An eight-part series produced and directed by Michael Macintyre The Pacific Basin contains a third of the world’s population. No other region in the world has so great a diversity of race, religion, culture, social organisation and language. With rapid developments in trade, tourism and telecommunications, the peoples of the Pacific are being brought closer together, and they are experiencing constant challenges to their traditional lifestyles. Their economies are thriving as never before, but can they preserve their own unique identities in the face of such change? This series looks at what is happening in the Pacific and considers what the future holds in store.
Borges
Centred on an interview with the poet and writer, conducted as his home in Buenos Aires three years before his death in 1986, this profile gives a remarkable insight into the contradictions that surround this literary magician and master of paradox: a man who doubted all men’s certainties, even his own. The film is interwoven with dramatised extracts from his most memorable stories, including Death and the Compass and The Meeting, shot in location in South America.
George Orwell
Orwell (1903-50) is a giant of twentieth-century English literature, noted for his lucid and penetrating prose and for his passionate concern for the ordinary man. Made with the help of Orwell’s estate and his official biographer, Bernard Crick, this definitive study uses a wealth of archive and interview material to explore his work and evoke the troubled countenance of his world. This film shot in Spain, Paris and throughout Britain locates important events in his life.
Patricia Highsmith
Thriller writer Patricia Highsmith, America’s first lady of crime, died in 1995. She was best-known for her creation Tom Ripley, amoral crook and killer. This film combines interviews with Highsmith alongside dramatisations from Ripley Underground.
John le Carré
World-famous for his spy thrillers, Le Carré avoids publicity. In this rare television interview, he talks revealingly about his books and how they have been influenced by his childhood experiences and by his work for British intelligence. He focuses on his novel, The Little Drummer Girl. Le Carré reads from his books and the programme includes extracts from the film, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and the television series, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
Ernst Fuchs
Austrian painter Ernst Fuchs combines realism with fantasy in his work. In this film he is seen in his studio and shows off his magnificent Art Nouveau villa. He talks about his life, his work and his obsessions with womanhood and the symbol of the Sphinx. His belief in the mystical tradition of the Jewish culture, which, like Chagall, he is perpetuating, also emerges.
Theodore Gericault
Now recognised as one of the greatest artists of his generation, Gericault (1791-1824), the first of the French Romantics, died tragically young. Side-tracked by the magnificent preliminary studies he made, he failed to complete many epic projects and his contemporaries thought he would soon be forgotten. This film centres on his biographer Charles Clement’s posthumous investigation of his life. It shows the richness of Gericault’s work, set against the background of his day.
Dario Fo
Fo is an irresistible comedian and a key force in contemporary European theatre. One of Italy’s most successful writers and performers, his controversial political stance resulted in a fifteen-year exile from Italian television and a ban on entry to America. In this programme, Fo is seen in interview, rehearsal and performance. There is also film of one of his workshops on the mime technique of the commedia dell’arte, a mainspring of his work, and of his legendary Mistero Buffo performance.
R. K. Narayan
In this film, Narayan introduces his home town of Mysore in southern India, the model for Malgudi, the fictional setting for all his novels. Readings from his books, by Indian actor Madhav Sharma, reveal the charm of his style. The late Graham Greene, a great admirer of R. K. Narayan, assesses his place in world literature.
David Hockney
Hockney, one of Britain’s most successful contemporary artists, took a break from painting early in the 1980s to experiment with photography. He created ‘Joiner’ photographs – montages of prints showing subjects from many different angles and at different times. Filmed at his Los Angeles home, Hockney is seen creating one of these photo-pieces, from the initial idea through to the finishing touches. He talks about his interest in photography and its effect on his paintings.