Speechless: The Polar Realm

March of the Penguins

January 2005 •French

Every year, thousands of Antarctica's emperor penguins make an astonishing journey to breed their young. They walk, marching day and night in single file 70 miles into the darkest, driest and coldest continent on Earth. This amazing, true-life tale is touched with humour and alive with thrills. Breathtaking photography captures the transcendent beauty and staggering drama of devoted parent penguins who, in the fierce polar winter, take turns guarding their egg and trekking to the ocean in search of food. Predators hunt them, storms lash them. But the safety of their adorable chicks makes it all worthwhile. So follow the leader... to adventure!!

Cave Crocs of Gabon

January 2018 •English

A caving expedition recently discovered a community of dwarf crocodiles living in the Abanda Caves, Gabon. The crocs are living in pitch darkness, hunt bats and some have bright-orange skin. Part of the original team returns to find out more about this bizarre phenomenon. It's mission impossible to access the crocs world and there's no way of knowing what they might find.

The Giants

April 2023 •English

A portrait of environmental folk hero & gay icon Bob Brown, who took green politics to the center of power. His story is interwoven with the life cycle of the ancient trees he's fighting for.

Climate Change: The Brain Paradox

March 2022 •French

Although a real awareness of the populations is underway - the multiplication of natural disasters and heat records helping - the human activities responsible for global warming remain unchanged, as if the threat was unreal. This collective immobility could have its origin in the brain. A number of cognitive biases impede judgment.

Wish Us Luck

March 2013 •Thai

A one-month-journey of twin sisters from London back to their home, Bangkok, by train. They traveled via the famous trans-Siberian route through many countries such as Germany, Russia, Mongolia and China, with many stories to tell.

The Musicians' Green Book: An Enduring Legacy

November 2022 •English

Stories and music of Black artists who relied on an underground travel guide to navigate the injustices of racial segregation while on the road. The Negro Travelers’ Green Book was a directory of lodgings, restaurants, and entertainment venues where African Americans were welcomed. Features performances and interviews with vocalists, musicians, activists, historians, and others.

Povo da Floresta

January 2024 •Portuguese

Our Soil is Our Heritage

October 2020 •German

Right on our doorstep there is something that feeds us all: living soil. But this precious resource is under threat – from us humans! Our planet needs more than 2000 years to form ten centimetres of fertile soil. What does this mean for the future?

Yellowstone an American Legacy

January 2008 •English

A fully narrated glimpse into Yellowstone's history as well as its current offerings.

Serengeti Stories

October 2005 •German

"Serengeti Stories: The Work of Hugo van Lawick" follows the famed wildlife filmmaker and includes clips of his masterpiece, "People of the Forest," about chimpanzees and their social relationships. Also: clips of "Wild Dogs of Africa" (1972), a heroic story of survival.

Around China with a Movie Camera

July 2016 •English

A new film compiled from the BFI National Archive's unparalleled holdings of early films of China, features films from 1900-48 filmed across China. The cinematic journey of Around China with a Movie Camera contains many films which may never have been seen in China, or at the very least not for over 70 years. These travelogues, newsreels and home movies were made by a diverse group of British and French filmmakers, some professionals, but mainly enthusiastic amateurs, including intrepid tourists, colonial-era expatriates and Christian missionaries.

Arctic Tale

June 2007 •English

Arctic Tale is a 2007 documentary film from the National Geographic Society about the life cycle of a walrus and her calf, and a polar bear and her cubs, in a similar vein to the 2005 hit production March of the Penguins, also from National Geographic.

The Great Global Warming Swindle

March 2007 •German

This film tries to blow the whistle on what it calls the biggest swindle in modern history: 'Man Made Global Warming'. Watch this film and make up your own mind.

L'Europe à la reconquête de la biodiversité

May 2019 •French

City Slickers: A tale of two African penguins

June 2002 •English

Fifteen years ago, a handful of African Penguins, normally found only on remote islands off the Southern African coast, stumbled across on of the Cape's most beautiful and popular tourist beaches. They swam, they saw, they conquered. And today, Boulders beach is home to more than 4,000 of these delightful, resourceful and entertaining seabirds who live side by side with their human neighbours -well, most of the time! These knee-high invaders not only share the beach, they dodge traffic, scale fences, and take over gardens, the golf course and even the occasional bedroom! For the two feathered stars, Henry and Margot, it's a tale of romance, the challenges of parenthood, separation and a penguin's worst nightmare, oil.

Don't

January 1975 •English

The lyric passage of a Monarch butterfly, beginning with its birth, through its delicate metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly and on its journey from country to city. From the first frame, the audience experiences the tension of this perilous flight as numerous adversaries, threaten the butterfly's freedom. A lively sound track, with music composed by Frederic Chopin, allows us to live for a few moments in this fleeting world.

The End of the Game

November 1976 •

An intimate view of the panorama of African wildlife, giving a sense of what it is really like to be there, and in a dramatic climax makes a poignant plea for conservation. Filmed in Zaire, Kenya and Tanzania, the film takes the viewer from deep inside an anthill, to the majestic giraffes suckling their young. African storms, dung beetle ritual dances, duels for supremacy, feeding time, and playtime all end as the animals disappear one by one while the sound of a rifle shatters the existing magic of life. Winner of the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject, 1976.

Penguins Under Siege

January 2004 •English

The untold story of South Africa's blackfoot Penguins.

The African Penguin

October 2009 •English

The African penguin is the only penguin that lives on the African continent. It was known as the jackass penguin because of its donkey-like call. This film covers the life cycle of this incredible bird, fom mating to laying of eggs to hunting and the moulting cycle. Sadly, it also shows the stark reality of a bird on the road to extinction.

Snow Bears

December 2017 •English

The enchanting true-to-life tale of polar bear cubs and their mother on a 400-mile journey from their birth den in Svalbard to the pack ice surrounding the North Pole.