David France
Director
Storyville (1997)
Season 2008
Showcasing the best in international documentaries, Storyville has developed an enviable reputation since its inception more than a decade ago. Screening over 340 films, from some 70 different countries, the strand has garnered a staggering array of awards: five Oscars, 15 Griersons, three Peabodys and two International Emmys. In true, unique, Storyville style, the new series promises to deliver the strand's usual eclectic mix of compelling stories from across the globe.
Released Nov. 15, 1997
Episode 85 min
None+
Genres: Biography, Documentary
Keywords: tmdb.current-affairs, mdblist.has-trailer
Production Companies: BBC Four
Network: BBC Two
Country: United Kingdom
Languages:
English
S12E1 - The Prisoner, or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair
Jan. 15, 2008, midnight
S12E2 - Stranded! The Andes Plane Crash Survivors
In October 1972, a student rugby team boarded a small plane in Montevideo to fly across the Andes for a long weekend of playing rugby and partying in Chile. But they never reached their destination as a storm brought their plane down in the high Andes, leaving the survivors stranded on a remote glacier. Ill-equipped, with no food and little hope of rescue, the survivors faced extreme hardship and many life-or-death situations, including the agonising decision to eat the flesh of those killed in the crash to stay alive. Thirty years later, those that got down from the mountain relive their 72 days 'up there' to give this extraordinarily powerful, vivid and immediate account of human endurance and heroism.
Jan. 22, 2008, midnight
S12E3 - Jonestown: The World's Biggest Mass Suicide
Jan. 27, 2008, midnight
S12E4 - The Devil Came on Horseback
Jan. 29, 2008, midnight
S12E5 - Hitler's Secretary
Acclaimed film comprising an extended interview with 81-year-old Traudl Junge, who recalls her role as Adolf Hitler's personal secretary during his final years.
Jan. 30, 2008, midnight
S12E6 - The Polish Ambulance Murders
Feb. 5, 2008, midnight
S12E7 - Orthodox Stance
Feb. 12, 2008, midnight
S12E8 - Blue Blood
Feb. 17, 2008, midnight
S12E9 - Very Russian Geniuses
Feb. 19, 2008, midnight
S12E10 - Dance With a Serial Killer
Series showcasing the best in international documentaries. In 1989, a woman was brutally murdered in broad daylight on a beach in Brittany. The detective assigned to the case was a young homicide cop, Jean Francois Abgrall. Abgrall was soon convinced that the murderer was a weird drifter called Francis Heaulmes who, despite an alibi, kept dropping mysterious hints. Abgrall recounts how he trailed Heaulmes through France to bring him to justice.
Feb. 24, 2008, midnight
S12E11 - Tito's Ghost
Feb. 26, 2008, midnight
S12E12 - Dolce Vita Africana
Documentary about celebrated Malian photographer Malick Sidibe, whose iconic images of his country from the late 1950s through to the 1970s captured the carefree spirit of his generation asserting their freedom after independence, up until an Islamic coup ushered in years of military dictatorship. The filmmakers travel to Malick Sidibe's studio in Bamako to witness him at work and meet many of the subjects of his earlier photographs, whose personal stories also tell the history of Mali.
March 4, 2008, midnight
S12E13 - Standing in the Shadows of Motown
Documentary telling the story of the Funk Brothers, the Motown session musicians who were behind more number one hits that the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined. Drawn together from Detroit's jazz and blues scene, the film recounts their evolution of the Motown sound from its origins to its demise in LA during the 1970s, and reunites the surviving Funk Brothers for the first time in thirty years.
March 9, 2008, midnight
S12E14 - Somebody Has to Live: The Journey of Ariel Dorfman
March 11, 2008, midnight
S12E15 - All White in Barking
March 14, 2008, midnight
S12E16 - The English Surgeon
Henry Marsh is one of Britain's leading brain surgeons. Ten years ago he befriended Igor Kurilets, a fellow neurosurgeon who works in the Ukraine, and ever since he has travelled to the Ukraine twice a year to operate on patients for free. Geoffrey Smith's moving film follows Henry as he travels to Kiev to help Igor operate on a young man called Marian, who without surgery has just months to live. When Henry arrives he faces a serious challenge - Marian must be awake when his tumour is removed, and Henry must use the most basic tools, including a Black and Decker drill.
March 30, 2008, midnight
S12E18 - My Secret Agent Auntie
May 7, 2008, midnight
S12E19 - The Battle for Jerusalem
May 14, 2008, midnight
S12E20 - My Israel
May 14, 2008, midnight
S12E21 - Flipping Out - Israel's Drug Generation
As part of a season marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel, Yoav Shamir's documentary looks at why so many young Israelis use their National Service discharge bonus to go backpacking in northern India and Goa, with a high proportion experimenting with drugs and consequently suffering mental breakdowns.
May 15, 2008, midnight
S12E22 - Bob Dylan's Indian Birthday
Documentary focusing on Shillong, North India, where each year the village comes together to celebrate the birthday of their musical hero - Bob Dylan. At the heart of the celebrations is Lou Majaw, a local celebrity who tours India performing Dylan's songs to rapturous crowds. This film takes a behind-the-scenes look at Majaw's life, seeing how the rock and roll lifestyle seems to be tearing him apart.
May 21, 2008, midnight
S12E23 - The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World - Enterprise
May 27, 2008, midnight
S12E24 - Death of a WAG
May 28, 2008, midnight
S12E25 - The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World - A Good Match
June 3, 2008, midnight
S12E26 - The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World - Family Duties
June 10, 2008, midnight
S12E27 - The Father, the Son and the Housekeeper
June 16, 2008, midnight
S12E28 - The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World - Bright Future
June 17, 2008, midnight
S12E29 - The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World - Compilation
July 7, 2008, midnight
S12E30 - The Chuck Show
July 23, 2008, midnight
S12E31 - Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story
Documentary telling the story of Stax, one of the most influential soul record labels ever. Founded in a black neighbourhood of Memphis by a white brother and sister in the 1960s as a studio with an open-door policy, the label went on to sign such iconic acts as Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes and their house band, Booker T and the MGs. Featuring interviews with Jesse Jackson, Elvis Costello, Chuck D, Justin Timberlake, Bono and Pete Townshend.
July 27, 2008, midnight
S12E32 - Kidult: My Kid Could Paint That
July 30, 2008, midnight
S12E33 - The Burning Season
Aug. 6, 2008, midnight
S12E34 - Flying - Confessions of a Free Woman - 1
Aug. 13, 2008, midnight
S12E35 - Flying - Confessions of a Free Woman - 2
Aug. 20, 2008, midnight
S12E36 - 1968
Documentary exploring what really happened throughout the world in the seminal year of 1968, a time of music and of revolution, asking why so many hopes were disappointed and what is the period's true legacy. Drawing on archive footage from the US, Vietnam, Britain, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Italy and Mexico, the film dynamically reconstructs the hopes, the fears and the ultimate sense of despair that pervaded the events of 1968.
Sept. 22, 2008, midnight
S12E37 - Dirty Tricks: The Man Who Got the Bushes Elected
Oct. 6, 2008, midnight
S12E38 - Roman Polanski - Wanted and Desired
Oct. 13, 2008, midnight
S12E39 - Shot in Bombay
Oct. 20, 2008, midnight
S12E40 - When Borat Came to Town
Oct. 27, 2008, midnight
Watch Trailer
BBC Two
85 min/ep
58140 min
Nov. 15, 1997
Oct. 28, 2025, midnight
Returning Series
NR
Action
Action
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