Documentaries
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- StarsSigourney WeaverDavid AttenboroughNikolay DrozdovA documentary series on the wildlife found on Earth. Each episode covers a different habitat: deserts, mountains, deep oceans, shallow seas, forests, caves, polar regions, fresh water, plains and jungles. Narrated by David Attenborough.
- DirectorAlastair FothergillStarsDavid AttenboroughSigourney WeaverTom ClarkeA large and growing part of earth's land mass is covered in desert - each one widely varied in composition and dryness. Wildlife species have adapted in different ways to these different arid lands especially to get and conserve water. Some are physically desert-models, like camels, others just changed their diet and behavior. Most live mainly at night, when it's cooler. The largest desert is northern Africa's Sahara, US size and extremely sandy, the result of grinding erosion of mountains. Short moist moments or periods are taken intense advantage off, leading to such extravaganzas as the locust swarm.
- DirectorAlastair FothergillStarsDavid AttenboroughSigourney WeaverNikolay DrozdovA quarter of the earth's land mass, from arctic to tropical, are open plains consisting of lowland as well as highland plateaus. Here grows virtually indestructible, fast-growing grasses of all sizes that feed the planet's largest herbivore populations, the preys to solitary and social carnivores. Spectacular elements of the seasonal cycle of life can include mass migrations, monsoons, drought and great fires.
- DirectorAlastair FothergillStarsDavid AttenboroughSigourney WeaverDoug AllanMountains are the most prominent products of the immense forces which shape the living planet: tectonic drift, volcanic activity and erosion by wind, water, frost and precipitation. We see how wildlife adapts to the harsh, often extreme conditions in various types of mountain ranges, such as Gelada baboons on a suddenly volcano-pushed Ethiopian peek, pumas in the Andes, grizzly bears in the Rockies, snow leopards in the Himalaya.
- DirectorAlastair FothergillStarsDavid AttenboroughSigourney WeaverNikolay DrozdovAlthough merely 3% of water on earth, fresh water plays an important part in the planet's weather and erosion. It is immensely important for all non-marine wildlife, which drinks fresh water and swims, procreates, hunts in it. Its concentrations, such as rivers, lakes and swamps, abound in aquatic and other species, often adapted to 'wet' life.
- DirectorAlastair FothergillStarsDavid AttenboroughSigourney WeaverDoug AllanThe polar caps have the most extreme seasonal contrasts, growing and melting vast ice masses, so wildlife adapts by annual migrations. The majority of Antartica is a vast barren permafrost. Only 3% of the coast and peninsular peaks are where life migrates to in the spring, for a short fertile summer, attracted by rich supplies of krill and fish. Only the Emperor penguin males breed 4 months in winter 100 miles inland. The Arctic has a more complete fauna which migrates back North from the continent. Here, the Polar bear is threatened because global warming defrosts its seal hunt platform ice too fast.
- DirectorAlastair FothergillMark LinfieldStarsDavid AttenboroughSigourney WeaverDany Cleyet-MarrelTrees are earth's largest organisms and are also one of the planet's oldest inhabitants. Seasonal forests (unlike tropical rain-forest) the largest land habitats. A third of all trees grow in the endless taiga of the Arctic north. Northern America has forests that include California's sequoia's, the earth's largest trees. There and elsewhere, their vast production of photosynthesis and shade presides over a seasonal cycle of life and involves countless plant and animal species.
- DirectorAlastair FothergillStarsDavid AttenboroughSigourney WeaverHuw CordeyThe Earth's large, deep calcareous caves are virtually inaccessible and therefore barely explored - requiring expert diving where flooded. Some of its wildlife is as strange and specific as in the deep, darkest part of the ocean, whether physically adapted -notably to the dark. Nevertheless, some caves(did) play an important part in native cultures, even as sources of fresh water for some Mayan cities.
- DirectorAlastair FothergillMark LinfieldStarsDavid AttenboroughSigourney WeaverNikolay Drozdov"Planet Earth" travels around the Earth, finding where the sun always shines and where it's rarely seen. Next, they find where water is abundant and where it's scarce.
- DirectorAlastair FothergillStarsDavid AttenboroughSigourney WeaverDoug AndersonOpen ocean, a vast biotope covering two thirds of the planet, some shallow, some as deep as the mountain ranges are high. The ocean has an immense, precariously complex food chain, varying from microscopic animals, like krill, to whales, which ironically feed mainly on the former. Most species swim or float in it, many coming up for air, while other dive in from land or air, often to feed, but also to procreate on the coast, where some species come to lay their eggs. Even the shore is covered with life, largely based on organic matter, such as corpses.
- DirectorAlastair FothergillStarsDavid AttenboroughSigourney WeaverHuw CordeyOn 3% of the Earth's surface, the rain forest is the habitat for half our animal species, even 80% of insects. So its wildlife is most competitive, like the birds of paradise's mating, and specialized with unique relationships of predation, parasitism etc. For plants, the quest for light is key to stratification, paralleled by interacting animals eating fruits, leaves and other animals. Even the jungle cacophony is stratified. On the soil, recycling specialist like fungi restart the cycle of life. In Central Africa even herds of elephants specialize in following self-made forest paths.
- DirectorAlastair FothergillStarsDavid AttenboroughSigourney WeaverNikolay DrozdovShallow seas cover only 8% of earth's surface, but contain the richest, most varied maritime life: from plankton and coral (literally vital for the very existence of reefs) to birds and from various invertebrates to mammals like seals, dolphins and whales and from sea snakes to countless fish species. Their ecological interaction is greatly varied and complex, often with nearby land to, even with deserts.
- DirectorRon FrickeStarsPatrick DisantoA collection of expertly photographed scenes of human life and religion.
- DirectorAsif KapadiaStarsAyrton SennaReginaldo LemeJohn BisignanoA documentary on Brazilian Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna, who won the F1 world championship three times before his death at age 34.
- DirectorDavis GuggenheimStarsAl GoreBilly WestGeorge BushFilmmaker Davis Guggenheim follows Al Gore on the lecture circuit, as the former presidential candidate campaigns to raise public awareness of the dangers of global warming and calls for immediate action to curb its destructive effects on the environment.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogScott RowlandStefan PashovFilm-maker Werner Herzog travels to the McMurdo Station in Antarctica, looking to capture the continent's beauty and investigate the characters living there.
- DirectorGodfrey ReggioStarsChristie BrinkleyDavid BrinkleyPatrick DisantoAn exploration of technologically developing nations and the effect the transition to Western-style modernization has had on them.
- DirectorPeter JosephStarsPeter JosephRobert SapolskyGabor MatéA feature length documentary work which presents a case for a needed transition out of the current socioeconomic monetary paradigm which governs the entire world society.
- DirectorAlex GibneyStarsJohn BeardTim BeldenBarbara BoxerA documentary about the Enron corporation, its faulty and corrupt business practices, and how they led to its fall.
- DirectorDuane BaughmanJohnny O'HaraStarsAseefa Bhutto ZardariBakhtawar Bhutto ZardariBilawal Bhutto ZardariA riveting documentary of the recently assassinated Benazir Bhutto, a polarizing figure in the Muslim world. Following in her father's footsteps as a pillar for democracy, Bhutto was expected to dominate Pakistan's 2008 elections but the assassination sent Pakistan politics into turmoil. This major event sent shock waves throughout the world and transformed her from political messiah into a martyr for the common man.
- DirectorJames MarshStarsPhilippe PetitJean François HeckelJean-Louis BlondeauA look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit's daring, but illegal, high-wire routine performed between New York City's World Trade Center's twin towers in 1974, what some consider, "the artistic crime of the century".
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreWilliam BlackJimmy CarterAn examination of the social costs of corporate interests pursuing profits at the expense of the public good.
- DirectorCharles FergusonStarsCampbell ScottGerald BurkeAli FadhilA comprehensive look at the Bush Administration's conduct of the Iraq war and its occupation of the country.
- DirectorPeter JonesStarsAndrew SachsF. Murray AbrahamJürgen RennA biographical study of Albert Einstein, with not only an analysis of his place in modern physics and in our understanding of the universe, but an analysis (through his and his wife's letters) of Einstein as a person. Never comfortable with human inter-relationships, he married first for love and the spoken intent to make his wife a part of his intellectual life. But responsibilites of family life and a child overcame him. Work in theoretical physics moved his wife and son to a secondary role, and a later love affair with his cousin completed the estrangement. Part of the film is taken from archival material, part is a recreation with Einstein's thoughts presented by an actor. Animations explain basics of his theory of relativity, mass-energy equivalence, and the nature of light.
- DirectorCédric KahnStarsStefano CassettiIsild Le BescoPatrick Dell'Isola'Kurt' claims to be a sales rep. He also claims to be English in spite of his heavy Italian accent. Kurt is an habitual liar and a dangerous driver, at the very least. In the south of France he meets Léa, age 16. Between his increasingly strange dates with Léa, Kurt engages in a number of armed robberies, some successful, some not... The police are perplexed by a series of crimes including disappearances and a murder. They conclude that they are dealing with a madman... After he proposes, Léa breaks up with Kurt. The attempt to find a new girlfriend leads to a shooting by Kurt, now calling himself André. Léa's information identifies Kurt/André as Roberto Succo, psychiatric patient and parental murderer. The police hunt for Roberto covers three countries.
- DirectorJames LaneStarsDon BrowningJannie CoverdaleChristopher EmeryHoping to shed light on answers long ignored and censored, both by prominent media outlets and the U.S. government, A Noble Lie peels back what we thought we knew about the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and it's perpetrators.
- DirectorKristin CantyStarsLinda FaillaceAdam HelferMark McAfeeFarmageddon is the story of a mom whose son healed from all allergies and asthma after consuming raw milk, and real food from farms. It depicts people all over the country who formed food co-ops and private clubs to get these foods, and how they were raided by state and local governments.
- DirectorAaron RussoStarsAaron RussoJohn TurnerJoe BanisterA documentary that explores the connection between income tax collection and the erosion of civil liberties in America.
- DirectorDinesh D'SouzaJohn SullivanStarsJay BastianJoe BidenCait BraselA documentary that examines the question, "If Barack Obama wins a second term, where will we be in 2016?"
- DirectorRobert KennerStarsMichael PollanEric SchlosserRichard LobbAn unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry.