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9/11: Inside the President War Room

   2021    History
Twenty years ago, at 9.03am on 11 September 2001, America was under attack. President George W Bush was sitting in front of seven-year-olds in a classroom in Florida. Members of the president’s security detail thought the next plane could be aimed at them. The film is a claustrophobic clock-ticking thriller and tells the story of the presidency on arguably the most consequential day in recent history. As the clock ticks, the administration makes the greatest decisions of their lives: should they order fighter jets to shoot on American civilians? Should the president declare war or calm a battered nation? How would the leadership of the most powerful nation on earth grapple with the national and international implications?
This documentary tells the definitive story of the Bush administration through 12 hours of that momentous day, with first-hand testimony from President Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and other senior staff who had their hands on the levers of power. The events of that day led to two decades of conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq. As America and its allies now withdraw from Afghanistan and the Taliban resume control, this is the story of how it all began.

Sniper Deadliest Missions

       History
He's the deadliest weapon on the battlefield, but behind enemy lines, what happens when the tables are turned and the hunter becomes the hunted? From the treacherous jungles of Vietnam and the bloody war zones of Iraq, to danger high in the skies of the Alaskan wilderness, this two-hour special puts you behind the scope with the men who pulled the trigger on some of the deadliest missions in military and law enforcement history.
Gripping firsthand accounts, 3-D graphics and jaw-dropping shooting demonstrations take you inside the shadowy world of top snipers and the missions that made them living legends. Outmanned and out-gunned - will the next shot be his last?

Van Gogh Painted with Words

   2010    History
Drama-documentary presented by Alan Yentob, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role as Van Gogh. Every word spoken by the actors in this film is sourced from the letters that Van Gogh sent to his younger brother Theo, and of those around him. What emerges is a complex portrait of a sophisticated, civilised and yet tormented man. The film won a Rockie for Best Arts Documentary at the Banff World Media Festival in 2011, receiving critical acclaim for its fascinating insight into the life of the artist and its unique approach to storytelling.

Our Secret Universe: The Hidden Life of the Cell

       Science    HD
There is a battle playing out inside your body right now. It started billions of years ago and it is still being fought in every one of us every minute of every day. This is the story of a viral infection - the battle for the cell.
This film reveals the exquisite machinery of the human cell system from within the inner world of the cell itself - from the frenetic membrane surface that acts as a security system for everything passing in and out of the cell, the dynamic highways that transport cargo across the cell and the remarkable turbines that power the whole cellular world to the amazing nucleus housing DNA and the construction of thousands of different proteins all with unique tasks. The virus intends to commandeer this system to one selfish end: to make more viruses. And they will stop at nothing to achieve their goal. Exploring the very latest ideas about the evolution of life on earth and the bio-chemical processes at the heart of every one of us, and revealing a world smaller than it is possible to comprehend, in a story large enough to fill the biggest imaginations.

The Bletchley Park Code Breakers

       History
The film reveals the secret story behind one of the greatest intellectual feats of World War II, a feat that gave birth to the digital age.
In 1943 Bill Tutte, a 24-year-old maths student and a GPO engineer called Tommy Flowers combined to hack into Hitler's personal super code machine - not Enigma but an even tougher system, which he called his 'secrets writer'. Their break turned the Battle of Kursk, powered the D-day landings and orchestrated the end of the conflict in Europe. But it was also to be used during the Cold War - which meant both men's achievements were hushed up and never officially recognised.

Baraka

       Culture
Without words, Ron Fricke shows us the world, with an emphasis not on 'where,' but on 'what's there.' It begins with morning, natural landscapes and people at prayer: volcanoes, water falls, veldts, and forests; several hundred Balinese Hindu men perform kecak, the monkey chant. Indigenous peoples apply body paint; whole villages dance. The film moves to destruction of nature via logging, blasting, and strip mining. Images of poverty, rapid urban life, and factories give way to war, concentration camps, and mass graves. Ancient ruins come into view, and then a sacred river where pilgrims bathe and funeral pyres burn. Prayer and nature return. A monk rings a huge bell; stars wheel across the sky. (Click CC for places description)