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Beyond Utopia: Escape from North Korea

   2024    Culture
The documentary tells the story of several families as they attempt to escape oppression in North Korea, revealing a world most of us have never seen. They grew up believing their land was paradise. Now, they risk everything in escaping it. In an unforgettable film, follow them on a treacherous journey to defect from their homeland of North Korea, as the threat of severe punishment and possible execution looms over their passage.
Directed by Madeleine Gavin, the documentary centers around Pastor Seungeun Kim, a South Korean human rights activist and director of the Caleb Mission, which has rescued over 1,000 North Korean defectors since 2000.

20 Days in Mariupol

   2023    History
A team of Ukrainian journalists from The Associated Press trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting atrocities of the Russian invasion. As the only international reporters who remain in the city, they capture what later become defining images of the war: dying children, mass graves, the bombing of a maternity hospital, and more.
Drawing on director Mstyslav Chernov's daily news dispatches and personal footage of his own country at war, the film is a vivid, harrowing account of civilians caught in the siege, as well as a window into what it's like to report from a conflict zone, and the impact of such journalism around the globe.

Sweden: A Gangster Paradise

   2023    Culture
The once-quiet suburbs of Sweden's major cities are the epicenter of a vicious turf war between rival gangs competing for the drug trade. The fierce competition has resulted in a series of tit-for-tat killings with almost daily shootings and bombings. More than 45 people have been shot dead so far this year. Paraic O'Brien steps onto the frontline of Sweden's deadly gang war, as the country becomes one of the most lethal for gun crime in the whole of Europe.
From the front line of its lethal drug wars, a look at how Sweden has become one of Europe's deadliest hot spots for gun crime, with shootings often committed by children.

Total Trust

   2023    Culture
The digital possibilities of social control in China have led to an unprecedented level of state surveillance. Through self-censorship or spying on neighbors, surveillance covers not only those perceived as a threat by the government, but increasingly and ever more totally the ordinary citizen: whether buying flowers, taking your child to school, or taking out the trash at night. Big Data and digital technologies are already being used as weapons to curtail freedoms. Step by step, the social and political behavior of the Chinese is changing.
The documentary explores, in intimate detail, digital social control in China by following the experiences of two families and a journalist. Film-maker Jialing Zhang gives an exclusive and previously impossible intimate insight into the interior of China and tells a deeply disturbing story of how the state uses technology to control its citizens as well as propaganda to convince its people to trust it. She tells a deeply disturbing story about technology, (self-) censorship and abuse of power.

Nuclear Armageddon: How Close Are We

   2024    Culture
With the Doomsday Clock the closest it's ever been to midnight, Jane Corbin investigates the proliferation of nuclear weapons across the globe. She visits Los Alamos, home to the United States’ nuclear weapons development facility and the historic home of Oppenheimer’s Manhattan Project.
In Scotland, she reveals the strategy behind Britain’s nuclear deterrent, and speaks to campaigners in Suffolk fighting against US weapons they fear will be based on UK soil. Jane also discovers how many of the global agreements and safeguards that have constrained the spread of nuclear weapons since the 1970s are breaking down.
This is a story told by the scientists, investigators and diplomats who set the clock and have fought to ensure that the ultimate deterrent has not been used in over 70 years.

The TikTok Effect

   2023    Technology
What connects amateur sleuths turning up at crime scenes, anti-social behaviour in schools and riots? Marianna Spring has spent one year investigating harmful behaviour on TikTok spilling out into the real-world. As well as crunching the numbers, Marianna tracks down TikTok users, victims and former employees to interrogate and expose how extremely high engagement on TikTok around particular topics appears to be creating these 'frenzies'.
The documentary explores how users go to extreme lengths in order to get more engagement in a battle for followers and likes. Marianna investigates the role TikTok's algorithm and format plays in what’s happening and reveals insiders’ concerns about the app. The film seeks to find out if this is the real danger and what impact it is having on society.
Heavens Gate

Heavens Gate

2020  Culture
Generation Iron

Generation Iron

2018  History
The Universe

The Universe

2010  Science
The Planets

The Planets

2000  Science
Planet Earth

Planet Earth

2007  Nature
The Jinx

The Jinx

  History
Life

Life

2009  Nature