A ghost ship off the coast of Peru, home to the biggest fishery on the planet, has become an unlikely nesting site for guanay cormorants and Peruvian boobies.
Hugh Pearson / Silverback/Netflix
Netflix’s new high-budget nature documentary promised to reveal both the splendour of the natural world, and the pressing threats it faces.
A still from Dennis O'Rourke’s 1988 documentary Cannibal Tours. O'Rourke was part of a surge in Australian documentary making during the 1980s and 90s.
Institute of Papua New Guinea Studios
At a time when formulaic factual ‘content’ reigns on our TV screens, a new essay on Australian documentary making is a rallying call for those who believe the genre can effect social change.
In 1958, Mildred and Richard Loving were arrested in Virginia for the crime of being married. The couple helped spark an effort to strike down laws against interracial marriage in the United States.
Popular programming that focuses on science tends to not actually be all that popular. Bringing in new audiences who aren’t already up to speed on science topics is a challenge.
Fokofpolisiekar’s lead vocalist Francois van Coke.
Liam Lynch
A pioneering documentary about South African punks, Fokofpolisiekar, doesn’t only focus on the band, but also illuminates the evolution of the documentary form.
A scene from the TV mini-series, ‘Mars’.
National Geographic
The recently broadcast TV mini-series, “Mars”, combines fiction and nonfiction in a way that places them in balance. This kind of combination is likely to feature in more television series and films.
Strict security at the South African Broadcasting Corporation before the country’s 2004 national elections.
EPA/Jon Hrusa
Jared Borkum, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Many broadcasters around the world enforce local content quotas to ensure their television industries’ survival. But the success of these measures varies widely.
The currently screening films The Walk and the Program are both fictionalised versions of recent documentaries.
A politically charged 2011 work called ‘Do not urinate’ by photographer Vivek Vilasini, part of the exhibition ‘Docu Tour’ at BMB gallery in Mumbai.
Courtesy of artist: Vivek Vilasini
The TV documentaries Benefits Street and Immigration Street have left long-term damage – in more ways than one.
Red Army tells the story of the Russian hockey dynasty of the 1980s and early 1990s, focusing on the story of defenseman Slava Fetisov (pictured top right).
Variety
Gabe Polsky’s documentary Red Army opens with the film’s main subject – former NHL and Soviet hockey great Viacheslav (Slava) Fetisov – giving the finger to Polsky while checking his phone. At the film’s…
Curtis is one of few BBC film-makers given great artistic freedom.
Steve Rhodes
Most broadcasters – especially those who work at the BBC – must produce their programmes to conform to strict guidelines. They must be within five seconds of the required length, they must comply with…