Nigel Finch

For centuries, bare-knuckle boxing has been going on behind closed doors. Nigel Finch's unusual film investigates this illegal activity by following one hopeful, Paul Lynch, as he prepares for a fight against the "Cyclone", the Northern Ireland bare-knuckle boxing champion

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Nelson Mandela and his fellow ex-prisoners recall their incarceration on South Africa's Robben Island. For three decades, the island housed not only political prisoners but convicts, lepers and the mentally ill. Yet amidst the hopelessness, Nelson Mandela and his comrades devised strategies and subterfuges with which they transformed life on the island, while the vision of a new South Africa began to take shape.

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One Irish Rover, a documentary focusing on the words and music of Van Morrison, was broadcast in 1991 on BBC 2 Arena TV special and on A&E cable television program. It is a series of live songs with commentary by Morrison about music and poetry, it has some truly amazing performances. It includes the footage of Morrison and Dylan in Greece, Georgie Fame at Ronnie Scott’s, John Lee Hooker, The Chieftains and Danish Radio Big Band.

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Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.

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For the first time since his release from 27 years of imprisonment Nelson Mandela opens up about his life and the turbulent times he's faced in this momentous, in-depth and revealing interview with Arthur Miller. From the intimate setting at his home in Soweto, South Africa, Mandela discusses the popularity and rise to power of the ANC movement and the pivotal role it played in the overthrow of the Apartheid regime. Plus he shares his thoughts on the future of South Africa, exploring both his hopes and fears in relation to the political, social and economic prospects of the country, putting particular emphasis on his 'Freedom Charter' - his personal vision for South Africa.

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Documentary about the life of Frankie Howerd, with help from friends and colleagues and including highlights from his TV and film career.

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A documentary on the ways in which the symbolism of the breast is expressed in film, fashion and filth, how the bosom is idealised and the means by which it is trivialised and denigrated. Contributors include Barbara Windsor, Jane Russell, Marina Warner, Sheila Kitzinger, American poet Audre Lorde, Vivienne Westwood, Anna Raeburn and Russ Meyer.

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From political conferences to the George Formby Society's annual bash, and Pleasure Beach to the weather, an Arena documentary on the seaside town of Blackpool and its history.

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Documentary on the life of Woody Guthrie, the travelling songwriter and singer who paved the way for the likes of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.

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In 1987, Robert Crumb presents himself: raised by a Marine father, educated in Catholic schools, married at 21 in Cleveland where he worked for a greeting card company, dropping acid in 1965, heading to San Francisco and getting in on the formation of Zap Comix, gaining celebrity, loving old time jazz, starting a band, living in a commune, meeting Aline Kominsky who became his second wife and his partner in art, having a daughter, and developing a more realistic drawing style. The confessions include his loneliness, his obsessions with women, his bewilderment by fame, his sense of the disintegration of Sixties' subculture, his nervous breakdown in 1973, and his peace now.

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An exploration into the photography of Martín Chambi and its relation to indigenista movements in Peru.

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A BBC television documentary on the life of Yukio Mishima that highlights the many known major aspects of his life and personality.

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Fear and Loathing on the Road to Hollywood, also known as Fear and Loathing in Gonzovision, is a documentary film produced by BBC in 1978 on the subject of Hunter S. Thompson, directed by Nigel Finch. The road trip/film pairs Thompson with Finch's fellow Briton the illustrator Ralph Steadman. The party travel to Hollywood via Death Valley and Barstow from Las Vegas, scene of the pair's 1971 collaboration. It contains interviews with Thompson and Steadman, as well as some short excerpts from some of his work.

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Arena is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC. Voted by leading TV executives in Broadcast as one of the top 50 most influential programmes of all time, it has run since 1 October 1975 with over five hundred episodes made, directed by the likes of Martin Scorsese, Alan Yentob, Roly Keating, Frederick Baker, Volker Schlondorff and Vikram Jayanti. Arena's subjects are a roll-call of the world's best known cultural figures from the 20th and 21st centuries, from singers Bob Dylan and Amy Winehouse to academics Edward Said and Eric Hobsbawm, from writers Jean Genet and V S Naipaul to artists Francis Bacon and Louise Bourgeois. The current series editor is Anthony Wall.

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