Hidden Japan

Predators of the Wild: Giant Tarantula

January 1993 •English

The secrets of the maligned and misunderstood tarantula are brought to light in the Discovery Channel's Predators of the Wild series portrait of the Giant Tarantula. The film presents an intimate look at the largest and most venomous spider species in the world. Shot on location, viewers observe the tarantula close-up as it waits in its 3-foot burrow until its prey of insects, frogs, snakes, birds and rodents come along. Footage also captures the tarantula's deadly mating ritual.

Predators of the Wild: Polar Bear

January 1993 •English

Polar bear… immensely powerful, ferociously cunning, lethally equipped for devastating exploitation of its frozen realm. Legendary for its endurance, hunting prowess and awesome strength, it is the largest and most formidable land predator of the planet’s most brutally unforgiving environment. Venture into the trackless Arctic wastes to witness the uncanny survival strategies developed by this magnificent creature – tactics honed to a killing edge during 250,000 years of adaptation to its icy kingdom. See why the largest of these fearsome bears, weighing more than two full-grown lions, stands as the undisputed predatory monarch of a pristine, unconquered land where man still ventures at his peril.

Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire

May 2004 •English

Japan blossomed into its Renaissance at approximately the same time as Europe. Unlike the West, it flourished not through conquest and exploration, but by fierce and defiant isolation. And the man at the heart of this empire was Tokugawa Ieyasu, a warlord who ruled with absolute control. This period is explored through myriad voices-- the Shogun, the Samurai, the Geisha, the poet, the peasant and the Westerner who glimpsed into this secret world.

Predators of the Wild: Grizzly Bear

January 1992 •English

This video examines the grizzly bear, one of nature's greatest predators. It is part of a multi-volume Time Warner series that markets the ferocious, killing aspects of various wild animals.

Predators of the Wild: Cheetah and Leopard

January 1992 •English

Cheetah and Leopard... no animal can match the intensity of their power and grace. On the horizon, the next victim draws near, crouched in the grass, senses honed, an explosive rush, claws extend and then the final clamp of fangs in a jugular embrace. Discover what separates these predators from all others. The cheetah, the ultimate tactician, single minded in its abandon for the lightning-fast gazelle. And the leopard, an invincible opportunist lying in wait for the unwary. Both driven by pure instinct and the constant pressure to kill.

Frans Lanting: The Evolution of LIFE

October 2015 •English

A dazzling journey through time via the remarkable images of National Geographic photographer Frans Lanting and his epic "LIFE" project, which presents a stunning interpretation of life on Earth, from the Big Bang through the present.

Planète animale 2 : Survivre

April 2017 •French

Elmore Leonard: "But Don't Try to Write"

March 2021 •English

Elmore Leonard, author of more than 40 novels, is renowned in the literary community. From his westerns and early novels of crime based in Detroit and South Florida, right through his complex and virtually plotless later work, Elmore Leonard dissected an America whose founding sins have continued to haunt it all the days. Leonard’s depiction of America is as real as Twain’s Hannibal, Faulkner’s Mississippi and Steinbeck’s Monterey. The new documentary ELMORE LEONARD: “But don’t try to write” explores the prolific author’s legacy and his influence on generations of writers. The documentary features exclusive images and previously unseen home movie footage, family photographs, and in-depth interviews with both literary experts and those who knew him well, including colleagues, family, and childhood friends.

Ocean Voyagers

December 2007 •English

Ocean Voyagers explores the familiar themes of motherhood and parenting in a world as unfamiliar as it is breathtaking. Featuring a precocious newborn humpback calf and his enormous 40 ton mother, we are taken on a journey of discovery into their world.

Freedom for the Wolf

June 2017 •English

The Real Story of Fake Democracy. Filmed over three years in five countries, FREEDOM FOR THE WOLF is an epic investigation into the new regime of illiberal democracy. From the young students of Hong Kong, to a rapper in post-Arab Spring Tunisia and the viral comedians of Bollywood, we discover how people from every corner of the globe are fighting the same struggle. They are fighting against elected leaders who trample on human rights, minorities, and their political opponents.

The before and after of John Frusciante - VPRO 1994

May 1994 •English

Fighting Spirit: Fishmans

May 2022 •Japanese

A documentary film chronicling the rehearsal, preparation and performance of a Fishmans concert performed on February 19, 2019 @Zepp Tokyo.

Senses of Cinema

November 2022 •English

As notions of civil rights transformed across the world, so was the screen landscape reformed by the ascension of grassroots film movements seeking to challenge the mainstream. Some aspired to push form to its limit; others worked to destabilise what they saw as a homogenous industry, or to provoke questions around gender, sexuality, migration and race.

Reality Winner

March 2021 •English

A state of secrets and a ruthless hunt for whistleblowers – this is the story of 25-year-old Reality Winner who disclosed a document about Russian election interference to the media and became the number one leak target of the Trump administration.

Animals of the Ocean Desert

June 2001 •English

For two-thirds of the year, the Little Rann is a desert. Suddenly, in August, monsoon winds whip up the Arabian Sea and carry it 100 km inland. The desert and these mounds soon become islands and homes to high concentrations of rarely-seen, endangered and spectacular wildlife.

The Garden That Doesn't Exist

July 2022 •French

Once upon a time there was a garden, a refuge, a safe haven - 'The Garden of the Finzi Continis'. It came to life in Giorgio Bassani's 1962 semi-autobiographical novel recounting an unfulfilled love story between two young Jews in Ferrara, while fascism was raging in Italy in the late 1930's. In 1972, Vittorio De Sica's film adaptation of the book won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Since then, the fictional space of the garden became so tangible that people from all over the world come to Ferrara to look for it. Fifty years after winning the Oscar, reality and fiction come together once more, as we walk through an imaginary garden and bring to life the book, its author, its main protagonists, history, love, friendships and betrayals.

Le Peuple des airs

July 2022 •French

Bacteria, viruses, but also fungi, algae, pollen, and even insects: micro-organisms thrive and circulate constantly in our sky. How can so many living beings find their way into the air and circulate? How do they survive? And what influence do they have on our lives and the living world? Biodiversity, health, climate: it is only recently that scientists have begun to understand how this discreet aerial "plankton" affects our lives and our ecosystem. But despite their many virtues, some of these micro-organisms are now threatened by human activities. With the help of experts and 3D models, this scientific investigation plunges us into the heart of a still mysterious world, and reveals the diversity and fragility of the air we breathe.

Die Odyssee der Großtrappen - Das Comeback der Riesenvögel

May 2021 •German

Modern Life

October 2008 •French

For ten years, Raymond Depardon has followed the lives of farmer living in the mountain ranges. He allows us to enter their farms with astounding naturalness. This moving film speaks, with great serenity, of our roots and of the future of the people who work on the land. This the last part of Depardon's triptych "Profils paysans" about what it is like to be a farmer today in an isolated highland area in France. "La vie moderne" examines what has become of the persons he has followed for ten years, while featuring younger people who try to farm or raise cattle or poultry, come hell or high water.

The Thinnest Line

June 2022 •Catalan

A fist-person story of the director of the documentary, who talks about the loneliness that entails living with an eating disorder and her vision now thar she is entering into adulthood.