Ten documentaries that shook the world at the BFI

The BFI Southbank (British Film Institute) is showing a series of films this month under the title Ten documentaries that shook the world, featuring films new and old that have made a major impact on specific issues and history in general.

The series runs from 11-31 August and has films from the US, the UK, France, Germay, Iran, China and Japan, tickets cost £8.60. Here’s the schedule.

11 August - Bowling for Columbine Michael Moore’s 2002 Oscar winning film about America’s love affair with guns. 8.40pm
19 August - The Triumph of the Will The legendary Nazi propaganda film made by female director Leni Riefenstahl (who only died in 2003) which chronicles the 1934 Nuremberg rallies and makes Hitler a star. 8.40pm.
20 August - For Freedom Iranian propaganda film celebrating the return of Ayatollah Khomeni to the country after the fall of the Shah in 1980. 5.50pm.
21 August - McLibel The story of one of the longest trials in English legal history between a female gardener and a postman and fast food giant McDonald’s. 6.20pm.
21 August - The Thin Blue Line Director Errol Morris’s 1988 film centred around a drifter and a runaway acccused of the murder of a policeman in Texas and the DA’s efforts to get the death penalty. 8.45pm.
22 August - Heshang:The River Elegy Controversial Chinese documentary from 1988 seen by over 200million people in China. 6.10pm.
22 August - Death of a Nation:The Timor Conspiracy John Pilger’s 1994 film for the BBC looking at genocide in East Timor and the West’s lack of action on it. 8.30pm.
23 August - The Triumph of the Will 8.40pm.
24 August - McLibel 8.45pm.
25 August - For Freedom 4pm.
25 August - Death of a Nation:The Timor Conspiracy 6.15pm.
26 August - The Sorrow and the Pity Director Marcel Ophuls looks at truth behind France’s reaction to occupation by the Germans in World War Two in this 1970 film. 4pm
26 August - The Thin Blue Line 8.50pm.
27 August - Minamata:The Victims and Their World The story of 29 families in Japan suing a corporation for poisioning the watercourse and causing Minamata disease. 4pm.
27 August - Bowling for Columbine 6.10pm.
30 August - The Sorrow and the Pity 6pm.
31 August - Minamata:The Victims and Their World 6.20pm.