Learning From Disappointment

Povrchové napětí(cs)

How to Build an Igloo(en)

This classic short film shows how to make an igloo using only snow and a knife. Two Inuit men in Canada’s Far North choose the site, cut and place snow blocks and create an entrance--a shelter completed in one-and-a-half hours. The commentary explains that the interior warmth and the wind outside cement the snow blocks firmly together. As the short winter day darkens, the two builders move their caribou sleeping robes and extra skins indoors, confident of spending a snug night in the midst of the Arctic cold!

Cloudspotting(en)

This 90-minute documentary brings to life Gavin Pretor-Pinney’s international bestseller, “The Cloudspotter’s Guide”, which draws on science, meteorology and mythology for a magical journey through the world of clouds. It is no dry treatise on the science of nephology but a playful trip through the varied beauty and distinctive personalities of the ten principal cloud types From the ethereal cirrus to the terrifying cumulonimbus, the film tells the story of the short but eventful life of clouds and their importance to our planet. Find out how immense quantities of water can stay up in the sky for so long and how lightning and thunder are created.

Under the Law Part II: 3 Days in the County Jail(en)

Educational short film

Wordsworth Country(en)

A look at the Lake District and its famous poet.

Using the Telephone(en)

A young David Jason tries and fails to master sales calls.

Fresh As a Daisy(en)

A retired Major's efforts to hone his golf skills are thwarted by the diminutive but defiant common daisy.

O světle(cs)

Hamlet(en)

The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain present an abridged version of Shakespeare's play, with explanatory links and introductions by Martin Jarvis. Following the presentation of the play, members of the company are shown in a workshop with actor-director Ron Daniels.

Voyage Inside the Cell(en)

This narrated computer animation, with an original musical score, illuminates cellular mitosis. DNA self-replicates; chromosomes divide into two daughter cells; but it begins with a hormone entering the nucleus of a cell.

Rabies(en)

How to tell if an animal has rabies.

The Inner Life of the Cell(en)

This short film, commissioned by Harvard University, illustrates the elegant mechanisms by which a white blood cell responds to a stimulus.

Another Side of the Forest(en)

Developments in the Canadian forestry industry during the 1970s are shown being carried out both as lab experiments and in the field to protect and conserve the country's vast forests. These include turning a Newfoundland bog into woodland, fostering British Columbia seedlings that withstand mechanical planting, inoculating Ontario elms against the bark beetle, devising ways of controlling fire, and more.

The Four Elements(en)

An educational film about power sources that’s rendered as a lyrical meditation on heat and vapor, The Four Elements is a poetic and avant-garde documentary Curtis Harrington made for the United States Information Agency.

The Queen of the Waves(cs)

An animated short film that explains in a pedagogical way how the radio transmission works. Created by Czech filmmakers it was commissioned by Argentina Schools. The film tells the story of Curious, an extraterrestrial child that reaches the planet earth attracted by the sound waves. There he meets the Queen of Waves, an ethereal figure who teaches her step by step the process by which sound is captured, amplified, modulated and transformed into electromagnetic vibrations to be transmitted by a radial antenna.

The Age of Curiosity(en)

Promotional film for Seventeen intended to show how well the magazine knows and serves its teenage audience. The film observes teenage girls at home, in school, at work and play, and alone and with friends, zeroing in on teen concerns about dating, marriage, and adulthood.

Jaro(cs)

Speech: Using Your Voice(en)

An educational short film about correct speaking methods.

Constructing Reality: A Film on Film(en)

An exploration of the intricate art of filmmaking, delving into the multifaceted stages of scriptwriting, cinematography, and meticulous final editing. It provides a behind-the-scenes journey, unraveling the creative and technical complexities that bring a film to life. As an illustration, the film-within-a-film narrative centers around a race car competition.

Edge of Darkness(en)

The film features amazing scenes of places never before seen gathered by key space missions that culminated with groundbreaking discoveries in 2015. It features a spectacular flight though the great cliffs on comet 67P, a close look at the fascinating bright "lights" on Ceres, and the first ever close ups of dwarf binary planet Pluto/Charon and its moons.