Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

Growing up. Finding food. Seeking shelter. Finding a soul mate. Raising children. These universal themes touch the hearts of audiences everywhere. Parents will do anything to give their kids the best start in life. Witness the epic journey of a tiny poison arrow frog, scaling impossibly high trees to feed her tadpoles in the canopy. As the young grow, they confront the life long search for food. Capuchin monkeys spend up to eight years teaching their young the complex process of preparing a palm nut meal.
For those creatures who successfully negotiated all the obstacles to adulthood, it’s time to face the ultimate test: to find a partner and to pass on their genes to the next generation. In what is one of the most spectacular and romantic courtship dances in the world, grebes step out across the surface of a lake in perfect unison. We see so much of ourselves in these different animals, and them in us – intelligence, strength, determination, courage, even love. The stories combine to reveal how every living thing on our planet shares the same desire – not just to live, but to foster new life. Relevant, engaging and above all, amazing. Narrated by Daniel Craig,

In the center of the story is the life of the indigenous people of the village Bakhtia at the river Yenisei in the Siberian Taiga. The camera follows the protagonists in the village over a period of a year. The natives, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, keep living their lives according to their own cultural traditions. Werner Herzog and Russian co-director Dmitry Vasyukov takes viewers on yet another unforgettable journey into remote and extreme natural landscapes. The acclaimed filmmaker presents this visually stunning documentary about indigenous people living in the heart of the Siberian Taiga. Deep in the wilderness, far away from civilization, 300 people inhabit the small village of Bakhtia at the river Yenisei. There are only two ways to reach this outpost: by helicopter or boat. There's no telephone, running water or medical aid. Follow the Siberian trappers through all four seasons of the year to tell the story of a culture virtually untouched by modernity.

Documentary telling the little-known story of how Darwin came to write his great masterpiece, On the Origin of Species, a book which explains the wonderful variety of the natural world as emerging out of death and the struggle of life. In the twenty years he took to develop a brilliant idea into a revolutionary book, Darwin went through a personal struggle every bit as turbulent as that of the natural world he observed. Fortunately, he left us an extraordinary record of his brilliant insights, observations of nature, and touching expressions of love and affection for those around him. He also wrote frank accounts of family tragedies, physical illnesses and moments of self-doubt, as he laboured towards publication of the book that would change the way we see the world.

This awe-inspiring documentary film narrated by Daryl Hannah will take you from the dazzling coral reefs of the Bahamas to the warm depths of the waters of the exotic Kingdom of Tonga for a close encounter with the surviving tribes of the ocean. Through the powerful IMAX 3D theatre medium and stunning images, view their lives and habitats as never-before-seen. You will come so close to wild dolphins and belugas you will virtually touch them. You will witness the profound love of a Humpback mother for her newborn calf, and will come eye-to-eye with singing Humpback males. You will meet an orca, the mighty King of the ocean, and enjoy a wonderful moment with the gentle manatee. Explore many little-known aspects of these fascinating and fragile creatures capable of sophisticated communication and social interaction. Join this expert team of ocean explorers in an unforgettable diving experience that documents the life of these graceful, majestic yet endangered sea creatures.

The world of the armoured creatures is equally fascinating and bizarre. Galapagos giant tortoises solve the problem of making love in a suit of armour; a heated sea turtle orgy leaves females in mortal danger and we witness the explosive arrival of a baby pig-nosed turtle. Giant salt-water crocodiles crowd a flooded river-run to fish for mullet and a caiman leads her brood in a touching trek to a communal crèche.

In 1985, two adventurous young mountaineers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, set off to climb the treacherous west face of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. They were experienced climbers, and climbed "Alpine-style," climbing the mountain in "one great push," without setting up ropes or base camps ahead of time. After dealing with a snowstorm and some dangerous climbing over powder formations, they reached the summit (about 21,000 feet) on the third day. The climb down proved to be far more difficult. Simpson fell and broke his leg badly. Yates decided to try to lower Simpson down the mountain, one 300-foot section of rope at a time. The climbers had run out of gas to melt snow, so they couldn't risk stopping as night came, and a violent snowstorm began. Their plodding, painful journey hit a snag when Yates inadvertently lowered Simpson over the edge of a cliff. In the storm, the men couldn't hear each other's cries, and, Yates, uncertain as to Simpson's position, and gradually sliding down the slope himself, decided to cut the rope that connected them, sending Simpson plummeting to certain death. Miraculously, Simpson survived the fall, and was faced with the prospect of getting off the mountain alone with no food, no water, and a broken leg. In Touching the Void, filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September) tells their story, based on Simpson's book, using contemporary interviews with the two men, and a reenactment of their climb and descent, featuring Brendan Mackey as Simpson and Nicholas Aaron as Yates