Documentaries

Deep in the Saudi desert, young thrill-seekers at jihadi boot camp sign up to a plot to overthrow the Saudi government. They detonate three horrific car-bombs at Western compounds in downtown Riyadh and become embroiled in a nail-biting game of cat and mouse with government forces. As their plans unravel, they resort to ever more brutal tactics. Exposing the dark side of the human soul, Path of Blood reveals Al Qaeda as you've never seen it before. Using a treasure trove of Al Qaeda home-movie footage captured by the security services, this haunting documentary film shows how brainwashed idealism and the youthful pursuit of adventure can descend into madness and carnage.

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Documentary filmmaker Doug Block had every reason to believe his parents' 54-year marriage was a good one. But when his mother dies unexpectedly and his father swiftly marries his former secretary, he discovers two parents who are far more complex and troubled than he ever imagined. 51 Birch Street is a riveting personal documentary that explores a universal human question: how much about your parents do you really want to know?

New Town Utopia is a feature documentary film about utopian dreams and concrete realities - the challenging, funny, and sometimes tragic story of the British new town of Basildon, Essex. The narrative is guided by the artists, musicians and poets of Basildon - on a journey through memory, place and performance. Facing austerity, adversity and personal battles they are individuals driven by creative spirit to help their community through art, poetry, music - and some rather angry puppets. New Town Utopia features Oscar-winning actor Jim Broadbent (Iris, Topsy-Turvy, Moulin Rouge) as the voice of Lewis Silkin MP. Directed by Christopher Ian Smith (Arterial, Cumulus) and Executive Produced by Margaret Matheson (Scum, Sid and Nancy, Sleep Furiously). In 2018 there will be a UK screening tour in cinemas and galleries, DVD and online release.

Russian president Vladimir Putin attacks the 2016 American presidential election in collaboration with the Trump campaign.

Truck mechanic, husband and father of two, Eddie Hall wants to be the World's Strongest Man. This feature documentary vividly illustrates the sacrifices that this extremely driven man must make to chase his dream. He will stop at nothing. He trains, eats, sleeps and breathes strongman, competing all over the world and breaking records. He faces not only gargantuan competitors, but his own inner demons as he strives to leave behind the scars of his teenage years. This film gets under the skin of a man totally dedicated to becoming the greatest and offers an engrossing snapshot of an unforgettable character, Eddie - Strongman.

Following his Oscar winning The White Helmets, Orlando von Einsiedel turns his camera on his own family as they attempt to cope with a devastating loss. When his brother, newly diagnosed as schizophrenic and suffering from intense depression, took his own life at 22, Orlando and his other two siblings buried the trauma, rarely talking about it. Over a decade later, the remaining family set out on a hiking tour, visiting landscapes Evelyn liked to walk, to reflect on his life and death. The result is an intensely personal and moving take on the emotional impact of suicide within a family and a powerful account of the benefits of creating safe spaces for emotional communication. Shot in a subjective style and against the stunning backdrop of the British countryside, Evelyn is an emotionally raw film that documents the difficult, yet rewarding, attempt to navigate the rocky highlands of collective trauma.

Three miles north of Molkom, hidden deep in the lakeside forests of Sweden, lies Ängsbacka, a 21st Century playground for adults. Once a year, their gates open to a thousand international participants, placed in "Sharing Groups" at random. A Swedish celebrity, a Californian hippie, a Finnish grandmother and a backpacking Australian rugby coach, who stumbled on the wrong party, are amongst the group that take us on an unforgettably quirky, two-week emotional rollercoaster. Firewalking, shamanism, tantric sex and a myriad other physical, psychological and esoteric experiences guide our unlikely heroes towards enlightment, love, loathing and themselves. Will they ever be the same again?

From the Oscar-winning team behind MAN ON WIRE comes the story of Nim, the chimpanzee who in the 1970s became the focus of a landmark experiment which aimed to show that an ape could learn to communicate with language if raised and nurtured like a human child. Following Nim's extraordinary journey through human society, and the enduring impact he makes on the people he meets along the way, the film is an unflinching and unsentimental biography of an animal we tried to make human. What we learn about his true nature - and indeed our own - is comic, revealing and profoundly unsettling.

Documentary that explores mankind's desire to be famous and its effect on society.

An urgent portrait of the last living generation of Hitler's Third Reich in never-before-seen interviews raising vital questions about authority, conformity, national identity, and their own roles in the greatest human crimes in history.

RACE TO NOWHERE is a close-up look at the pressures on today's students, offering an intimate view of lives packed with activities, leaving little room for down-time or family time. Parents today are expected to raise high-achieving children, who are good at everything: academics, sports, the arts, community-service. The film tackles the tragic side of our often achievement-obsessed culture, with interviews that explore the hidden world of over-burdened schedules, student suicide, academic cheating, young people who have checked out. RACE TO NOWHERE asks the question: Are the young people of today prepared to step fully and productively into their future? We hear from students who feel they are being pushed to the brink, educators who worry students aren't learning anything substantive, and college professors and business leaders, concerned their incoming employees lack the skills needed to succeed in the business world: passion, creativity, and internal motivation.

What made more money than the entire American movie industry through the 50s and 60s? Pinball. Special When Lit rediscovers the lure of a lost pop icon. A product of the mechanical and electrical age, the American invention swept the world and defined cool. Now it is relegated to a nostalgic footnote deserving a better fate. Joining the fans, collectors, designers and champion players from across the globe who share a world many of us didn't know still existed.

In 2008 Mike Campbell - one of the few remaining white farmers in Zimbabwe to have held fast in the face of the violent 'Land Reform' programme - took the unprecedented step of challenging President Robert Mugabe before the SADC International Court (SADC - South African Development Community) to defend his farm, which is also home to 500 black workers and their families, and to charge Mugabe and his government with racial discrimination and with violations of Human Rights.

The film follows Slovenian endurance swimmer Martin Strel as he attempts the longest and most dangerous swim in history -- to swim the Amazon river. Accompanied by raconteur director John Maringouin, his worried son Borut and thoreauvian river guide Matthew Mohlke, Strel battles crocodiles, deadly parasites, piranhas and finally himself in the 3300 mile swim.

'Werner Herzog' takes his camera to Antarctica where we meet the odd men and women who have dedicated their lives to furthering the cause of science in treacherous conditions. A scientist studies neutrinos, which are everywhere, yet elusive; he likens them to spirits. A researcher's nighttime performance art includes contorting her body into a luggage bag. A survival guide teaches his students to survive white-out conditions by wearing cartoon-face buckets over their heads. Animal researchers milk mother seals as part of their study. Volcanologists offer advice on what to do when a volcano erupts. A pipefitter shows us the anomaly in his hands that he says are a sign he descended from Atzec royalty. A former Colorado banker drives what he has christened Ivan the Terra Bus. An underwater diver shows his colleagues DVDs of apocalyptic sci-fi films like

A fight on Everest? It seemed incredible. But in 2013 news channels around the world reported an ugly brawl at 6400 m (21,000 ft) as European climbers fled a mob of angry Sherpas. In 1953, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay had reached the summit in a spirit of co-operation and brave optimism. Now climbers and Sherpas were trading insults - even blows. What had happened to the happy, smiling Sherpas and their dedication in getting foreigners to the top of the mountain they hold so sacred? Determined to explore what was going on, the filmmakers set out to make a film of the 2014 Everest climbing season, from the Sherpas' point of view. Instead, they captured a tragedy that would change Everest forever. At 6.45am on 18th April, 2014, a 14,000 ton block of ice crashed down onto the climbing route through the Khumbu Icefall, killing 16 Sherpas. It was the worst tragedy in the history of Everest. The disaster provoked a drastic reappraisal about the role of the Sherpas in the Everest industry. SHERPA tells the story of how, in the face of fierce opposition, the Sherpas united in grief and anger to reclaim the mountain they call Chomolungma.