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Shortlist - Best Science Documentary
The films below were shortlisted for Grierson 2007 in the Best Science Documentary category.
Winner
Monkeys, Rats and Me: Animal Testing
Production Cº: Hardcash Productions
BBC Two
Director/Producer Adam Wishart
This year, the building of the Oxford animal lab has triggered the most important conflict between scientists and the animal rights movement for a century. Monkeys, Rats and Me tells the story from all sides, the neurosurgeon who experiments on monkeys, and the activists who still believe its right to plant bombs and the teenage activist who created a movement.
Nominated
Horizon: Nuclear Nightmares
Production Cº: DOX Productions
BBC Two
Director/Producer Nick Davidson
Few things are scarier than radiation. But are our nuclear nightmares based on reality? This film investigates the science behind the fear, and talks to the UN scientists studying the effects of the Chernobyl disaster on people and wildlife. It uncovers astonishing evidence that contradicts many common assumptions about the risks of radiation exposure. How dangerous is radiation really? Could it even be good for us?
Nominated
How William Shatner Changed the World
Production Cº: Handel Productions, Mentorn, Discovery Canada, History US & ARTE
five
Director Julian Jones
Producer Alan Handel
William Shatner takes a comic journey to track the extraordinary influence of the most famous sci-fi show ever, Star Trek, on the world around us. Believe it or not, geeks and nerds across the world were inspired to invent some of the most important inventions we take for granted by the script writers of the show, from the iPod to the mobile phone This is an affectionate tribute to a show - and a Captain - who set out to entertain us in a cheap sci-fi series and unwittingly ended up changing the world.
Nominated
Illegal Nature - Massacre in Malta
Production Cº: Cwmni Da
S4C
Director Alun Hughes
Producer Justine Curgenven
This hard-hitting series on humankind's abuse of nature is a new departure for S4C wildlife guru Iolo Williams. Even where there is legislation in place, many rare species are under threat - the orangutan, the Siberian Tiger, and many British birds of prey. Combining observational and presenter sequences with hidden-camera footage shot undercover, the series allows wildlife observer Iolo to turn investigator and campaigner, exposing greed and folly worldwide.
shortlisted
Apollo 13: The Inside Story
Production Cº: Atlantic Productions
five
Director Tom Whitter
Forever associated with the immortal words ‘Houston, we've had a problem’, the men who set for the moon and very nearly never came back reveal the inside story.
shortlisted
Extraordinary People: Boy With a New Head
Production Cº: At It Productions
five
Director/Producer Alex Berk
Petero was born in a remote village in Uganda with a rare disorder that meant his head grew in the shape of a cone. Without help he would lose his sight and possibly his life. An extraordinary chain of events would lead to Petero being flown to Texas for ground-breaking surgery to completely remodel his skull. After a series of dangerous operations, his appearance and his life were to be completely transformed.
shortlisted
Natural World: Battle to Save the Tiger
Production Cº: Mike Birkhead Associates
BBC Two
Director/Producer Mike Birkhead
The tiger, our most charismatic big cat, faces extinction. David Attenborough narrates this moving documentary tracing the history of this battle from the late 1960’s to the present day, when skins of freshly killed tigers are being illegally traded in huge numbers from India to Tibet and China. Three champions of conservation; an undercover investigator, a political campaigner and a whistle-blowing scientist pursue the truth of true state of India’s tiger population today.
shortlisted
What Makes Us Human: Copycats (ep. 1)
Production Cº: Tiger Aspect
Channel 4
Director/Producer Tim Lambert
Armand Marie Leroi leads us through a world of parrots which talk and children who can’t, artistic chimps and autistic boys. He explains why apes are so bad at aping, why originality isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,and how a 10 year old with a speech disorder led to the discovery of the first gene we know of that is required for language.