American Experience: Fly With Me

Director:

Sarah Colt / Helen Dobrowski

Producer(s):

Helen Dobrowski

Footage Archive Researcher:

Talia Moore / Jackson Byrne / Leah Ford

Footage Archive Producer:

Helen Dobrowski

Archival Sources:

Getty Images / British Pathé / Kinolibrary / New York University Tamiment Library / San Diego Air & Space Museum

Production Company:

Sarah Colt Productions / AMERICAN EXPERIENCE/GBH Boston

Country of Production:

United States

Original Release:

2024

Synopsis

For women in the 60s and 70s, being a “stewardess” offered a life of unparalleled glamor and adventure, but also one of systemic harassment and discrimination. Thanks to the bravery and political savvy of an early generation of flight attendants, the skies became the frontlines of a fight for gender equality and workplace equity.

"Fly With Me" tells the story of the women who changed the world while flying it.

Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae

Director:

Yvonne Russo

Producer(s):

Yvone Russo / Amy Kaufman / Caroline Waterlow

Footage Archive Researcher:

Amy Kaufman

Footage Archive Producer:

Amy Rockefeller

Archival Sources:

Estate of Lan Brooks Ritz / Kevin McKiernan, Journalist / CBS Veritone / ABC News Videosource / NBC

Production Company:

Laylow Pictures

Country of Production:

United States

Original Release:

2024

Synopsis

This historical docuseries examines the murder of Annie Mae Aquash - a Mi'kmaq woman from Nova Scotia, Canada, a mother of two daughters, a teacher, and a revolutionary who fought for Indigenous rights in the 1970s whose death went unsolved for almost 30 years. Set between the sweeping landscape of American politics in the volatile 70s and the present-day search by Annie Mae's daughter to uncover secrets from the past, this is a fascinating story of murder, intrigue, love, and betrayal that contextualizes Annie Mae's story within the larger story of the struggle of Native and First Nations women in their own communities that continues even today. Annie Mae’s story has been reduced to headlines focused on only the most gruesome parts of the crime story; the series sets out to portray her as a flesh and blood person - a leader of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and to intertwine her personal story with a historical context that lead to the formation of AIM.  The series explores history rarely covered by mainstream news and reveals a secret war waged by the government against the Indigenous activists and illuminates the importance of tribal justice.

The Zelensky Story

Director:

Michael Waldman

Producer(s):

Louis Lee Ray / Jecca Powell

Footage Archive Researcher:

Val Semenikhina / Serhiy Solodko

Footage Archive Producer:

Peter Scott

Archival Sources:

Office of the President of Ukraine / Kvartal 95 / 1+1 (Ukraine) / AP / Reuters Screenocean

Production Company:

72 Films (A BBC Open University Partnership)

Country of Production:

United Kingdom

Original Release:

2024

Synopsis

This three-part series tells the extraordinary story of Volodymyr Zelensky – the Ukrainian comedian who played the Ukrainian president in a hit TV show before he was elected as the real president of his country and then led his country through Vladimir Putin’s full-scale Russian invasion.  

With intimate access to the president, his wife, their friends and members of his inner circle – and featuring archive that’s never been seen before in the West – the series spans over three decades. It charts Zelensky’s story, and that of his wife, in parallel with the Russian president Vladimir Putin, as Putin’s actions put their two countries on a collision course.

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.

Strike: An Uncivil War

Director:

Daniel Gordon

Producer(s):

Fjolla Iberhysaj / Nick Taussig

Footage Archive Researcher:

Alex Wilson / Rhys Woodfield

Footage Archive Producer:

Stephen Slater

Archival Sources:

BBC / ITN / Fremantle / NUM / Yorkshire Film Archive

Production Company:

VeryMuchSo Productions / Embankment Films / Davy Films / Meadowlark Media

Country of Production:

United Kingdom / United States

Original Release:

2024

Synopsis

40 years on from the Battle of Orgreave, Strike: An Uncivil War tells the story of the most violent confrontation between miners and police during the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike.

The year-long Miners’ Strike was the most divisive and violent industrial dispute that Britain has ever witnessed. Using powerful personal testimony, previously hidden government documents and a treasure trove of never-before-seen archive material, Strike: An Uncivil War charts the lead up, the aftermath and the unprecedented events at Orgreave on 18th June 1984.

Witness at first hand the stories and recollections of the people on the front lines of Orgreave and the Strike, which split communities and the nation in two, and whose ripples still resonate to this very day.