The Age of Anxiety is a film that delves into a crisis in motion according to the World Health Organization, disorders related to dread are the most prevalent mental illnesses on the globe at the moment. Is this a disease of modernity? Or is our highly competitive and material culture itself undermining our nerves? The Age of Anxiety explores these questions, while also investigating the role that pharmaceutical companies and even the psychiatric profession play in this phenomenon. Is our anxiety fueling an industry that in turn is profiting from and exploiting our dread in a vicious and self-perpetuating cycle?
Explore the tradition of figurative art at the heart of Islam with host Rageh Omaar. Muslim belief and tradition specifies that there should be no depictions of God or the Prophet Muhammad. In religious contexts, this constraint on what artists can depict extends to human figures and other living creatures as well. These prohibitions have inspired a rich visual culture based on calligraphy, Arabesque floral designs, and geometry, all of which feature strongly in the art and design found throughout Islam, including in mosques and the Koran. With the help of fine art and religion experts, host Rageh Omaar (The Life of Muhammad) traces the effect of these beliefs over the centuries on the art and artists of the Islamic world and considers why depictions of pilgrims taking part in the Hajj pilgrimage have become part of the accepted tradition of Islamic art, including in work exhibited at the British Museum.
Cuba, 1961: 250,000 volunteers taught 700,000 people to read and write in one year. 100,000 of the teachers were under 18 years old. Over half were women. MAESTRA explores this story through the personal testimonies of the young women who went out to teach literacy in rural communities across the island - and found themselves deeply transformed in the process.
Gerhard Richter has spent over half a century experimenting with a tremendous range of techniques and ideas, addressing historical crises and mass media representation alongside explorations of chance procedures. This first glimpse inside his studio in decades is exactly that: a thrilling document of the 79-year-old's creative process, juxtaposed with rare archival footage and intimate conversations with his critics and collaborators.
Documentary about the modern apocalypse caused by a rapacious banking system. 23 leading thinkers – frustrated at the failure of their respective disciplines – break their silence to explain how the world really works.
The Brussels Business is a docu-thriller that dives into the grey zone underneath European democracy. An expedition into the world of the 15,000 lobbyists in the EU-capital, of the PR-conglomerates, think tanks and their all embracing networks of power and their close ties to the political elites.
What will it mean when most of us can afford to have the information in our DNA - all three billion chemical letters of it - read, stored, and available for analysis. Cracking Your Genetic Code reveals that we stand on the verge of such a revolution. Meet a cancer patient who appears to have cheated death and a cystic fibrosis sufferer breathing easily because scientists have been able to pinpoint and neutralize the genetic abnormalities underlying their conditions. But what are the moral dilemmas raised by this new technology? Will it help or hurt us to know the diseases that may lie in our future? What if such information falls into the hands of insurance companies, employers, or prospective mates? One thing is for certain: the new era of personalized, gene-based medicine is relevant to everyone, and soon you will be choosing whether to join the ranks of the DNA generation.
In Real Fear: The Truth Behind the Movies, Chiller investigates the terrifying factual stories that inspired some of the scariest horror movies of all time, including Silent Hill, The Amityville Horror, The Mothman Prophecies and Poltergeist, through exclusive eyewitness interviews and reenactments of actual events. Paranormal investigator Katrina Weidman (Paranormal State) travels with three of her friends into the dark recesses of the unknown to uncover the buried secrets behind these four iconic films. Journey down the haunted high-ways of the American East Coast on a road trip to discover the origins of our most beloved horror films made. From a grisly series of murders in the small town Amityville to a devastating, subterranean fire in the rural town of Centralia...From the eye-witness reports of the inexplicable, red-eyed creature known as Mothman to the documented paranormal activity that inspired Poltergeist...The movies may be fiction, but the fear is very, very real...
Explores the concept of heroic women from the birth of the superhero in the 1940s to the TV and big screen action blockbusters of today. Heroic role models are important in childhood development, yet there are a dearth of these for girls. It provides a rare example of a female heroine who doesn't require rescue, determines her own missions, and possesses uniquely feminine values. Looks at how Wonder Woman's storyline changed over time while considering how women are rarely depicted as heroic, powerful, or world-changing
Examines the reasons behind the rising costs of health care in the United States. Looks at the dangers of over-diagnosis and over-treatment and investigates how waste pervades our medical system. Also looks at how some hospitals are working to create less expensive and high quality alternatives to the present system.
A film about political ethics and legislative incompetence that follows one man's attempts to require politicians to actually read the Bills they are passing -- which, strangely, is not currently required anywhere in the U.S.
Every year hundreds of people - mostly women - are attacked with acid in Pakistan. Follow several of these survivors, their fight for justice, and a Pakistani plastic surgeon who has returned to his homeland to help them restore their faces and their lives.
One day filmmaker Andres Pardo stumbles across 2,000 feet of Super 8 family footage at a flea market. Featured in all these 1970's home movies is a lovely young blond-haired girl, Larisa. Teaming up with a photographer friend, Pardon decides to investigate, uncovering the fascinating story behind the footage.
The truth about the million British horses that served in World War I is even more epic than Steven Spielberg’s War Horse feature film. This documentary tells their extraordinary, moving story, begining with the mass call-up of horses from every farm and country estate in the land. Racing commentator Brough Scott tells the tale of his aristocratic grandfather General Jack Seely and his beloved horse Warrior, who would become the most famous horse of the war. The British Army hoped its illustrious cavalry regiments would win a swift victory, but it would be years before they enjoyed their moment of glory. Instead, in a new era of mechanised trench warfare, the heavy horses transporting guns, ammunition and food to the front-line troops were most important. A quarter of a million of these horses died from shrapnel wounds and disease. But the deep bond that developed between man and horse helped both survive the hell of the Somme and Passchendaele.
For over 130 years till 1996, more than 100,000 of Canada's First Nations children were legally required to attend government-funded schools run by various Christian faiths. There were 80 of these 'residential schools' across the country. Most children were sent to faraway schools that separated them from their families and traditional land. These children endured brutality, physical hardship, mental degradation, and the complete erasure of their culture. The schools were part of a wider program of assimilation designed to integrate the native population into 'Canadian society.' These schools were established with the express purpose 'To kill the Indian in the child.' Told through their own voices, 'We Were Children' is the shocking true story of two such children: Glen Anaquod and Lyna Hart.