Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

Fifty years ago there were close to half-a-million lions in Africa. Today there are around 20,000. To make matters worse, lions, unlike elephants, which are far more numerous, have virtually no protection under government mandate or through international accords. This is the jumping-off point for a disturbing, well-researched and beautifully made cri de coeur from husband and wife team Dereck and Beverly Joubert, award-winning filmmakers from Botswana who have been Explorers-in-Residence at National Geographic for more than four years. Pointing to poaching as a primary threat while noting the lion's pride of place on the list for eco-tourists-an industry that brings in 200 billion dollars per year worldwide-the Jouberts build a solid case for both the moral duty we have to protect lions (as well as other threatened "big cats," tigers among them) and the economic sense such protection would make. And when one takes into account the fact that big cats are at the very top of the food chain-and that their elimination would wreak havoc on all species below them, causing a complete ecosystem collapse-the need takes on a supreme urgency.

Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill travels to Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and other countries where the United States has taken military action in the War on Terror. In Afghanistan, he investigates the United States military and government cover-up of the deaths of five civilians, including two pregnant women killed by US soldiers from the Joint Special Operations Command. After investigating the attack, Scahill travels to other sites of JSOC intervention, interviewing both proponents and opponents, and the survivors, of such raids,including U.S. Senator Ron Wyden. Scahill also investigates the assassinations of American citizens Anwar al-Awlaki and his son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, meeting with their family at their home in Yemen. Scahill suggests that the War on Terror is in fact a "self-fulfilling prophecy" and causes the radicalization of Muslims. He also discusses the case of Yemeni investigative journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye who was detained, tried and sentenced on terrorism-related charges after reporting on American drone strikes.

Scientific advancements are challenging the concept of what it means to be human. Technology embedded in our bodies is fairly common: artificial limbs, pacemakers. But new research is taking us beyond replacement parts and into a new realm that is changing the nature of the human body and the human mind. Will the fusion of biology and technology change how we think, how we feel, how we experience the world?

Tony Accardo receives a phone call from Joseph P. Kennedy, asking the mob kingpins to use their pull with the Illinois union vote to help his son, John F. Kennedy, win the upcoming presidential election. In return, he offers to put an end to his son Robert F. Kennedy's investigation into Giancana and the Outfit. As election day nears, Kennedy's fight against Richard Nixon tightens, turning Illinois into a key battleground. Giancana delivers the union votes. After a close race, Kennedy is declared the victor. Just weeks after Kennedy takes office, his brother Robert is named Attorney General. To the Chicago mob's surprise, when Robert takes office as the new U.S. Attorney General in 1961, he makes his top priority going after organized crime ó and one of his primary targets is the Outfit. Weeks after, John F. Kennedy is shot and killed in Dallas. After his brother is assassinated, Robert steps down from his post as Attorney General and the investigation into organized crime is virtually dropped. The government begins an investigation into the assassination, with rumors already circulating that the mafia could have been involved.

The stunning beauty of an island paradise on a quest to find the perfect wave-riding experience. Nine-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater and Tahitian surfer Raimana Van Bastolaer and a group of friends seek out the best waves breaking on the reef at Tahiti's famed surf site Teahupo'o. As their quest unfolds, the audience is plunged beneath the surface of things, to explore the hidden forces at work shaping ocean waves and the islands that lie in their path. Amidst playful surfing action, we navigate the cosmos and an ocean storm in a search for the source and nature of a wave's energy. Exploring mountainous Tahiti, we are thrust into the turbulent volcanic past of the island and its neighbours and discover the seagoing, wave-riding roots of the islanders themselves -- a culture still rich in the music, dance and lore of the sea. Beneath the ocean, swimming with our surfers, we explore the stunning, fragile beauty of the reef habitat -- a turbulent, wave-shaping interface that envelops the island and nurtures the ocean's multitudes in motion -- fish, dolphins, sharks and whales. When the truly big surf arrives at Teahupo'o, surfing play becomes surfing survival as the riders artfully tackle some of the heaviest surf on the planet -- spectacularly captured for the giant screen in 3D for the first time.

The mission of the film is to underline the crucial ecological role of coral reefs play in maintaining the well being of our planet, and to point out and warn against the dangers that are destroying the world's coral reefs. Entirely filmed using digital technology, thanks to it, the film was shot almost entirely with natural light, thus showing the underwater world as it exactly is. This is the closest you can get to dive without being there. Shot on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and in the Bahamas, it brings to you the amazing beauty of the many varieties of coral and the immense diversity of the marine life thriving there.