Comet: A Great British Air Disaster

The Hindenburg

September 1996 •English

The history of lighter than air transportation culminating in the Hindenburg explosion which gets thoroughly covered and analyzed.

Taking Back Our Beach

October 2023 •English

This is a film about the response by a community to New Zealand’s largest environmental disaster, seen through the eyes of that community. The film captures the shock, anger and grief driven into the heart of the local community, but also the humour, purpose and overwhelming positivity when people join together with a common goal.

80 years of Air Army

June 2014 •French

Flood in the Desert

May 2022 •English

Explore the 1928 collapse of the St. Francis Dam, the second deadliest disaster in California history. A colossal engineering and human failure, the dam was built by William Mulholland, a self-taught engineer who ensured the growth of Los Angeles by bringing the city water via aqueduct. The catastrophe killed more than 400 people and destroyed millions of dollars of property.

Erebus: Operation Overdue

July 2014 •English

On 28 November 1979, an Air New Zealand jet with 257 passengers went missing during a sightseeing tour over Antarctica. Within hours 11 ordinary police officers were called to duty to face the formidable Mount Erebus. As the police recovered the victims, an investigation team tried to uncover the mystery of how a jet could fly into a mountain in broad daylight. Did the airline have a secret it wanted to bury? This film tells the story of four New Zealand police officers who went to Antarctica as part of the police operation to recover the victims of the crash. Set in the beautiful yet hostile environment of Antarctica, this is the emotional and compelling true story of an extraordinary police operation.

The White Diamond

November 2004 •English

This 2004 documentary by Werner Herzog diaries the struggle of a passionate English inventor to design and test a unique airship during its maiden flight above the jungle canopy.

Quintinshill: Britain's Deadliest Rail Disaster

May 2015 •English

Neil Oliver describes the worst ever railway accident in the UK, which happened a hundred years ago on 22 May 1915, in which three trains collided at Quintinshill near Gretna Green. One of the trains was a troop train taking soldiers to fight in World War I at the Battle of Gallipoli: many of the dead were in this train which caught fire due to escaped gas from the archaic gas lighting in the carriages. The cause of the crash was attributed to a catastrophic signalman's error, but Neil examines whether there were other contributory factors and whether there was a cover-up to prevent investigation of them, making convenient scapegoats of the signalmen.

In Spite of Ourselves

May 2021 •Spanish

An explosion in one of the largest chemical plants in Europe, the Petrochemical complex in Tarragona, triggers the labour struggle of a group of workers who demand what is fair for everyone.

The Last African Flying Boat

January 1990 •English

For the first time in 40 years African skies resound to the roar of a flying boat. Alexander Frater boards a wartime Catalina in search of the romance and adventure of Imperial Airways' legendary route from Cairo to the Cape - down the White Nile to the Rift Valley lakes of Kenya and on to the astonishing Ilha de Mocambique - the forgotten jewel of the Indian Ocean.

The A350: Star of the Skies

January 2015 •English

After 10 years of tests and 12 billion Euros invested, the state-of-the-art Airbus jet completed its first commercial flight in January 2015. We will discover how it was conceived and built, and explore its technological innovations every step of the way.

Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies

September 2007 •English

The film explores the background and build-up to this final flight to disaster. Using dramatic reconstruction, archive footage and exclusive interviews with leading historians and engineering experts, the special delves into the political and scientific events that led up to the catastrophe.

Anatomy of a Disaster: Explosion at BP Texas City Refinery

March 2008 •English

This U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) video uses expert testimony and computer-animated reenactments to describe and discuss its detailed investigation into the March 23 2005 explosion of the ISOM (isomerization) unit at the BP (British Petroleum) refinery at Texas City, Texas. The explosion killed 15 workers, injured 180 others, and cost BP billions of dollars.

The Shock Doctrine

September 2009 •English

An investigation of "disaster capitalism", based on Naomi Klein's proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance.

Titanic: The Complete Story

July 1994 •English

The "unsinkable" Titanic was a dream come true: four city blocks long and a passenger list worth 250 million dollars. But on her maiden voyage in April 1912, that dream became a nightmare when the giant ship struck an iceberg and sunk in the cold North Atlantic. More than 1,500 lives were lost in one of the greatest disasters of the 20th century. Now, using newsreels, stills, diaries, and exclusive interviews with survivors, Titanic: The Complete Story recounts the sensational history of the premier liner. In Part I: Death of a Dream, the largest ship ever built is christened in Ireland before a cheering crowd of 100,000. Witness the disaster this trek becomes as numerous iceberg warnings go unheeded and the ship sinks in the icy North Atlantic. In Part II: The Legend Lives On, over-packed lifeboats edge away from the crippled liner as a futile SOS signals flare into the night--leaving 1,500 passengers to a watery grave.

Living in the Age of Airplanes

April 2015 •English

LIVING IN THE AGE OF AIRPLANES offers a fresh perspective on a modern-day miracle that many of us take for granted: flying. Narrated by Harrison Ford and featuring an original score from Academy Award® winning composer James Horner, the film takes viewers to 18 countries across all seven continents to illuminate how airplanes have empowered a century of global connectedness our ancestors could never have imagined.

Cold War Peacemaker: The Story of the Convair B-36

August 2015 •English

Cold War Peacemaker is the amazing and unique story of the development of the B-36 very-long-long-range nuclear bomber. From its beginnings during WWII, through construction in a former wild-west cattle town and deployment into the Cold War, the story of the Convair B-36 and how it intimidated the Soviet Union is a fascinating study in politics and technology. In Cold War Peacemaker, experience life during the Cold War as your parents and grandparents lived it and discover and understand how the Convair B-36 played a vital role in saving the free world from communist domination.

The Last 747

December 2023 •English

The iconic design of the Boeing 747 has endured for over 5 decades, but the end of production is looming. In this documentary special we follow the build of this last aircraft, whilst exploring how the 747 truly changed the world and influenced our lives in ways we never even realised.

The Lion Has Wings

November 1939 •English

This early, influential propaganda film blends documentary and studio footage to show the valiant efforts of the Royal Air Force to defend the British people against the Nazis.

Guy Martin's Spitfire

October 2014 •English

Guy Martin joins the two-year restoration of a Spitfire that was buried in a French beach for decades, and tells the Boy's Own-style story of its pilot, Squadron Leader Geoffrey Stephenson

Concorde: A Supersonic Story

October 2017 •English

Concorde: A Supersonic Story follows the story of the most glamorous aeroplane ever built - told by the people whose lives she touched. We uncover rare footage telling the forgotten row between the French and British governments over the spelling of Concorde which threatened to derail the whole project.