SBS Documentaries

Dan Snow uncovers the lost Vikings in America with space archaeologist Dr Sarah Parcak. Sarah uses satellites 383 miles above the earth to spot ruins as small as 30 centimetres buried beneath the surface.

Dan Snow researches how the Norwegian and British Vikings settled in Iceland and formed their communities. Dan examines how the Vikings expanded first as raiders, then settlers and traders throughout Britain and beyond to Iceland and Greenland, discovering that they were entrepreneurs and inventors. In North America, Dan and Sarah excavate what could be the most westerly Viking settlement ever discovered.

Florian Hartung and Dirk Pohlmann have reconstructed a previously unknown dimension of the collaboration between Nazis and the CIA in the Cold War. Drawing upon recently released documents, the film exposes for the first time a perfidious, worldwide net that reaches deep into the power structures of the Federal Republic of Germany. Lending their authority to the fact-finders’ mission are high-ranking statesmen, journalists and historians.

Meet Brynne Larson and the Sherkenback sisters. Wide-eyed and with unflappable enthusiasm, three teens from Phoenix, Arizona, jet-set across the globe to the unstable nation of Ukraine to save the souls of its primarily rural citizens.

One in five Australians has experienced racism in the last 12 months according to one of the biggest ever surveys conducted on racism and prejudice in Australia, commissioned by SBS with the Western Sydney University. Ray Martin investigates the question: Is Australia Racist? This one hour documentary puts survey findings into action through a series of hidden camera social experiments, capturing the experience of racism through the eyes of those who have suffered it. The results are at times confronting, but 'Is Australia Racist?' also reveals inspiring Australians facing up to racism and standing up when witnessing discrimination.

Why do some people 'sound gay' but not others? Why are gay voices a mainstay of pop culture but also a trigger for bullying and harassment? Following a break up with his boyfriend, journalist David Thorpe sets out on a quest to unravel a linguistic mystery…all his life, like many gay men, Thorpe has felt self-conscious about his stereotypically un-macho voice. But what are its origins? And why is there such a stigma attached to 'sounding gay'? As Thorpe consults with everyone from speech therapists to public figures to complete strangers, he unpacks complex cultural questions with wit, verve and intelligence.

Can science cure racism? That’s the provocative idea behind The Truth About Racism, a documentary that takes a close look at the cutting edge science that’s exploring both the ways that racism manifests itself in our lives, and the actions we can take to try and counter it in ourselves and others. Yassmin Abdel-Magied, teams up with a group of scientists to put the last fifteen years of science through its paces, with four volunteers (plus Yassmin herself) as the subjects.

The Seven Ages of Elvis sets out to explore exactly who Elvis was and the true meaning of his unprecedented impact on popular culture. Using Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man as a framework, the film charts 'The King of Rock n Roll's' extraordinary life, act by act - from his impoverished childhood in the depressed American South, through his meteoric rise to international fame, to his Vegas years and sad death in 1977. Combining archive material with personal testimonies from those who knew Elvis best, the film throws light on the secret to his triumphant, universal success and asks why audiences are still drawn to him 40 years after his death.

In Australia, the move to legalise medical cannabis has gained substantial momentum, thanks largely to the tenacity of a Tamworth couple whose dying son benefited from medicinal cannabis. Battling an out-dated legal framework, scepticism, and prejudice, Lucie and Tony Haslam believe that the benefit gained for their son needed to be shared with the broader community. In an initiative which has brought change to the political and medical landscape, they were the driving force in co-ordinating an international symposium on medicinal cannabis. While doctors have little knowledge of the plant, it has historical significance as a prescription treatment for various ailments during the last century and as early as 1500 BC. Medicinal cannabis is yet to be legalised in Australia, but governments are shifting their perspective, transforming the question from the possibility of legalisation to a matter of when the change will take place.

The Surgeon and the Soldier is the story of leading Australian surgeon, Associate Professor Munjed Al Muderis, who has pioneered osseointegration surgery, a controversial procedure for amputees. Munjed sets out to change the life of a young British soldier, a double amputee who has fought a David and Goliath battle with the British military to get the procedure done by Munjed in Australia. Munjed has had his own battles within the medical fraternity and more dramatically with the Australian authorities. Whilst now a leading, pioneering surgeon, Munjed is a refugee who arrived in Australia by boat and experienced the horrors of detention. Munjed is determined to realise his ambition, to make a half man, half robot and by achieving his lifelong dream to give back to as many people as possible: their mobility.

With exclusive access to research conducted by University College London and the Terracotta Army Museum, this documentary uncovers new secrets of China's fabled warriors. The discovery of China's famous Terracotta Army in 1974 captured the imagination of the world. But that first dig only revealed a fraction of this enormous and extraordinary treasure. Since then, scientists have resumed work on the site, and their research has turned up a series of new discoveries about the warriors and the people who made them over two millennia ago.