Der Schatz von Timbuktu, die Geschichte einer Rettung

James Ensor: Demons Teasing Me

October 2010 •English

This film explains what James Ensor (1860-1949) meant for the development of art and makes palpable where he got his inspiration from.

The Lost Portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie: A Culture Show Special

February 2014 •English

In 2009, art detective Dr Bendor Grosvenor caused a national scandal by proving that the Scottish National Portrait Gallery's iconic portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie, the rebel Stuart who almost seized power in 1745, was not in fact him. Keen to make amends, and suspecting that a long-lost portrait of the prince by one of Scotland's greatest artists, Allan Ramsay, might still survive, Bendor decides to retrace Charles's journey in the hope of unravelling one of the greatest mysteries in British art.

Hinter dem Vorhang: Das Geheimnis Vermeer

June 2021 •German

Birth of a Monster

January 2017 •English

For the past 12 years, journalist Paul Moreira has travelled extensively in Iraq. In this film, he goes in search of the men he filmed back in 2003 at the very beginning of the American occupation. Through their stories, and by tracing the roots of ISIS to the arrival of Abu Mousab Al-Zarqawi and America's handling of the resistance, he tells the story of how Iraq became such a fractured nation.

El universo en una caja

October 2022 •Spanish

An account of the life and work of the multidisciplinary Spanish artist Mariano Fortuny Madrazo (1871-1949), textile and fashion designer, set designer, photographer, painter and engraver, known as the Leonardo Da Vinci of the 20th century.

Taking Alcatraz

November 2015 •English

A documentary account by award-winning filmmaker John Ferry of the events that led up to the 1969 Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island as told by principal organizer, Adam Fortunate Eagle. The story unfolds through Fortunate Eagle's remembrances, archival newsreel footage and photographs.

Dark Star: H. R. Giger's World

October 2014 •German

An account of the life and work of Swiss painter, sculptor, architect and designer H. R. Giger (1940-2014), tormented father of creatures as fearsome as they are fascinating, inhabitants of nightmarish biomechanical worlds.

Olev Subbi. Elu kuues peatükis

March 2021 •Estonian

Olev Subbi (1930–2013) was one of the most significant painters of the second half of the 20th century. His art constantly strived for harmony and beauty, reviving lost memories. This documentary reconstructs the environments of his paintings, features interviews with artists and Subbi’s contemporaries, and incorporates archival footage, creating a multilayered perspective on the life and work of this remarkable artist.

End of Truth

January 2017 •English

A powerful investigation into the political and criminal enterprise of kidnappings as ISIS rose to power in war torn Syria. It inter cuts exclusive footage with interviews of negotiators, investigators, fixers and even a used car salesman who are caught up in the confusion.

Palmyra: Rising from the Ashes

March 2017 •Italian

Documentary following a team of technicians in Italy as they reconstruct a number of historic Middle Eastern artifacts that were vandalized at the hands of Islamic State.

The Painting

November 2019 •Spanish

For three and a half centuries, from the same day that Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) applied his last brushstroke to the canvas, the enigma of “Las meninas, o La familia de Felipe IV” (1656) has not been deciphered. The secret story of a painting unveiled as if it was the resolution of a perfect crime.

The Mountain That Had To Be Painted

May 2011 •English

Documentary about the painters Augustus John and James Dickson Innes who, in 1911, left London for the wild Arenig Valley in North Wales. Over three years, they created a body of work to rival the visionary landscapes of Matisse.

Heval

September 2021 •English

When a British-born actor abandons his Hollywood career to volunteer to Join the Kurdish YPG to fight ISIS in Syria, many see him as a selfless hero battling America's most insidious enemy. But others think he's a hot-tempered narcissist, staging a publicity stunt to further his career - and when his service ends, neither the UK nor the US welcome him back. Through incisive interviews with the actor, his supporters, his detractors, and top-tier experts - and featuring the actor's own jaw-dropping helmet-cam video of deadly battles with and interrogations of ISIS fighters - Heval gives viewers unprecedented access into a war against evil and one man's controversial role in it.

On Her Shoulders

December 2018 •English

Nadia Murad, a 23-year-old Yazidi, survived genocide and sexual slavery committed by ISIS. Repeating her story to politicians and media, this ordinary girl finds herself thrust onto the world stage as the voice of her people. Away from the podium, she must navigate bureaucracy, fame and people's good intentions.

Phantasia

March 2024 •

X-ray images were invented in 1895, the same year in which the Lumière brothers presented their respective invention in what today is considered to be the first cinema screening. Thus, both cinema and radiography fall within the scopic regime inaugurated by modernity. The use of X-rays on two sculptures from the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum generates images that reveal certain elements of them that would otherwise be invisible to our eyes. These images, despite being generally created for technical or scientific purposes, seem to produce a certain form of 'photogénie': they lend the radiographed objects a new appearance that lies somewhere between the material and the ethereal, endowing them with a vaporous and spectral quality. It is not by chance that physics and phantasmagoria share the term 'spectrum' in their vocabulary.

The Genius of Turner: Painting the Industrial Revolution

April 2013 •English

A film that looks at the genius of JMW Turner in a new light. There is more to Turner than his sublime landscapes - he also painted machines, science, technology and industry. Turner's life spans the Industrial Revolution, he witnessed it as it unfolded and he painted it. In the process he created a whole new kind of art. The programme examines nine key Turner paintings and shows how we should re-think them in the light of the scientific and Industrial Revolution. Includes interviews with historian Simon Schama and artist Tracey Emin.

Max Ernst: Journey into the Subconscious

January 1964 •English

The inner world of the great painter Max Ernst is the subject of this film. One of the principal founders of Surrealism, Max Ernst explores the nature of materials and the emotional significance of shapes to combine with his collages and netherworld canvases. The director and Ernst together use the film creatively as a medium to explain the artist's own development.

Equipo Crónica. Arte de trinchera

February 2025 •Spanish

The President vs. the Pirates

December 2013 •English

The make or break story of a Somali-Australian refugee who went back to where he came from to do battle with ruthless pirates and Islamic militants - and transform his broken homeland into a modern African State.

Nadar, le premier des photographes

April 2018 •French

A documentary about the French photographer Nadar aka Gaspard-Félix Tournachon