Hotspot (1974)

The Unpredictable Factor

In today's climate debate, there is only one factor that cannot be calculated in climate models - humans. How can we nevertheless understand our role in the climate system and manage the crisis? Climate change is a complex global problem. Increasingly extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and more difficult living conditions - including for us humans - are already the order of the day. Global society has never faced such a complex challenge. For young people in particular, the frightening climate scenarios will be a reality in the future. For the global south, it is already today. To overcome this crisis, different perspectives are needed. "THE UNPREDICTABLE FACTOR" goes back to the origins of the German environmental movement, accompanies today's activists in the Rhineland in their fight against the coal industry and gives a voice to scientists from climate research, ethnology and psychology.

Grand Canyon - Un voyage au centre de la Terre

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Microcosmos

A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.

The Platypus Guardian

In a time of hardship, Hobart resident Peter Walsh turns to the secretive platypus for solace, only to discover it is the platypus that need his help to survive in a habitat under threat.

Man in the Field: The Life and Art of Jim Denevan

In this graceful study of the balance between solitude and community, artist and chef Jim Denevan roams across the US, transforming landscapes into breathtaking, sustainable dining experiences framed by ephemeral installation art.

Spectre

'I found a nice place. I wanted to share it.'

Groenkijkers

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A Year in a Field

With his camera and tripod, BAFTA-winning documentary filmmaker Christopher Morris began filming each day in a field near his home, telling the story of one Cornish field told over one climatic year.

Hunter's Refuge

Fast on his feet with a fat mustache, short stature, and investigative gaze. For a couple of days in the mountain, in his native land, we approach a man, strange and loud but nevertheless genuine and sensitive, a hunter. In his own way, Mr. Sotiris shines light on our bond with nature, history and man.

The Hummingbird Effect

Costa Rica's motto is Pura Vida - Pure Life - and this deceptively small country is bursting with some of the most spectacular wildlife and pristine ecosystems in the world. All this diversity thrives, in part, thanks to one surprising little creature: hummingbirds. Venture across Costa Rica's wild and rugged landscapes, from volcanic peaks to coastal jungle to misty cloud forests and discover the nation's dazzling diversity of hummingbirds. Watch how these tiny birds play an outsize role in maintaining some of the richest and wildest environments on Earth, where a whole community of creatures, such as macaws and monkeys, enjoys The Hummingbird Effect.

Attenborough's Life That Glows

Luminous beings, creatures with their own internal light, enchant and astonish us. Anyone who has seen a firefly or a glow-worm cannot help but fall under their spell. The sea at night sparkles as millions of luminous plankton reveal the shapes of dolphins in a truly magical light show. Join Sir David Attenborough and a team of the world's leading scientists and deep sea explorers on a quest to reveal the secrets of living lights.

Big Bend: The Wild Frontier of Texas

Roam the Wild West frontier land of the Rio Grande’s Big Bend alongside its iconic animals, including black bears, rattlesnakes and scorpions.

Life In The Snow

In a seasonal special, Gordon Buchanan meets the animals who live in nature's winter wonderlands. He reveals their survival secrets, from the polar bear mother who gives her cubs the best possible start in life to the owl that finds food hidden beneath a blanket of snow, plus the plucky penguins that huddle together to keep warm. Gordon also unwraps the lives of our favourite Christmas characters - those wonderful reindeer and our very own robin redbreast!

When Oceans Threaten Cities

Devastating hurricanes, torrential rains, the inexorably rising waters: coastal megacities are now up against the wall. The filmmakers have chosen three emblematic cities: New York, Singapore and Rotterdam. Cities that each face unique problems and must revisit their relationship with water in order to survive on the long run. In 50 years, all surge barriers in the world will be out of order. What solutions will then remain for coastal cities?

From Billions to None: The Passenger Pigeon's Flight to Extinction

The passenger pigeon, the most abundant bird species in North America for thousands of years, became extinct by human hands in a geologic heartbeat. Its story remains relevant to conservation challenges today, and there are even plans for its possible revival. Rare archival material, CGI animation, and aerial cinematography combine to recreate the awe-inspiring nature of these birds.

Home in the Woods

Using only nature and his immediate surroundings, filmmaker Brandon Wilson creates an experimental documentary that ignites the imagination of wandering in nature, and creates a loving portrait to the woods he calls home. Over the course of a year, Wilson set out to document— and accentuate—his surroundings through camera filters, angles, repetition, and audio. The end result is a hypnotic journey through the hidden wonders and beauties of the Northwest forests, in vivid colors and immaculate black-and-whites.

Lost Worlds: Life in the Balance

Lost Worlds looks at untouched aspects of nature in parts of the world where humans rarely tread. From plants, to animals, to geology, this artfully photographed documentary presents facets of the biological world that you are not likely to see anywhere else.

Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above

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.

Hľadám Dunaj

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Big Cat Odyssey

See firsthand the numerous changes that have led to dramatic decline of the lion population, and what needs to be done in order to ensure their survival. Live through some of the most extreme cat sequences ever captured on film. See a lion pride bring down a large buffalo, a blood feud erupt when scavenging hyenas move in on the kill and catch a glimpse of leopards who creep from the bushes to hunt and retreat into the trees before falling prey to larger killers. Beyond the blood and gore lies a stark reality: Big cats kill to live and live to kill.

An Inconvenient Truth

A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.

The Most Unknown

An epic documentary film that sends nine scientists to extraordinary parts of the world to uncover unexpected answers to some of humanity’s biggest questions. How did life begin? What is time? What is consciousness? How much do we really know? By introducing researchers from diverse backgrounds for the first time, then dropping them into new, immersive field work they previously hadn’t tackled, the film pushes the boundaries of how science storytelling is approached. What emerges is a deeply human trip to the foundations of discovery and a powerful reminder that the unanswered questions are the most crucial ones to pose. Directed by Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Ian Cheney and advised by world-renowned filmmaker Werner Herzog, The Most Unknown is an ambitious look at a side of science never before shown on screen.

River of Grass

An ode to the Florida Everglades, past and present, told through the prescient writings of Marjory Stoneman Douglas and those who today call the region home.

March of the Penguins

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!!

Wonders of the Monsoon

The wildlife and cultures of southern Asia have been shaped by one of the greatest phenomena on Earth: the mighty monsoon winds that sweep across this vast region, turning drought into deluge. All life – human and animal – is dominated by this rampaging weather system. From the northern shores of Australia to the highest peaks of the Himalayas and the wind-blown deserts of northern India to the lush equatorial forests of Borneo, this series makes an exhilarating journey through the lands of the monsoon. Along the way, it offers a taste of the variety and colour of the different regions’ most extraordinary wildlife and cultures and the way they cope with the tumultuous weather. This is the story of a relationship between humans and nature that has grown across thousands of years – all living in the shadow of the monsoon.

The Long Rainbow

"The acid soil of New England, its wide stretches of hardwoods, its numerous sugar maples, its rolling or mountainous character, the sunshine of its autumn weather, all these contribute to the glory of this annual display. The birches of Maine the aspens of the White Mountains, the sugar Maples of Vermont, the long rainbow of the Connecticut River Valley cutting from top to bottom through New England, the Berkshires - mention these to anyone who has traveled widely through a New England fall and you will evoke instant memories of superlative beauty." -Edwin Way Teale, Autumn across America, 1956

Starlight

A golden sunrise brings light to the foggy hills and meadows of late summer.

Birdsong and Coffee: A Wake-Up Call

Documentary exploring economic and environmental connections between farmers in Latin America, coffee drinkers in the U.S., and the fate of migratory songbirds throughout the Americas. Illustrates how coffee drinkers in this and other developed countries hold in their hands the fate of farm families, farming communities, and entire ecosystems in coffee-growing regions worldwide.

Early Spring Wetlands

Wildlife in an early spring wetland.

Summer Meadow

A close look at flowers and pollinators on a sunny summer morning.

New Clouds

Clouds forming and moving through the summer sky.

Two Trees

In the early 1900s commercial loggers cut down an old growth spruce tree growing on a small island surrounded by tide pools on the coast of Maine. Out of the trunk of this ancient tree grew two new trees, side by side.

A World of Dew

Morning dew in summer fields and meadows.

Mountain Wildflowers

Mountain wildflowers in a dense fog.

Simona

Ida, the grandniece of Simona Kossak, travels to the Bialowieza Forest at the Polish-Belarussian border. Sorting through the photos left by Lech Wilczek, Ida uncovers the life he had with Simona, captured in the photographs, footage and memories. A moving and powerful documentary about the life of Simona Kossak, a biologist, ecologist and activist known for her efforts to preserve the remnants of natural ecosystems in Poland and for living among the animals in the Białowieża Forest for over 30 years.

Snow Animals

Liz Bonnin introduces a cast of charismatic animals to reveal the remarkable strategies they use to survive, and even thrive, through the winter.

Death of a Legend

This documentary film is about wolves and the negative myths surrounding the animal. Exceptional footage portrays the wolf's life cycle and the social organization of the pack, as well as film of caribou, moose, deer and buffalo.

Kaktus Hotel

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