Following the U.S. surrender to the Japanese on the peninsula of Bataan in 1942, 76,000 American and Filipino POWs began the infamous Death March. This gripping narrative, told in unsparing but sympathetic detail, focuses intermittently on American POW Ben Steele, whose sketches adorn the book, and the hell of Japanese prison and labor camps that introduced these captives to the starvation, dehydration and murderous Japanese brutality that would become...

"In The Muses Go to School, autobiographical pieces by well-known artists and performers are paired with illuminating essays by distinguished educators to produce a powerful case for putting the arts at the center of primary and secondary school curricula. Spanning a range of genres from acting and music to literary and visual arts, these smart and entertaining voices make surprising connections between the arts and the development of intellect, imagination,...

Thirty years ago, the Miners' Strike threatened to tear the country apart, turning neighbour against neighbour, husband against wife, father against son - enmities which smoulder still. Resnick, recently made up to inspector, and ambivalent at best about some of the police tactics, had run an information gathering unit at the heart of the dispute. Now, in virtual retirement, and still grieving over the violent death of his former partner, the discovery...

Martin Sheen (The West Wing), Matthew Modine (The Dark Knight Rises), and George Coe (Archer) lead a cast of eccentric characters who rebel against authority in this wonderfully animated and poignant comedy for adults.. Using hand-drawn animation, Wrinkles moves freely between the inmates’ daily routines and their more colorful, dementia-induced fantasies, leaving plenty of room for both tears and laughter as it pokes pointed fun at society’s...

"In the tradition of Why We Sleep and The Sixth Extinction, an urgent and insightful look at the hidden impact of light pollution, and a passionate appeal to cherish natural darkness for the sake of the environment, our own wellbeing, and all life on earth. How much light is too much light? Satellite pictures show our planet as a brightly glowing orb, and in our era of constant illumination, light pollution has become a major issue. The world's flora...

At first glance Brazil appears to be an alluring playground of exciting carnivals, sultry samba, divine football and a vibrantly diverse people. But behind this dazzling facade lies a disturbing story of historys largest-ever slave population. Astonishingly Brazil, a Portuguese colony, received ten-times more African slaves than the numbers transported to North America. This programme looks at those estimated 4 million people with whose blood, sweat...

Gensan (David Dastmalchian) and Ruby (Karen Gillan) live on the fringes of society in Los Angeles, struggling to survive in the face of abject poverty. On a fateful night, they strike out to seize something that has always been denied them, which sets in motion a series of events with dire consequences. Their impulsively committed crime puts them on run from the police. They seek refuge in their hometown of Kansas City, a place filled with the dark...

Dawn Crey. Ramona Wilson. Daleen Kay Bosse. These are just three of the estimated 500 Aboriginal women who have gone missing or been murdered in Canada over the past thirty years. Directed by acclaimed Métis filmmaker Christine Welsh, Finding Dawn is a compelling documentary that puts a human face to this national tragedy. This is an epic journey into the dark heart of Native women’s experience in Canada. From Vancouver’s skid row, where more...

"Karen Krupp was home making dinner for her husband. She was expecting him any second. The phone rang--it was the call she hoped she'd never get. She jumped in her car and raced to a neighborhood she thought she'd never visit. She peered into the dark, deserted building and braced herself for the worst. After thar, she remembered nothing. They told her husband, Tom, she'd been in an accident. She must have lost control of her car as she sped through...