This short documentary shows how a city's water supply is purified at a filtration plant. The complex system of the underground mains that supply all parts of the city with water is also illustrated, as is the safeguarding of water supplies on trains, ships and aircrafts.
10 Sep 2005
A documentary that exposes the shocking truths behind industrial food production and food wastage, focusing on fishing, livestock and crop farming. A must-see for anyone interested in the true cost of the food on their plate.
01 Jan 1963
Made on a wind-up Bolex camera, The Sound of Seeing announced the arrival of 21-year-old filmmaker Tony Williams. Based around a painter and a composer wandering the city (and beyond), the film meshes music and imagery to show the duo taking inspiration from their surroundings.
29 Oct 2020
No overview found
01 May 1995
"The End of the Line - Rochester's Subway" tells the little-known story of the rail line that operated in a former section of the Erie Canal from 1927 until its abandonment in 1956. Produced in 1994 by filmmakers Fredrick Armstrong and James P. Harte, the forty-five minute documentary recounts the tale of an American city's bumpy ride through the Twentieth Century, from the perspective of a little engine that could, but didn't. The film has since been rereleased (2005) and now contains the main feature with special portions that were added as part of the rereleased version. These include a look at the only surviving subway car from the lines and a Phantom tun through the tunnels in their abandoned state, among others, for a total of 90 minutes of unique and well preserved historical information.
17 Aug 2016
And urban planner's journey to making the impossible possible.
01 Jan 1970
An amusing view of the machine that has taken the country by winter storm: the snowmobile, revving, raring, ready to go. What the motorboat was to the summer lake, this motorized sled now is to the snow-covered fields. This film shows it all--the pull of this sit-down sport, the eagerness of the trade to keep it booming, the daring rivalry of the racing crowd, and the bemused pleasure of the family outing.
16 Feb 2023
“Beneath the Concrete, The Forest” is a short experimental documentary that takes us inside an ongoing struggle inside the city of Atlanta, GA between two sides to determine the future of Weelaunee, the biggest contiguous urban forest in the country.
01 Jan 1958
This short documentary offers a step-by-step account of a fast freight train on a run from Toronto to Halifax, with glimpses of the vast amount of organization necessary in the operation of a country-wide transportation network.
04 Oct 2025
People have always wanted to reach the horizon and go beyond it. It wasn't and isn't just about discovering for the sake of discovering. Exotic goods, wealth and power were the driving forces of these people. The steamship ultimately brought the breakthrough for global mobility and trade. In the past, as now, shipping is the engine of globalization.
02 Jun 2022
THE STRAIT GUYS follows Czech-born mining engineer, George, and his fast-talking protégé, Scott, along the proposed route of the InterContinental Railway through Alaska, to the Bering Strait and onward to Russia. The “Strait Guys” endeavor to convince international governments, corporations, and indigenous tribes to green-light their $100 billion railway project, which would provide ground-based infrastructure across the continents, relieve overcrowded Pacific ports, improve global supply chains, and ease tensions between the superpowers. The US and Russia have been successfully collaborating in space for decades. Now the Strait Guys are out to prove it is also possible down here on earth.
02 Jan 1966
Britain operates the most experienced diesel and electric railway in tne world. A century and a half ago she invented the steam engine and introduced a new system of transport; and in only nine years British Rail and the British locomotive industry designed, built and tested enough diesel and electric locomotives to replace fifteen thousand steam engines. The transition from steam to new forms of motive power, and its effects on rallwaymen and passengers, is the subject of this film. Produced in association with the Central Office of Information, the British Locomotive Allied Manufacturers' Association and the British Electrical Manufacturers' Association.
08 May 2022
No overview found
01 Jan 1982
This feature documentary studies one of the city’s most visible yet most anonymous character: the taxi driver. Filmed by day and night, the film offers an entertaining and sometimes comical look at the drivers, fleet operators and dispatchers who are expected to deliver passengers, parcels… and even babies.
15 Sep 2015
A rampant, street level story of mentorship and everyday heroism in tough circumstances. An inner city coach's son, estranged in his youth from his father, spends five years on ball fields in inner city Oakland and Havana, following the lives of two extraordinary youth baseball coaches, Roscoe in Oakland and Nicolas in Havana. The coaches meet on videotape and two years of red tape later, Coach Roscoe and nine Oakland players travel to Havana to play Coach Nicolas' team. For one week, the players and coaches eat, dance, swim, argue and play baseball together. But when the parent of an Oakland player is murdered back home, it brings back the inescapable reality and challenges of life in an American inner city.
02 Sep 2020
While Paris, the City of Lights, shines brightly, hidden in its shadows are fascinating installations, put in place nearly two centuries ago: the sewers. Even today, this 2,600-kilometer-long labyrinth of streets and infrastructure ensures the sanitation of the entire capital. In 1854, during Haussmann's grand urban renewal projects in Paris, the French engineer Eugène Belgrand undertook one of the century's largest construction projects: the renovation of the Paris sewers. His main innovation: an ingenious dual network that simultaneously treats wastewater and delivers drinking water to Parisians.
06 Oct 2024
A small group of activists take on systemic racism and prejudice in Baltimore's public transportation, battling against the odds to create a brighter future for their community.
02 Jan 1972
A cheerful and very colourful pastiche of live action with combined graphics set to the music of Muir Mathieson. This film typifies the image British Rail was keen to transmit during the early part of the 1970s. It marked the start of the age of the train, when 100mph running became standard and travelling inter-city took you from 'city to city - heart to heart'.
02 Jan 1955
The operation of the London Transport central Lost Property Office at Baker Street. Collected in BFI's "London on the Move."
02 Jan 1976
The Nine Road is the busman's name for one of London's oldest and most used bus routes, running between Mortlake and Liverpool Street. The film takes us along the route on a summer's day, and shows the operation and control of the Number Nines from early morning until past midnight. Collected in BFI's "London on the Move."
02 Jan 1970
How the London Transport Board, with the aid of modern technology, is tackling the problems brought about by an ever increasing volume of traffic. Collected in BFI's "London on the Move."