Why Plastic: Coca Cola/American Plastic

Manufactured Landscapes

September 2006 •English

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris.

A Mere Breath

April 2016 •English

Romania. Seven years in the life of a family of believers, struck by the illness of a little girl suffering from spina bifida pass before the camera, with a polluted town scarred by unemployment serving as a background.

The Tobacco Conspiracy: The Backroom Deals of a Deadly Industry

February 2011 •English

This French-Canadian co-production goes behind the scenes of the huge tobacco industry, whose economic power has been expanding for five decades at the expense of public health. A gripping investigation covering three continents, Nadia Collot's film exposes the vast conspiracy of a criminally negligent industry that conquers new markets through corruption and manipulation. To confront the tobacco cartel, anti-smoking groups are organizing and scoring points, but the fight remains fierce. With ist diverse viewpoints, shocking interviews and riveting images, The Tobacco Conspiracy deftly defines the issues in a complex situation where private interests and the public good collide. Enlightening and engrossing, this documentary is a hard-hitting critique of an industry gone mad.

Le Nouveau monde

October 2017 •French

Fur Trade

January 1946 •English

This short film from 1946 presents an outline of the fur trade's history and the commercial use of fur in Canada. A thirst for fur by the kings and courts of the Old World positioned the fur trade as part of the country's industrial economy. Fur farming and conservation became increasingly important, although the lonely life of the trapper remained the same. This film offers a view of both.

The Voice Beneath the Sea

April 1956 •English

A documentary about the laying of the first transatlantic telephone line.

La baia dei lupi

January 2010 •Italian

We the Guinea Pigs

July 2021 •English

As the use of plastic has gained ground in our lives over the years, there has been an inexplicable increase in a number of diseases and disorders amongst the population. In this film as part of the Why Plastic? series, we meet leading researchers looking into the reasons for these disorders. We also follow case studies of people suffering from various health conditions thought to be caused by exposure to certain every day materials including plastic. Are these people the victims of unfortunate coincidences - or is there an explanation?

Vergessene Wracks

May 2017 •German

Bottled Up: The Battle over Dublin Dr. Pepper

April 2013 •English

'Bottled Up: The Battle Over Dublin Dr Pepper' is a new documentary 120 years in the making. Our story details the small town of Dublin, Texas, which was the first place to ever bottle the soft drink Dr Pepper back in 1891. Garnering cult-like status in the 70s by continuing to produce Dr Pepper with pure cane sugar as the soda industry switched to High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), 'Bottled Up' details the events and history leading up to the demise of the relationship between Dublin Dr Pepper and its parent corporation - The Dr Pepper Snapple Group in 2012. With exclusive interviews and footage, Bottled Up provides an insiders look at how this relationship fizzled, and the public outcry that continues to this day.

Lingerie: The Industry Exposed

January 1999 •English

Lingerie--a word that conjures up silk, seduction and sensuality, the items that can create a curve or a mood. Underwear is the first thing to touch you in the morning and the last to touch you at night. Whether or not it's seen by anyone else, what you're wearing next to your skin matters. This sexy documentary shows you who makes these all-important articles, who sells them, and what influences people to buy them.

Passfire

August 2016 •English

A film about fireworks, the people who make them and the cultures behind them across the globe.

Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above

November 2013 •Chinese

Documenting Taiwan from an aerial perspective offering a glimpse of Taiwan's natural beauty as well as the effect of human activities and urbanization on our environment.

Poison City

March 2003 •English

Dzerzhinsk, a Russian city 240 miles east of Moscow, is considered the most chemically polluted town on Earth. Factories producing industrial chemicals (and in Soviet times, chemical weapons) employ a quarter of the 300,000 residents in a city where life expectancy has fallen to 42-47 years, the death rate is 2.6 times higher than the birth rate, and the men are close to impotence. Reporter Tim Samuels recorded a series of in-depth interviews with the inhabitants of Dzerzhinsk for the Correspondent strand, revealing what life is like for the beleaguered populace.

Conquest of Light

June 1975 •English

Examines the mesmerising construction of clear crystal glass pieces created by the craftsmen of Waterford. The process from the intense heat of the furnace to glass blowing, shaping, cutting, honing, filling and finishing is all depicted in this celebration of the art of creation of Waterford Glass. Academy Award Nominee: Best Live Action Short - 1976.

Seawards the Great Ships

March 1960 •English

Documentary about shipbuilding on the Clyde. In 1960, Glasgow and other towns and ports on the River Clyde, on the west coast of Scotland, were still one of the world's great centres of shipbuilding. The film gives an idea of the business of building a ship - the largest moving thing made by man - from the naval architects who design her to the workmen, the shipbuilders in the yard, through to a ship's launching.

Moving Ice

March 2024 •English

Ice has always moved. When glaciation took hold some 34 million years ago, interconnected rivers of ice combined to produce the Earth's vast ice sheets. As temperatures slowly warmed glaciers developed a unique balancing act; advancing and retreating to calibrate their annual winter accumulation against summer melt. Sometimes calving colossal icebergs into the sea. A positive feedback loop that has regulated the movement of ice for millions of years.

Burp! Pepsi v. Coke in the Ice-Cold War

May 1984 •English

Burp! Pepsi Vs Coke in the Ice Cold War traces the history of these brands against the backdrop of global politics. The second world war was the perfect vehicle for Coca-Cola distribution (including to the Nazis), with bottling plants on front lines paid for by the US war department.

Ruée vers les métaux stratégiques : Les entrailles de la Terre

April 2024 •French

Artificial

February 2023 •English

Innocent nature walk leads to a discovery of the morbid nature of humans.