Making Time

The rebels of horology

Five extraordinary horologists, designers and watch makers creating exquisite watches by hand, crafting them as they were crafted 500 years ago. The work of independent watchmakers is always profoundly connected to their life experiences. Delve into each subject’s life story; their childhoods, their mistakes and their joys. Follow Aldis Hodge as he designs his next outstanding creation, the watch he will wear in his next DC Comics feature, Black Adam.

The Other Half

The dark crossings of European borders

For 15 years Greek photojournalist, Giorgos Moutafis, bears witness to the journey of migrants across the dark crossings of European borders. Futility, death and exhaustion represents a large part of his work, as he finds new angles on this well-trodden terrain. His camera delves into inaccessible places, intimately documenting the stories of people who push against boundaries, revealing how 'the Other Half' lives.

Under Poisoned Skies

Investigating Iraq's deadly pollution problem

Gas flaring has long been known to be both a major polluter and a serious health hazard. In Iraq, where the practice is particularly out of control, it's ruining ordinary people's lives, leaving communities ravaged by abnormally high levels of cancer. With oil giants like BP using a loophole to avoid reporting emissions, and governmental promises to end the practice ringing hollow, what will it take to eradicate toxic pollution from Iraq's skies?

Occupied

Inside occupied Kherson

Dmytro Bahnenko, a journalist in Kherson, southern Ukraine, spent three months secretly recording his city's resistance to the Russian occupation. In an extraordinary film for BBC Eye, Dmytro chronicles the harsh reality of life under occupation, as food and medicines become scarce, people flee, and others begin to disappear. Dmytro and his wife Lidia struggle to shield their four-year-old daughter Ksusha from the war, and make the difficult decision to try to escape.

Salaryman

An unconventional film on Tokyo work culture's most compelling and complex protagonist

Tokyo work culture's most compelling and complex protagonist; the Salaryman. A nameless, voiceless, over-worked and under-valued cog in the labour pool, expected to compromise home and social lives. Late nights and intense drinking sessions leave many of them passed out in the city streets. This slick, incisive documentary raises questions around the ethics of our global working practices in a capitalist society.

Tukdam: Between Worlds

A journey through life and death

This feature documentary explores a phenomenon that blurs life and death to an unprecedented degree. In what Tibetan Buddhists call ‘tukdam’, advanced meditators die in a consciously controlled manner. Though dead according to our biomedical standards, they often stay sitting upright in meditation; remarkably, their bodies remain fresh and lifelike, without signs of decay for days, sometimes weeks after clinical death. Following ground-breaking scientific research into tukdam and taking us into intimate death stories of Tibetan meditators, the film juxtaposes scientific and Tibetan perspectives as it tries to unravel the mystery of ‘tukdam’.

Shangri-La, Paradise Under Construction

An imaginary or real-life paradise?

In this essayistic travelogue, Mirka Duijn explores the history of the image of Shangri-La - the famous, imaginary paradise from James Hilton’s novel, ‘Lost Horizon’. Two decades ago, a Tibetan region in China, Deqin, claimed it was the original Shangri-La of legend. This rich and complex story follows Mirka’s quest to find answers, only resulting in an entanglement of facts and fictions, truths and lies.

Off the Rails

Growing up isn't an easy journey...

Rikke Brewer and best friend Aiden Knox hone their spectacular UrbEx stunts and gravity-defying Parkour skills, hoping that millions of likes on social media will be their ticket out of boring Guildford. Their following soon takes off, but the trauma of a close friend's death triggers darker stories, of broken families and fragile mental health, threatening to send them both off the rails.

The Last Shaman

How far would you go to save your own life?

Disillusioned with his all-American life, a young man is confronted by thoughts of suicide. To save his own life, he embarks upon a hazardous journey into the depths of the Amazon rainforest, where stories of Shamans and Ayahuasca ceremonies promise psychic redemption. His experiences with tribal medicines are life-changing - but he is also forced to confront the parts of himself he has long struggled to understand.