• Air date: 07 Jan '20 21 episodes
      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 (21)
    • 1. Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle (1)

      07 Jan '20
      Why did Jim Jones, a charismatic American preacher and leader of the People's Temple, compel his members in 1978 to commit 'revolutionary suicide' in northern Guyana?
    • 2. Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle (2)

      08 Jan '20
      The Jonestown project quickly begins to implode. Jones's excessive drug use, irrational behaviour and the isolation of his followers raises the alarm back home.
    • 3. The Gene Revolution: Changing Human Nature

      27 Jan '20
      The biggest tech revolution of the 21st century isn't digital, it's biological. A breakthrough called CRISPR has given us unprecedented control over the basic building blocks of life. It opens the door to curing diseases, reshaping the biosphere and designing our own children. This Storyville documentary is a provocative exploration of CRISPR's far-reaching implications, through the eyes of the scientists who discovered it, the families it’s affecting and the bio-engineers who are testing its
    • 4. Advocate: A Lawyer without Borders

      10 Feb '20
      Jewish lawyer Lea Tsemel is a controversial figure in Israel. For the last 50 years, she has fearlessly defended Palestinians prosecuted in Israeli courts for resisting the occupation both violently and non-violently. Taking on tough cases, including charges of terrorism, the odds are stacked sharply against her. To many Israelis, Lea defends the indefensible, but for Palestinians she is more than a lawyer, she is an advocate. This documentary follows Tsemel’s caseload, including the
    • 5. Fishing for Love: How to Catch a Thai Bride

      17 Feb '20
      A Storyville documentary that reveals the complex and surprising truth behind the relationships of four Thai-Danish married couples in a small fishing community in Denmark.
    • 6. The Rise and Fall of a Porn Superstar

      24 Feb '20
      When 23-year-old Israeli Jonathan Agassi arrived with a bang on the gay porn scene in the late 2000s, his rise to fame was stratospheric, revolutionising the industry. After a traumatic childhood growing up gay in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, the man behind the performer claims that porn saved his life, but at a cost. The Rise and Fall of a Porn Superstar charts Agassi’s journey from prolific adult superstar to male escort, battling many demons. Filmed over seven years, this unflinching, emotional
    • 7. The Accused: Damned or Devoted?

      02 Mar '20
      In Pakistan, the blasphemy law prescribes a compulsory death sentence for disrespecting Prophet Muhammad and life imprisonment for desecrating the Qur’an. This Storyville documentary follows the stories and fates of four people accused of blasphemy. The most famous of them is Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who claims she was falsely accused by her Muslim co-workers after a disagreement. As the elections in Pakistan loom, the country is split between those who feel the law is being misused and
    • 8. College Behind Bars (1)

      15 Jun '20
      A two-part Storyville documentary that tells the inspiring story of a group of men and women in the USA struggling to earn college degrees while in prison for serious crimes. The Bard Prison Initiative is one of the most rigorous and effective prison education programmes in the United States. Shot over four years in maximum and medium security prisons in New York State, the films tackles a pressing issue - the failure to provide meaningful rehabilitation for over two million Americans living
    • 9. College Behind Bars (2)

      15 Jun '20
      The debate team faces West Point and Harvard. Seniors complete their 100-paged thesis projects. Giovannie is sent to the Special Housing Unit and might not finish his project. Students at Taconic and Eastern receive their degrees at graduation.
    • 10. Scandalous! The Tabloid that Changed America

      24 Jun '20
      Documentary examining how the National Enquirer became the most infamous tabloid in America by churning out obscene stories that blur the lines between truth and fiction
    • 11. Welcome to Chechnya: The Gay Purge

      01 Jul '20
      A Storyville documentary that lays bare Chechnya's deadly war against its gay citizens and which reveals the bravery of those running rescue missions to protect the republic's LGBTQ community.
    • 12. The Underdog and the Battle for Kenya

      08 Jul '20
      A Storyvile documentary that looks at the tough reality of running for politics in a country riven by corruption and tribal factionalism through the story of Boniface 'Softie' Mwangi.
    • 13. United Skates

      14 Jul '20
      Documentary exploring the campaign to save the US's last standing roller rinks from closure against a backdrop of growing racial tension. The film reveals the story of underground subculture that has grown up around these venues and given rise to some of the world's greatest musical talent - but has itself remained virtually unknown to the mainstream.
    • 14. The Two Escobars

      06 Sep '20
      At a time when drug money fuelled the sport known in the underworld as "Narco-soccer", the fates of Andres Escobar, the inspirational captain of Colombia's Nacional, and Pablo Escobar, the notorious leader of the Medellin cartel, were permanently linked. When Andres was murdered 10 days after scoring an own goal against the USA in the first round of the 1994 World Cup, it cost the country more than a shot at the title.
    • 15. The Mole: Infiltrating North Korea (1)

      13 Oct '20
      A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world's most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.
    • 16. The Mole: Infiltrating North Korea (2)

      13 Oct '20
      A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world's most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.
    • 17. Pepe the Frog: Feels Good Man

      26 Oct '20
      Pepe the Frog started life in 2005 as a cute cartoon character in Boy’s Club, an American indie comic on Myspace. Today, he is known as an international hate symbol after being hijacked by the alt-right. Pepe the Frog: Feels Good Man follows Pepe’s creator, artist Matt Furie, as he fights to bring back his lovable comic-book character from the dark forces who stole him. As the internet exploded, memes of the benign and chill frog-dude started sweeping the internet with lightning speed. Once
    • 18. The Night Notre-Dame Burned

      16 Nov '20
      A Storyville documentary that tells the dramatic story of the devastating fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral on 15 April 2019. Blow by blow, it follows the team of brave firefighters - from the men and women on the frontline to the brigade chief - as they face the epic responsibility of saving one of the city's most emblematic and much–loved symbols from burning to the ground. As well as on-the-ground helmet cam and drone footage of the unfolding, dramatic events, the film-makers – the Naudet
    • 19. The Hijacker Who Vanished: The Mystery of DB Cooper

      23 Nov '20
      A mysterious fugitive, a hijacked airplane and a daring mid-air escape. This is the extraordinary, real-life tale of one of the greatest unsolved heists in American history and a case that has taunted the FBI for decades. This documentary brings the stories of the four possible suspects to life through candid testimony, archive footage and stylised drama. Each account is gripping and highly plausible. But who is telling the truth, who is lying and, ultimately, who is DB Cooper?
    • 20. Locked In: Breaking the Silence

      30 Nov '20
      An intimate, personal and surprisingly life-affirming story with a rare illness, Guillain-Barré syndrome, at its heart. Director Xavier Alford is finally confronting an illness he has been hiding from family, close friends and even himself. Locked In: Breaking the Silence follows him trying to make sense of the mysterious illness that has taken over his life in the only way he knows how - by making a film about it. What is it like to get a diagnosis of an incredibly rare condition that turns
    • 21. Red Penguins: Murder, Money and Ice Hockey

      07 Dec '20
      A tale of capitalism and opportunism run amok - complete with gangsters, strippers and live bears serving beer on a hockey rink in Moscow. Shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the famed Red Army hockey team formed a joint venture that showed that anything was possible in the new Russia. Eccentric marketing whiz Steve Warshaw is sent to Russia and tasked with transforming the team into the greatest show in Moscow. He takes the viewer on a bizarre journey,