TV / ANCILLARY

Film
Release Year
Runtime(s)
Synopsis
The Magic of Flight
1996
39

Experience the thrill of flying and soar through the history of flight, from the Wright brothers to the dramatic high-speed aerobatics of the world-renowned Blue Angels.

The Moon’s Spell on the Great Barrier Reef
2014
59

The Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef, covers a range of over 2,000 kilometers off the northeast coast of Australia.  Magnificent spectacles of the birth of life unfold here every summer.  Male and female surgeonfish swim at lightning speed toward the water surface and spawn; tens of thousands of green sea turtles simultaneously come ashore under the star-filled sky to lay eggs; and the climax is a rare sight of some 100 varieties of coral all spawning at once within a timeframe of only 15 minutes.

Enjoy the breathtaking moments successfully caught on an unprecedented scale by taking full advantage of the amazingly rich colors of high-definition 4K cameras.

Immerse yourself in the mysterious drama of life under the spell of the moon on a summer night.

The New Sperm Whale
52

Sperm whales are back, and learning how to steal fish off their hooks.  They are also learning how to speak a special “coda” language, and fool killer whales – their ancient enemies.  They have now started to investigate our oil rigs, telecommunication cables, and submarines.  Their large brains – the biggest in the animal kingdom – try to decipher our innovations … and turn them to their advantage.  Discover the new sperm whale.

The Ninja Birds of Kakadu: Comb-Crested Jacanas
2015
52

Kakadu National Park is located in the northernmost part of Australia.  During the rainy season, when vast expanses of wetland appear and many aquatic insects and fish emerge, aquatic birds arrive to feed on them and breed.  Among them is the comb-crested Jacana.  These unique birds use their long toes to gracefully walk across lotus leaves and catch underwater prey.  Interestingly, these birds are polyandrous, meaning the females mate with more than one male.  Females therefore lay a lot of clutches and it is the males alone who care for them.  This episode, filmed between the rainy season and dry season when the park undergoes drastic changes, follows the lives of these aquatic birds.

The Oyler House: Richard Neutra’s Desert Retreat
2012
48

In 1959, a government employee named Richard Oyler, living in the tiny desert town of Lone Pine, California, asked world-famous modern architect Richard Neutra to design his modest family home.  To Oyler’s surprise, Neutra agreed.  Thus began an unlikely friendship that led to the design and construction of an iconic mid-century modern masterpiece.

Considered the father of California Modern Architecture, Time Magazine put Richard Neutra on their cover in 1949, ranking him second only to Frank Lloyd Wright among America’s greatest architects.  The Oyler House: Richard Neutra’s Desert Retreat explores how Neutra came to befriend this modest, small-town family, and how he was inspired by the site’s stunning desert setting, which Neutra compared to the grandness of the mystical Gobi Desert.

Now owned by the actress Kelly Lynch and her writer-producer husband Mitch Glazer, the post & beam-style home and its exotic surroundings shine through beautiful cinematography, and the story comes to life through interviews with Richard Oyler, Kelly Lynch, Neutra’s sons, and well-known Los Angeles real estate agent Crosby Doe, who has represented homes by some of history’s greatest modern architects.

The Physics of Surfing
2010
24

Unlike other surfing documentaries, The Physics of Surfing is a 24-minute educational film that uncovers the physical science of ocean waves and the art of surfing.  In this captivating presentation, the filmmakers explore how energy moves through water, building and combining its force, traveling thousands of miles over the course of weeks until the ocean floor underneath disrupts the wave’s formation and causes it to pitch up and collapse.  The film also investigates the science behind various surfing styles and how surfers instinctively address such notions of gravity and buoyancy while using the energy of motion to ride waves.

The Pro
2014
3 x 60 min

This is a story that follows three famous pro-golfers during their off season training in Thailand and America.  See how vigorous the training is in preparation for the championships.  Also get some invaluable tips on how to improve your own game.  All this and more, against the beautiful backdrop of Thailand and America.

The Search for Life in Space
2016
32

Journey from the depths of the Pacific Ocean into the far reaches of space on a quest to find something that changes everything — signs of life, somewhere else in the universe.

With stunning imagery from the world’s most powerful telescopes, this new giant screen film takes audiences from the surface of Mars and the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn, to the extreme lava fields of Hawaii and the thermal vents deep beneath the sea.  In these harsh environments, astrobiologists look for clues to how life takes hold.  As this immersive adventure into the universe reveals the possibility of life on planets like our own, The Search for Life in Space will make you re-examine such fundamental questions as: “Are we alone?”

The Search for Life in Space is a December Media film produced in association with Film Victoria Australia and Swinburne University of Technology.  The film is distributed by MacGillivray Freeman Films.

The Story of German Beer
2016
52, 42

This documentary looks at the history of beer starting with the Sumerians who invented it 5.000 years ago through to the leading export of today and the new trend of the future: craft beer.  Prost!

Prince Luitpold of Bavaria: if Germany were still a monarchy, this member of the House of Wittelsbach would be King of Bavaria.  What does this have to do with beer?  His Highness brews one of the best beers in Bavaria.  No wonder – it was one of his ancestors that introduced the Reinheitsgebot (German purity law) in 1516, and it remains in force to this day: the only ingredients permitted are hops, malt, and water.  500 years of pure beer – without chemicals, flavour enhancers or colour additive additives as is common in the rest of the world.  There are 5,000 different beers in Germany, produced in more than 1,300 breweries.

Great beer has always been synonymous with Germany.  Let’s find out why!

The Trolley
2018
46

The Trolley propels giant screen audiences through the great cities of the globe to tell the story of one of civilization’s most remarkable inventions.  Step aboard the talented electric trolley for a ride across the eras and through thirty-nine cities and sixteen countries …

Perfected in the 19th century workshop of American inventor Frank Sprague, the first functional electric trolley was embraced as a miracle of the electric age—a device that could rid streets of suffocating piles of horse manure and flies and even re-invent civilization.  And it did.

The electric streetcar, tram or trolley was a ride that changed everything.  Across a century-and-a-half, trolleys carried billions of people to work and play and home again.  Gifted with extreme efficiency and an egalitarian outlook, the device helped revitalize and re-build the urban landscape.

Created expressly for giant IMAX® screens The Trolley propels audiences on a kinetic, electrifying and music-charged journey through great cities across the globe, revealing the trolley’s own roller coaster ride: from humble birth to explosive, world-transforming success, to near obliteration in the automobile age, to its technological renaissance in the 21st century.  From the trolley’s kinetic vantage, we witness a century and-a-half of explosive change and discover the hidden magic of the trolley itself.

The Ultimate Wave Tahiti
2010
45, 24, 14

Featuring eleven-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater, The Ultimate Wave Tahiti follows a quest to find the perfect wave-riding experience.  The film’s action focuses on Tahiti and the volcanic islands of French Polynesia, home to some of the world’s most challenging surfing and to astounding coral reef ecosystems at the turbulent interface between island and ocean.  The islands are also a homeland of traditional Polynesian seafaring culture and the art of surfing.

With their host, Tahitian surfer Raimana Van Bastolear, Kelly Slater and a group of friends seek out the best waves breaking on the reef at Tahiti’s famed surf site Teahupoo.  Kelly and Raimana share a passion for the waves, but different ideas about what surfing means to them: is it a modern competitive sport or an ancient Polynesian wave-riding art?  As the surf quest unfolds, the film explores the hidden forces at work shaping the waves and the islands that lie in their path.  The great waves arrive and surfing play becomes surfing survival as the riders tackle some of the biggest, heaviest surf on the planet.

The US Vintage Grand Prix at Watkins Glen
37
The Wild Pacific
2015
56

It is the largest body of water on earth, covering nearly 30% of our planet.  Home to a stunning menagerie of creatures.  Great Whites hunting in ghostly silence.  Ballets of whale sharks and giant mantas.  Swarms of mating squid in a magical kelp forest.  Voracious striped marlin, sea lions, and pelicans decimating great schools of herring.  Experience The Wild Pacific.  From Emmy-nominated producer Michael Watchulonis.  Cinematography by Emmy-winning cameraman Johnny Friday.

Threads of India
2015
30

Intricately handwoven cotton and silk, with adorning embellishments of threadwork and embroidery – each uniquely crafted in India.  It is through these colours, patterns, and textures that Indian designers express their individuality & creativity in this land of contrasts and contradictions.  New York-based Smita Conjeevaram has returned to India to uncover the hidden gems of her native land, exploring the artistry and ancient traditions of the textile industry from the foothills of the Himalayas to the backstreets of Mumbai.  Brought to life for the first time, Threads of India is an adventure like no other – a colorful feast for the eyes, a resounding musical treat for the ears, and an unparalleled cultural experience for the soul.

Time Scanners
2013
6 x 53 min

Time Scanners is a ground breaking new series which uses state of the art laser technology and a team led by one of the world’s top engineers to uncover the engineering mysteries of the ancient world’s most iconic structures for the very first time.

This brand new laser technology and software reveals the world’s most iconic sites in a way never before seen, producing results that surprise even the experts.

The technology solves a host of new mysteries including: the pinpointing of the exact position of the Kings Burial Chamber inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, discovering how the Incas managed to build a their city on a mountain top, uncovering hidden temple structures underneath Petra’s sands, turning back time to show exactly where a WWII bomb exploded inside St Pauls Cathedral, revealing a completely new theory on how the Colosseum’s roof actually worked, and illuminating the secrets behind the construction of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

The series combines the expert knowledge of one of the world’s foremost structural engineers Steve Burrows, WSP, the brains behind the Birds Nest Stadium in Beijing, together joined by a team of pioneering laser scanning researchers from the Centre for Advanced Spatial Technologies to unlock the secrets of the world’s greatest engineering achievements.

Titans of the Ice Age
2013
38, 24

Titans of the Ice Age transports viewers to the beautiful and otherwordly frozen landscapes of North America, Europe, and Asia ten thousand years before modern civilization.  Peer through the giant 3D canvas to an ancient world of ice, the dawn of our species, a time when humans shared the tundra with majestic woolly beasts.

To the Limit
1989
38

Follow the spectacular feats performed by world class athletes including a rock climber, an Olympic skier, and a prima ballerina from a unique IMAX perspective — and witness what happens when the human body is pushed to the limit.

Tornado Alley
2011
43, 23

Join Storm Chasers star Sean Casey and the researchers of VORTEX 2, the most ambitious effort ever made to understand the origins and evolution of tornadoes on this heart-pounding science adventure.  Armed with a 70mm camera, a fleet of customized vehicles designed to withstand gale force winds, torrential rains and unrelenting hail, and an arsenal of the most advanced weather measurement instruments ever created, the stars of Tornado Alley take audiences on a thrilling quest to experience a tornado’s destructive power at point blank range. Experience the adrenaline and the science of nature’s most dramatic phenomena!

Tougher Than It Looks
2016
12 x 30 min

How hard is it to do some of the toughest, oddest, most dangerous tasks on the planet?  Andrew Younghusband (Don’t Drive Here, Canada’s Worst Driver) finds out first-hand as he delves into the world of terrifying heights, extreme sports, tough trades, small spaces, and strange hobbies.  Younghusband’s wild quest takes him into the dangerous, weird and just plain crazy, as he meets people driven by passion who do jobs and partake in pastimes that often look impossible.  But are they?  In each episode, with minimal training, Younghusband struggles to keep up with the pros as they explain what they do, while showing him the ropes.  From working as a window cleaner on a dauntingly high skyscraper and wing walking on a bi-plane in mid-air, to barefoot water skiing and racing lawnmowers, nothing is too scary or obscure for Younghusband to try at least once.

Tour de Tirol
2016
47

Competitors take part in all 3 stages of the Tour de Tirol.  The Söller Zehner, the Kaisermarathon Söll and the Pölven Trail.

On your mark!  Get set!  The boom of the starter gun indicates go and go they went.  The Tour de Tirol is a stage race of about 75 km and 3650 hm, which takes place in Söll and lasts three days.  On the first day, the finish line is set at 10km.  The second day is a 52km marathon over a mountainous trail and the final day is a 23 km trail rum with plenty altitude.  It is quite an insane challenge but with this race one gets to know one’s body, one’s limits, and one’s drive to succeed.  From this race one finds out what one is capable of!

The Tour de Tirol started in 2006.  It is a unique race with high standards within beautiful mountain sceneries of the Austrian Alps.  We accompany Alexander Bille, 42 years old, hobby runner from the flatlands, during these three days, we watch him from above and along the route to the finish line and interview him before and after the race.  He knew it would be hard, but he did not know how hard it was going to be.

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