October Films

First major English-language documentary profile of the cult Japanese actor/director, Takeshi Kitano. Featuring interviews with many of his regular contributors and colleagues, the film explores Kitano's rise from working-class poverty to superstar of Japanese radio, TV, comedy and journalism, and follows the making of his US-Japanese gangster film, 'Brother'.

The inspirational story of teenage singing sensation Mutlu Kaya as she makes a remarkable journey from gunshot victim to fearless survivor. As she battles to heal her haunting voice, she campaigns for women's right in Turkey and beyond. Mutlu means 'happy' in Turkish.

A character portrait of the enigmatic comedian Barry Humphries on his most recent Australian tour and an examination of the connections to his two most famous alter egos, Dame Edna and Sir Les Patterson. Interviews include Bruce Beresford and Geoffrey Rush.

The disappearance and death of several young females is gradually being linked to an infamous serial killer in the 1970s.

British intelligence undertook an audacious operation to listen in on the private conversations of 10,000 German prisoners of war without their ever knowing they were being overheard. The prisoners' unguarded reminiscences and unintentional confessions have only just come to light, and prove how closely the German army were involved in the atrocities of the Holocaust. British intelligence requisitioned three stately homes for this epic task, and converted each into an elaborate trap. The 100,000 hours of conversation they captured provided crucial intelligence that changed the course of the war, and revealed some of its worst horrors, from rape to mass executions to one of the earliest bulletins from the concentration camps. But when the fighting ended, the recordings were destroyed and the transcripts locked away for half a century. Only now have they been declassified, researched and cross-referenced.

Documentary discussing the casting and making of "Some Like It Hot", the film voted as the Best Comedy ever made by the American Film Institute.

In 1972 the tranquility of a coastal town in California is broken as hitch-hiking girls begin to go missing and corpses start showing up. Welcome to Murder City.

WWII from Space delivers World War II in a way you've never experienced it before. This HISTORY special uses an all-seeing CGI eye that offers a satellite view of the conflict, allowing you to experience it in a way that puts key events and tipping points in a global perspective. By re-creating groundbreaking moments that could never have been captured on camera, and by illustrating the importance of simultaneity and the hidden effects of crucial incidents, HISTORY presents the war's monumental moments in a never-before-seen context. And with new information brought to the forefront, you'll better understand how a nation ranked 19th in the world's militaries in 1939 emerged six years later as the planet's only atomic superpower.

A profile of the French author Jean Marie Gustave Le Clezio who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2008.

A short documentary on Linda Blair's controversial role in The Exorcist and the problems she encountered when the public seemed unable to separate fact from fiction. Originally aired 19 October, 1996, as part of Channel 4's Fame Factor series.

Up to one million gladiators are thought to have died in arenas across the Roman Empire. And, although fascination with gladiators has been high, the details of their lives and deaths remain fragmentary. Now, with the discovery of an ancient Roman burial site containing 80 skeletons thought to be gladiator warriors, National Geographic recreates the world of the Roman arena and how six gladiators lived, fought and died.

Britain's most prolific serial rapist was eventually convicted for several crimes, but he was to be released on parole until numerous victims found the courage to speak up.

Intimate documentary following the Ferdinand family as Rio's fiancée Kate Wright integrates into the family and becomes a step mum to Rio's three children, Lorenz, Tate and Tia.

TV documentary about the 2004 Orange Revolution (Maidan) in Ukraine. Made in 2005 for the BBC by October Films (UK).

Anatomist Alice Roberts embarks on a quest to rebuild her own body from scratch, taking inspiration from the very best designs the natural world has to offer.

Set to the soundtrack of Papa Wemba's extraordinary music, this outrageous, funny and eye-opening film depicts the underground world of a flamboyant African cult. Papa Wemba is a well-known Congolese singer. He is also a big cheese in Le Sape, the Société des Ambianceurs et Persons Élégants, which translated into English means a society of people who spend huge amounts of money on designer clothes with the motive of making themselves as conspicuously elegant as possible. The film is a splendid evocation of Papa Wemba's music, but it is also an unusual insight into what it means to be an immigrant in contemporary Europe. The sapeur have borrowed from our own culture, creating something rich and strange and wholly Congolese. Don't miss the scene where they try on fur coats.

Throughout history, Pontius Pilate has been portrayed as a weak ruler-the man who allowed Jesus Christ to be crucified at the demand of the Jews. But this documentary portrays a very different Pilate, one who had his own motives for allowing Jesus' fate.

The documentary recounts Alan Conway's deception as Stanley Kubrick, exploiting misconceptions about Kubrick's appearance and people's desire for contact with a celebrity. It features an interview with Conway from 1996 and Alexander Walker's insights, aiming for objectivity. The narrator also addresses Conway's criminal past and allegations of sexual misconduct, linked to Kubrick's name. Conway died shortly before Kubrick. Cook and Frewin later made "Colour Me Kubrick," a comedy starring John Malkovich, inspired by Conway's story.

A documentary film about the wonderful world of intimate videos of celebrities. The program is replete with interesting interviews, traces the history of this phenomenon and reveals the obvious fakes and hoaxes diffrent mistifications of disputed origins.