Mysterious Orient (1989)

Inner Revolution

Life is a great mystery, much larger than what would have us believe. By listening desires of their discoveries and their inner doubts, three young decided to start a trip on the surface of the Earth.

Tea War: The Adventures of Robert Fortune

In the 19th century, China held the monopoly on tea, which was dear and fashionable in the West, and the British Empire exchanged poppies, produced in its Indian colonies and transformed into opium, for Chinese tea. Inundated by the drugs, China was forced to open up its market, and the British consolidated their commercial dominance. In 1839, the Middle Empire introduced prohibition. The Opium War was declared… Great Britain emerged as the winner, but the warning was heeded: it could no longer depend on Chinese tea. The only alternative possible was to produce its own tea. The East India Company therefore entrusted one man with finding the secrets of the precious beverage. His mission was to develop the first plantations in Britain’s Indian colonies. This latter-day James Bond was called Robert Fortune – a botanist. After overcoming innumerable ordeals in the heart of imperial China, he brought back the plants and techniques that gave rise to Darjeeling tea.

American Animals

Lexington, Kentucky, 2004. Four young men attempt to execute one of the most audacious art heists in the history of the United States.

Roof Culture Asia

Team Storror showcase Parkour on a stage never before seen - the rooftops of Asian megacities. The film follows team Storror on their exploration into what drives them to push the sport to such extremes, and the battles that face them when trying to shoot a feature film totally guerilla. RCA delves into the mental and physical preparation Parkour athletes have to undertake to make impossible 'leaps of faith', possible.

The Greatest Places

A journey to seven of the most geographically dynamic locations on earth. The film features spectacular land forms, diverse wildlife and the people and cultures indigenous to these places. Distinct geographic places include the great island of Madagascar, home to unique limestone pinnacles and the playful lemur; and the greatest desert—the Namib—home of the largest sand dunes in the world that tower majestically over its western border, the Atlantic Ocean. Other locations featured are the great icecap of Greenland, Iguazu Falls in Brazil, the Okavango Delta in Botswana, the Chang Tang Plateau in Tibet, and the Amazon River in South America.

The Ants and the Grasshopper

Anita Chitaya has a gift: she can help bring abundant food from dead soil, she can make men fight for gender equality, and maybe she can end child hunger in her village. Now, to save her home in Malawi from extreme weather, she faces her greatest challenge: persuading Americans that climate change is real. Traveling from Malawi to California to the White House, she meets climate sceptics and despairing farmers. Her journey takes her across all the divisions that shape the USA: from the rural-urban divide, to schisms of race, class and gender, and to the American exceptionalism that remains a part of the culture. It will take all her skill and experience to help Americans recognise, and free themselves from, a logic that is already destroying the Earth.

Living in the Age of Airplanes

LIVING IN THE AGE OF AIRPLANES offers a fresh perspective on a modern-day miracle that many of us take for granted: flying. Narrated by Harrison Ford and featuring an original score from Academy Award® winning composer James Horner, the film takes viewers to 18 countries across all seven continents to illuminate how airplanes have empowered a century of global connectedness our ancestors could never have imagined.

Antarctica, in the footsteps of the Emperor

Gombessa Expedition 3 Protected by an international treaty Antarctica has been spared the effects of hunting and fishing. But signs in ice’s cyclical patterns and its biodiversity have become worrying. Connected to the planet’s global ecosystem via atmospheric circulation and ocean currents, this white haven is suffering the effects of human activities. To document and explain what is unfolding in Antarctica, photographer, diver, and marine biologist Laurent Ballesta and photographer of extreme environments Vincent Munier will be blending their artistic perspectives of a rapidly changing continent. Laurent will tackle technical and human prowess below the ice to bear witness to its remarkable underwater life. His photographs will advance knowledge on Antarctica’s unique and little-known biodiversity. On land, his eye riveted to the lens of his camera, Vincent captures snapshots of life in an Emperor Penguin colony.

Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain

An intimate, behind-the-scenes look at how an anonymous chef became a world-renowned cultural icon. This unflinching look at Anthony Bourdain reverberates with his presence, in his own voice and in the way he indelibly impacted the world around him.

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.

Kolkata with Sue Perkins

Sue Perkins immerses herself in the complex life of Kolkata and sees how it is reinventing itself as a megacity with a reputation for eccentricity, culture and tolerance.

Counting

An associative collection of visual impressions across fifteen chapters: a seagull in Porto, political posters in New York, an abstract painting in St. Petersburg, an abandoned video shop in Cairo and cats everywhere you look.

Lesvia

Since the 1970s, lesbians from around the world have been drawn to the island of Lesvos, the birthplace of the ancient Greek poet Sappho. When they find paradise in a local village and carve out their own queer lesbian community, tensions simmer with the local residents. With both groups claiming ownership of lesbian identity, filmmaker Tzeli Hadjidimitriou—a native and lesbian herself—is caught in the middle and chronicles 40+ years of love, community, conflict, and what it means to feel accepted.

The Musicians' Green Book: An Enduring Legacy

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.

The River Runner

Legendary kayaker Scott Lindgren attempts to complete an extreme, unprecedented whitewater expedition 20-years-in-the-making. When a brain tumor derails his goals, he sinks into the darkness of his own trauma only to discover that healing, like any expedition, is not a destination but a journey.

Ishq e Qalandar - The Beautiful Sindh

Ishq e Qalandar - The Beautiful Sindh is a travel film that takes viewers through one of the most ancient civilizations on Earth called Sindh. Shezan Saleem Jo-G takes a journey of self-realization, the discovery of his roots, and building a connection with people and spirituality in Sindh.

The King’s High Street: Inside St James’

St James's in London is renowned for being Britain's poshest high street. We meet the characters who run the stores, and the customers who buy their premium products.

Unbranded

Documentary about four friends on a 3,000 mile journey across the American West on horseback.

RUTZ: Global Generation Travel

A two and half month journey from Buenos Aires (Argentina) to Medellin (Colombia), through some of the most amazing places in South America, immersed in the Backpacker's culture.

Bloß keine Tochter!

Almost 200 million women are "missing" in Asia - the result of targeted abortion of girls and dubious population policies. An investigative documentary about women who are not allowed to have daughters, about desperate attempts by men to find a wife somewhere, and about the abuse of women as pawns of politics and business.

Algeria from Above

Algeria from above is the first documentary made entirely from the sky on Algeria. Through the eye of the famous Yann Arthus-Bertrand this documentary vividly depicts this great country, and its vibrant cultural and natural treasures. From North to South and from West to East, it shows us the entirety of Algeria, lives in the large hectic coastal cities, Atlas mountains, oases of the Sahara or gentle hills of the Sahel. With a rich past that seems to have crossed all civilizations, and a territory where all natural environments amalgamate, Algeria appears here in all its diversity and its unity.

The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield

Jayne takes us on a review of her last world tour. She takes us through Rome, shares a fantasy about Roman athletes, and then is off to Cannes. She takes a trip to the nudist colony on the Isle of Levant, where she almost kind of joins in. Then it's off to Paris, where she gets a beauty treatment from Fernand Aubrey, and attends some racy dance revues. In New York and Los Angeles, she visits some topless clubs and listens to a topless all-girl pop band. The film wraps up with some posthumous footage of her family in mourning.

Hitchhiking to the Edge of Sanity

A look at the turbulent social upheaval of the early 1970s which follows an idealistic writer and his soon-to-be-married photographer friend as they set out to find their purpose via a terrifying road trip across the Sahara Desert.

Tourists

A reflection on tourism assembled out of amateur videos filmed by tourists during their trips.

Looking for Modern Art: Rethinking Art History

Many twentieth century European artists, such as Paul Gauguin or Pablo Picasso, were influenced by art brought to Europe from African and Asian colonies. How to frame these Modernist works today when the idea of the primitive in art is problematic?

One Piece - En route vers l'épisode 1000

Plot unavailable

Travel

Plot unavailable

The World's Most Famous Train

During its nine-month-long season, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express makes over 60 journeys, covering 150,000 kilometres, with the majority of trips between London and Venice. The train is comprised of 17 unique 1920s carriages that have transported a host of elite individuals across Italy, Switzerland, and Turkey for more than a century. This documentary follows the stories of the staff and passengers as the train makes its way across Europe, with some customers having paid more than £2,000 for the privilege.

Ecuador: The Royal Tour

The Royal Tour is a groundbreaking series of television specials, produced and hosted by Emmy Award-winning journalist and CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg. Guided by some of the most dynamic and powerful heads of state, Peter journeys deep inside each country to offer viewers an all access pass to extraordinary locations, historic landmarks, and cultural experiences. In this latest edition, Peter received a royal tour from the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa. For an entire week, Mr. Correa became the ultimate guide, showcasing the visual gems that his country has to offer. They took four camera crews along as they swam with piranha in the Amazon rainforest, went whale watching off the coast of Manta, shopped like a local in a rural town in the Andes Mountains, returned to the President's hometown of Guayaquil and the school he attended, visited a cacao plantation (aka chocolate) farm in Cacao, and went diving with sharks in the Galápagos Islands.

Break Free - Two People. Two Years. One Dream

When Lena and Ulli start the engine of their old Land Rover, Lady Terés, they have a plan: to drive from Hamburg to South Africa in six months. What they don't know yet is that they won't ever get there. Two totally different characters, jammed together in two square meters of space for almost two years, they experience what it really means to travel: leaving your comfort zone for good.

Speechless: The Polar Realm

Beautifully filmed by New Zealand nature photographer Richard Sidey over the past decade around the polar regions, Speechless: The Polar Realm is a visual meditation of light, life, loss and wonder at the ends of the globe. This is the second film in Sidey’s non-verbal trilogy which is comprised of: - Landscapes at the World’s Ends (2010) - Speechless: The Polar Realm (2015) - Elementa (2020)

Young Man on the Bar Masturbating with Rage and Nerve

Dance and prostitution play the same role for Cristhian’s body. Virtuosity, desire, technique, and sex intertwine, granting coherence to a way of life that offers many answers to few questions. A leitmotiv that reconciles opposites and contradictions. Answers that are sometimes painful, like all truths.

Whales in a Changing Ocean

Wildlife photographer Richard Sidey joins an international team of whale research scientists in Antarctica to document their work on how Humpback Whales are adapting to a changing ocean.

Into the Grand Canyon

Two journalists traverse the Grand Canyon by foot, hoping this 750-mile walk will help them better understand one of America's most revered landscapes and the threats poised to alter it forever.

Oman from above

Oman is a visually stunning mix of contrasting landscapes. From deserts to dramatic rocky mountains, quiet bays overseen by ancient forts to stunning resorts dotted along the country's 3000 kilometers of coastline, Oman is home to a unique combination of fascinating history and beautiful natural wonders. The country is the oldest independent state in the Arab world. Independence that has come after many invasions through the centuries. Head out on an aerial tour of this amazing country which visits over 50 sites and will reveal locations and sites that visitors rarely see, including Grand Mosque in Muscat, the beautiful northern region of Musandam, and the deep red dunes of the Sharqiya Sands.

Safari

Africa. In the wild expanses, where bush-bucks, impalas, zebras, gnus and other creatures graze by the thousands, they are on holiday. German and Austrian hunting tourists drive through the bush, lie in wait, stalk their prey. They shoot, sob with excitement and pose before the animals they have bagged. A vacation movie about killing, a movie about human nature.

RM: Right People, Wrong Place

Chronicles artist RM's eight-month production of his second solo album, “Right Place, Wrong Person,” while candidly recording the endless concerns of the person Kim Namjoon, and the things he immerses himself in and loves.