• 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.
  • List of Episodes (68)
    • 52. Russia's Village of Fools

      08 Oct '07
    • 53. Taxi to the Dark Side

      08 Oct '07
    • 54. Looking for the Revolution

      09 Oct '07
    • 55. Dinner with the President

      10 Oct '07
      Documentary in which President Musharraf explores the different worlds and influences on political life in Pakistan at a dinner in his official residence, the Army House. Labourers and intellectuals, journalists and industrialists add to the debate, as the role that a military leader can play in guiding a state towards modern democracy is questioned. One of eleven Storyville documentaries screened as part of the worldwide Why Democracy? event.
    • 59. Bloody Cartoons

      15 Oct '07
      Life and livelihood were threatened when a small Danish newspaper chose to print a selection of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Karsten Kjaer looks at the events that resulted and travels the world to question the protesters and explore their motivations. He considers whether the cartoons could have affected the future of free speech. One of eleven Storyville documentaries screened as part of the worldwide Why Democracy? event.
    • 60. Etre et avoir

      16 Oct '07
      Nicolas Philibert's documentary portrait of life in a tiny one-class primary school in the remote hills of France's Auvergne. A dedicated and inspirational teacher guides a class of just 13 pupils, aged from four upwards, through the delicate process of learning and growing up.
    • 61. Gimme Shelter

      23 Oct '07
      Documentary by Albert and David Maysles recalling the events surrounding a free concert by the Rolling Stones at the Altamont Speedway outside San Francisco in 1969. Worried about the security, the Stones asked the Hell's Angels to keep order for them, but the day ended tragically as violence broke out and a fan was killed.
    • 62. Barca - The Inside Story

      30 Oct '07
      Behind the scenes at FC Barcelona, during their turbulent 2003/04 season, as a new management team try to claw the club out of debt and towards glory. Barca is a study of Barcelona Football Club from the inside, during one of its more traumatic years. This is a film about the business of football - you will see the players but ultimately you spend far more time with the people who do the contracts, figure out whether the club is going bust or not, and show up to every match with a sense of pride
    • 63. Gods of Brazil

      31 Oct '07
      Documentary telling the story of legendary Brazilian footballers Pele and Garrincha, whose emergence following Brazil's defeat at home in the 1950 World Cup Final heralded the dawn of a golden age of football for the country. But while one man became known as the world's greatest footballer, the other died a broken alcoholic at the age of 49.
    • 64. Power Trip

      06 Nov '07
      Documentary telling the story of the chaotic post-Soviet transition in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, through culture clash, electricity disconnections and blackouts. AES Corp - an American global power company - struggles to train the formerly communist populace that, in this new world, customers must pay for their electricity, while the Georgians devise ever more clever ways to get it for free.
    • 65. Wednesday

      06 Nov '07
      Film-maker Viktor Kossakovsky paints a revealing portrait of a generation growing up in a changing Russia. He returns to Leningrad to trace contemporaries and record the experience of a generation that grew up under Communism, only to encounter in adulthood the chaos of contemporary Russia.
    • 66. The Madrid Connection

      13 Nov '07
      Documentary about the two men who became the leaders of the terrorist cell that committed the Madrid bombings of 2004, Europe's worst ever terrorist atrocity, in which 191 people died and nearly 2,000 were injured. The film looks at the connection between the worlds of religious extremism and the drug-dealing criminal underworld, the untold religious schism in the mosques of Spain and Europe, and how individuals are connected to Al Qaeda's ideology.
    • 67. Little Dieter Needs to Fly

      14 Nov '07
    • 68. Startup.com

      20 Nov '07
      Prize-winning documentary following two high-school friends over the course of a year as they begin an internet startup. A gripping tale of big money, suspense and intrigue.
    • 69. The Russian Newspaper Murders

      21 Nov '07
      Documentary about the murders of six Russian journalists between 1995 and 2003 and the subsequent police investigation which some, including human rights lawyer Karen Nersisyan have seen as a cover up. The film also charts a Moscow newspaper's battle to maintain a critical voice in contemporary Russia.
    • 70. Hammer and Tickle

      22 Nov '07
      Ben Lewis's documentary tells the real history of Communism through the jokes told by ordinary people about the oppressive Communist regimes of the Soviet Union and its satellites. Jokes became the language of truth in a society denied free speech and confronted daily with the gap between political propaganda and reality.
    • 71. 444 Days

      27 Nov '07
      444 Days offers a detailed insight into the troubled history between the USA and Iran, telling the story of the 1979 hostage crisis at the American Embassy in Tehran. On 4 November 1979, hundreds of Islamic students occupied the Embassy, taking 52 US diplomats hostage and beginning a siege that would topple a president. Featuring exclusive interviews with captors and victims, 444 Days delivers a gripping account of the crisis as it unfolded.
    • 72. My Life as a Spy

      10 Dec '07
      A Storyville documentary first broadcast on 24 November 2003. Director Leslie Woodhead recalls his experiences as a 19-year-old National Serviceman in the late 1950s when he was recruited for secret Russian language training. Along with 5,000 other young conscripts he became a sleuth on the front line of the Cold War in Berlin, listening in on Soviet pilots, army units and naval exercises. Includes interviews with Alan Bennett and Michael Frayn, who were part of the same project.
    • 73. Mr Vig and the Nun

      18 Dec '07
      Documentary about 82-year-old bachelor Vig, who has never known love, and Sister Amvrosija, a young Russian nun, who by chance becomes part of his life. 50 years ago Vig bought Hesbjerg Castle, in the Danish countryside, with the intention of turning it into a monastery. Now he is about to realise his dream, with a group of Russian Orthodox nuns on their way. But the nuns have plans of their own, and Vig must realise that the road to fulfilment is different from that which he had imagined.