SBS Documentaries

This compelling investigative documentary exposes the US sugar industry’s systematic hijacking of scientific study to bury evidence that sugar is, in fact, toxic. For forty years, Big Sugar deflected threats to its multi-billion dollar empire through creative PR and tactics strikingly similar to the way the tobacco industry disguised the fact that its products are addictive and cause fatal illnesses. As obesity rates skyrocket and doctors treat the first generation of children suffering from fatty liver disease, the sugar industry has come under increasing scrutiny from emerging scientific and medical studies. While the industry steps up its advertising spin and lobbying efforts, this film warns that we are sitting on a dietary time bomb. (From Canada, in English)

Modern man can cure diseases, communicate at light speed, and even fly through space. But no matter how technologically advanced and civilized modern man becomes, he still has a little bit of the brutish and primitive Neanderthal in him. Up to four percent of human DNA is pure Neanderthal, yet the Neanderthal Man disappeared from the earth 39,000 years ago, vanishing into the mist of prehistory, never to be seen again. The question is why? This documentary goes on an exploratory journey of investigation and discovery, uncovering truths about their lives in order to illustrate the Neanderthal’s traits, his strengths and weaknesses.

How can a blind man ride a bike, a Shaolin monk bend an iron rod with his neck and a man perform extraordinary calculations in his head? This documentary goes in pursuit of people with extraordinary skills that go beyond what is ordinarily deemed humanly possible. It sets out to put their unique talents under the spotlight and scientifically test their abilities to gain an understanding of what makes them so special and how it is possible for them to perform their incredible feats. Theirs are unbelievable stories of discovering their unique abilities and trying to get by in a world marked by the ordinary.

Gayby Baby is a portrait of four kids – Gus, Ebony, Matt and Graham – whose parents all happen to be gay. In this heartfelt documentary, we get to know the four children: Gus wants to be a WWE wrestler; Matt questions the teachings of his church; Graham struggles with living in ultra-conservative Fiji; Ebony dreams of stardom. As they each wrestle with the challenges of oncoming adolescence, the outside world wrestles with the issue of marriage equality, and whether or not kids like them are at risk.

Big Boss: The Last Leader Of The Crocodile Islands Murrungga Island is situated in the top end of Arnhem Land in a group of islands known as The Crocodile Islands. This is where we find 95-year-old Laurie Baymarrwangga or as she is affectionately known, 'Big Boss', who was named Senior Australian of the Year in 2012.The documentary describes Baymarrwangga's single greatest achievement: the Yan-nhangu Dictionary. The dictionary's main aim is to preserve Yan-nhangu language and local knowledge from the potentially damaging consequences of rapid global change. The documentary, which won in the ‘Promotion of Indigenous Recognition’ category.

The true story behind the Gallipoli letter written in September 1915 by Rupert Murdoch’s father, Keith Murdoch, at the time a young Australian journalist. According to journalistic legend, Keith Murdoch’s letter toppled a general, shook a government and ended the bloodbath that was Gallipoli, one of the most brutal calamities of the First World War. But, as we find out in this investigative documentary, the truth behind the events of 100 years ago, is far more complex.

John Safran investigates the micro parties contesting the 2016 Australian Federal Election, revealing bizarre alliances that unpend perceptions of Australian multiculturalism, uncovering what could be the most religious election ever. As the nation heads towards a neck-and-neck election, the micro parties supported by Australia's religious minorities could end up with a balance of power. Join Safran as he cracks the lid on unlikely alliances and surprising frenemies in his inimitable style.

Charting the volatile political journey of newly elected Senator Pauline Hanson from 1996 to 2016, Pauline Hanson: Please Explain! shows the impact that the former fish and chip shop lady had on multicultural Australia – as it seems she’s now set to have a similar impact, all over again.

Why would an educated young woman choose to go into the porn industry? What are the dangers and what does it take to succeed? Jade is a graduate in fashion, but she has decided to pursue a lucrative career as a porn actress. Her attempts to break into the industry see Jade travel around the world and face some difficult questions about the ethics and morality of her chosen career, as well as more practical considerations that most of us would never have thought about. This is the porn industry seen from the inside out in intimate, shocking detail.

Nadia Comăneci is a former Romanian gymnast, winner of three gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastics event. She also won two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. She is one of the best-known gymnasts in the world. Her life was one of sacrifice, hardship, dedication and triumph played against the backdrop of a brutal Communist regime in her home country. Based on her own memoir, this documentary tells the amazing story of her life from the young girl in Romania who was discovered when doing cartwheels in her school playground, to the poised young woman who made a break for freedom and eventually made a life for herself away from gymnastics.

In a continuous 64,000-mile voyage lasting fifteen months, the commerce-raider SMS Wolf caused havoc across three oceans, launched Germany’s only direct attacks on Australia and New Zealand in the Great War.To all appearances an ordinary freighter, the Wolf carried an arsenal of seven guns and four torpedo tubes concealed behind drop-down deck walls, and 465 mines which were dropped overboard from a door hidden in her stern. Surviving on fuel and food from plundered ships, the Wolf became a world in miniature, crew and prisoners crowded together in an improbable survival story.

What's really going on in the Bermuda Triangle? Thousands of boats and planes are claimed to have disappeared without trace in the waters between Bermuda, Miami and Puerto Rico. Dramatic experiments reveal how underwater explosions, monster waves and the strongest storms on Earth could all drag ships and planes to the bottom of the sea.