Derren Brown: Miracle

Driven by a desire to understand why her best friend killed herself at 16, Jacqueline Monetta, 18 gets teens suffering to share their struggles with mental illness and suicide attempts. Through her intimate one-to-one interviews, Jacqueline, and the audience learn about depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicide attempts, getting help and treating mental illness. As their stories unfold, they assure the audience that mental illnesses, like physical illnesses, can and should be treated.

GameLoading Rise of the Indies is a feature documentary exploring the world of indie game developers, their craft, their games, their dreams, and how they have forever changed the landscape of games culture.

With aerial footage from 54 countries, HOME is a depiction of how the Earth’s problems are all interlinked.

The Somerset Levels are one of the most beautiful parts of Britain, but in the winter of 2013 they faced a natural disaster. One village, Moorland, was entirely engulfed by the floods. Deluged by water, the villagers watched helplessly as their lives and homes were washed away. This programme follows their year-long struggle to get home again after the water drained and media attention shifted away. Although the residents put on a brave face, the realities of their fate pile up – the refusal of insurance companies to pay up, and the months of delay with the builders. All this adds fuel to a heartfelt frustration that the floods were man-made and the nagging fear of what would happen to them if and when the waters return.

The Story of Plastic is a seething expose uncovering the ugly truth behind the current global plastic pollution crisis. Striking footage shot over three continents illustrates the ongoing catastrophe: fields full of garbage, veritable mountains of trash; rivers and seas clogged with waste; and skies choked with the poisonous runoff from plastic production and recycling processes with no end in sight. Original animations, interviews with experts and activists, and never-before-filmed scenes reveal the disastrous consequences of the flood of plastic smothering ecosystems and poisoning communities around the world – and the global movement rising up in response.

In this documentary, Alex trusts his twin, Marcus, to tell him about his past after he loses his memory. But Marcus is hiding a dark family secret.

Professional musician turned intrepid economist Arthur Brooks travels around the globe in search of an answer to the question: How can we lift up the world together, starting with those at the margins of society? His journey takes him through the chaotic streets of Mumbai, a town in Kentucky left behind by the global economy, a homeless shelter in New York, a street protest in Barcelona, and a Himalayan Buddhist monastery. Along the way, he discovers the secrets not only to material progress for the least fortunate, but also true and lasting happiness for all.

Montreal actor/comedian Mike Paterson’s health is no joke. The normally high-energy comic is desperate to overcome his debilitating sciatica back pain that conventional medicine hasn’t been able to remedy. Mike obtains a legal medical marijuana prescription for his chronic pain and embarks upon an unconventional marijuana and hemp-infused diet that he supplements with exercise, vegetarian eating, no booze and sheer determination – all in an attempt to turn his health around and lose 50 lbs. in the four months before his destination wedding in Mexico. As part of his adventure, Mike hits the road to pot meccas California and Colorado to immerse himself in their blossoming ‘edibles’ scenes and learn from local chefs, dispensary owners, advocates and fellow patients how cannabis edibles work. Medicine never tasted so good. *** TAKEN FROM ITUNES PAGE (https://itunes.apple.com/ca/tv-season/grass-fed/id1060185232)

The ostensibly simple story of a sympathetic veteran teacher giving Italian lessons to a weekly class of diverse immigrants is given infinitely more depth and complexity by the manner in which director Daniele Gaglianone renders his story. Blurring the lines between fact and fiction, truth and artifice, and between documentary and drama, Gaglianone has created a film within a film. You see the apparent artifice of Gaglianone’s crew using professionals, including the noted film actor Valerio Mastandrea as the teacher, interlinked with ‘real’ immigrant protagonists, studying the language to improve their chances of employment and of gaining a permanent residence permit. Thus in the course of the lessons there is simultaneously the painful and upsetting relation of the students’ personal stories but also humour, as they interact and share their humanity, bridging cultural differences, united in their striving to make a better life for themselves. (Source: LFF programme)

A Flash of Beauty: Bigfoot Revealed presents interviews from researchers and eyewitnesses. The film covers historical accounts of Bigfoot, the significance within the indigenous cultures, and the emotional impact of a Bigfoot experience.

A fossil discovered in 2006 contains two nearly complete dinosaurs locked in battle: a triceratops and a carnivore.

A documentary based on the book of the same name by Joe Simpson about Simpson’s and Simon Yates’ disastrous and near-fatal attempt to climb 6,344m Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.