA: A YEAR ON ICE is a visually stunning journey to the end of the world. Guided by nature photographer Anthony Powell, we experience firsthand the beauty and brutality of the most severe environment on Earth along with the hardy and devoted people who call it home year-round...It has had a theatrical release in the US and New Zealand, and has screened at numerous festivals around the world and has won many awards.

A look at Communist East Germany in its final decade. The story unfolds in 1982, when the cracks in the repressive police state's facade are beginning to surface. Despite the restrictions, the educated few still enjoy some advantages under the system. The Hoffmans gather often with family and friends for warm dinner parties rich with derisive political banter, live classical music, and spirited discussions, holding out for a better future. ..But even...

This is the story of the brilliant, flashy, playful movies in the English-speaking world in the 90s. We look at what was new in Tarantino’s dialogue and the edge of the Coen brothers. The writer of Starship Troopers and Robocop talks exclusively about their irony. In Australia, Baz Luhrmann talks about Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge and we plunge into the digital world to see how it changed the movies forever..

This part of The Story of Film shows how the trauma of war made cinema more daring. The story starts in Italy, and then we go to Hollywood, discover Orson Welles and chart the darkening of American film and the drama of the McCarthy era. Screenwriters Paul Schrader and Robert Towne discuss theses years. The director of Singin’ in the Rain, Stanley Donen, talks exclusively about his career, and we discover that British films like The Third Man best...

From acclaimed director Pawel Pawlikowski (Last Resort, My Summer of Love) comes Ida, a moving and intimate drama about a young novitiate nun in 1960s Poland who, on the verge of taking her vows, makes a shocking discovery about her past.. 18-year old Anna (stunning newcomer Agata Trzebuchowska), a sheltered orphan raised in a convent, is preparing to become a nun when the Mother Superior insists she first visit her sole living relative. Naive, innocent...

A murderous womanizer and his latest paramour, herself unhinged by desire, embark on a deadly odyssey amplified by wild sex, unbridled jealousy, and passionate forays into the dark arts in this smart, chilling tale from Fabrice du Welz...Festivals:..Austin Fantastic Fest - Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Film, Best Director..Magritte Awards, Belgium - Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Editing, Best Production Design

Based on a widely republished New Yorker essay by best-selling novelist Jonathan Franzen, EMPTYING THE SKIES exposes the rampant poaching of migratory songbirds in southern Europe. Songbird populations have been drastically declining for several decades, with a number of species facing imminent extinction.. This poignant documentary explores the wonder of these tiny globe-trekking marvels, millions of which are unlawfully slaughtered each year for...

This opening of The Story of Film: An Odyssey shows the birth of a great new art form, the movies. Filmed in the very buildings where the first movies were made, it shows that ideas and passion have always driven film, more than money and marketing. We hear the story of the very first movie stars, close-ups and special effects and then we travel to Hollywood to see how it became a myth. The story is full of surprises, such as the fact that the greatest,...