True Stories

Chronicles the collapse of the white supremacist AWB party in aparthied South Africa through a portrait of its leader, Eugene Terre'Blanche, his driver JP and JP's wife Anita.

In this futuristic feature-length drama, an extremist group releases anthrax into a community of Kurdish asylum seekers in Glasgow, with devastating effects

One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari Folman about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there's a connection to their Israeli army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early 80s. Ari is surprised that he can no longer remember a thing about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal images... Folman's animated film won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar.

WE ARE TOGETHER tells the moving and inspiring story of 12 year old Slindile and her remarkable friends at the Agape orphanage in South Africa. Filmed over three years, with unforgettable kids, soaring music and a plot full of surprises, WE ARE TOGETHER arrives as a stirring and uplifting theatrical documentary.

To tie in with the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, More4's True Stories is exploring independent minds. More4's True Stories: An Independent Mind traces the lives and tales of eight very different people. Among them are the Moustache Brothers - a comedy troupe from Burma who're under house arrest because they're banned by the Burmese military regime. As such, the three-strong act performs illegally for tourists from their home in Mandalay. There's reggae singer Tiken Jah Fakoly, who in December 2007 was declared persona non grata in Senegal after criticizing the president. What ties the above two, and other stories, together, is that in each case there's a desire to exercise a freedom of expression and the right to have an opinion. It's an insightful look into eight very different world's, but world's that still make an impact because their stories are all-powerful.

Thirty years on, three men dare to break the silence about sexual abuse in English private schools. Directed by Emmy and BAFTA-award winner, Brian Woods, Chosen tackles a subject often whispered but rarely spoken about - the sexual abuse of boys by teachers in Britain's private schools. For thirty years the boys, and the men they became, stayed silent, nursing the secret of the abuse they suffered. But in this film, Tom, Mark and Alastair break that silence with spellbinding articulacy and breathtaking honesty - telling their stories straight to camera. Chosen reveals how these boys were groomed, how the private school system was poorly regulated and how abuse goes undetected.

The Hunger Season tells the story of a young teacher called Justine and the children in his care as they struggle to survive in a year of drought and diminishing food handouts. Shot over a two-year period on location in the US, Europe and Southern Africa, the film explores the wider forces at work in an unfolding humanitarian crisis, bringing vividly alive the impact of actions taken by the Swazi government, United Nations agencies and Western donors on the fate of one small community. With a close eye cast on the system of food aid, crucial questions are asked about whether the international aid response is committing sufficient resources to end the cycle of hunger in the developing world.

WAITING FOR HOCKNEY is a comic and poignant tale of a man and the people who believe in him as they collude and collide for an entire decade in the service of a grand idea. The film explores the sometimes precarious line between dreams and delusion as it looks at the risks, payoffs and consequences when one man single-mindedly pursues his vision. Billy Pappas is a true American original. An art school graduate from a working class background living in rural Maryland, Billy has decided that his mission in life is to reinvent realism. He spends eight years on a single drawing, working to show a microscopic level of detail he hopes will reveal something deeper than photography. Literally, he hopes to create a new art form. Aided, one might even say enabled, by an eccentric cast of characters including a clergyman, a professor and an architect calling himself Dr. Lifestyle, Billy finally completes the portrait and then begins a quest to show it to renowned contemporary artist David Hockney, the one person he thinks can validate everything for which Billy has been striving.

Think of China and contemporary art may not be the first thing that springs to mind. It's now fast becoming a big player on the global art scene and True Stories documentary looks at this burgeoning industry. Only five years ago China's cultural ministers predicted that the highest living artist would be Chinese and their statement seems to be right on track. It appears that freedom of expression is not being restricted by the communist state, instead it is slowly being embraced by the government. Chinese works are being sold for millions and holding their own against international artists. Communist leader Mao Zedong declared that the only function of art was to serve society, but since his death in 1976, the art market has boomed. Key artists including Zhang Xiogang, Yue Minjun, Yang Fundong have come to the fore and two distinct movements - Political Pop and Cynical Realism - have emerged. China contributes to one third of the global economic growth and with its new found wealth there is more disposable cash around, and people are being granted more leisure time by the government to spend their money. Hence the boom in galleries and art work. The government plan is to open 1000 galleries over the next 10 years. But has contemporary art become a political tool in representing China? An interesting look at how art shapes society.

As Barack Obama takes office, More4 looks back to John F Kennedy and how acclaimed film-maker Robert Drew gained unprecedented access to his presidency. This intimate film takes a close look at Kennedy - from young campaigning Senator to a burdened President. "Now, more than ever it's important for us to look back at JFK and his legacy and learn what we can as we continue to create American history today," said Robert of his documentary. "I created A President To Remember from the realisation that young people today have never known what it's like to have a President who is celebrated both within the country and around the globe." Kennedy's decision to permit cameras to candidly record the action taking place within the White House and the inner sanctum of the Oval Office for the first time raised a storm of protest, but resulted in a journalistic breakthrough of historic proportions. The film travels in the company of Kennedy from his days as a young Senator campaigning for the Presidency; to his early days in the White House; through to his struggles grappling with major issues, from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the desegregation of the University of Alabama, vehemently opposed by Governor George Wallace, who physically barred the entry of the first two African-American students. At the close of the film, the shock and deeply-felt sorrow of Kennedy's assassination is captured in the faces of his compatriots. The result is an absorbing biopic of the much-loved leader, but in the true tradition of cinéma vérité, A President To Remember draws no conclusions from the events it bears witness to.

Co-directed by Nick and Marc Francis, this documentary is an eye-opening expose of the multi-billion dollar coffee industry and one man's fight for a fair price. Told through the eyes of Tadesse Meskela, manager of a co-operative union that represents 74,000 Ethiopian coffee farmers, the film highlights the complexities of an industry worth over $80 billion - the world's second most valuable trading commodity after oil.

Venezuela has the biggest oil reserves in the world. But where do the profits go? Filmed in the style of a Latin American telenovela, True Stories: Red Oil asks if a multinational oil corporation can deliver President Chavez' socialist dream. Told through the eyes of Marienalla, a soap opera writer turned oil company executive, this revealing documentary explores the greed, power and passion behind Venezuela's State Oil corporation.

Fiona Cunningham-Reid's documentary looks at the trial of Tom Cholmondeley, who is facing the death penalty after allegedly killing a poacher on his Rift Valley estate

Jennifer Baichwal's electrifying film aims to discover both the spiritual and physical after effects on those hit by lightning. It's all well and good commenting that lightning doesn't strike the same spot twice, but tell that little upbeat factoid to someone who happened to be standing there the first time around. Roughly 45 people are struck every year, and this documentary delves into the deep metaphysical end to explore the life-changing ramifications of such an event. One such victim was James O'Reilly, a playwright who goes on to vividly describe the moment he was struck 30 years previously, and Paul Auster, a writer who managed to survive a strike that also killed his friend. Part weather documentary, part human interest story, part biology lesson and part X-File, Baichwal's film is a thorough, charged and stimulating investigation into the raw, untamed and life-changing power of nature unleashed. Electrifying stuff.

Amanda Knox is currently serving 26 years in an Italian jail for the murder of her flatmate, Meredith Kercher. This True Stories documentary asks: who is the real Amanda Knox - and was she really capable of murder?

The True Stories strand, which showcases the best international feature documentaries, continues with Yoav Shamir's controversial, personal exploration which asks, "What is anti-Semitism today?" Is it a real and continuous danger that requires eternal vigilance or a tactic used by right-wing Zionists to discredit and cow their critics? Among those he interviews are Abe Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League, who is adamant that anti-Semitism is rife and must be exposed; while Norman Finkelstein, author of The Holocaust Industry: The Exploitation of Jewish Suffering, claims that anti-Semitism is being used for political gain. Opinions differ and tempers flare but Shamir's directness and wry humour, as shown in his other films including Checkpoint, 5 Days and Flipping Out, elevate the mood as he tackles extremely difficult questions.

Simon Chambers wants to find out if a large industrial complex run by the British mining company Vedanta in the Indian region of Orissa can help the local community flourish. But his attempts to hire local guides border on the ludicrous; they get lost, and then complain of leg pains to avoid taking him on tour. Even his chauffeur takes off. Then he realises why; although there there are hospitals, there are no doctors, wastewater has been leaking into the river and there are many other rumours from all sides. That's when Chamber realises that his guides are not incompetent - just fully aware they are risking quite a lot by accompanying an inquisitive foreigner...

Anders Østergaard's documentary, from the True Stories strand, captures the bravery of the young Burmese video journalists who, though risking torture and life in jail, live the essence of journalism as they insist on keeping up the flow of news from their closed country. Armed with small handycams, the Burma VJs stop at nothing to make their reportages; their material is smuggled out of the country and broadcast back into Burma via satellite and offered as free usage for international media. The whole world has witnessed single event clips made by the VJs, but for the very first time, their individual images have been put together with Østergaard's sparingly-used reconstruction to tell a riveting story which offers a unique insight into high-risk journalism and dissidence in a police state, while at the same time providing a thorough documentation of the historical and dramatic days of September 2007, when the Buddhist monks started marching.

This moving yet humorous film in the True Stories strand from Mat Whitecross follows two refugee families from Burma over the course of a year that will change their lives completely. Forced from their homeland by the repressive military junta, they have lived in a Thai refugee camp for almost twenty years. A UN relocation scheme offers them the chance of a new life, but their new home, in the British city of Sheffield, will be different to everything they've ever known. With intimate access, Moving to Mars depicts their struggles with 21st century Britain.

R J Cutler's documentary follows Anna Wintour, renowned editor of Vogue, as she prepares the September 2007 issue. Weighing in at a record 840 pages, it is also the magazine's most important issue, heralding the autumn fashions. With her trademark bob and omnipresent dark glasses, Wintour comes over as a woman who is a success because she knows exactly what the reader wants, as she supervises each and every page, aided and abetted by Grace Coddington, Vogue's creative director who acts as a foil to Wintour to produce a winning combination.

Deborah Scranton's film looks at the 1994 genocide in Rwanda from both political and personal perspectives. In 2008, Rwandan President Paul Kagame released a report detailing France's hidden role in the genocide. Three months later, his closest aide, Rose Kabuye, was arrested in France on charges of terrorism. Jean Pierre Sagahutu is a genocide survivor haunted by his father's unsolved murder. Scouring the Rwandan countryside on a fifteen-year search for clues, he ultimately finds himself face-to-face with his father's killer. As Kagame fights to free Rose and expose the truth of what really happened and Sagahutu faces his father's killer, each finds himself faced with a choice: to enact vengeance or to turn the other cheek.

Doug Block's very personal film is about his only daughter Lucy. Block has spent much of his and Lucy's life filming their relationship and now, aged 17, she is just a year away from leaving home for college. Block had long mulled over incorporating the footage into a film about parenting but with Lucy's departure imminent, he realised the real subject was the emotionally charged period when children separate from their parents - and vice versa. The result is a funny, poignant account of learning to let go as Block braces himself for Lucy's departure and the looming empty nest.

True Stories continues with some of the most powerful and compelling documentary feature films from around the world. Filmed over a year, The Nurture Room follows three Glasgow primary school children on an incredible journey that will completely transform their lives. Nurture Rooms offer a bridge between home and school: a safe place where children can be children. In these small, special classrooms children can re-visit early 'nurturing' experiences that they missed or didn't get at home.

Yuwali was 17 when her first contact with white men was filmed. In 1964, as part of a rocket-launching exercise, a native welfare patrol officer was checking that an area in Australia's Western Desert was not inhabited when he met Yuwali and 19 other Aboriginal women and children. They were from the Martu people, traditional nomadic herders. Confusingly, there were no men in their group, and the welfare officer could not speak their language. And they had to get out of the desert before the rockets were launched. The women and children were taken to Jigalong Mission. Yuwali is now 62 and still lives at Jigalong. This Sydney Film Festival award-winning True Stories film follows Yuwali as she returns to visit her homeland.

This gripping, feature-length documentary charts the first year in the life of Britain's new Supreme Court - the highest court in the land. With unprecedented access the film meets the judges, lawyers and ordinary people whose cases will have a far-reaching effect on the everyday lives of others across the UK. For those bringing these high-profile cases to court there is a lot at stake, and the programme reveals their hopes and fears as they and their legal teams come face-to-face with the most powerful judges in the UK. The judges have allowed proceedings to be filmed and, uniquely, justice is seen unfolding as judges and lawyers - the finest legal minds in the country - debate key contemporary issues. See David and Goliath battles of individuals challenging the state, the outcomes of which help to define the nature of society today. True Stories commissions and showcases the best feature documentaries from around the world.

Following on from his 2010 Dispatches: Children of Gaza, Bafta Award-winning filmmaker Jezza Neumann provides a second shocking portrait of children living in the aftermath of war. On 27 December 2008, the Israeli Defence Force unleashed Operation Cast Lead in Gaza: a 22-day campaign to destroy the ability of Hamas to launch rockets and mortars into Israel. Over 1300 Palestinians were killed, many of them children. Surrounded by rubble and increasingly isolated by the blockade that prevents them from rebuilding their homes and their lives, many of the surviving children's lives have been irreversibly damaged by war. War Child gives a voice to a handful of them. True Stories commissions and showcases the best feature documentaries from around the world.

Gypsy Blood examines the violent culture that some gypsy and traveller fathers hand on to their children, exploring its impact on two fathers and their young sons

Over the last two years police have discovered 11 bodies on an isolated road on Long Island. Four of them were sex workers who'd advertised online. This film examines the story.

Documentary following the story of Ruth Jeffery, who was subjected to more than three years of online abuse by her boyfriend Shane Webber. After being driven to the brink of suicide by a stalker who had posted naked images of her on adult websites, and distributed them to family and friends, Ruth was forced to deal with the shocking discovery that the perpetrator was the man who claimed to love her. Webber was sentenced to four months in prison in October 2011, and will be subject to a restraining order until 2016.

Documentary telling the story of Terry Thompson, who released his collection of exotic animals onto the streets of Zanesville, Ohio, before killing himself in October 2011. The authorities were forced to shoot 48 of the dangerous creatures, including tigers, lions and bears, to bring the situation under control. Only six animals survived, and were taken to a local zoo. This film explores the events in Thompson's past that led up to the incident, and includes interviews with the police officers involved.

The astounding story of Tanya Kach made international headlines when she revealed she had been kept in captivity for 10 years by school security guard Thomas Hose, just a stone's throw from her home in Pennsylvania. This programme gains an insight into how a 14-year-old girl disappeared in 1996, only to resurface a decade later still living within the same community, and Tanya, now 31, talks about her ordeal. With contributions by friends and family, plus the police officers who worked on the missing persons investigation.

An extended edition of the Oscar-winning film Saving Face follows the journey of pioneering British plastic surgeon Dr Mohammad Jawad as he returns o Pakistan to help with the recovery of acid-attack victims.

Many have heard of dogging, or know of places where it happens, but very few know what goes on in this secretive world. Dogging Tales, is intimate and compelling, told by doggers themselves, who share their experiences of a mysterious, little understood neck of the woods. Filmed over 10 months, it follows people while gaining insight into why they engage in or watch sexual activity in front of strangers in public areas at night. Initial interviews are in the 'real world' as their day draws to a close and they talk of life, families and relationships. As they prepare to go out, they shed their daily personas and we accompany them on excursions to UK laybys, woods and picnic spots that often double as dogging locations after dusk.

In April 2010 in Enchanted Hills, Indiana, 12-year-old Paul Gingerich helped 15-year-old Colt Lundy shoot Colt's stepfather multiple times with his own guns, after plotting the crime in the local playground. The shocking murder of Phillip Danner was carried out by 2 middle-class boys with no prior criminal record. The story gripped America. With unprecedented access to both boys, their families, and the ongoing court case, this gives extraordinary insight into the crime and its aftermath, as key players give candid interviews. Both were tried and sentenced as adults, and are each serving 30 years. Paul is one of the youngest children in American history to be waived to adult court. An extraordinary insight into the crime and aftermath, it traces how their lives are different after the Dept of Correction elected to keep Paul in the juvenile system despite the judge's order that he be remanded to the adult system. This film includes Paul's appeal in the Indiana Appellate Court.

Recent years have seen a step-change in Britain's drug culture. Out go the 'old' illegal drugs - cocaine, heroin, speed - swept to one side by a younger generation who can get their hits not only more cheaply but also legally. The new drugs are legal to buy because they're sold as research chemicals and labelled 'not for human consumption'. This hard-hitting observational documentary - directed by triple BAFTA-award winner Dan Reed - takes a trip into a murky world where underground chemists invent new drugs faster than the government can legislate against them.