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Storyville : Season 2015
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Air date: 28 Apr '15 - 17 episodesShowcasing 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.
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List of Episodes (17)
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Storyville (2008)
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1. The Arabian Motorcycle Adventures
26 Jan '15Documentary which tells the remarkable story of Matt Van Dyke, a timid 26-year-old with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, who left home in Baltimore in 2006 and set off on a self-described 'crash course in manhood'. He bought a motorcycle and a video camera and began a multi-year, 35,000-mile motorcycle trip through northern Africa and the Middle East. While travelling, he struck up an unlikely friendship with a Libyan hippie, and when revolution broke out in Libya, Matt joined his friend in the
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Storyville (2008)
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2. The Internet's Own Boy
02 Feb '15Documentary which explores the life of internet activist Aaron Swartz, and the circumstances that led to his early death. It traces how tech wunderkind Swartz engaged in pioneering work from an early age, helping to devise several groundbreaking computer systems. But it was his work in social justice and political organising, combined with his aggressive approach to information access, that placed him on a collision course with the US government. It ensnared him in a two-year legal nightmare - a
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Storyville (2008)
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3. Mugabe and the Democrats
09 Feb '15Political documentary thriller set in Zimbabwe, following two political enemies forced on a joint mission. Two top politicians, MP Paul Mangwana and MP Douglas Mwonzora, from the governing party and the opposition respectively, have been appointed to lead Zimbabwe through the process of writing a new constitution. It is the ultimate test that will either take the country a decisive step closer to democracy and away from President Robert Mugabe's dictatorship, or towards renewed repression. The
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Storyville (2008)
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4. Bulldozers, Paving Stones and Power: The Chinese Mayor
10 Feb '15Documentary which looks into how power works in the Chinese Communist Party, focused through the mission of one local mayor. Mayor Geng Yanbo is determined to transform the coal-mining centre of Datong, in China's Shanxi province, into a tourism haven showcasing clean energy. In order to achieve that, however, he has to relocate 500,000 residences to make way for the restoration of the ancient city. Geng Yanbo is one of the 'officials with personality' ('gexing guan yuan') to have emerged on
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Storyville (2008)
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5. Love Hotel
16 Feb '15Through remarkable access, this documentary explores daily life inside a Japanese 'love hotel'. In this intimate portrait, we meet the everyday people who frequent the fantasy-themed rooms for refuge, privacy and play - a married couple visit to keep a spark alive in their relationship, two gay lawyers have nowhere else to stay and a popular dominatrix runs a thriving business. Pay by the hour or the night and order sexy underwear, condoms or anything else imaginable. Anything goes at the Angelo
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Storyville (2008)
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6. The Great Sex Addict Heist: The Dog
18 Feb '15An extraordinary portrait of eccentric New Yorker John Wojtowicz, the inspiration behind Al Pacino's character in the iconic 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon. Director Sidney Lumet's daylong saga, in which Wojtowicz took a bank hostage in the hopes of raising money for his trans lover's gender confirmation surgery, hardly exaggerated the actual 1972 event, but only captured one piece of a much larger story. Filmed over a ten-year period, the documentary chronicles wider aspects of Wojtowicz's life in
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Storyville (2008)
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15. Himmler: The Decent One
27 Apr '15Through previously undiscovered private letters, photos and diaries that were found in the Himmler family house in 1945, this documentary exposes a unique and at times uncomfortable access to the life and mind of the merciless 'architect of the Final Solution', Heinrich Himmler. Himmler writes, 'In life one must always be decent, courageous and kind-hearted'. How can a man be a hero in his own eyes and a mass murderer in the eyes of the world? The text of the film consists exclusively of
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Storyville (2008)
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16. Last Days of Vietnam
13 Jul '15Documentary which combines astonishing footage from Saigon in April 1975 with contemporary reflections from those who were there. During the chaotic final weeks of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as the panicked South Vietnamese people desperately attempt to escape. On the ground, American soldiers and diplomats confront the same moral quandary - whether to obey White House orders to evacuate US citizens only - or to risk punishment and save the lives of as many
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Storyville (2008)
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17. Circus Elephant Rampage
22 Jul '15The gripping and emotionally-charged story of Tyke, a circus elephant who went on a rampage in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1994, killed her trainer in front of thousands of spectators and died in a hail of gunfire. Her break for freedom - filmed from start to tragic end - traumatised a city and ignited a global battle over the use of animals in the entertainment industry. Looking at what made Tyke snap, the film goes back to meet the people who knew her and were affected by her death - former trainers
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Storyville (2008)
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18. Atomic, Living in Dread and Promise
09 Aug '15Seventy years ago this month, the bombing of Hiroshima showed the appalling destructive power of the atomic bomb. Mark Cousins's bold documentary looks at death in the atomic age, but life too. Using only archive film and a new musical score by the band Mogwai, the film shows us an impressionistic kaleidoscope of our nuclear times - protest marches, Cold War sabre-rattling, Chernobyl and Fukishima - but also the sublime beauty of the atomic world, and how x-rays and MRI scans have improved human
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Storyville (2008)
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19. George Blake - Masterspy of Moscow
23 Mar '15A look at the life of the Russian spy.
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Storyville (2008)
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20. Lockerbie: My Brother's Bomber
02 Nov '15For some 25 years, Ken Dornstein has been haunted by the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland - a terrorist act that killed 270 people, including his older brother David. Only one person was ever convicted of the plot - who else was involved remains an open case. In this emotional and suspenseful documentary, Dornstein sets out to find the men responsible for one of the worst attacks on Americans before 9/11. From the ruins and chaos of post-Gaddafi Libya, Dornstein hunts for
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Storyville (2008)
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21. Dreamcatcher: Surviving Chicago's Streets
09 Nov '15From award-winning British film-maker Kim Longinotto comes a deeply moving film which explores the work of former prostitute Brenda Myers-Powell as she helps vulnerable women escape the dangers on the streets of Chicago. By day, Brenda counsels incarcerated prostitutes and schoolgirls at risk. By night, she drives the streets with her colleague, offering support to women enduring a lifestyle she knows only too well. Brenda is living proof that these women can change their lives and this intense,
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Storyville (2008)
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22. Orion: The Man Who Would Be King
16 Nov '15Documentary telling the wonderfully weird story of Jimmy Ellis - an unknown singer plucked from obscurity and thrust into the spotlight, as part of a crazy scheme that had him masquerade as Elvis back from the grave. With an outlandish fictional identity, the backing of the legendary birthplace of rock 'n' roll Sun Records, and a voice that seemed to be the very twin of Presley's, the scheme - concocted in the months after Presley's death - exploded into a cult success and the 'Elvis is alive'
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Storyville (2008)
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23. Cartel Land
23 Nov '15This Sundance award-winning film is a fearless exposé of the terrifying Mexican drug war and the cartels that operate in and around the Mexico/US border. With astonishing access, it follows two vigilante leaders fighting the power of Mexico's drug gangs on both sides of the border. Tim 'Nailer' Foley heads the Arizona Border Recon, whilst in Mexico Dr José Mireles, a Michoacán-based doctor, runs the Autodefensas. From the setting up of the civilian group, the documentary follows the early
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Storyville (2008)
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24. FBI Undercover
30 Nov '15With remarkable access, this documentary follows an unfolding active FBI counterterrorism sting operation, telling the story of Saeed 'Shariff' Torres, a 63-year-old former Black Panther turned informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Shariff is an ex-convict who claims to have at one point made hundreds of thousands of dollars a year sidling up to Muslims accused of pro-terrorism leanings. From a rented Pittsburgh home he receives instructions by text from his FBI handler. He's told
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Storyville (2008)
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25. The Six-Day War: Censored Voices
07 Dec '15Documentary about a long-withheld piece of oral history - a series of tape-recorded interviews conducted with returning Israeli soldiers after Israel's land gains in the Six-Day War of 1967. Led by the author Amos Oz, a group of kibbutzniks joined together in intimate, taped conversations directly after returning from battlefield. At the time only a few of these recordings were permitted to gain a public hearing by the Israeli government, but this film reveals them to the public for the first
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