What Darwin Never Knew

Dec 29, 2009

2h 0m

★ 9.0

One hundred and fifty years later, scientists decode nature's greatest mysteries

Overview

Earth teems with a staggering variety of animals, including 9,000 kinds of birds, 28,000 types of fish, and more than 350,000 species of beetles. What explains this explosion of living creatures—1.4 million different species discovered so far, with perhaps another 50 million to go? The source of life's endless forms was a profound mystery until Charles Darwin brought forth his revolutionary idea of natural selection. But Darwin's radical insights raised as many questions as they answered. What actually drives evolution and turns one species into another? To what degree do different animals rely on the same genetic toolkit? And how did we evolve?

Genres

Documentary

History

Production Companies

NOVA

What Darwin Never Knew Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Karl Steudel

Jerry Chu

Kandace Cummings

Ellen Becker Gray

The first image is in black and white, upside down and projected into a black box that then becomes the frame. It now hovers like a time capsule near a man’s face. He looks down, listening in on a female guerrilla fighter and translating her words from Fulani. Within the capsule, money is counted and paid out as a new currency, the numbers of the years run backwards in the black box. A 16-mm film glides through the man's hands and is transferred to a laptop screen frame by frame.

6.0

Citizen Schein

Mar 10, 2017

Harry Schein was an anomaly in Swedish cultural society. Equal parts playboy, intellectual, and political visionary, his life story could very well be the foundation of a Hollywood film. Citizen Schein is a film about a refugee who refused to look back, a film about powerful men, and the myths that fuel them.

6.0

Baronesa

Jun 14, 2018

The everyday life of a Belo Horizonte lower class neighborhood.

7.9

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

Nov 27, 1991

A chronicle of the production problems — including bad weather, actors' health, war near the filming locations, and more — which plagued the filming of Apocalypse Now, increasing costs and nearly destroying the life and career of Francis Ford Coppola.

0.0

From Victoria Street to Ang Mo Kio

May 26, 2019

This work documents a segment of Singapore’s education history –– the survival of the nation’s first Catholic missionary Chinese girls’ school through adversities during her formative years. It is a tribute to the arduous efforts and contributions of a generation of admirable educators who persevered in delivering the education of love with resilience and steadfastness.

6.8

Blindsight

Sep 11, 2006

Six blind Tibetan teenagers climb the Lhakpa-Ri peak of Mount Everest, led by seven-summit blind mountain-climber Erik Weihenmayer.

4.3

Casa Roshell

Nov 13, 2017

You’d never know this is your home away from home. The surveillance camera outside shows a drab reception area and an unremarkable street in Mexico City; inside, the lights flash, but the tables are empty. Yet preparations are soon underway and fixed categories cease to apply: stubble is removed, make-up applied and strands of hair are teased into place; the camera is trained not on the men themselves, but what they see in the mirror.

5.9

Road to the Stars

Nov 9, 1957

This film consists of three parts. The first dramatizes the life of the founder of Soviet astronautics, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky; the second describes the development of rocket technology; and the third visualizes the future with enactments of the first manned spaceflight, spacewalk, space station construction and humans on the moon.

8.0

$avvy

Apr 1, 2021

$avy investigates the historical, cultural, and societal norms around women and money.

7.0

An Angel at My Table

Sep 20, 1990

Based on the autobiographical work of New Zealand writer Janet Frame, this production depicts the author at various stage of her life. Afflicted with mental and emotional issues, Frame grows up in an impoverished family and experiences numerous tragedies while still in her youth, including the deaths of two of her siblings. Portrayed as an adult by Kerry Fox, Frame finds acclaim for her writing while still in a mental institution, and her success helps her move on with her life.

7.1

Amazona

Nov 18, 2016

This is the story of Val and Clare: a mother and a daughter. After the tragic death of her eldest daughter, Val left her kids and family behind and escaped into the Colombian jungle in order to search for her identity. Clare was only 11 years old when her mother left and couldn't understand what she was looking for. A son who became an addict, three break-ups and a fractured family remained behind. Now Clare is pregnant and decides to confront her mother, heal the wounds of the past and try to define motherhood on her own terms. Together they go on an intimate journey exploring the boundaries between responsibility and freedom, the power of love and the meaning of family.

5.8

When I Will Be Dictator

Mar 24, 2013

A diffraction of the autobiography using family footage filmed between the 1940s and today, this "science fiction documentary" creates multiple "I"s and transcends a story of mourning

6.9

The Yes Men

Sep 7, 2003

A comic, biting and revelatory documentary following a small group of prankster activists as they gain worldwide notoriety for impersonating the World Trade Organization (WTO) on television and at business conferences around the world.

6.8

Cycling the Frame

Aug 30, 1988

In 1988, Tilda Swinton toured round the Berlin Wall on a bicycle - starting and ending at the Brandenburg Gate - accompanied by filmmaker Cynthia Beatt. As Swinton travels through fields and historic neighborhoods, past lakes and massive concrete apartment buildings, the Wall is a constant presence.

No Image

0.0

The Galápagos Finches

Jan 1, 1971

Documentary about finches of the Galápagos Islands.

No Image

6.0

Ariel

Jul 24, 2013

When Ariel was just 33, his legs were shredded by an industrial dough mixer in Mendoza, Argentina. He became a living embodiment of the ongoing duel between man and machine. From that point on, he began to rediscover the meaning of freedom: to rebuild his broken identity, keep his family together and design his own prosthetic legs. Following Ariel for 10 years from the time of the accident, director Laura Bari has created an intimate and metaphorical portrait of Ariel’s newfound transhumanity, juxtaposing his daily life with dreamlike inner worlds—and pushing the boundary between the real and the imaginary.

7.3

Classified People

Feb 7, 1987

Filmed clandestinely, Zauberman’s extraordinary documentary exposes South Africa’s insidious apartheid policy of “race classification” by focusing on the love affair of Robert and Doris, and unresolvable, moral fissure with Robert’s children and the country. Winner of the Paris Film Festival Grand Prize.

4.5

An Evening

Nov 8, 2013

In the minutes that it takes for a day to lose itself to darkness, we see a house that has suddenly become empty. It is the home of Maria, who has recently passed, and who has left her mark in every corner of every room. A portrait of absence is also an attempt to resurrect the dead, perhaps even a moment of magical thinking. The winter outside is well settled, snow accompanies each thought. Based on a poem by Zofia Bohdanowiczowa.

0.0

Guinea Pig Diaries

Mar 21, 2021

Guinea Pig Diaries is an unfiltered look into the lives of guinea pigs and the people who adore them, breed them, show them, and rescue them.

What Darwin Never Knew

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

What Darwin Never Knew Trailers