CBC Documentaries

It's the most popular flavour in the world and as CHOCOLATE CONFIDENTIAL reveals, the lengths to which some people will go to pursue their passion for chocolate are amazing. Some would say that chocolate rivals sex as a universal obsession. You can drink it, eat it, it's good for your heart and can even be a beauty tool -chocolate is a billion dollar industry. According to the documentary, the average North American consumes 11.7 pounds of chocolate each yearùa low statistic considering the Swiss gobble up to 22.3 pounds each. CHOCOLATE CONFIDENTIAL includes an interview with Chloe Doutre-Roussel, the so-called 'chocolate angel' who eats pounds each day and travels all over the world to find the perfect cocoa bean. Even New York cosmetic mogul Bobbi Brown has jumped on the chocolate bandwagon, launching a new line of cocoa-hued makeup. From the artistry of high-end chocolate-makers in Paris to the cocoa bean plantations in the Caribbean, CHOCOLATE CONFIDENTIAL travels the world, offering delectable insider information.

Special documentary look at how pop culture's 'new dark continent,' video games, are changing the world. Originally Aired in two parts.

During the 1970's, a prominent Vancouver high school initiated Quest, a one semester outdoor education program. But for teacher Tom Ellison, Quest was more than just an outdoor program. It was an opportunity to conduct his own private brand of sex education with a continuing supply of female students. For many Quest students, massages, skinny-dipping, and sexually charged comments from teachers were simply the expected. Many students were ferociously devoted to the charismatic teacher, so Tom had his pick of girls to experience their first "love" with him. For other teachers in the school and for parents, the rumours about Quest and its three male leaders were better left alone. School of Secrets is a story of self-redemption for those women, who after years of tormented silence, decided to come forward. This riveting documentary traces the outcome of the complaints filed to the Vancouver Sex Crimes Unit and the investigation that brought Ellison to trial in the fall of 2006. It also delves into the cautionary implications for the parents, the school and the community that turned a deaf ear to the rumours.

This week, we look at fascinating, complex China through the eyes of the always outspoken and penetrating writer, Jan Wong, whose life has been intertwined with that country's history since the 1970's. She talks about her search there for a woman she denounced thirty years ago when she was a Maoist and her discovery of a new China that is rich, powerful, and increasingly ambitious about its global role.

For three years, filmmakers Jean-Michel Carré and Jill Emery interviewed dozens of people to gain insight into the life and political motivations of Russia's most powerful politician, Vladimir Putin. They spoke to long-time supporters, like Putin's former schoolteacher, Vera Gurvich, to his harshest critics, like world chess champion Garry Kasparov, as well as many KGB and Kremlin insiders. What emerged is a point-of-view documentary that presents an ominous view of what Putin is willing to do to ensure Russia regains its position on the world stage. A backroom bureaucrat in the KGB, Putin waited patiently and played by all the rules of the game in order to gain power. According to The Putin System, Putin succeeded in framing the general prosecutor, who had pried into former Russian president Boris Yeltsin's business affairs, and in 2000, Yeltsin himself named Putin as successor to the presidency. The Putin System chronicles the remarkable life of Putin, a tough, young leader who is not afraid to make harsh decisions and holds a secret purpose-to restore the old Russia of his dreams. Since March 2000, he has orchestrated a new system: Putin turned against the oligarchy that supported him, and turned their wealth into state-run corporations designed to finance his dream of a new Soviet empire. He also re-ignited the war in Chechnya in the name of Russian sovereignty, and launched a crackdown on political opposition. In the filmmakers' view, today, the former KGB agent is more powerful than ever before, and any opponents to Putin's system are seen as the enemy.