Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

An intellectual freedoms documentary based around the interpersonal triumphs, and defeats of the three main characters against the largest industry in the known universe. The media industry. Based on the lives of the three founders of The Pirate Bay: Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm

The key to understanding the universe seems to be understanding its smallest components. But the quantum realm bears little resemblance to the universe we know. Image a particle that can be many places at the same time and communicate changes instantly across vast distances, even to the other side of the Universe. Shrinking down billions of times, into the realm of atoms and sub-atomic particles, takes us into a bizarre world of paradoxes and multiverses. Explore with us quantum physics and the potential applications in computer science.

Bladderwort utricularia is a pond-dweller that is among the fastest known, its traps snapping shut in less than a millisecond. As the seasons change, David demonstrates how plants operate on a different time scale to us; how they modify their lives according to the time of year. We discover insects’ hidden links with plants, both as pests and pollinators. UV-sensitive 3D cameras reveal the invisible alter-ego of plants and their flowers’ mesmerizing patterns; a parallel-dimension of strange colours and stunning patterns through which plants communicate with them. With the aid of visual effects, David steps among the swirling vortices of plant scent; communication signals with which plants are inextricably plugged in to the natural world. And using a tuning fork, he demonstrates how plants and insects can even communicate with music. As autumn envelopes the Gardens, fungi reveal themselves not as the enemies of plants but their vital allies. In Kew’s atmospheric Fungarium, David discovers a specimen that has the power of mind control and another that lives underground where it has grown to be so big it can be counted as the largest single organism on the planet. It is 6 times bigger than Kew Gardens itself.

A young common chimpanzee nicknamed Oscar is part of a close-knit tribe of chimpanzees. They occupy a forest territory which is rich in native fruits, nuts, and figs, among other things. The chimps hunt small tree monkeys, and they also eat termites collected with primitive tools made from sticks. They also use rocks as tools to crack nuts. Oscar is tended by his mother, nicknamed Isha, and from her he begins learning many things about how to survive in the jungle. In the chaos of an attempted raid by a rival gang of chimpanzees led by 'Scar', Isha is injured and separated from the group and her son. This twist of fate leaves Oscar to fend for himself with a little help from an unexpected ally.

A stunning documentary about the escalating global nuclear arms crisis, Countdown to Zero is a fascinating and frightening exploration of the dangers of nuclear weapons, exposing a variety of present day threats and featuring insights from a host of international statesmen and experts. Among the voices are President Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Pervez Musharraf, Tony Blair, former CIA Operations Officer Valerie Plame Wilson, the Ploughshares Fund’s Joe Cirincione and Stanford political scientist Scott Sagan. traces the history of the atomic bomb from its origins to the present state of global affairs: nine nations possessing nuclear weapons capabilities and others racing to join them, with the world held in a delicate balance that could be shattered by an act of terrorism, failed diplomacy, or a simple accident. It makes a compelling case for worldwide nuclear disarmament, an issue more topical than ever with President Obama and other world leaders working to revive this goal today. Written and directed by Lucy Walker, Countdown to Zero was screened for attendees of this year’s Global Zero International Conference in Paris and the TED Conference in Long Beach, California.

Follow actor William Shatner through interviews with the other actors who have portrayed starship Enterprise captains in five other incarnations of the Star Trek franchise. Shatner's subjects discuss their lives and careers before, during and after their tenure with Star Trek. With the use of conversations and archival footage, they explore the pressures, stigmas and sacrifices that accompanied their roles and their larger careers. During the process of the film and with help from the other Captains, Sir Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula and Chris Pine, Shatner overcomes his disdain and learns to embrace his best known character, Captain James T. Kirk.