Movies: Peter Watkins

Edvard Munch's childhood is overshadowed by death: he suffers the loss of his sister and mother, while enduring serious illness himself, almost dying. At university, Munch discovers his talent as a painter. As he immerses himself in the art world, he...

A docudrama depicting a hypothetical nuclear attack on Britain. After backing the film's development, the BBC refused to air it, publicly stating "the effect of the film has been judged by the BBC to be too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting....

The film portrays the Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter August Strindberg's life 1849-1912. Through his extensive correspondence and literary production, from the supposed first work, the drama "The Free Thinker" (1869), to the...

In this fictional documentary, U.S. prisons are at capacity, and President Nixon declares a state of emergency. All new prisoners, most of whom are connected to the antiwar movement, are now given the choice of jail time or spending three days in Pun...

We are in the year 1871. A journalist for Versailles Television broadcasts a soothing and official view of events while a Commune television is set up to provide the perspectives of the Paris rebels. On a stage-like set, more than 200 actors interpre...

Peter Watkins' global look at the impact of military use of nuclear technology and people's perception of it, as well as a meditation on the inherent bias of the media, and documentaries themselves....

Some time in the future, East and West have stopped maintaining standing armies and nuclear weapons. Instead, to settle their differences they pit different teams of crack combat specialists against each other....

World War II, 1940. When the Nazi hordes invade and occupy Great Britain, the English citizens are soon divided between those who choose to submissively collaborate and those who are willing to fight....

Culloden, Scottish Highlands, April 16th, 1746. It was one of the most mishandled and brutal battles ever fought in Great Britain. Its aftermath was tragic. The men responsible for such a disaster must be exposed. The men, women and children who suff...

Denmark is in deep crisis: the country is hit by general strike, during the holding of a NATO summit in Copenhagen. Meanwhile, a minister is kidnapped by extremists, and state power cracks down against politically-active leftists....

The Seventies People is a 1975 television docu-drama that was produced by Danmarks Radio. The film explores the high suicide rate in Denmark, the many factors behind it and how the average citizen deals with the stress of life, work, school and famil...

Britain's biggest pop singer, Steven Shorter, receives unwavering adulation and possesses total control over his rabid fans, which includes nearly the entire population. Yet Shorter is not an autonomous performer -- he is little more than a puppet fo...

This feature documentary is a portrait of Peter Watkins, an Oscar®-winning British filmmaker who, for the past 4 decades, has proved that films can be made without compromise. With the proliferation of TV channels, documentaries are enjoying an unpre...

A film that criticises and discussed the Australian media coverage of the first gulf war....

“The Forgotten Faces (1961), a film reconstruction of the Hungarian revolution of 1956, won Watkins another amateur Oscar, and to this day, the film is praised in England as "one of the most memorable amateur films ever made"....

Set in the underground living quarters of a scientist working at an international nuclear waste station near the west coast of Sweden. It is the end of 1999, and the TV in the oppressive living room inhabited by John (the scientist), his wife Margere...

A short story narrated by an unknown British soldier who reveals his hopes, fears, and disillusionment while heading into battle against the German army....

A reconstruction of the allied landing in occupied France during the second world war....