Aalto

Aalto is one of the greatest names in modern architecture and design, Aino and Alvar Aalto gave their signature to iconic Scandic design. The first cinematic portrait of their life love story is an enchanting journey of their creations and influence around the world.

Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn

Documentary looking at the life and career of 1930s film star Leslie Howard. It features exclusive home movie footage, including footage from the Gone with the Wind set. The film includes extensive interviews with Howard's daughter, Leslie Ruth "Doodie" Howard, and contributions from friends and colleagues.

Overview

Astronauts who have seen the Earth from space have often described the 'Overview Effect', an experience that has transformed their perspective of the planet and mankind's place upon it, and enabled them to perceive it as our shared home, without boundaries between nations or species. 'Overview' is a short film that explores this perspective through interviews with astronauts who have experienced the Overview Effect. The film also features insights from commentators and thinkers on the wider implications and importance of this understanding for humanity as a whole, and especially its relevance to how we meet the tremendous challenges facing our planet at this time.

Four Shorts on Architecture

A visual essay on contemporary Kiwi architecture.

Maestra

Cuba, 1961: 250,000 volunteers taught 700,000 people to read and write in one year. 100,000 of the teachers were under 18 years old. Over half were women. MAESTRA explores this story through the personal testimonies of the young women who went out to teach literacy in rural communities across the island - and found themselves deeply transformed in the process.

The Lost City of the Pharaohs

Richard Glazier: From Broadway to Hollywood

Pianist Richard Glazier offers a unique view of Broadway and Hollywood music using fascinating interviews, piano performances and commentary in this broadcast special.

Holy Grail in America

In 1898, a Minnesota farmer clearing trees from his field uprooted a large stone covered with mysterious runes that tell a story of land acquisition and murder. The stone allegedly dates back to 1362. Initially thought to be a hoax, new evidence suggests the find could be real, and a clue that the Knights Templar discovered America 100 years before Columbus, perhaps bringing with them history's greatest treasure... the Holy Grail. Follow the clues as experts use erosion studies on the rune stone and match symbols in Templar ruins all over Europe to support this theory. Stones with similar markings have been found on islands across the Atlantic Ocean, and in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Is it possible the Knights Templar, long thought to have been massacred, escaped on an incredible journey and were leaving clues to the whereabouts of the stone?

Virgil Abloh: How To Be Both

Film exploring the life of legendary designer Virgil Abloh. It tracks his spectacular ascent from Kanye West’s right-hand man to his role as artistic director of menswear at Louis Vuitton.

Arquitetura de Morar

An enchanted journey through three extraordinary houses built by Master José Zanine on the seaside hillside of Joatinga, in Rio de Janeiro, surrounded by a stunning musical score, specially created for the film by maestro Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Visions Cinema: Film as a Way of Life: Hong Kong Cinema - A Report by Tony Rayns

Examines the early 1980s Hong Kong filmmaking community. Tony Rayns interviews some of the new generation of filmmakers and figures from the wider film culture.

Making Dust

Making Dust is an essay film, a portrait of the demolition of Ireland's second largest Catholic Church, the Church of the Annunciation in Finglas West, Dublin. Understanding this moment as a 'rupture', the film maps an essay by architectural historian Ellen Rowley on to documentation of the building's dismantling. Featuring oral interviews recorded at the site of the demolition and in a nearby hairdressers, the film invites viewers to pause and reflect on this ending alongside the community of the building. The film is informed by Ultimology, and invites its audience to think about the life cycles of buildings and materials, how we mourn, what is sacred, how we gather, what we value and issues of sustainability in architecture.

O Corpo de Afonso

How would it look like, the body of Dom Afonso Henriques, first king of Portugal, tutelary figure, subject to successive mythifications throughout Portuguese history?

In Louboutin's Shoes

This film offers an up-close look at the world of renowned shoe designer Christian Louboutin and his first foray into the Asian footwear market.

The Spirit in Architecture: John Lautner

The Spirit in Architecture examines the work of John Lautner, one of the most visionary and profound architects, who began his career in Los Angeles in the 1930's. This illuminating journey into Lautner's world features never before seen footage from his apprenticeship with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin; extensive documentation of his extraordinary buildings; and interviews with historians, critics, collaborators, clients, and Lautner himself, which put his achievements in perspective. his building's use in feature films and his Googie's coffee shop design demonstrate his contribution to popular culture.

Cartier The little red box

For 160 years, the Maison Cartier has inspired awe, desire and covetousness in men and women before its jewellery box, the most recognizable in the world. To paraphrase Jean Cocteau: "Cartier is still a subtle magician "whose able to hang the moon at the tip of a string of sun"".

She-Wolves: England's Early Queens

Helen Castor presents an in depth and insightful series covering England's early Queens, from the High Middle Ages with Eleanor and get daughter-in-law Eleanor of Aquitane, through the Late Middle Ages with Isabella of France and Margaret of Anjou and finishing with Lady Jane Grey, Mary I and Elizabeth I.

Design ist niemals unschuldig

Immersion in a world of contemporary design in search of more virtuous practices. In Helsinki, German designer Julia Lohmann uses seaweed to create dyed garments; in Amsterdam, Marjan van Aubel creates objects powered by organic photovoltaic cells; in London, the Superflux duo develops futuristic installations to alleviate potential food shortages.

How Should We Then Live?

Dr. Francis Schaeffer's spectacular series on the rise and decline of Western culture from a Christian perspective.

Building the Channel Tunnel

The Channel Tunnel linking Britain with France is one of the seven wonders of the modern world but what did it take to build the longest undersea tunnel ever constructed? We hear from the men and women, who built this engineering marvel. Massive tunnel boring machines gnawed their way through rock and chalk, digging not one tunnel but three; two rail tunnels and a service tunnel. This was a project that would be privately financed; not a penny of public money would be spent on the tunnel. Business would have to put up all the money and take all the risks. This was also a project that was blighted by flood, fire, tragic loss of life and financial bust ups. Today, it stands as an engineering triumph and a testament to what can be achieved when two nations, Britain and France put aside their historic differences and work together.