Wednesday, April 30, 2014
* Aurora: Canada's Light Spectacular (2012)
The Canadian Arctic, where the temperature can fall to -40 C, is in the middle of the Aurora Belt. The area is known for its frequent aurora displays; however, it is rare for several aurorae to occur at once. This spectacular phenomenon is called an aurora breakup. Colors explode and whirl against the black of night as though the sky is alive. NHK's crew travels deep into Yukon where the sky is darkest by using all means at their disposal, including dog sleds, to chase after and film aurora breakups.
* Attenborough's Ark (2012)
David Attenborough chooses his ten favourite animals that he would most like to save from extinction. From the weird to the wonderful, he picks fabulous and unusual creatures that he would like to put in his 'ark', including unexpected and little-known animals such as the olm, the solenodon and the quoll. He shows why they are so important and shares the ingenious work of biologists across the world who are helping to keep them alive.
* Attenborough: 60 Years in the Wild (2012)
Sir David Attenborough looks back at an unparalleled period of change in our planet's history, as seen during his 60-year career.
Episode 1: Life on Camera
Sir David Attenborough gives his unique perspective on over half a century of innovation in wildlife filmmaking. He revisits key places and events in his filming career, reminisces with his old photos and reflects on memorable wildlife footage - including him catching a komodo dragon and swimming with dolphins. Returning to his old haunts in Borneo he recalls the challenges of filming in a bat cave and shows how with modern technology we can now see in the dark.
Episode 2: Understanding the Natural World
David Attenborough reviews the scientific discoveries that have transformed our view of life on earth during his lifetime. How and where did life first begin? How do continents move? How do animals communicate? And why do they behave the way they do? Sir Attenborough shares his memories of the scientists and the breakthroughs that helped shape his own career. He also recalls some of his most memorable attempts to bring new science to a television audience - by standing in the shadow of an erupting volcano as lumps of hot lava crashed around him, by being charged by a group of armed New Guinean tribesmen and the extraordinary sight of chimps hunting monkeys, captured on camera for the first time by Attenborough and his team.
Episode 3: Our Fragile Planet
In the final film, he reflects on the dramatic impact that humankind has had on the natural world within his own lifetime. He tells the surprising and deeply personal story of the changes he has seen, of the pioneering conservationists with who he has worked - and of the global revolution in attitudes towards nature that has taken place within the last six decades. In a journey that takes him from the London Zoo to the jungles of Borneo, Attenborough reveals what inspired him to become a conservationist. He remembers classic encounters with mountain gorillas, blue whales and the giant tortoise, Lonesome George. These are all characters that have helped to change public attitudes to the natural world.
Episode 1: Life on Camera
Sir David Attenborough gives his unique perspective on over half a century of innovation in wildlife filmmaking. He revisits key places and events in his filming career, reminisces with his old photos and reflects on memorable wildlife footage - including him catching a komodo dragon and swimming with dolphins. Returning to his old haunts in Borneo he recalls the challenges of filming in a bat cave and shows how with modern technology we can now see in the dark.
Episode 2: Understanding the Natural World
David Attenborough reviews the scientific discoveries that have transformed our view of life on earth during his lifetime. How and where did life first begin? How do continents move? How do animals communicate? And why do they behave the way they do? Sir Attenborough shares his memories of the scientists and the breakthroughs that helped shape his own career. He also recalls some of his most memorable attempts to bring new science to a television audience - by standing in the shadow of an erupting volcano as lumps of hot lava crashed around him, by being charged by a group of armed New Guinean tribesmen and the extraordinary sight of chimps hunting monkeys, captured on camera for the first time by Attenborough and his team.
Episode 3: Our Fragile Planet
In the final film, he reflects on the dramatic impact that humankind has had on the natural world within his own lifetime. He tells the surprising and deeply personal story of the changes he has seen, of the pioneering conservationists with who he has worked - and of the global revolution in attitudes towards nature that has taken place within the last six decades. In a journey that takes him from the London Zoo to the jungles of Borneo, Attenborough reveals what inspired him to become a conservationist. He remembers classic encounters with mountain gorillas, blue whales and the giant tortoise, Lonesome George. These are all characters that have helped to change public attitudes to the natural world.
* Art of the Heist (2007)
Art of the Heist is a revealing series which examines some of the greatest art thefts of our times, re-stages the robberies, and follows the story to find out what happened in the end. While a surprising number of works of art are traced and recovered in elaborate sting operations over the years, many are not, which has led in turn to intriguing - and occasionally ludicrous - conspiracy theories...
Series 1:
In a plot hatched by prison inmates, three masterpieces by Renoir and Rembrandt worth $80 million are stolen in an armed daylight raid on the National Museum in Stockholm.
Episode 2: The World's Biggest Heist
$500 million worth of art, including rare masterpieces by Vermeer and Rembrandt, was ripped from the walls of a Boston gallery in a single night in 1990. 16 years later, no one has been charged and the priceless paintings are still missing.
Episode 3: The Forger and the Conman
The devious tale of two Englishmen who conned a gullible art market for more than a decade: John Myatt, art teacher and master forger, and John Drewe, expert provenance faker.
Episode 4: The Search for The Scream
The unsolved mystery of the 2004 theft of Edvard Munch's iconic painting, The Scream. But how could thieves ever hope to sell such an iconic image? It turns out that masterpieces are stolen for many reasons.
Episode 5: Chasing Cezanne
The twists, turns and double-dealing behind the thirty-year mystery of the lost Cézanne still life, Bouteille et Fruits, one of the most influential paintings in art history.
Episode 6: Den of Antiquities
The complex trail of deception of the American art dealer who bought priceless Cypriot mosaics chipped from the walls of a Greek Orthodox church by Turkish looters.
Series 2:
Episode 1: The Lady in Gold
Since Klimt's golden Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer was seized by the Nazis, Ferdinand's American-based niece has been fighting to get it back, suing the state of Austria in the process.
Episode 2: The Pharaoh's Head
The 1994 hunt for thousands of stolen Egyptian artefacts, including panels of a tomb in the City of the Dead and the head of most prosperous Egyptian Pharaoh, found in Devon.
Episode 3: Miami Sting
The dramatic story of an elaborate sting operation in Miami in which one of the world's leading experts in Rubens puts his life on the line to recover two precious paintings.
Episode 4: The Man Who Stole the Mona Lisa
In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre. The police were baffled, and in a bungled investigation a young Pablo Picasso was arrested. But did he commit the crime?
Episode 5: The Russian Conspiracy
During an inventory check at the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, $5 million worth of artefacts were found to be missing. Could the museum curator have been a thief?
Episode 6: On the Trail of Moche Gold
In 1988, a golden headdress was looted from an ancient tomb in north Peru. Follow the trail of the crime and how the headdress was recovered by Scotland Yard.
Episode 7: The Disappeared
Masterpieces stolen form the National Art Gallery in Buenos Aires were sold for arms by the oppressive military junta, in a complex heist that involved many shady characters
Episode 8: The Thieving Don Juan
A £35 million gold sculpture is stolen in Vienna. Who could have pulled off the heist: a Balkan warlord or a handsome Austrian pin-up? Narrated by Kenneth Cranham.
Episode 2: The Pharaoh's Head
The 1994 hunt for thousands of stolen Egyptian artefacts, including panels of a tomb in the City of the Dead and the head of most prosperous Egyptian Pharaoh, found in Devon.
Episode 3: Miami Sting
The dramatic story of an elaborate sting operation in Miami in which one of the world's leading experts in Rubens puts his life on the line to recover two precious paintings.
Episode 4: The Man Who Stole the Mona Lisa
In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre. The police were baffled, and in a bungled investigation a young Pablo Picasso was arrested. But did he commit the crime?
Episode 5: The Russian Conspiracy
During an inventory check at the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, $5 million worth of artefacts were found to be missing. Could the museum curator have been a thief?
Episode 6: On the Trail of Moche Gold
In 1988, a golden headdress was looted from an ancient tomb in north Peru. Follow the trail of the crime and how the headdress was recovered by Scotland Yard.
Episode 7: The Disappeared
Masterpieces stolen form the National Art Gallery in Buenos Aires were sold for arms by the oppressive military junta, in a complex heist that involved many shady characters
Episode 8: The Thieving Don Juan
A £35 million gold sculpture is stolen in Vienna. Who could have pulled off the heist: a Balkan warlord or a handsome Austrian pin-up? Narrated by Kenneth Cranham.
* Art of America (2011)
Part 1: Looking for Paradis
In the first episode of a series exploring the history of American art, Andrew Graham-Dixon embarks on an epic journey from east to west, following in the footsteps of the pioneers who built the foundations of modern America. He travels to Massachusetts to see the earliest portraits in America depicting the Puritan settlers and visits Pennsylvania to uncover the dark truth behind Benjamin West's most famous painting, the Treaty of Penn with the Indians. In Philadelphia, he turns the pages of one of the world's most expensive books - John James Audubon's Birds of America, and explores the wilderness that inspired the great landscape painter, Thomas Cole. Andrew also uncovers the paradox at the heart of America: that progress and innovation have come at a tragic price - the destruction of the unique cultural heritage of Native Americans by European settlers. His journey takes us to the end of the 19th century and the announcement that the era of westward expansion was officially over.
Part 2: Modern Dreams
Andrew Graham-Dixon gets under the skin of the modern American metropolis. Beginning at the Statue of Liberty, he discovers how the ambitions of visionary artists and architects helped America remove itself from the shadow of Europe. In Manhattan he explores the grimy world of early 20th century painters John Sloan and George Bellows, and visits Stockbridge in Massachusetts to find out how Norman Rockwell's oeuvre is not as sentimental as it may seem. In Chicago, he explores the visionary mind of architect Louis Sullivan and travels to the decaying outskirts of the city to see the underside of the American dream. He uncovers the impact the Great Depression had on artists such as Edward Hopper and Arshile Gorky, and finds out how it inspired America's first major art movement - Abstract Expressionism. At Jackson Pollock's studio in Long Island he discovers the secrets of his unique drip technique, and visits Mark Rothko's chapel in Houston.
Part 3: What Lies Beneath
In Levittown, he uncovers the dark side of post-war consumerism and the role artists have played in challenging the status quo. He visits New York's Metropolitan Museum to see the most subversive artwork of 1950s America, Jasper Johns's White Flag, examines Andy Warhol's soup can paintings and interviews one of the last surviving pop artists, James Rosenquist. In Los Angeles, he looks at the graphic style of Ed Ruscha and the city's unique contribution to 20th century design - Googie architecture. Back east, Andrew visits the home of the late Philip Guston to get a private view of his work, and Jeff Koons's studio to learn how the enfant terrible of contemporary art continues to challenge the boundaries of taste. Finally, he explores the impact 9/11 has had on America and how a new generation of artists, such as Matthew Day Jackson, have made sense of this tragic event.
In the first episode of a series exploring the history of American art, Andrew Graham-Dixon embarks on an epic journey from east to west, following in the footsteps of the pioneers who built the foundations of modern America. He travels to Massachusetts to see the earliest portraits in America depicting the Puritan settlers and visits Pennsylvania to uncover the dark truth behind Benjamin West's most famous painting, the Treaty of Penn with the Indians. In Philadelphia, he turns the pages of one of the world's most expensive books - John James Audubon's Birds of America, and explores the wilderness that inspired the great landscape painter, Thomas Cole. Andrew also uncovers the paradox at the heart of America: that progress and innovation have come at a tragic price - the destruction of the unique cultural heritage of Native Americans by European settlers. His journey takes us to the end of the 19th century and the announcement that the era of westward expansion was officially over.
Part 2: Modern Dreams
Andrew Graham-Dixon gets under the skin of the modern American metropolis. Beginning at the Statue of Liberty, he discovers how the ambitions of visionary artists and architects helped America remove itself from the shadow of Europe. In Manhattan he explores the grimy world of early 20th century painters John Sloan and George Bellows, and visits Stockbridge in Massachusetts to find out how Norman Rockwell's oeuvre is not as sentimental as it may seem. In Chicago, he explores the visionary mind of architect Louis Sullivan and travels to the decaying outskirts of the city to see the underside of the American dream. He uncovers the impact the Great Depression had on artists such as Edward Hopper and Arshile Gorky, and finds out how it inspired America's first major art movement - Abstract Expressionism. At Jackson Pollock's studio in Long Island he discovers the secrets of his unique drip technique, and visits Mark Rothko's chapel in Houston.
Part 3: What Lies Beneath
In Levittown, he uncovers the dark side of post-war consumerism and the role artists have played in challenging the status quo. He visits New York's Metropolitan Museum to see the most subversive artwork of 1950s America, Jasper Johns's White Flag, examines Andy Warhol's soup can paintings and interviews one of the last surviving pop artists, James Rosenquist. In Los Angeles, he looks at the graphic style of Ed Ruscha and the city's unique contribution to 20th century design - Googie architecture. Back east, Andrew visits the home of the late Philip Guston to get a private view of his work, and Jeff Koons's studio to learn how the enfant terrible of contemporary art continues to challenge the boundaries of taste. Finally, he explores the impact 9/11 has had on America and how a new generation of artists, such as Matthew Day Jackson, have made sense of this tragic event.
* Are You Good or Evil? (2011)
This programme features researchers who have studied some of the most terrifying people behind bars - psychopathic killers - to determine what makes us good or evil. There was a shock in store for one of these scientists, Professor Jim Fallon, when he discovered that he had the profile of a psychopath. And the reason he didn't turn out to be a killer holds important lessons for all of us. We also meet the scientist who believes he has found the moral molecule and the man who is using this new understanding to rewrite our ideas of crime and punishment.
* Are We Still Evolving? (2011)
Alice Roberts investigates whether, thanks to advances in technology and medicine, mankind has managed to break free from the process of evolution. Following a trail of clues from ancient human remains, she examines the physiology of people living in some of the most inhospitable parts of the planet, and challenges the frontiers of genetic research by speculating on what the future has in store for homo sapiens.
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