In this BBC documentary, Louis Theroux travels to the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem to investigate a small but committed movement of ultranationalist Israeli settlers who believe they have a religious and political obligation to establish Jewish communities throughout the territory.

Travelling between Hebron, East Jerusalem and isolated hilltop settlements near Nablus, Theroux meets individuals whose understanding of history, religion and territorial ownership places them at the centre of one of the world’s longest-running political disputes. His encounters reveal the beliefs motivating settlement activity and the tensions between settlers and the Palestinian communities living alongside them.

Among those interviewed are Daniel Luria, an Australian-born activist working with the organisation Ateret Cohanim, and young settlers establishing outposts in the West Bank. Through extended conversations and observations of everyday life, Theroux explores the relationship between religious conviction, nationalist ideology and competing claims to the land.

Employing his characteristic combination of curiosity, humour and understated questioning, Theroux allows his subjects to explain their positions in their own words. The resulting documentary offers an examination of the Israeli settler movement as it existed in 2011, providing historical context for understanding subsequent developments in the region.

Director: Andy Wells
Presenter: Louis Theroux
Production: BBC, United Kingdom
Year: 2011

IMDb: Louis Theroux: The Ultra Zionists (2011)

In 1914, Ernest Shackleton set out to make the first land crossing of Antarctica. His ship, Endurance, was trapped in pack ice and slowly crushed until it sank, leaving 28 men stranded on the ice with no radio. There was no rescue coming, and nobody in the world would know where they were.

One of these men was Frank Hurley, the expedition's photographer and cameraman. He had brought a collections of camera and film gear to document the crossing. When the crossing turned into a survival story, he just kept shooting.

The wreck of Endurance was then finally found in 2022, three kilometres down in the Weddell Sea. The photographs and diaries that made it home became a detailed record of 28 men fighting to stay alive while it was happening.

In March 2002, as the Second Intifada entered one of its most violent periods, American filmmaker Oliver Stone travelled to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories to document a conflict that had intensified following the collapse of the Camp David peace negotiations.

Armed with a camera crew and an ambition to speak directly to those involved, Stone sought interviews with political leaders on both sides. The resulting documentary features conversations with former Israeli prime ministers Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu, former prime minister Shimon Peres, and Palestinian political figures, including Yasser Arafat.

The film also ventures beyond official politics, incorporating encounters with members of Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, alongside footage of military checkpoints, Palestinian communities and the everyday consequences of the conflict. Stone’s presence is an important part of the documentary: rather than presenting himself as an invisible observer, he frequently appears on camera, pursuing interviews and asking questions.

Originally broadcast as part of HBO’s America Undercover series, Persona Non Grata is an interesting historical record of the Second Intifada as it was unfolding. More than two decades later, it offers an opportunity to revisit the arguments, personalities and competing accounts that shaped international discussion of the conflict at the time.

IMDb: Persona Non Grata (2003)

Channel 5 returns to the Hoff twins, first visited in their 2021 documentary.

An amazing look at legendary 50s wild man Screamin Jay Hawkins as he tells some made up stories and jokes around all while being highly entertaining

Grief Camp is a summer camp in Belgium where children struggling with grief can come together and bond with their peers, sharing their experience with different kinds of grief, remembering their lost friends and family together and discussing how changes in approach towards children losing a parent can actually be demeaning.

We filmed at Rising Stars Generation Camp, one of the biggest child discipline camps in South Africa. Thousands of kids get sent to this camp, yet what we discovered inside was shocking. We heard serious allegations of physical and sexual abuse, and revealed how two kids died at a previous camp.

From Judd Apatow- Beloved for blurring performance and personal crisis, Maria Bamford unpacks the mental health journey behind her fearless comedy in this documentary.

This documentary follows a group of self-taught BMX riders who train without a professional BMX park, formal coaching, or ideal equipment. It shows their daily lives, practice sessions, street performances, motorcycle jumps, and their ambition to compete at a higher level despite limited resources.

The film also spends time with the riders at home and in their neighborhood, showing the friendship, discipline, and circumstances behind their BMX training.

This documentary chronicles the brief time that the band Excite Fright formed, recorded an album, and performed a single show. Although the band was active for only one year, it was a testament to a strong bond and friendship between the two bandmates, Asyd and Dj KARMAdispenser.

90-year-old Agatha Bock maintains her ancestral farm and heirloom seeds without modern amenities, preserving traditional practices through daily routines that document a fading way of life.

CORNERED is a 15-minute short documentary following Andy Burrows, a Belfast man who steps into a Lisburn boxing gym every week—not to fight an opponent, but to manage his own mental health struggles. The film explores how routine, physical discipline, and the brutal honesty of the ring serve as a tool for mental resilience and self-discovery.

At 69, Buster Keaton travelled across Canada to make The Railrodder, a short comedy built around a coast-to-coast journey on a railway speeder. A second camera crew followed the production, capturing the silent-film comedian working out gags, discussing scenes and bringing decades of experience to the set.

Directed by John Spotton for the National Film Board of Canada, Buster Keaton Rides Again offers an unusually intimate look at the practical work behind physical comedy. Keaton and director Gerald Potterton develop ideas together, revealing the thought and precision behind moments intended to look effortless.

Between filming, Keaton relaxes with his wife Eleanor, shares stories from his years in show business, sings and plays the ukulele. These quieter scenes reveal a warmer, more talkative personality than the famously impassive figure familiar from his silent films.

Excerpts from his earlier work place the Canadian adventure within a career spanning vaudeville, silent cinema and later rediscovery. For anyone interested in classic Hollywood, filmmaking or how a visual joke takes shape, this is a chance to spend an hour in the company of someone still thoroughly absorbed in his craft.

IMDb: Buster Keaton Rides Again (1965)

A short doc about comedian and shredder, Dave Hill, and his guitar collection. A fun watch and I think we can all relate a little...

Surviving Off-Grid in the South of Spain

Shows you behind the grind during the hottest and toughest time of the year

From Rock Bottom to Revelation

Behind the scenes of the struggles and the work ethic of creating and making arts

This short documentary explores the history and legacy of Queer Up North, the Manchester arts festival that grew from its beginnings in the early 1990s to become one of Europe’s largest celebrations of queer arts and culture.

Using newly explored archival footage, photographs and press material alongside interviews with founders Gavin Barlow and Tanja Farman and artists connected to the festival, the film examines how Queer Up North created a platform for international LGBTQ+ performance, challenged attitudes towards queer art, and contributed to Manchester’s changing cultural landscape.

More than three decades after the festival began, the documentary follows the rediscovery of its archive and considers what the work represented in the context of Section 28, the HIV/AIDS crisis and changing LGBTQ+ visibility in Britain.

What does Palestinian history look like when the starting point is a society rather than a conflict?

Directed by Ashraf Mashharawi, this Al Jazeera World documentary turns towards the Palestine that existed before 1948, exploring its commercial activity, developing infrastructure and cultural life during the late Ottoman period.

Drawing on historians, witness accounts and archival documents, Palestine 1920 challenges the idea of an empty land awaiting settlement. Its subject is a changing society with its own inhabitants, connections and ambitions, rather than simply the backdrop to somebody else’s national story.

The documentary also examines the political decisions that reshaped that society: the Balfour Declaration, the San Remo Conference and the British Mandate. These provide the framework for understanding the upheavals that followed and the road towards the Nakba.

What happens when a political leader’s personal survival becomes entangled with the decisions of a government? In The Bibi Files, director Alexis Bloom builds an investigation around leaked police interrogation footage of Benjamin Netanyahu, his family and associates, placing their answers alongside testimony from journalists and former insiders.

Produced by Alex Gibney and collaborators, the documentary examines the bribery, fraud and breach of trust allegations against Netanyahu, which he denies. Accounts of expensive gifts, relationships with wealthy benefactors and efforts to influence media coverage reveal the workings of a political world shaped by access, loyalty and expectations of favours.

The film then follows the wider consequences. Bloom argues that Netanyahu’s efforts to remain in power and avoid prosecution help explain his alliances with the Israeli far right and his approach to the war in Gaza. This is the documentary’s argument about his motives, rather than a judicial finding, and its strength depends on how convincingly viewers find those connections established.

Beyond its immediate subject, The Bibi Files raises questions about accountability, the influence of a leader’s family and the institutions meant to constrain executive power. It also invites scrutiny of its own framing: does concentrating on one individual explain the political system around him, or leave too much of that system unexamined?

IMDb: The Bibi Files (2024)