Loading titles…
Documentary
Militant Islam enjoyed its first modern triumph with the arrival in power of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran in 1979. In this series of three programmes, key figures tell the inside story.
Former US president Jimmy Carter talks on television for the first time about the episode that, more than any other, led American voters to eject him from the presidency. Iran's seizure of the US embassy in Tehran and the holding of its staff for 444 days took more and more of Carter's time and energy. His final days in office were dominated by desperate attempts to secure the release of the embassy hostages. Those who sat in the White House with him, planning how to rescue the hostages, how to negotiate their release and, finally, wondering whether anything could be rescued from the disaster, all tell their part in the story. Other contributors include former vice president Walter Mondale, ex-deputy secretary of state Warren Christopher and former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. The other side of the story is told by top Iranians: Ayatollah Khomeini's close adviser, Grand Ayatollah Montazeri; his first foreign minister, Ebrahim Yazdi; his negotiator with the US, Sadeq Tabatabai; and the founder of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Mohsen Rafiqdoust.
The award-winning producers of The Death Of Yugoslavia, The Fall Of Milosevic and Elusive Peace, talk to two top Revolutionary Guard commanders, who describe how they persuaded Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, to let them launch, fund, and train Hezbollah in Lebanon. President George HW Bush, in his inaugural address, told Iran that the release of hostages in the Lebanon would lead the United States to show "goodwill" (an end to sanctions and the welcoming of Iran back into the community of nations). Iran's President Rafsanjani duly put pressure on the hostage-takers and secured their release, but by that time the US was so angered by what it saw as Iran's continuing support for terrorism that Bush and his advisers decided that they could not deliver. In an exclusive interview, Mohammad Khatami, President of Iran from 1997 to 2005, describes how he set out to improve relations with the West and, for the first time, looks back on how he struggled with hardliners in Iran to relieve the country of its pariah status and achieve good relations with the West. Step one was "people-to-people" diplomacy – a wrestling team became the first US delegation to visit Iran since the revolution and the two team captains describe how, after the match, the American proudly held aloft a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader. The programme ends with the story of an extraordinary attempt by US Secretary Of State Madeleine Albright to meet the Iranian foreign minister. Told he would be present at a meeting at the United Nations in New York, she attended and made friendly remarks addressed to him. But the leader of the Iranian delegation turned out to be the Foreign Minister's deputy. Albright, the deputy and others present describe the scene, their embarrassment and disappointment.
In part three of this landmark series from Norma Percy and the team that made the multi-award winning documentaries The Death of Yugoslavia and Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, contributors including Iran's President Khatami tell the inside story of the West's continuing nuclear confrontation with Iran. The film also shows a rare moment when they worked together. US State Department insiders tell how, after 9/11, Iran played a key role in helping America to topple the Taliban in Afghanistan - only for President Bush to put Iran into his 'axis of evil' immediately afterwards. Jack Straw, then foreign secretary, and President Khatami describe how Iran offered to help the US and its allies in their war against Saddam Hussein - help that, given Iran's powerful contacts in Iraq and the West's subsequent difficulties there, might have made a crucial difference. Jack Straw, his successor Margaret Beckett, and Joschka Fischer of Germany describe how they struggled to find a compromise between Iran and President Bush's hardliners over Iran's nuclear programme. John Sawers, currently our man at the UN, reveals an extraordinary secret deal that Iran proposed a few years later.
No cast information available.
Through the eyes of Thomas Erdbrink, you see an Iran that is rarely featured in news reports. The first series was broadcast in 2015 and was also shown in seven short parts in The New York Times. In June 2015, 'Onze man' won the Silver Nipkow Disc, the award for the best television program, and in 2016 the journalistic award De Tegel. The second series (five episodes) was broadcast in April and May 2018.
The discovery of oil brought unprecedented economic growth to humanity. Initially, oil was available in large quantities and cheap – but in 1973, a consequential oil price crisis hit, and the sticky commodity became part of a geopolitical poker game. The struggle for global resources is more relevant than ever.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or IRGC is the protector of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the military arm of the Supreme Leader. Also known as the Pasdaran, this deep-state mafia comprising 120,000 men has extensive powers, ensuring bloody repression of the people. No strangers to smuggling and trafficking, the IRGC’s economic empire is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The Supreme Leader Khomeini has allowed the organization to infiltrate the state and its members are now mayors, members of parliament and ministers, cultivating their networks at the highest levels. The IRGC is responsible for Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and cultivates not only the art of deterrence, but also a strategy of asymmetrical warfare via the militias and terrorist organizations they finance, arm, and control across the Middle East.
In the Eye of the Storm is a six-part documentary series about one of the foremost intellectuals and political figures of our age, Yanis Varoufakis. In the Eye of the Storm begins with a first-hand account of Varoufakis’ dramatic battle with the European establishment, but goes much further to weave a gripping political narrative about the fate of our civilization: where we are, how we got here, and where he believes we must go. We see up close, through Varoufakis’ unique story, how power works at the highest levels, entering a world so often shrouded in secrecy.
Bitter Rivals illuminates the essential history - and profound ripple effect - of Iran and Saudi Arabia's power struggle. It draws on scores of interviews with political, religious and military leaders, militia commanders, diplomats, and policy experts, painting American television's most comprehensive picture of a feud that has reshaped the Middle East.
Explorer Levison Wood - famous for Walking the Nile, Walking the Himalayas and Walking the Americas - is taking on a new expedition in this four-part series: to cross the mighty Caucusus mountain range that lies between Russia and Iran. And as well as a new region of the world, Levison is taking a new approach to exploring: making his way by any means necessary. Travelling with the locals and living as they do, Levison's epic, 2,600-mile journey takes him through five countries, crossing the wild lands on the tense frontier between Europe and Asia and visiting some of the most fascinating and diverse people's on earth.
Iran Gard is a television documentary series that showcases the natural landscapes and ways of life in Iran’s nomadic communities and rural villages. Javad Gharaei, the director, producer, and narrator of the documentary, travels with a professional film crew to various cities and provinces across Iran, documenting the lives, traditions, and customs of the people living in these regions.