The BEST episodes of Storyville season 2010

#1 - Valentino: The Last Emperor

Season 2010 - Episode 16 - Aired 6/7/2010

Film which travels inside the singular world of one of Italy's most famous fashion designers, Valentino Garavani, documenting the colourful and dramatic closing act of his celebrated career and capturing the end of an era in global fashion. However, at the heart of the film is a love story - the unique relationship between Valentino and his business partner and companion of 50 years, Giancarlo Giammetti. Capturing intimate moments in the lives of two of Italy's richest and most famous men, the film lifts the curtain on the final act of a nearly 50-year reign at the top of the glamorous and fiercely competitive world of fashion.

#2 - Cage Fighting Women

Season 2010 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/14/2010

Cage fighting (aka mixed martial arts) is one of the world's fastest growing sports. It is violent, shocking and some say barbaric, but hugely popular. Inside the cage, punching, kneeing, kicking, elbowing and choking are all allowed. Whilst men have dominated the sport for years, female fights are now becoming an increasing attraction. Filmmaker Nick Holt follows the fortunes of two British female fighters as they travel to America for the biggest bouts of their lives. Both have their own reasons for stepping into the cage and both are prepared to lay their safety on the line in search of success.

#3 - Unknown

Season 2010 - Episode 28 - Aired 12/27/2009

#4 - Unknown

Season 2010 - Episode 28 - Aired 12/29/2009

#5 - Barbados at the Races: The Favourite (4)

Season 2010 - Episode 12 - Aired 3/30/2010

Four-part series looking at Barbados today through the lives, at work and at play, of the island's horse racing community. The series is centred on the Barbados Turf Club and follows the stories of a colourful cast of characters, from the big white owners at the top of the tree right down to the poor black exercise riders and grooms. The Club and its racecourse have been based at the former British army garrison on the edge of the island's capital, Bridgetown, for over a hundred years. The quirky and, at times, spiritually-minded series looks at how the culture of Barbados today, its institutions and the mindset of its people, have been shaped by the colonial past and the legacy of slavery. There are two big races a year at the Turf Club - the Gold Cup and the Derby. This programme follows the build up for the Derby through the eyes of those who have trained and groomed the clear favourite in preparation for this historic race. Areutalkintome is on the verge of becoming only the sixth horse in over a century to complete the Triple Crown - all he has to do is win the Derby. As those around Areutalkintome face up to their role in his success, the programme becomes about more than just horse-racing. It is about chance, predictability, life, death, fate and faith.

#6 - Barbados at the Races: Run Cat Run! (3)

Season 2010 - Episode 11 - Aired 3/23/2010

Four-part series looking at Barbados today through the lives, at work and at play, of the island's horse racing community. The series is centred on the Barbados Turf Club and follows the stories of a colourful cast of characters, from the big white owners at the top of the tree right down to the poor black exercise riders and grooms. The Club and its racecourse have been based at the former British army garrison on the edge of the island's capital, Bridgetown, for over a hundred years. The quirky and, at times, spiritually-minded series looks at how the culture of Barbados today, its institutions and the mindset of its people, have been shaped by the colonial past and the legacy of slavery. It is not so long ago that the stands at the Barbados Turf Club were racially segregated, and until very recently the club was the preserve of the mainly white, wealthier classes. Now, however, the race track has attracted a new breed of small trainer determined to break into this exclusive gentleman's club. This is a tale of two trainers - one big, powerful and white, one small, cash-strapped and black - and shows that in the world of horse racing everyone can find themselves out of their depth.

#7 - Barbados at the Races: The Jockey's Prayer (2)

Season 2010 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/16/2010

Four-part series looking at Barbados today through the lives, at work and at play, of the island's horse racing community. The series is centred on the Barbados Turf Club and follows the stories of a colourful cast of characters, from the big white owners at the top of the tree right down to the poor black exercise riders and grooms. The Club and its racecourse have been based at the former British army garrison on the edge of the island's capital, Bridgetown, for over a hundred years. The quirky and, at times, spiritually-minded series looks at how the culture of Barbados today, its institutions and the mindset of its people, have been shaped by the colonial past and the legacy of slavery. This part is about the lives of three very different riders and centres on the life of the Bajan jockey - the trials and deprivations of keeping on top of your game, the glory and glamour of success and the temptations and pitfalls that can come hand in hand with financial rewards. All these forces create a tight-knit community united by their mutual competitiveness and their love of the adrenaline-fuelled buzz of the track

#8 - Barbados at the Races: Bajan Born and Bred (1)

Season 2010 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/9/2010

This four-part series looks at Barbados today through the lives - at work and at play - of the island's horse racing community. The series is centred on the Barbados Turf Club and following the stories of a colourful cast of characters, from the big white owners at the top of the tree right down to the poor black exercise riders and grooms. The Club and its racecourse have been based at the former British Army Garrison on the edge of the island's capital Bridgetown for over a hundred years. These quirky and, at times, spiritually-minded programmes look at how the culture of Barbados today, its institutions and the mindset of its people have been shaped by the colonial past and the legacy of and slavery. This programme explores what it is to be Bajan (Barbadian) during the run-up to Independence Day. Jonathon Simpson owns a farm and breeding stables in the hills, where groom Pat Coward is kept busy breaking in yearlings for training. Meanwhile in St Ann's Fort next to the Garrison Savannah the Barbados Defence Force's top Sgt. Maj. Cherrol Dean is drilling his troops for the 43rd annual Independence Day Parade. The programme discusses the ways in which Bajans - human and equine alike - are both bred and nurtured and compares the experiences of single mothers Pat and army medic Safreya Small. This first programme finds an island influenced - but perhaps surprisingly not overshadowed - by its colonial past, with a sense of historical contradiction and ambiguity that is the heartbeat of the series.

#9 - The Photographer

Season 2010 - Episode 26 - Aired 9/20/2010

Nazi accountant Walter Genewein helped to run the Lodx ghetto. He took color slides of what he considered the subhuman aspect of Jewish workers. This film uses the photographs to recreate the suffering of inmates, giving a compassionate picture of that it was like to be trapped in the ghetto.

#10 - Marriage Chinese Style: When My Child Is Born

Season 2010 - Episode 24 - Aired 9/6/2010

How much freedom can there be in a Chinese marriage? This is a remarkable, intimate film about two people who want to have freedom and happiness at the same time. You may think this sounds like a western story, but it isn't - it's all deeply Chinese.

#11 - Trouble with Pirates

Season 2010 - Episode 25 - Aired 9/13/2010

Documentary telling the story of the piracy explosion, with unique access to the coastal towns of war-torn Somalia, the boardrooms of the London, the operation hubs on warships in the Gulf of Aden, and the heartbreak of a hostage situation gone wrong.

#12 - Mandelson: The Real PM?

Season 2010 - Episode 27 - Aired 11/23/2010

Arch-political schemer Peter Mandelson invited cameras to follow him during Labour's ill-fated election campaign, resulting in a fly-on-the-wall documentary in the best traditions of the genre that offers a stripped-down view of politics in its rawest, most compelling form.

#13 - Youtube Hero: The Winnebago Man

Season 2010 - Episode 23 - Aired 8/31/2010

Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer tracks down Jack Rebney made famous when his 1989 video hit YouTube, and his journey turns into a fascinating exploration of viral video culture, and what it means on a personal level to its sometimes unwilling subjects.

#14 - Shanghai Tales: First Period: The War of Growing Up

Season 2010 - Episode 22 - Aired 7/15/2010

Focusing on the challenges of growing up, the film captures the flirting, fighting, showing off and anguish of children on the cusp of adolescence, and gives an insight into the formation of a new generation of Chinese children.

#15 - Shanghai Tales: All About My Friends

Season 2010 - Episode 21 - Aired 7/8/2010

Documentary giving an intimate view of the pressurised life of hard-working Liu Wei as he attempts to balance work and life commitments and satisfy his parents and his demanding girlfriend.

#16 - The Most Dangerous Man in America

Season 2010 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/15/2010

In 1971, leading Vietnam War strategist Daniel Ellsberg concluded that the war was based on decades of lies. He leaked 7,000 pages of top-secret documents to the New York Times, a daring act of conscience that led directly to Watergate, President Nixon's resignation and the end of the Vietnam War.

#17 - Last White Man Standing

Season 2010 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/2/2010

Tom Cholmondeley, heir to one of the largest estates in Kenya and the Lord Delamere title, stands accused of murder in Nairobi, charged with killing black poacher Robert Njoya on his land. If convicted, Cholmondeley could hang. Serah Njoya, the widow with four children who lives on the edge of the Delamere estate, wants her husband's killer brought to justice.

#18 - Kim Jong-Il's Comedy Club

Season 2010 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/8/2010

A journalist with no scruples and a pair of Danish comedians travel to North Korea with a mission to use humour to uncover the truth behind one of the world's most notorious regimes On the pretext of being a small Danish theatre troupe on a cultural exchange, the filmmaker was granted permission by the North Korean government to stage a performance for a select audience in the capital. In reality, the troupe was comprised of an unscrupulous journalist, Mads Brugger, and two Danish/Korean comedians, Jacob and Simon, of whom the former is handicapped. Their goal is to use humour to expose the intricate effects of an oppressive regime.

#19 - Kings of Pastry

Season 2010 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/18/2010

Imagine a scene never before witnessed - 16 French pastry chefs gathered in Lyon for three intense days of mixing, piping and sculpting everything from delicate chocolates to six-foot sugar sculptures in hope of being declared one of the best by the country's President. This is the prestigious Meilleurs Ouvriers de France competition (Best Craftsmen in France). The blue, white and red striped collar worn on the jackets of the winners is more than the ultimate recognition for every pastry chef - it is a dream and an obsession. The finalists, France's culinary elite, risk their reputations as well as sacrifice family and finances in pursuit of this lifelong distinction of excellence. Similar to the Olympics, the three-day contest takes place every four years and it requires that the chefs not only have extraordinary skill and nerves of steel but also a lot of luck.

#20 - Race Horses

Season 2010 - Episode 8 - Aired 3/11/2010

What might it be like to be a horse? Not just any horse, but a top-end racehorse in Ireland? This is the question Race Horses explores, following three promising, charismatic horses over the course of one rather difficult racing year, bringing us into their world and revealing their distinct individual characters. Beautiful, unusual, and highly entertaining, the film combines the drama of a sports movie with the exploration of an ancient human obsession, offering a subtle critique of humanity's quirks on the side.

#21 - Rise Up Reggae Star

Season 2010 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/1/2010

On an island where reggae is considered the voice of the people and an outlet for survival, Rise Up Reggae Star follows three aspiring artists who seek to 'rise up' from obscurity for their chance at success. This documentary takes the viewer off the beaten path far from any tourist attractions and sandy beaches, yet it is still able to capture the beauty and magic that the Island has to offer. From the deep countryside to the whirlwind ghettos of Kingston, no matter where you are, the film makes it evident that music is the heartbeat of the culture.

#22 - Your Father's Murderer: A Letter To Zachary

Season 2010 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/22/2010

On the evening of 5th November 2001, 28-year-old Dr Andrew Bagby was murdered in a parking lot in western Pennsylvania. The prime suspect, his ex-girlfriend Dr Shirley Turner, promptly fled the United States for St. John's, Newfoundland where she announced that she was pregnant with Bagby's child, a boy she named Zachary. Filmmaker Kurt Kuenne, Bagby's childhood friend, originally began this film as a way for Zachary to learn about his father. But when Turner was allowed to walk free on bail in Canada and given custody of Zachary while awaiting extradition to the US, its focus shifted to the desperate efforts of Zachary's grandparents, David and Kathleen Bagby, to win custody of the boy. A film that prompted standing ovations at film festivals across North America, it is the recipient of numerous honours and citations, was named one of the top five documentaries of 2008 by the National Board of Review and named in Best Films of 2008 lists by more than three dozen critics.

#23 - Leaving the Cult

Season 2010 - Episode 20 - Aired 7/5/2010

Documentary about three teenage boys who escape a polygamist Mormon cult in Utah. Powerfully emotional and compelling, a fascinating insight to a community it's hard to believe exists.

#24 - Anvil! The Story of Anvil

Season 2010 - Episode 19 - Aired 6/28/2010

At 14, Toronto school friends Steve 'Lips' Kudlow and Robb Reiner made a pact to rock together forever. Their band Anvil went on to become the 'demi-gods of Canadian metal', releasing 1982's Metal on Metal, which influenced a musical generation including Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax. All those bands went on to sell millions of records but Anvil's career would take a different path - straight into obscurity. But Lips and Robb never gave up on their childhood dream and kept rocking, always believing that one day Anvil would taste the success that had so long eluded them. The film follows Lips and Robb, now in their 50s, as they gear up to record their thirteenth album, This is Thirteen. Coping with increasingly impatient families, crippling mortgages and the effects of old age, they know this is their last chance to really make it.

#25 - Sync or Swim

Season 2010 - Episode 17 - Aired 6/14/2010

When Welsh filmmaker Dylan Williams followed his lover to Stockholm, the first thing his language teacher told him was that the way to fit into Swedish society was to join a club. Struggling to find work, approaching 40 and looking for a new purpose in life, he took her at her word. The club he found was Stockholm Arts Swim Gents, Sweden's only male synchronised swimming team, a ramshackle collection of men who were each looking for 'something different'. They found it. What ensues is an unexpected rollercoaster ride that ends at the unofficial world championships. By turns funny and moving, the film shows that happiness can be found in the strangest of places.