All Things Bakelite: The Age of Plastic

On Three Rivers(sh)

A historical overview of Sisak, the city on three rivers, from the Roman era to the post-WWII industrialization.

TGV, la réussite française(fr)

Where the Stone Dropped(en)

Created in the Victorian era to widen the mouth of the River Tees for shipping, South Gare is a man-made peninsula extending four kilometres into the cold North Sea. Today, the industry it was built for has gone, but the Gare remains as a haven for all sorts of unexpected communities - kite-surfers, photographers, bird-watchers, scuba-divers and the people who simply appreciate its strange, lonely beauty.

DeLorean: Back from the Future(en)

John Z DeLorean’s extraordinary and doomed attempt to build the sports car of the future in 1980s Northern Ireland is the stuff of legend. A buccaneering American entrepreneur, DeLorean had film star looks, a famous fashion model as a wife, and an enormous ego that drove him to rival the giants of the US car industry.

Ferrum(sv)

Unconventional portrayal of mining in the Swedish Lapland ore fields, a powerful image and sound symphony that can be experienced both as a documentary and symbolic work.

Hmoty zítřka(cs)

Manufactured Landscapes(en)

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris.

The High Cost of Cheap Gas(en)

The environmental problems caused by fracking in America have been well publicized but what's less known are the gas industry's plans for expansion in other countries. This investigation, filmed in Botswana, South Africa and North America, reveals how gas companies are quietly invading some of the most protected places on the planet.

Mountain Spring: The Flinders Range(en)

Progress in South Australia manifests itself around the Flinders Range country in the industries of Whyalla, Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Leigh Creek and Aroona Dam. Wildflowers cover the countryside.

Court Case(en)

An insider's look on the making of Penn's tennis balls, from their creation in a factory to the final stages of quality control.

All for the good of the World and Nosovice(cs)

An original portrayal of a small Czech village where – as the locals put it – an UFO has landed in the form of a kilometre-long silverish factory: a Korean Hyundai automobile plant. The village, hitherto famous mostly for its sauerkraut and the “Radegast” beer was thus turned into an industrial zone – the largest greenfield investment project in the Czech Republic’s history. Nonetheless, for a long time many farmers resisted selling the land upon which the factory was now standing. Eventually, they all succumbed under the pressure from the neighbours, and even the anonymous death threats. The filmmakers returned to Nošovice two years after the dramatic property buyouts, at the time when the factory has just started churning out cheap cars. Combining the perspectives of seven characters, they have composed a portrayal of a place suddenly changed beyond recognition that is playful and chilling at the same time: a politically engaged absurd flick about a field that yields cars.

Lobsters Unlimited(en)

An overview of the lobster fishing industry in Nova Scotia.

La zuppa del demonio(it)

The Cost of Cobalt(en)

In the cobalt mining areas of Katanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), babies are being born with horrific birth defects. Scientists and doctors are finding increasing evidence of environmental pollution from industrial mining which, they believe, may be the cause of a range of malformations from cleft palate to some so serious the baby is stillborn. More than 60% of the world’s reserves of cobalt are in the DRC and this mineral is essential for the production of electric car batteries, which may be the key to reducing carbon emissions and to slowing climate change. In The Cost of Cobalt we meet the doctors treating the children affected and the scientists who are measuring the pollution. Cobalt may be part of the global solution to climate change, but is it right that Congo’s next generation pay the price with their health? Many are hoping that the more the world understands their plight, the more pressure will be put on the industry here to clean up its act.

The Singer Story: Made in Clydebank(en)

The Singer sewing machine, international icon and a symbol of the Industrial Revolution, helped put the town of Clydebank on the map. Over the course of a century, it employed tens of thousands of 'bankies' before its demise nearly 40 years ago. This documentary charts the story of those workers: how their lives were intertwined with the fortunes of Scotland’s first US multinational company. The programme pays homage to the Singer machine, and the huge impact it made on families and households all over the world.

Spotlight on the Highlands(en)

It's 1948 and hydro-electric power is transforming Scotland's Grampians.

Det er godt at have sin egen konto(da)

Tins for India(en)

The manufacture of kerosene tins in an Indian factory.

Elbert Hubbard: An American Original(en)

This public television documentary examines the passionate life and career of Elbert Hubbard, a businessman who in 1895 established a socially progressive community of arts and crafts-style furniture-makers and other artisans in New York state. Narrated by actor Liev Schreiber, this film explores the scope of Hubbard's vision and his commune that became known for its controversial political activism as much as for its exquisite handmade goods.

Tora-san of Goto(ja)

This documentary film follows for 22 years a nine-member family involved in the manufacturing of Udon in the Goto Islands, Nagasaki prefecture. Mr. Toru Inuzuka called by nickname "Tora-san" is making famous 'Goto Udon' and natural salt on the island on which the depopulation is progressing. Seven children get up at 5 o'clock every morning, helping to make udon, and go to school. Children's help is recorded on the time card, and it is pocket money for children. The film talks about children's growth, marriage, childbirth, homecoming, and parting. The 22 years of familiarity of the family is drawn.