SBS Documentaries

Serbia is located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. It is also one of Europe’s natural wonders, filled with a rich variety of landscapes and animals.To this day a large number of Serbian people live in close communion with nature, proud of the storks’ nests in the villages, the ancient species of livestock that have been preserved and the vultures that return to make their home here. In many places people are pleased to see bears, lynx and wolves, and even jackals are at home in the forests of Serbia. This documentary presents Serbia's breath-taking, picturesque regions and unique wildlife on a journey to the most beautiful and wildest areas of the Balkan Peninsula. (From Germany, in English)

Picturesque coves, freshly caught fish on the harbour, one of the many areas here when history is still alive. Hundreds of islands are strewn across the royal blue water. Croatia is the Adriatic’s jewel. Discover some of the largest contrasts in landscapes, plus the special wildlife which inhabit one of Europe’s smallest countries. (From Germany, in English)

A profile of the highly esteemed Australian architectural photographer John Gollings, producer of landmark images throughout Australia and Asia. This film follows Gollings on a journey from Melbourne to the rapidly changing Asian region, and gives an insight into his personal influences and what it takes to create the memorable images that have earned him a place amongst the world's top architectural photographers.

This documentary examines modern and future trends in which architects, artists, and artisanal builders with a vision, are pushing the limits of form and materials, to answer new demands for portability and flexibility, and creating independence from the housing and services grid. With overpopulation, and environmental concerns at the forefront, designers from Australia, North America, Greece, Denmark and Holland profile their new innovative housing ideas for sustainable living “off the grid”.

WikiLeaks has gained a world wide reputation as a whistle blower of extreme magnitude, enhancing knowledge about American diplomacy, Iranian torture, Icelandic bank ponzies and more. This detailed documentary on WikiLeaks investigates the vision driving the enigmatic founder, Julian Assange, a man declared a saint in the same breath as he is facing charges of rape and treason.

The 18-day Egyptian revolution was started by its youth, but drew in all layers of Egypt's fractured society, across age, class and religious divide. As the fear barrier was broken, destinies were transformed by the tumultuous events. This film offers an examination of the demise of the Mubarak regime through the eyes of people whose lives were, until now, defined by it. (From Qatar, in English and Arabic)

It used be that everyone knew what it meant to be a man. A man was rugged and reliable and got the job done. But then came the worst recession in 80 years. So what happens now that the job is gone? The End of Men is a compelling new documentary that takes a profound look at how men are coping with the evolving role of masculinity in today?s world, where the old rules no longer apply.

Tucked away in the Forbidden City's north-east corner in Beijing, lies a unique group of buildings that had lain unused for more than two hundred years. This exquisite Forbidden City in miniature, the Qianlong Garden, was built as a retirement complex for the Qing dynasty's Qianlong Emperor. The restoration of the Lodge of Retirement is the first ever international collaboration for the Palace Museum.

For centuries the human adult brain has been thought to be incapable of fundamental change. Now the discovery and growing awareness of neuroplasticity has revolutionised our understanding of the brain. Dr Norman Doidge (The Brain That Changes Itself) takes us through some very compelling neurological cases to illustrate how the changing brain plays an important role in treating mental disorders and diseases that were once thought incurable.

Every year a million visitors are drawn to the Salisbury Plain, in southern England, to gaze upon a mysterious circle of stones. Stonehenge may be the best-known and most mysterious relic of prehistory. During the 20th century, excavations revealed that the structure was built in stages, and that it dates back some 5,000 years, to the late Stone Age. The meaning of the monument, however, was anyone's guess - until recently. Now investigations inside and around Stonehenge have kicked off a dramatic new era of discovery and debate. (From the US)

What is one degree? And what does one degree mean in the context of global warming? Once upon a time, actor and comedian Ben Miller was going to be a physicist. He embarked on a PhD in low temperature physics at Cambridge University's world-renowned Cavendish Laboratory, but abandoned his white coat for the lure of the stage. In this programme Ben returns to his origins as a scientist, embarking on a journey into the mysteries of temperature, heat, and energy, learning about the importance of scientific measurement, the extremes of the range, and the relationship between the Sun's energy and the temperature on Earth. (From the UK) (Documentary) G

How did a rehearsal for D-Day on a sleepy stretch of British coast turn into a bloodbath resulting in the death of hundreds of Allied soldiers? 'Exercise Tiger' was the Allies' worst training disaster of the 20th century - a combination of allied incompetence and enemy infiltration that was hushed up until 1984. Survivor and eye-witness accounts, top-secret documents, film archive and findings from underwater excavations help to reveal the secrecy and conflicting evidence that persists to this day. This documentary tells the truth about Exercise Tiger, a rehearsal for D-Day on the Devon coast in April 1944 that turned into a bloodbath when the US landing craft were ambushed by German E-boats. (From the Netherlands, in English) (Documentary) PG

Have you ever read the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policies connected to every website you visit, phone call you make, or app you use? Of course you haven’t. But those agreements allow corporations to do things with your personal information you could never even imagine. What are you really agreeing to when you click "I accept"? Through interviews with technology thought leaders and futurists, including Moby, Chief Google Engineer Ray Kurzweil, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Terms and Conditions May Apply' brilliantly documents the sign posts on the slippery slope of internet privacy. This disquieting exposé demonstrates how we unknowingly, click by click, generate a cloud of data that records our every on-line move. (From the US) (Documentary) M

In the early sixties, to talk about computer science meant talking about enormous calculators that were seen as pure science fiction to the vast majority. In 1963 the IBM PDP-1 occupied an entire room, cost 100.000 dollars and was in few specialised laboratories. And while the world dreams about and fears this object of the future, in that small lab with tainted black windows, four pioneers invented the P101, ''the first desk top computer of the world'. This is the birth of our age. But the big US companies didn’t sit idly by. In 1967, Hewlett Packard compensated Olivetti with 900.000 dollars, implicitly recognising that they had infringed the Olivetti’s patent of the P101 with their model HP 9100 and the inventors received a dollar each as a symbolic gesture, for that invention that changed the world. Programma 101 is the tale of the birth of our era, told through the voices of its protagonists and through an incredible archive material. (From Italy, in Italian and English) (Documentary) G CC

Shaolin Temple is the birthplace of kung fu and Zen Buddhism. For 1500 years Shaolin has managed to adapt and survive but the wars and upheavals of the 20th century nearly finished the temple off. Then in the early 1980s the temple was reborn thanks to two men: Deng Xiaoping, who encouraged Chinese enterprise, and the other was Jet Li, who starred in the 1984 box office hit Shaolin Temple. Today the temple has multi-million dollar investments in property, media, healthcare and tourism.

Pompeii was one of the most famous volcanic eruptions in history. We know how its victims died - but how did they live? Gleaning evidence from an extraordinary find, scientists are providing new insights into the lives of these people. In a dark cellar in Oplontis, just three kilometres from Pompeii, 54 skeletons which didn't succumb to the torrent of volcanic ash are about to be put under the microscope. The remains will be submitted to a barrage of tests that will unlock one of the most comprehensive scientific snapshots of Pompeian life ever produced - and the results are surprising. (From the UK) (Documentary) PG

After twenty years of reunification, is Germany still divided? After reunification, life went on in the West virtually unchanged. But for those in the East, life as they knew it ceased to exist. People read their Stasi files and learned that best friends and spouses had betrayed them. Friendships were destroyed. Many lost their jobs and with their jobs, their identity. Despite all of the negatives associated with the cruel regime of the former East Germany, many are experiencing a strange nostalgia for the old times. (From Germany, in English and German) (Documentary) (Rpt) PG

Hailed as the great sexual liberator of women in the early 1980s, the sexually-active world embraced the G-spot. But to many contemporary women the exact location remains elusive and medical science is still searching for a distinctive anatomical feature. This playful yet illuminating program investigates whether the G-spot is a physiological organ, the greatest gift to womankind or just wishful thinking.

Under the sea, the reproduction chain is extremely varied and complicated. How are marine animals able to reproduce in such vast, dark oceans where meeting a partner seems impossible? How, in this moving, liquid element, do they manage to overcome the challenge of perpetuating the species? Over millions of years of evolution, marine animals have used the physical properties of the water, each in their own way, and succeeded in developing original mating strategies for passing on their genes. (From France, in English) (Documentary) PG

Kraftwerk have always managed to shift effortlessly between the worlds of Popular Music and Art. Using state of the art electronics, video imagery and graphic art, and eschewing the cults of personality and stardom, they have remained enigmatic and extraordinarily influential on a generation of musicians and artists. This documentary represents the first film ever made and approved by the band and includes excerpts from their recent sell-out performances at the Tate Modern in London. With contributions from critics and fellow musicians, as well as previously unseen archives, it represents a portrait of a band whose refusal to follow the well-trodden paths of pop stardom made them a genuine force for cultural change, innovation and intrigue.

Nominated for Best Documentary at the 2001 Dendy Awards. Ness was born Vanessa Alexandra Pecheniuk in Melbourne, 1971. She is a third generation Russian and has spent most of her life denying her family's existence. When Ness receives a call from an aunt who disappeared 22 years ago, she is prompted to contact her family and put some of her ghosts to rest.

Mum's Line - Actor and comedian Eddie Izzard sets out on an incredible personal quest to follow the route of his ancestors in a 200,000-year migration from Africa to Europe. Becoming the first human ever to trace his genes’ journey, this spectacular global travelogue starts with a sample of Eddie’s DNA. Scientists then plot the exact path his distant cousins took. It’s an entertaining, unpredictable journey through Namibia, Cameroon and Djibouti in Africa, up into Arabia and onwards, finally arriving in the UK, where his family has been since the 1640s. Along the way he meets distant relatives, from the San bushmen of the Kalahari to the survivors of Pompeii on this awe-inspiring adventure.

Marine scientists across the world are racing to tackle the most urgent environmental challenge facing our planet today – ocean acidification. From the icy polar seas to the world’s most pristine coral reefs we track the latest scientific research. Heading the investigation is Dr Katharina Fabricius from the Australian Institute of Marine Science. She’s made a game-changing discovery. Nestled amongst Papua New Guinea’s stunning coral gardens is a unique reef – a window to the future of our oceans.

This documentary provides a powerful account of the events which led to 9/11. It reveals how Osama Bin Laden ran his terrorist group and sheds light on the consequences of his assassination earlier this year by American Special Forces. With exclusive access to Abu Jandal, Bin Laden's bodyguard and confidant; FBI special agent Ali Soufan who hunted Al Qaeda prior to 9/11; and Michael Scheuer, the former chief of the CIA's Bin Laden Unit, this program offers a fascinating insight into the inner workings of a much-feared organisation. (From the UK, in English and Arabic) (Documentary) M (V) CC

This program investigates two of the worst maritime disasters of World War Two. The first was the single worst shipping misfortune in British history – the sinking of the Lancastria in 1940 off the coast of Brittany with the loss of around 5,000 lives. The other tragedy struck the French steamer Meknes, which sailed from Southampton in July 1940 with 1300 French seamen aboard. It was hit by a German torpedo and sank in 10 minutes. Over 400 men perished in the catastrophe.

In Tokyo, three women take us through the realm of fuzoku; the world of erotic entertainment in Japan. Yuna is an aspiring actress in hard-core films, Nao engages clients in hard-chats and Miho is a well-known striptease artist. We learn about their dreams, we follow them at work and during their free time, in host clubs where they drink and find escorts, and in nightclubs where shibari, the art of sadomasochistic binding, is practiced.

Filmed on location in 19 countries, this program looks at the geopolitical struggle for control of the waterways of the Middle East. After centuries of naval domination of the region’s waters, the West faces the rising tide of indigenous control all around the Indian Ocean rim. And in the wake of popular uprisings in the Middle East, few certainties remain. But one thing is clear: the West no longer dictates outcomes like before – and it is far from sure what actions, war or otherwise, can restore its slipping influence.

Chilling documentary that reveals how the famous Berlin Wall came to be, tracing the sequence of events that led up to the 28-mile ring of steel's overnight erection in 1961.

The Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino in Italy was one of the most important monuments in the whole of Christianity. During the Second World War, the Allied forces controversially decided to bomb the abbey as they thought the Germans were using it for military purposes. This documentary reconstructs the political and military background behind the stalemate of the Anglo-American military campaign in Italy in 1944, the dramatic leadership errors and the mutual lack of trust between the Allied partners.

The untold story of how a Sydney beach became the scene of the Cronulla riots. Told through the perspective of those who were there, 'Cronulla Riots -The Day That Shocked the Nation' investigates simmering tensions between groups of Australians that led to racially motivated violence at Sydney’s Cronulla beach one hot day in December 2005.

This powerful documentary reveals a side to Shaun never seen before as he heads to India, a country where spirituality and the search for meaning is very much a national past time, and he immerses himself in the Hindu world of Gods, Gurus and the Ganges. In a bid to get to the heart of the faith, Shaun pushes well beyond his comfort zone on a physical, mental and spiritual adventure. He journeys to the source of the Ganges high in the Himalayas - all the while offering his own unique observations on his quest to find the meaning of life.

After the Wave tells the untold story of Australia's extraordinary role in what became the world's greatest forensic detective operation. The first to appear on the ground weer a crack team of forensic experts from the Australian Federal Police who had the tough task of establishing a process to accurately identify the dead. Also explored in this documentary are the harrowing first person accounts from tsunami survivors documenting their experiences.

This is a whimsical, slightly risqué but also serious exploration of the taboo subject of female masturbation. See interviews from women of all ages about their own personal stories and practices. It also looks at the history of female sexuality, along with the marketing of the vibrator to women in the 20th century, as well as the tragic issue of genital mutilation and its disastrous consequences.