SYNOPSIS & CREDITS ISFFA 2009
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | NEXT
0,9 Ampere
Original Title: 0,9 Ampere
Duration: 55’
Producer: Giotto Barbieri / Annalisa Roggieri
Director: Giotto Barbieri
Company: Filmcome14 srl
Scientific Field: Medical
Year: 2008
Country: Italy
ECT (Electro Convulsive Therapy), more commonly known as electroshock, is still used today and is probably one of the most controversial therapies in existence. Electroshock was invented by an Italian neuropsychiatrist, Ugo Cerletti, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Rome, in the late 1930s and this was based on inducing convulsions on a patient through an electric current of 0.9 Ampere to the brain using electrodes attached to the head.
For some people the practice should have been banned, for others it was the last resort for severe pathologies, but what do we really know about electroshock?
Who honestly knows this technique?
The historical section related to the invention of electroshock will be drawn from an unpublished diary of an eye-witness who was present on the day of its first use, Professor Accornero, a member of staff working under Cerletti, and accompanied by interviews with scientific academics, and backed up by sensational unreleased images recovered from an archive belonging to a student of Ugo Cerletti, referring to the first experiments conducted on animals.
The important archive material and the reconstruction of the events in this sinister and decaying psychiatric building, take us through an unbelievable journey of the distressing world of the mentally ill...
A 380, The: The New Giant of the Sky
Original Title: Air-bus A-380: Le Plus Grand Avion Civil au Monde
Duration: 25’40’’
Producer: Hélène Leroux
Director: Chantal Théoret
Company: Société Radio-Canada
Scientific Field: Technologies
Year: 2008
Country: Canada
It’s the new giant of the sky. The Airbus A380 is not only the biggest commercial airliner in the world; it’s also the most efficient jumbo jet on the market. We’ll be looking at technological breakthroughs in aerodynamics, composite materials and the environment. Our goal is to find out how European engineers managed to build a cleaner, greener and quieter airplane than its competitors.
Africa’s Giant Rats
Original Title: Räumkommando Riesenratte
Duration: 43’
Producer: Uli Veith
Director: Herbert Ostwald
Company: Taglicht Media
Scientific Field: Nature
Year: 2007
Country: Germany
Miss Marple has a remarkable nose for danger. She is a rat, and she detects land-mines by smelling them. She was born in the training lab of the Belgian company, Apopo, in Tanzania. Here African Giant Rats - the size of a cat - are taught to sniff out explosives hidden in the ground. After a year’s training she is sent on her first mission to neighbouring Mozambique, whose 30 years of war have left millions of mines hidden in the earth. A whole unit of rats walks delicately back and forth over the minefields, attached to lines. When they’ve finished, the fields are safe again. Hundreds of lives have been saved, thousands of crippling injuries avoided. Miss Marple is a true hero rat!
Giant rats are clever and they learn fast. Their sense of smell is better than a dog’s, they have more stamina, and they’re a lot cheaper to train. Apopo’s founder Bert Weetjens makes use of their natural instincts. They are curious and always looking for food. They store whatever they find in their cheeks and bring it home. And because they constantly update the map in their brains, they never get lost. Perfect raw skills that can be honed to work with new scents…
Aftermath: Population Zero
Original Title: Aftermath: Population Zero
Duration: 63’
Producer: Christopher Rowley / David Brady / Stephen Milton
Director: Christopher Rowley
Company: Cream Productions Inc.
Scientific Field: Environment
Year: 2008
Country: Canada
What would happen if, tomorrow, every single person on Earth simply disappeared? Proof! Gone. Not dead, just gone. After being on the receiving end of humanity for millennia, nature is finally given a chance to take the world back. But how would that work? How long would our skyscrapers and homes last if we abandoned them? How would our animals and pets fare without us? How much of human civilization will last? Will our buildings and monuments last hundreds or thousands of years? What, if anything, will last as long as the pyramids? This is a world you will never see - a world without humans.
Ahmed and the Return of the Arab Phoenix
Original Title: Ahmed and the Return of the Arab Phoenix
Duration: 23’
Producer: Giuseppe Bucciarelli
Director: Giuseppe Bucciarelli
Company:
Scientific Field: Environment / Nature / Wildlife
Year: 2007
Country: Italy
AHMED AND THE RETURN OF THE ARAB PHOENIX was shot around the Palmyra oasis, Syria, not far from the Euphrates River and the Iraqi border. Despite its bad reputation in the international press, the Syrian government is very much involved in the effort of protecting its natural heritage. This is the story of a handful of visionary men who are fighting in the desert to protect what is left of the biodiversity of Al Badia, the semi-arid desert steppe stretching from the Iraqi border to almost the Mediterranean coast. Their efforts will be rewarded by the discovery, in a remote area, of the last Middle Eastern breeding colony of the Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita) in the wild, one of the rarest migratory birds and a symbol of wisdom for the Bedouins of the desert…
Alaska – Wilderness of Fire and Ice / Fascination Earth
Original Title: Alaska – Wildnis aus Feuer und Eis (Serientitel: Faszination Erde)
Duration: 43‘30’’
Producer: ZDF Sabine Armsen
Director: Christiane Götz-Sobel
Company: ZDF
Scientific Field: Exact Sciences / Nature / Wildlife
Year: 2008
Country: Germany
Our planet is unique and the diversity of its habitats is dazzling. The series FASCINATION EARTH makes this opulence tangible, with each episode focusing on a different region.
In this episode presenter Dirk Steffens takes the viewer into Alaska’s untamed wilderness. In the long and cold winter months Alaska is in the firm grip of ice and snow. But come spring, nature springs to life and presents itself in all its exuberance and plenty. This vast region along the edge of the Arctic Circle is at the mercy of nature’s most violent forces. To survive under these extreme conditions, the rich fauna has developed sophisticated adaptations. And while Alaska still is one of the most remote regions on this planet, it was here that humans set first foot on a new continent. This was the beginning of an epic tale that became the colonization of the Americas. Today, these Polar Regions are changing faster than ever before. Scientists from all over the world are investigating the mysteries of Alaska’s melting glaciers. Multinational companies, on the other hand, are assessing the potentials of an ice-free Northwest Passage.
In this documentary Dirk Steffens unveils some fascinating tales about this land. His stories are spiced with the latest science on wandering herds and fearsome predators as well as cataclysmic geological events that moulded the face of Alaska…
Allan Wilson: Evolutionary
Original Title: Allan Wilson: Evolutionary
Duration: 40’
Producer: George Andrews
Director: George Andrews
Company: George Andrews Productions
Scientific Field: Culture / Anthropology / Genetics / Exact Sciences
Year: 2008
Country: New Zealand / USA
Allan Wilson, a groundbreaking researcher and a lightning rod for controversy, revolutionized science and galvanized the scientific community through his quantitative biochemical approach to the history of evolution. Drawing upon the insights and recollections of those who knew Wilson best, this program—narrated by paleoanthropologist Tim White, co-discoverer of the hominid “Lucy”—correlates milestones of his remarkable career with his enduring contributions that range from molecular phylogenies of multiple species to an understanding of mechanisms underlying the mode and tempo of organismal evolution. Commentary by David Wake, professor emeritus of zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, and many others is featured.
Antarctica: Journey into the White Desert
Original Title: Antarctica: Journey into the White Desert
Duration: 52‘
Producer: Lauren Foster
Director: Damon Foster
Company: Foster Brother Film Productions
Scientific Field: Environment / Nature
Year: 2008
Country: South Africa
A vast white wilderness stretches across the south of our planet; a giant laboratory that has long occupied the human psyche. Antarctica is a continent of remote nature wonder. For brief moments each year this hauntingly landscape opens up, beckoning scientists and explorers from around the world to investigate its frozen secrets.
ANTARCTICA: JOURNEY INTO THE WHITE DESERT takes us on a mesmerizing visual adventure into this mysterious continent, introducing us to a team of South African scientists, researchers and explorers who have braved the inhospitable continent in the quest to learn its secrets. South Africa represents the African continent as one of the few countries that have permanent bases on Antarctica and is an important international getaway to the great white continent. The film explores South Africa’s role in the greatest wilderness on earth and showcases some of the groundbreaking research that could make the difference to our survival on this planet.
Millions of years ago Africa was connected to Antarctica in a land mass known as Gondwanaland. Once again, through the power of film, the vast freezing land of Antarctica will be connected to the mother continent.
Architects of the Natural World
Original Title: Architetti della Natura
Duration: 52‘07’’
Producer: Ugo Adilardi
Director: U. Adilardi / G. Albonetti / A. Guarnieri / A. Marotta / S. Seveso
Company: Paneikon
Scientific Field: Nature
Year: 2001
Country: Italy
Architecture was not a human invention.
Long before we walked the earth animals were hard at work, developing their own unique building materials, techniques and styles of construction.
Organisms living 3.5 billion years ago made a big impact on this planet leaving us with some of their architectural creations. They have even changed the face of the earth.
But other animals are at work today in everyday life. Fishes, spiders, insects, birds and mammals of many different species are building artefacts with an ingenious rivalling the architects of our own species.
The documentary focuses on the etho-ecological aspects of the constructions built by animals. Buildings extend an animal's control over the environment. This distances the builder from the disruption of a changing and unpredictable world beyond. Within the new boundaries animals seek to control one or more aspects of their environment such as climate, food supply or the risk of being eaten.
With the only aim of their beaks, mouths, forelimbs and jaws animals have been able to handle a great variety of materials and to obtain remarkable technological solutions. Builders create new habitats for other animals to occupy.
To many people, animals may not compare with some of the great human architecture, but the Kingdom of animals produces many masterpieces from untrained yet highly skilled builders - the architects of the natural world.
Arctic Dinosaurs
Original Title: Arctic Dinosaurs
Duration: 56‘ 46’’
Producer: Jackie Mow / Chris Schmidt / Ruth Berry
Director: Jackie Mow / Chris Schmidt
Company: Produced for NOVA by Zerkalo Inc. A NOVA production by Big Island Pictures Pty Ltd. For WGBH in association with the Film Finance Corporation Australia and the Pacific Film and Television Corporation
Scientific Field: Environment / Exact Sciences / Palaeontology
Year: 2008
Country: USA
How did dinosaurs survive and even thrive in the gloom of the dark and frigid polar regions? ARCTIC DINOSAURS explores this intriguing but little-known enigma in contemporary paleontology, following a unique field expedition – covered exclusively by NOVA – that sets out for Alaska’s North Slope to defrost a jackpot of new fossil clues. The team of researchers combines extreme engineering and perilous fossil hunting – including blasting a tunnel into the permafrost to collect fossils trapped beneath the ice – to reveal provocative new clues how the polar dinosaurs lived, and to their final extinction. With the help of stunning CGI, NOVA breathes life into the polar dinosaurs’ lives and environment in vivid detail. With Alaska’s spectacular wilderness as a backdrop, ARCTIC DINOSAURS will reveal a prehistoric lost world for the first time on television.
Art and Science of Renzo Piano, The
Original Title: The Art and Science of Renzo Piano
Duration: 26‘46’’
Producer: Elizabeth Westrate / Beth Levison
Director: Tad Fettig
Company: kontentreal
Scientific Field:
Year: 2008
Country: USA
World-class architect Renzo Piano drew on nature to create a space for the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. In doing so, he has redefined how people perceive and experience public buildings. Pairing notions of transparency with a living roof evocative of the region’s ecosystem, the California Academy of Sciences signals a new generation of sustainability-minded architecture.
Atom Smashers, The
Original Title: The Atom Smashers
Duration: 53’30’’
Producer: Clayton Brown
Director: Andrew Suprenan
Company: 137 Films / NFP
Scientific Field: Exact Sciences / Experimental / Technologies
Year: 2008
Country: USA
THE ATOM SMASHERS is a 60-minute documentary feature that chronicles the hunt for the most important subatomic particle in the universe.
Known in science as the Higgins Boson, the “God Particle” is a much theorized component of matter that gives mass to other particles. Physicists believe that finding this particle will help to unlock the key to the universe, and bring us greater understanding about the world at large.
In America, top physicists search for the tiny “God Particle” (and a Nobel Prize) using the Tevatron. With each passing day, these scientists believe they are getting closer and closer. But in Europe, a bigger, stronger and faster machine is poised to come online. Combined with budget cuts at the American facility, the existence of this new machine could mean that all of the work that is being put into the Tevatron could be superseded by the team that will soon start working in Europe.
An exploration of the profound but frustrating difficulties of particle physics, THE ATOM SMASHERS follows modern scientific heroes as they race each other to discover the truths that intersect science, politics and culture.
Attention Deficit Disorder
Original Title: Déficit d’Attention
Duration: 14’26’’
Producer: Hélène Leroux
Director: Marièle Choquette
Company: Société Radio-Canada
Scientific Field: Human Science
Year: 2008
Country: Canada
Approximately four times more boys than girls suffer from attention deficit disorders, a proportion that holds true across all societies. Is it a personality trait or an illness? What goes on inside the brain? And what exactly is the role of the highly touted – and much-maligned – drug Ritalin?
Aviation: The Limited Sky
Original Title: Aviation: The Limited Sky
Duration: 26’46’’
Producer: Elizabeth Westrate / Véronique Bernard
Director: Tad Fettig
Company: kontentreal
Scientific Field:
Year: 2008
Country: USA
Even if regional transportation becomes more efficient, people and goods will still need to travel the world. This episode looks at new technologies and policies that could offset the aviation industry’s substantial greenhouse gas emissions, such as Amyris Biotechnologies’ new synthetic jet fuels, and Hybrid Air Vehicles’ second generation of dirigible airship. To reduce fuel emissions, industry leaders like Boeing are also advocating towing planes on runways and implementing smarter air traffic control systems.
Awake is the New Sleep
Original Title: Awake is the New Sleep
Duration: 52’30’’
Producer: Paul Scott
Director: Paul Scott
Company: Mindful Media Pty Ltd
Scientific Field: Medical
Year: 2008
Country: Australia
DEAD TIRED features for the first time the latest science from around the world that proves that lack of sleep is harmful to the mind and body. This pioneering series uncovers evidence that tiredness can cause heart attack, diabetes, obesity and even depression. Two-thirds of us have a problem with sleep and experts believe this constitutes the number ONE medical problem in the western world. This series reveals why and what can be done about it.
Episode 1– AWAKE IS THE NEW SLEEP investigates how SLEEP DEPRIVATION impairs performance, affects the mind and damages the body. In a unique TV experiment witness what happens to a healthy 25-year old when he cuts back his sleep from eight to three hours a night for one week. The results are shocking! He becomes psychotic, dreams whilst awake and drives a car while fast asleep!
Baby after Cancer
Original Title: Un Enfant après le Cancer
Duration: 08’
Producer: RTBF - Patrice Goldberg
Director: François Gonce / Tristan Bourland / Patrice Goldberg
Company: RTBF – Matière Grise
Scientific Field:
Year: 2007
Country: Belgium
Pour les jeunes femmes victimes d’un cancer, l’espoir de pouvoir un jour avoir des enfants était anéanti, même en cas de guérison complète, par la lourdeur et l’extrême toxicité des traitements. « Etait » car depuis peu tout a changé ! Des chercheurs belges ont mis au point une méthode qui permet aux ex-cancéreuses de retrouver une fertilité normale après la maladie. Et ça marche ! Le premier bébé « miraculé » est né : c’est une première médicale mondiale, et c’est chez nous que ça s’est passé…
Baby Boomers Take on Mont Méra
Original Title: Baby Boomers à l’Assaut du Mont Méra
Duration: 40’40’’
Producer: Co-Production with Ciné Télé Action
Director: Yanick Rose
Company: Société Radio-Canada
Scientific Field: Medical
Year: 2008
Country: Canada
BABY BOOMERS À L’ASSAUT DU MONT MÉRA portrays a bold scientific mission led by researchers from the Montreal Heart Institute and the Centre hospitalier de l’ Université de Montréal. Their goal was to prove that sedentary baby boomers could turn things around to fight the world’s number-one killer, heart disease. As part of the study, seven volunteers, including Découverte hosts Charles Tisseyre, agreed to completely rethink their lifestyle. The challenge was to reach the top of Nepal’s 6,476-metre Mount Mera at the end of the world’s highest trek.
Battling the Superbugs
Original Title: Tod im Krankenhaus
Duration: 43’
Producer: Rainer Regensburger
Director: Valentin Thurn / Sabine Goette
Company: BITCOM
Scientific Field:
Year: 2008
Country: Germany
Normally we expect hospitals to make us healthy. But sometimes it’s actually in hospital that we become really ill. The worldwide spread of new superbugs in hospitals is causing alarm among doctors. The most widespread and most dangerous of the hospital superbugs is MRSA (multi-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). This bacterium is resistant to current antibiotics and is becoming increasingly aggressive: the number of medicaments which can be deployed against it is falling year by year. MRSA can lead to serious wound infections, pneumonia, septicaemia and, not infrequently, death. Every year, around 50,000 people in Europe die from this killer germ.
Ever since penicillin was discovered, doctors have relied on antibiotics for effectively combating bacterial infections. But whenever a new antibiotic appears, it is followed just a few years later by resistant strains of bacteria. They are particularly widespread in countries where antibiotics are most frequently and generously administered. Wherever antibiotics are prescribed in a more sparing and targeted fashion, there are also fewer superbugs.
The highest risk of contracting a hospital superbug is during surgery – starting with the general anaesthetic, which requires a tube to be inserted into the patient’s lung to prevent suffocation. The microbes can exploit any access route into the body, however small. Over the last 20 years, MRSA has steadily spread through the hospitals of Europe. ..
Beyond the Naked Eye: Miyadaiku
Original Title: Beyond the Naked Eye: Miyadaiku
Duration: 44’
Producer: Masaru Okamoto / Hiroshi Miyazawa
Director: Koichi Tanaka / Kazumasa Kohari
Company: NHK and Telecom Staff Co., Ltd., in Association with NHK Enterprises, Inc.
Scientific Field: Technologies
Year: 2008
Country: Japan
BEYOND THE NAKED EYE uses ultra-high-speed cameras and other cutting-edge technologies to reveal wonders of the world and human body unseen by the naked eye. This edition reveals how a “miyadaiku”—a carpenter trained in the ancient art of Japanese temple carpentry—can plane wood to a finish so glassy-smooth that its surface repels water.
Big Bang in Tunguska
Original Title: Das Rätsel von Tunguska
Duration: 45’
Producer: Andrzej Klamt
Director: Christoph Schuch
Company: Halbtotal Film Production
Scientific Field: Environment / Space / Exact Sciences / Nature / History
Year: 2008
Country: Germany
On 30 June 1908, the largest explosion recorded in human history to date shook our planet. Emanating from the Siberian taiga, its force was 2000 times that of the Hiroshima bomb. This incident is recorded in history books as the Tunguska catastrophe. To this day, internationally renowned scientists of various disciplines argue about the causes of this disastrous explosion. This documentary discusses the latest and most controversial insights of these leading scientists.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | NEXT
|
