West Indian poet and playwright Derek Walcott has an unrivalled reputation among his peers and has been described by many, Salman Rushdie and the late Joseph Brodsky among them, as the greatest living English language poet. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992. He now teaches at Boston University but returns to his native St. Lucia every summer to write. This programme was shot on location there and shows how Walcott sets out to capture the beauty of this Caribbean island in words.
Nicaragua
Nicaragua’s terrorist troubles are well-known, but not so its other political phenomenon. When this programme was made in 1988, during turbulent peace negotiations, the
country was controlled almost entirely by prominent creative writers – from the President and his ministers, to key figures in the Opposition. The remarkable developments instigated by this literary government are shown in this film.
Joseph Conrad
Late Shakespeare
Peter Hall ended his distinguished fifteen-year reign as director of Britain’s Royal National Theatre by staging three of Shakespeare’s last plays – Cymbeline, The Tempest and The Winter’s Tale. This programme follows Hall and his actors from the first read-through up to the dress rehearsal, sharing the discoveries they made about Shakespeare’s plays along the way.
Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing is one of Britain’s greatest contemporary novelists. Her career spans some fifty years and her many books explore a multiplicity of themes; feminism, communism, religion, madness, civilisation and the future of Western society. She has ranged through realistic fiction, science fantasy, factual writing and mythic parable. In this programme, Lessing talks about her writing and her highly original view of the world.
Aboriginal Art
When the first Europeans sailed into Sydney Cove they disturbed at least forty thousand years of unique aboriginal culture and, in the sometimes violent clashes that followed, much of that culture was eclipsed and even destroyed. This film considers the work of four contemporary Aborigines who demonstrate that the rich visual and oral traditions of their people still flourish against all odds: writer Archie Weller, artist Trevor Nickolls, painter and carver Banduk Marika, and poet Kath Walker.
William Forsythe at Work
As director of the Frankfurt Ballet, American choreographer William Forsythe leaped to prominence, shaping an international troupe of dancers into the brilliant instrument of his choreographic and theatrical imagination. This programme shows Forsythe working with the company on Impressing the Tsar, and introducing dancers of the New York City Ballet to his rigorous methods, as he prepares Behind the China Dogs.
Design
Design is all-pervasive in the man-made environment: it helps shape the society in which we live and influences our desires and aspirations. This series examines its impact on diverse and surprising aspects of contemporary life. Six films pivot on portraits of individual designers, but also place them in the context of their rivals and contemporaries. Car design, advertising, environmental design, communications, status symbols, even fantasy are brought into focus. Contributors include Ferdinand Porsche, Muriel Cooper of M.I.T’s Media Lab, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, Giorgio Armani and special effects man Bran Ferren.
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
The German-Italian composer Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948) is best remembered for the many light operas he based on the comedies of Goldoni. In this portrait, extracts from his work, including I quattro rusteghi, Il campiello and Il segreto di Susanna, are seen in rehearsal and performance. His music is interspersed with comments from directors, composers and conductors, who, together with his nephew, tell the story of his life.
Eric Clapton
In this television interview, the legendary rock and blues guitarist gives an honest and offen moving account of his life and career, from his early successes, to his years of drug addiction and on to his spectacular re-emergence in the mid-1980s. The programme includes footage looking back on Clapton’s career, a specially arranged private concert with his hero, blues player Buddy Guy, and a reunion with Jack Bruce from Cream.