Spotlight - The Secret Army

Director:

John O'Kane

Producer(s):

John O'Kane

Footage Archive Researcher:

Chris Morrisson

Footage Archive Producer:

Jeremy Shields

Archival Sources:

BBC Television / RTÉ Television / CBS News / C-SPAN / Kan - IPBC Channel 1 (Israel)

Production Company:

BBC Northern Ireland, Current Affairs Dept

Country of Production:

United Kingdom

Original Release:

2024

Synopsis

“Are there any Troubles stories left to tell? MacIntyre has discovered a new one – and it makes for a gripping, ripping yarn.” – The Irish Times

At the height of the Northern Ireland conflict, the Irish Republican Army made an extraordinary decision: to make a film. In 1972, the IRA allowed a small group of American filmmakers to record gunmen and bombers openly planning and carrying out attacks. The resulting documentary, The Secret Army, looked like a propaganda coup. And then the film disappeared.

Five decades later, its rediscovery by a BBC researcher sent journalist Darragh MacIntyre on a quest to find why the film had been made and crucially – when many important IRA figures had been filmed openly – why it had virtually vanished from the historical record. MacIntyre uncovers a world in which the IRA thought they were in control – winning their conflict and manipulating a documentary that would show what they wanted to show. But the evidence trail begins to reveal hidden intricacies, alongside the shadows of British Intelligence, the CIA, and even Mossad.

The Times; the documentary was “worthy of Le Carré”.

The Observer, “a tale with more plot twists than Argo".

Red Fever

Director:

Catherine Bainbridge / Neil Diamond

Producer(s):

Lisa Roth / Brittany LeBorgne

Footage Archive Researcher:

Marika Lapointe / Rebecca Lessard / Marina Miller

Footage Archive Producer:

Ana Paula Castillo Mendez

Archival Sources:

Cumberland County Historical Society / University of South Carolina Moving Images Research Collection / Library of Congress / Reuters Screenocean / Northwestern University Archives

Production Company:

Rezolution Pictures

Country of Production:

Canada

Original Release:

2024

Synopsis

Red Fever is a witty and entertaining feature documentary about the profound yet hidden Indigenous influence on Western culture and identity.

The film follows Cree co-director Neil Diamond as he asks, “Why do they love us so much?” and sets out on a journey to find out why the world is so fascinated with the stereotypical imagery of Native people that is all over pop culture.

Why have Indigenous cultures been revered, romanticized, and appropriated for so long, and to this day? Red Fever uncovers the surprising truths behind the imagery so buried in history that even most Native people don’t know about them.

A Return to Memory

Director:

Donald McWilliams

Producer(s):

Anette Clarke / Kat Baulu / Ariel Nasr / Nathalie Cloutier

Footage Archive Researcher:

Alison Burns

Footage Archive Producer:

Donald McWilliams

Archival Sources:

National Film Board of Canada / Library and Archives Canada / BFI National Archives / Ottawa Art Galerie / Family members personal archives

Production Company:

National Film Board of Canada

Country of Production:

Canada

Original Release:

2024

Synopsis

“We learned to work with chaos.”

The intrepid women who helped create Canadian cinema come to vibrant life in A Return to Memory, a documentary masterwork illuminating their vital but little-known role in establishing Canada’s National Film Board.

Juxtaposing a dazzling array of archival material with dynamic animation by NFB infographics artist Mélanie Bouchard, director Donald McWilliams evokes the heady wartime years, when women played a key part in transforming the NFB into a major international studio.

With men engaged elsewhere in the war effort, hundreds of women pursued careers at the newly formed public producer—and pioneering figures like Evelyn Spice Cherry, Red Burns and Jane Marsh Beveridge made movie history, creating work that spoke to the world with a distinctive Canadian voice.

Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown

Director:

Marian Mohamed

Producer(s):

Laura Spence / Alec Webb

Footage Archive Producer:

Glenn Wood / Dinah Rogers / Jo Marshall

Footage Archive Assistant Producer:

Molly Schneider

Archival Sources:

California Historical Society / NBC / Oddball Films / Hue Fortson / Don Como

Production Company:

72 Films

Country of Production:

United States

Original Release:

2024

Synopsis

CULT MASSACRE: ONE DAY IN JONESTOWN tells the story of an idealistic religious organization led by the infamous Jim Jones, who set out to establish a utopian community in Guyana. What began as a peaceful movement seeking social justice ultimately spiraled into a mass casualty that left 918 dead. Told by survivors and eyewitnesses, along with rare footage and rare recordings of Jones, the powerful series takes an immersive look into the final harrowing hours leading up to one of America’s darkest chapters.

The White House Effect

Director:

Jon Shenk / Bonni Cohen / Pedro Kos

Producer(s):

Josh Penn / Noah Stahl / Justine Nagan

Footage Archive Researcher:

Yael Chanoff / Elijah Stevens / Sierra Pettengill / Gerard Nijssen / Nathalie Barton / Andrew Seber

Footage Archive Producer:

Gideon C. Kennedy / Rich Remsberg

Archival Sources:

George HW Bush Presidential Library / NCAR / NOAA / NASA / NARA / Exposure Labs / Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld & Geluid / Briscoe Center for American History

Production Company:

Actual Films / Department of Motion Pictures / Impact Partners

Country of Production:

United States

Original Release:

2024

Synopsis

THE WHITE HOUSE EFFECT explores the gripping drama that unfolded inside the George H.W. Bush White House after scientists warned the country for the first time that global warming was real and underway. Bush, who in 1988 ran as an environmental candidate, finds himself caught in the middle when his chief of staff John Sununu locks horns with EPA chief Bill Reilly over how to respond to the public’s growing environmental concerns. Ideological conservatives and industry power brokers line up behind Sununu as the forward-minded Reilly looks increasingly isolated. Meanwhile Bush faces mounting pressure to make a decision that will change the course of history. Using only archival materials, the film tells a harrowing political story about the consequences of presidential power and its impact on how we deal with the climate crisis today.