Storyville (1997) season 17 - episode list, synopsis, cast and crew

Episode 1

14 January 2013 - The House I Live In

Storyville: As America remains embroiled in overseas conflict, a less visible war is taking place at home, costing countless lives, destroying families and inflicting untold damage on future generations of Americans. For over forty years, the War on Drugs has accounted for 45 million arrests, made America the world's largest jailer and damaged poor communities at home and abroad. Yet for all that, drugs are more available today than ever before. Filmed in more than twenty states, this film captures a definitive and heart-wrenching portrait of individuals at all levels of America's War on Drugs. From the dealer to the grieving mother, the narcotics officer to the senator, the inmate to the federal judge, the film offers a penetrating look inside America's longest war, revealing its profound human rights implications.

Episode 2

21 January 2013 - Harry Belafonte: Sing Your Song

Storyville: Wonderfully archived and told with a remarkable sense of intimacy, visual style and musical panache, this inspiring biographical documentary surveys the life and times of singer/actor/activist Harry Belafonte. From his rise to fame as a singer and his experiences touring a segregated country to his provocative crossover into Hollywood, Belafonte's groundbreaking career personifies the American civil rights movement and impacted many other social justice movements. The film reveals Belafonte as a tenacious hands-on activist who worked intimately with Dr Martin Luther King Jr, mobilised celebrities for social justice, participated in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and took action to counter gang violence, prisons and the incarceration of youth.

Episode 3

28 January 2013 - Queen of Versailles

Jackie and David Siegel, a former beauty queen and her billionaire husband, are triumphantly building their dream home in Florida. Once finished, it will be the largest house in America - a 90,000 square-foot super-mansion modelled on the Palace of Versailles, replete with 30 bathrooms, 10 kitchens, sushi bar, bowling alley, skating rink, baseball park and ballroom. But when the economic crisis hits, the rarefied world of a truly unique family is turned upside down. In the face of the worst economic crisis in decades, this rags-to-riches tale takes a tumble as Jackie, David, their eight children, maids, dogs, employees and business associates struggle to keep David's time-share business afloat and finish their dream home. With the epic dimensions of a Shakespearean tragedy, this is the story of a couple who dared to dream big but lose, in a film that exposes the virtues and flaws of the American Dream.

Episode 4

04 February 2013 - Death on the Staircase: The Last Chance

Storyville: Documentary which follows the dramatic hearing of a notorious murder case which split a family. In the middle of the night of December 9th, 2001, wealthy novelist Michael Peterson called the emergency services in Durham, North Carolina, to tell them that he had just found his wife Kathleen unconscious at the bottom of the stairs. But when the police discovered the pool of blood around her body and the lacerations on her skull, they arrested Michael Peterson for murder. Following a dramatic trial with shocking revelations about the accused, the subject of the original Death on the Staircase series, Peterson was convicted. Eight years later he is back seeking a re-trial following startling revelations about the prosecution's blood splatter expert's crucial evidence. Oscar-winning director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade picks up the case as Peterson makes a final bid to clear his name.

Episode 5

11 February 2013 - Expedition to the End of the World

Storyville: Documentary which follows the journey of a group of scientists and artists as they venture by ship into one of the last uncharted territories on Earth. Now global warming is melting the ice, an unexplored fjord system in north-east Greenland has opened for a few weeks each year. The explorers set sail on an Arctic journey where they encounter a polar bear, Stone Age playgrounds and an entirely new species. Awe, curiosity and humour bond the scientists and artists as they contemplate a landscape untouched by humanity. As the boat slips further away civilisation, the crew have a disturbing encounter which underlines the destructive impact of mankind. Epic, breath-taking and awe-inspiring, this documentary depicts both the wild beauty of the Earth and man's own transitory role in evolution.

Episode 6

18 February 2013 - Google and the World Brain

Storyville: Documentary which tells the story of the most ambitious project ever conceived on the internet and the people who tried to stop it. In 1937 HG Wells predicted the creation of the 'world brain', a giant global library that contained all human knowledge which would lead to a new form of higher intelligence. 70 years later the realisation of that dream was under way, as Google scanned millions of books for its Google Books website. However, over half those books were still in copyright and authors across the world launched a campaign to stop them, climaxing in a New York courtroom in 2011. This is a film about the dreams, dilemmas and dangers of the internet, set in spectacular locations in China, USA, Europe and Latin America.

Episode 7

19 February 2013 - The Pirate Bay

Storyville: Documentary telling the story of The Pirate Bay, the world's largest file sharing site which facilitates downloading of copyrighted material. The film follows the three Swedish founders of The Pirate Bay through their trial after they are taken to court by Hollywood and the entertainment industry, accused of breaking copyright law. Seeing themselves as technicians whose aim is to run the world's largest web platform, in scenes bordering on the absurdly comedic they claim that their actions are about freedom and not money. The closer the film gets to them, it becomes increasingly clear that they are rather unworldly nerds, whose social skills and ability to comprehend the analogue world, and each other, are somewhat limited.

Episode 8

20 February 2013 - How Hackers Changed the World: We Are Legion

Storyville: Documentary that goes inside the complex network and history of Anonymous, the radical online 'hacktivist' collective. Through interviews with current members - some recently returned from prison, others still awaiting trial - as well as writers, academics and major players in various 'raids', the film traces the collective's breathtaking evolution from merry pranksters to a full-blown global movement, one armed with new weapons of civil disobedience for an online world. In recent years, Anonymous has been associated with attacks or 'raids' on hundreds of targets. Angered by issues as diverse as copyright abuse and police brutality, they have also taken on targets such as the Church of Scientology.

Episode 9

25 February 2013 - I Will Be Murdered

Documentary which chronicles an extraordinary story of murder, love and political conspiracy triggered when a video of a murdered Guatemalan lawyer surfaced on Youtube in which he foretold his own death and named the culprits. In May 2009 Rodrigo Rosenberg went cycling near his home in Guatemala City and was murdered. In a country with one of the highest murder rates in the world, such killings were not uncommon. But what was extraordinary is that Rosenberg knew for certain that he was about to be killed. Rosenberg's lover had been murdered a few weeks before, driving him to investigate a case which he feared would lead to his death. In a video he recorded days before he died, he accused the Guatemalan president of his murder. It became a Youtube sensation, prompting crowds to take to the street demanding the president's resignation. But the subsequent investigation into Rosenberg's death would take multiple twists and turns, before reaching a stunning revelation.

Episode 10

18 March 2013 - Surviving the Tsunami: My Atomic Aunt

Marking the second anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, this documentary tells an insightful and surprisingly funny story of a family adjusting to life after the tsunami. Director Kyoko Miyake revisits her Aunt Kuniko, who was forced to abandon her businesses and home following the disaster. Now living aimlessly in temporary accommodation on the edge of the contaminated zone, Aunt Kuniko is determined to return home as soon as possible. Miyake is puzzled as to why she and the family are not angry. As the first year after the disaster unfolds, she unearths the uncomfortable past that prevents things being so clear cut. Through the attempts of the warm and indefatigable Aunt Kuniko to adapt at her ripe age, this deeply personal film explores notions of homeland, nuclear power and family love.

Episode 11

31 March 2013 - The Road, a Story of Life and Death

Storyville: Documentary in which critically-acclaimed filmmaker Marc Isaacs paints a rich portrait of multicultural life in the UK by looking at the lives of immigrants living along the A5, one of Britain's longest and oldest roads. Stretching from London to the Welsh coast, the road has always been an important lifeline for new émigrés. Today, it is a microcosm of the wider world, and the film meets people from across the globe whose lives now orbit around the road. From Irish immigrants like aspiring young singer Keelta, and Billy, an ageing Irish labourer struggling to find meaning to his life, to glamorous German-born air hostess Brigitte, Austrian Peggy, 95, who lost most of her family during the Holocaust, and Iqbal, a Kashmiri hotel concierge trying to secure a visa for his wife so she can join him in London, their poignant stories of loss and the search for belonging are woven together into a rich tapestry of human experience.

Episode 12

03 June 2013 - Buck: The Real Horse Whisperer

Storyville: Documentary following horse whisperer Buck Brannaman from a painful childhood to his inspiring work as a trainer. It may be the stuff of Hollywood legend, but the cowboy who inspired the novel and film is very real. Buck - master horseman, raconteur and philosopher - is a no-excuses cowboy who travels the world sharing a hard-won wisdom that is often more about human relationships than about horses. As Buck says, 'Often instead of helping people with horse problems, I'm helping horses with people problems.' He possesses near magical abilities as he dramatically transforms horses - and people - with his deep understanding, compassion and respect.

Episode 13

10 June 2013 - Silence in the House of God: Mea Maxima Culpa

Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney exposes abuse of power in the Catholic Church and a cover-up that winds its way from Wisconsin, through Ireland's churches, all the way to the highest office of the Vatican. The film investigates the secret crimes of a charismatic priest who abused over 200 deaf children in a school under his control and documents the first known public protest against clerical sex abuse in the US - a struggle of more than three decades by four deaf young men who set out to expose the priest who had abused them. Their efforts ultimately led to a lawsuit against the former pope, Benedict XVI himself.

Episode 14

17 June 2013 - The Law in These Parts

Documentary looking at justice in the land inhabited by Palestinians and captured by Israel in the 1967 war. The occupation began with the idea that Israel's presence would be temporary. Israelis dispensed justice through military courts, but these still exist. The film explores the challenges of administering this military justice system as seen through the eyes of those responsible for doing so. Do Palestinians receive the same level of justice that they would if they were Israeli citizens? Are these military courts adequate? Israeli authorities have always insisted that they are. Israeli filmmaker Ra'anan Alexandrowicz interrogates Israeli judges and officials in a haunting and factual film about the quality of justice under the occupation of the West Bank.

Episode 15

24 June 2013 - Power, Money, Greed & Oil

An epic venture into capitalism at the beginning of the 21st century. Made over five years, this documentary is a comprehensive insider account of a modern-day gold rush as Dallas-based Kosmos Energy race ahead to develop the first commercial oil field in Ghana's history, in the deep waters of the Gulf of Guinea. Director Rachel Boynton follows the larger-than-life cast as Kosmos, the Ghanaian government and numerous other stakeholders jostle to realise their huge ambitions. While in Ghana she makes side trips to nearby Nigeria, whose own oil reserves have been responsible for a vicious cycle of exploitation with little appreciable benefit to the country itself. The film poses vital questions about what fundamentally motivates mankind - is unchecked greed an intrinsic part of the human character? Can what unites us ever be greater than what divides us?

Episode 16

25 August 2013 - Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic

Portrait of legendary comedian Richard Pryor which chronicles his life from his troubled youth to his meteoric rise as one of the most respected - and controversial - comic actors of the 20th century. Often misunderstood during the height of his celebrity, the film lays bare the demons with which he struggled, reminding us just how daring and dangerous artistic freedom can be. Featuring appearances from comedy royalty including Mel Brooks and Robin Williams, it also offers unprecedented access to members of his family and inner circle and features rarely seen footage of the artist at work.

Episode 17

11 October 2013 - The Great Hip Hop Hoax

Foul-mouthed Californian hip hop duo Silibil n' Brains were going to be massive. But no-one knew the pair were really amiable Scotsmen, with fake American accents and made up identities. This documentary tells the audacious tale of how two lads from Dundee duped the record industry and nearly destroyed themselves. When their promising Scottish rap act was branded 'the rapping Proclaimers' by a scornful record industry, friends Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain reinvented themselves as Los Angeles homeboys. The lie was their golden ticket to a record deal and a dream celebrity life. With confessions from the rapping imposters, insight from the music industry they duped and animated elements, the film charts the rollercoaster story of this outrageous scam. A stranger-than-fiction true account of fractured friendship, the pressure of living with lies and the legacy of faking everything in the desperate pursuit of fame.

Episode 18

21 October 2013 - Pussy Riot - A Punk Prayer

Sundance award-winning documentary which tells the compelling story of how a group of young, feminist punk rockers known as Pussy Riot captured the world's attention by protesting against Putin's Russia. Through first-hand interviews with band members, their families and the defence team, and exclusive footage of the trial, it highlights the forces that transformed these women from playful political activists to modern-day icons. In early 2012, members of the collective donned their colourful trademark balaclavas and participated in a 40-second 'punk prayer protest' on the altar of Moscow's cathedral. Once arrested, Nadia, Masha and Katia were accused of religious hatred in a trial that triggered protests and arrests in Russia and caused uproar around the world. The film reveals the personal motives and courage of the women behind the balaclavas and exposes the state of Russian justice through the court's final verdict.

Episode 19

22 October 2013 - Smash & Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers

Thrilling heist documentary about the world's most notorious gang of diamond thieves, featuring exclusive and unprecedented interviews with the Pink Panther members for the first time on television. The Pink Panthers have stolen over £270m in diamonds in more than 241 robberies in cities from Paris to Tokyo. The film explores the rise of the group during the 1990s Balkan conflict when economic sanctions imposed on Serbia fuelled illegal activities. The criminals reveal an underworld driven by fast wealth and paranoia, while the detectives and inspectors, who are working with Interpol, are on a mission to stop their crime spree with growing success. Combining surveillance footage of the heists, archive of the Balkans' turbulent past, animation and strong testimonies, the film draws connections between international affairs, economics and the shady world of part of the diamond industry.

Episode 20

05 November 2013 - The Disappeared

The Disappeared is the dramatic story of those killed and then secretly buried by the IRA. Darragh MacIntyre reveals the continuing trauma of the relatives of those taken, killed and buried, and investigates the alleged involvement of Republican leader Gerry Adams in one of the killings. At least 15 people were 'disappeared' by the IRA during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Some of them are still missing. The most recent search was for the remains of 19-year-old Columba McVeigh who was disappeared in 1975. A specialist forensic team spent five months in 2013 digging in a bog in County Monaghan, but found nothing. The film highlights the powerful story of the life and harrowing death of widow and mother-of-ten Jean McConville. She was dragged from the arms of her young children by an IRA gang in 1972, then shot and buried. Her body was finally recovered in 2003.

Episode 21

11 November 2013 - Hotel Folly - Folie a Deux

Filmed over five years, this is an emotional rollercoaster of a documentary which explores the sometimes extreme highs and lows of one of life's biggest gambles - buying a home. Helen has seven children, a new partner and a very comfortable lifestyle when they decide to get a mortgage to buy one of the most historical houses in England. They want to convert the shabby 72-room mansion in the centre of York into a tasteful hotel, but when the financial crisis hits their dream turns into their worst nightmare. For five years, feisty Helen fights the banks for a loan for the spiralling renovation costs and her neighbours over rights to the courtyard. While her house gradually becomes unsellable, she persists with her neigbourhood wars. Part black comedy, part nail-biting journey, this shows the human cost of the mortgage crisis.

Episode 22

18 November 2013 - The Spy Who Went into the Cold: Kim Philby, Soviet Super Spy

Documentary exploring the murky circumstances behind the escape of one of Britain's most notorious spies. In 1963, at the height of the Cold War, a well-educated Englishman called Kim Philby boarded a Russian freighter in Beirut and defected to Moscow from under the nose of British Intelligence. For the best part of thirty years he had been spying for the Soviet Union, much of that time while holding senior jobs in MI6. Fifty years on, more questions than answers still surround his defection. Had he really confessed before he went? Was his escape from justice an embarrassing mistake or part of the plan? This film, shot in Beirut, London and Moscow, sets out to find the answers, revealing the blind spots in the British ruling class that made it so vulnerable to KGB penetration.

Episode 23

21 November 2013 - Blackfish - The Whale that Killed

Documentary which unravels the story of notorious performing whale Tilikum, who - unlike any orca in the wild - has taken the lives of several people while in captivity. So what exactly went wrong? Shocking, never-before-seen footage and interviews with trainers and experts manifest the orca's extraordinary nature, the species' cruel treatment in captivity over the last four decades and the growing disillusionment of workers who were misled and endangered by the highly profitable sea-park industry. This emotionally wrenching, tautly structured story challenges us to consider our relationship to nature and reveals how little we humans have learned from these highly intelligent and enormously sentient fellow mammals.

Episode 24

04 December 2013 - Fame in China

Documentary which chronicles the staging of the musical Fame by the senior class at China's top drama academy, China's first official collaboration with Broadway. It unfolds as a unique coming-of-age story with Chinese characteristics. Fame is their graduation showcase and much is at stake. During the eight-month process, the students compete for roles, strive to meet the expectations of the American director and prepare to graduate into a cutthroat and corrupt showbusiness. Part of China's 'single-child' generation, they were spoiled growing up but now feel the pressure of fulfilling the failed dreams of their parents. They must confront complex social realities so different from their parents' generation and in the process of staging Fame, negotiate their own path to success in today's rapidly shifting China.

Storyville Season 17

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