14-18: The Noise & the Fury

Hunt For the Lost Superfleet

June 2020 •English

The Battle of the Falklands, between a Royal Navy task force and five German cruisers, was one of the most dramatic and bloodiest sea conflicts of World War I. When the smoke cleared, four of the German ships had sunk, including the flagship and pride of the German fleet, the SMS Scharnhorst. For decades, none of the downed vessels were ever found. Now, more than 100 years later, maritime archaeologist Mensun Bound and his team are searching for the ships and the secrets they hold. It's a race against time and the raging South Atlantic Ocean.

Monash: The Forgotten Anzac

November 2008 •English

The story of how Australia's 'ANZAC myth' was born and the role of General John Monash in this process as soldier and statesman both during and after WW1.

Farewell, My Indian Soldier

June 2016 •French

A young woman researches the hidden story of Indian soldiers who came to fight in France and Belgium during the World War I. The presence of these 140,000 soldiers in Europe is a virtually unknown fact of history.

The Millionaires' Unit

May 2015 •English

A documentary about the First Yale Unit, a group of Yale students who trained for World War I.

Birth of the Tramp

December 2013 •French

A look back at Charlie Chaplin's early life and career, from his rough childhood and music hall success in England to his early Hollywood days and the development of his enormously popular character, the Little Tramp, also called Charlot.

War Horse The Real Story

March 2012 •English

The truth about the million British horses that served in World War I is even more epic than Steven Spielberg’s War Horse feature film. This documentary tells their extraordinary, moving story, begining with the mass call-up of horses from every farm and country estate in the land. Racing commentator Brough Scott tells the tale of his aristocratic grandfather General Jack Seely and his beloved horse Warrior, who would become the most famous horse of the war. The British Army hoped its illustrious cavalry regiments would win a swift victory, but it would be years before they enjoyed their moment of glory. Instead, in a new era of mechanised trench warfare, the heavy horses transporting guns, ammunition and food to the front-line troops were most important. A quarter of a million of these horses died from shrapnel wounds and disease. But the deep bond that developed between man and horse helped both survive the hell of the Somme and Passchendaele.

Gallipoli from Above

April 2012 •English

Gallipoli from Above: The Untold Story is the true story of how a team of Australian officers used aerial intelligence, emerging technology and innovative tactics to plan the landing at Anzac Cove. It is now nearly 100 years since the landing and hundreds of books, movies and documentaries have failed to grasp the significance of the ANZAC achievement. Instead, the mythology has clouded the real story of how these two influential Australian officers took control of the landing using every innovation they could muster to safely land their men on Z beach.

14-18, les tunnels de guerre

January 2017 •French

Quintinshill: Britain's Deadliest Rail Disaster

May 2015 •English

Neil Oliver describes the worst ever railway accident in the UK, which happened a hundred years ago on 22 May 1915, in which three trains collided at Quintinshill near Gretna Green. One of the trains was a troop train taking soldiers to fight in World War I at the Battle of Gallipoli: many of the dead were in this train which caught fire due to escaped gas from the archaic gas lighting in the carriages. The cause of the crash was attributed to a catastrophic signalman's error, but Neil examines whether there were other contributory factors and whether there was a cover-up to prevent investigation of them, making convenient scapegoats of the signalmen.

1917, The Train from Hell

November 2019 •French

1917, The Train from Hell is an historical documentary about a train accident during WW1.

Die Dichter und die Räterepublik

January 1990 •German

Documentary film with play scenes about the rise and fall of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic in 1919 from the perspective of various well-known poets and writers who experienced the events as contemporary witnesses.

Generale - Anatomie der Marneschlacht

April 1977 •German

The movie depicts the events from July until September of 1914 which led to the defeat of the German troops at the Marne. While Sebastian Haffner explains and comments on operations and decisions on the basis of situation maps, key scenes are depicted by actors. A main focus is thereby placed by Haffner onto the controversial mission of lieutenant-colonel Richard Hentsch who is said to have, during a war patrol to the various army high commands, contributed to the abortion of the operations significantly.

Forts of Verdun: A Military Chess Game

August 2024 •English

With 38 forts at stake, Verdun was highly strategic during WWI. Through rare archives, 3D animations and interviews with historians and scientists, we plunge inside the walls of these coveted fortifications.

Noble Sissle's Syncopated Ragtime

October 2018 •English

Combining footage unseen since WWI with original scores from the era, this film tells the story of Noble Sissle's incredible journey that spans "The Harlem Hellfighters" of World War I, Broadway Theatre, the Civil Rights movement, and decades of Black cultural development.

Verdun - They will not pass!

February 2016 •French

A century ago, from February to December 1916, the French and Germans provided a superhuman effort to control a few hills in eastern France, located in front of Verdun . A frontal confrontation, conducted without the help of their allies, army against army, nation against nation. Today, this battle seems absurd to us. Because it has caused almost as many casualties in each camp and its strategic utility has never really been demonstrated. But in 1916, soldiers on both sides did not consider it absurd: they agreed to fight. Why ? By reliving the rare Herculean confrontation of our ancestors, using reconstructions made in the 1920s, using a large number of animated computer-generated images that recreate the topography of the battlefield, this documentary returns, with the help of the historical adviser Paul Jankowski , on the last great victory won alone by France against Germany.

WW1 - War on Two Wheels

May 2021 •English

A fascinating insight into the role of the bicycle in the First World War - from reconnaissance to transporting ammunition, historian and cycling enthusiast Jeremy Banning explores stories from the battlefield. Ollie Bridgewood discovers the role cycle scouts played in the Army Cycling Corp and rides the original bikes used in the conflict. Mark Beaumont meets the grandson of a WW1 soldier who rode for the Highland Cyclist Battalion and survived brutal combat on the front line.

Newspaper Train

November 1942 •English

The story of how newspapers were distributed during the Blitz, stressing the importance of an accurate and objective press on the home front.

Three Days in August 1914

January 2013 •French

Documentary on the atrocities the germans committed at the start of WW I in Dinant.

Za trvalý mír

January 1948 •Czech

The Pity of War

February 2014 •English

Professor Niall Ferguson argues that Britain's decision to enter the First World War was a catastrophic error that unleashed an era of totalitarianism and genocide.