| 1 |
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023) #1504
FILM
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37m Chronicles a variety of stories, but the main one follows Henry Sugar, who is able to see through objects and predict the future with the help of a book he stole. |
| 2 |
What Do Artists Do All Day? Mahtab Hussain (2018) #1128
DOCUMENTARY
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30 mins. BBC 4. 15th August 2018. As part of the Big British Asian Summer season, What Do Artists Do All Day? celebrates prominent Asian artists and performers. Mahtab Hussain is a photographer whose work chronicles the complex experiences of the British Muslim community. His portraits of young, working-class Muslim men were the basis of an acclaimed exhibition and book You Get Me?, exploring questions of masculinity and self-esteem in a series of striking images. Recently, his work has also focused on the changing identity of British Muslim women. This film follows Mahtab at work on his latest photographic project and hears from some of his subjects. |
| 3 |
National Theatre Live: Barber Shop Chronicles (2018) #1266
FILM
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2 hours. Directed by Olivier award-winning director Bijan Sheibani, Barber Shop Chronicles is a heart-warming, hilarious and insightful new play that leaps from a barber shop in Peckham to Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos and Accra over the course of a single day. |
| 4 |
To Walk Invisible (2016) #957
FILM
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Directed by Sally Wainwright. With James Norton, Charlie Murphy, Jonathan Pryce, Chloe Pirrie. A chronicle of the Brontë sisters' battle to overcome obstacles and publish their novels, which would become some of the greatest in the English language. |
| 5 |
Hockney (2015) #934
DOCUMENTARY
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105mins. BBC. Hockney is the definitive exploration of one of the most significant artists of his generation. For the first time, David Hockney has given access to his personal archive of photographs and film, resulting in an unparalleled visual diary of a long life. 'I'm interested in ways of looking and trying to think of it in simple ways. If you can communicate that, of course people will respond - after all, everybody does look.' His is a long-term one-man campaign against the pessimism of the world, mastering new media - whether acrylic paint or iPad digits - in the search for a picture adequate to his sense of what it is to be alive. The film chronicles Hockney's vast career, from his early life in working-class Bradford, where his love for pictures was developed through his admiration for cinema, to his relocation to Hollywood, where his life-long struggle to escape labels ('queer', 'working class', figurative artist') was fully realised. David Hockney offers theories about art, the universe and everything. But as Hockney reveals, it's the hidden self-interrogation that gives his famously optimistic pictures their unexpected edge and attack. As one of his oldest friends says of his early work, 'the pictures are not just about men fucking'. The subject matter is a way into the picture to see something else, to open our eyes and our minds. Acclaimed film-maker Randall Wright offers a unique view of this unconventional artist who is now reaching new peaks of popularity worldwide, remains as charismatic as ever and at seventy seven is still working in the studio seven days a week. |
| 6 |
Selma (2014) #471
FILM
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Directed by Ava DuVernay. With David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Tim Roth, Lorraine Toussaint. A chronicle of Martin Luther King's campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965. |
| 7 |
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013) #244
FILM
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Directed by Justin Chadwick. With Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Terry Pheto, Robert Hobbs. A chronicle of Nelson Mandela's life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa. |
| 8 |
Chronicle (2012) #93
FILM
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Directed by Josh Trank. With Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan, Michael Kelly. Whilst attending a party, three high school friends gain superpowers after making an incredible discovery underground. Soon, though, they find their lives spinning out of control and their bond tested as they embrace their darker sides. |
| 9 |
Zero Dark Thirty (2012) #384
FILM
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Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. With Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, Mark Strong. A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in May 2011. |
| 10 |
The Duchess (2008) #182
FILM
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Directed by Saul Dibb. With Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper, Charlotte Rampling. A chronicle of the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who was reviled for her extravagant political and personal life. |
| 11 |
W. (2008) #186
FILM
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Directed by Oliver Stone. With Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, Ioan Gruffudd, Colin Hanks. A chronicle of the life and presidency of George W. Bush. |
| 12 |
Walk the Line (2005) #154
FILM
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Directed by James Mangold. With Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick. A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. |
| 13 |
Arena: Pavarotti - the Last Tenor (2004) #712
DOCUMENTARY
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For 40 years, Luciano Pavarotti has been hailed as one of the greatest tenors of all time, an artist fit to rank alongside the great Caruso. As his career reaches its climax, this documentary, showing as part of the BBC's Summer of Opera, chronicles his background and upbringing, and follows him as he performs to sell-out audiences on three continents, culminating with his valedictory performances of Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Backstage in LA, the tenor greets celebrity admirers, including Michael Caine and Dustin Hoffman , in Berlin he's reunited with Three Tenors group members Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo , while in his Italian hometown of Modena the maestro gathers top names in rock and pop, such as Bono, Queen, Ricky Martin and Andrea Bocelli , to raise money for the children of Iraq. Narrated by Sir Ian McKellen. |
| 14 |
Fame (1980) #170
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Directed by Alan Parker. With Eddie Barth, Irene Cara, Lee Curreri, Laura Dean. A chronicle of the lives of several teenagers who attend a New York high school for students gifted in the performing arts. |