About this season
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.
Episodes (39)
1. The Prisoner, or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair
Aired 15 January 2008 • 85 min
2. Stranded! The Andes Plane Crash Survivors
Aired 22 January 2008 • 85 min
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.
3. Jonestown: The World's Biggest Mass Suicide
Aired 27 January 2008 • 85 min
4. The Devil Came on Horseback
Aired 29 January 2008 • 85 min
5. Hitler's Secretary
Aired 30 January 2008 • 85 min
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.
6. The Polish Ambulance Murders
Aired 5 February 2008 • 85 min
7. Orthodox Stance
Aired 12 February 2008 • 85 min
8. Blue Blood
Aired 17 February 2008 • 85 min
9. Very Russian Geniuses
Aired 19 February 2008 • 85 min
10. Dance With a Serial Killer
Aired 24 February 2008 • 85 min
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.
11. Tito's Ghost
Aired 26 February 2008 • 85 min
12. Dolce Vita Africana
Aired 4 March 2008 • 85 min
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.
13. Standing in the Shadows of Motown
Aired 9 March 2008 • 85 min
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.
14. Somebody Has to Live: The Journey of Ariel Dorfman
Aired 11 March 2008 • 85 min
15. All White in Barking
Aired 14 March 2008 • 85 min
16. The English Surgeon
Aired 30 March 2008
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.
18. My Secret Agent Auntie
Aired 7 May 2008 • 85 min
19. The Battle for Jerusalem
Aired 14 May 2008 • 85 min
20. My Israel
Aired 14 May 2008 • 85 min
21. Flipping Out - Israel's Drug Generation
Aired 15 May 2008
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.
22. Bob Dylan's Indian Birthday
Aired 21 May 2008 • 85 min
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.
23. The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World - Enterprise
Aired 27 May 2008 • 85 min
24. Death of a WAG
Aired 28 May 2008 • 85 min
25. The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World - A Good Match
Aired 3 June 2008 • 85 min
26. The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World - Family Duties
Aired 10 June 2008 • 85 min
27. The Father, the Son and the Housekeeper
Aired 16 June 2008 • 85 min
28. The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World - Bright Future
Aired 17 June 2008 • 85 min
29. The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World - Compilation
Aired 7 July 2008 • 85 min
30. The Chuck Show
Aired 23 July 2008 • 85 min
31. Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story
Aired 27 July 2008
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.
32. Kidult: My Kid Could Paint That
Aired 30 July 2008
33. The Burning Season
Aired 6 August 2008 • 85 min
34. Flying - Confessions of a Free Woman - 1
Aired 13 August 2008 • 85 min
35. Flying - Confessions of a Free Woman - 2
Aired 20 August 2008 • 85 min
36. 1968
Aired 22 September 2008 • 85 min
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.
37. Dirty Tricks: The Man Who Got the Bushes Elected
Aired 6 October 2008 • 85 min
38. Roman Polanski - Wanted and Desired
Aired 13 October 2008 • 85 min
39. Shot in Bombay
Aired 20 October 2008 • 85 min
40. When Borat Came to Town
Aired 27 October 2008