STORYVILLE: BBC FACTUAL STRAND REVEALS SPRING PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS

The BBC’s award-winning strand showcasing the very best in international documentaries today announced a new slate of films to be shown this Spring on BBC Four and iPlayer.

White Man Walking

Tuesday 27 May, BBC Four and iPlayer

White Man Walking follows one man's extraordinary journey as he walks through Trump’s America all the way to Washington in a Black Lives Matter t-shirt after the killing of George Floyd. The long walk by white filmmaker Rob Bliss across a deeply divided America becomes both a powerful call for unity and a stark exploration of fear. As he meets people on both sides of the racial and social divide, moments of hostility are contrasted by rare but meaningful connections with those who choose to walk beside him.

The film explores the deep racial and ideological divide in America, asking why advocating for Black lives sparks such visceral anger, particularly in poor, rural white communities. It is both a deeply personal journey and a broader call for empathy and understanding.

The Jackal Speaks: Inside the Mind of a Mass Murderer

Tuesday 3 June, BBC Four and iPlayer

The film offers unprecedented access to Ilich Ramírez Sánchez - better known as Carlos the Jackal. The mastermind of some of the most audacious and shocking attacks of the 20th century, he has never spoken for himself – until now.

From his childhood in Venezuela to his radicalisation, his operations across Europe and the Middle East, and his relationships with some of the era’s most infamous figures – from Colonel Gaddafi to Osama Bin Laden – Carlos speaks with unsettling clarity about his life, past actions and ideology.

Wedding Night

Tuesday 10 June, BBC Four and iPlayer

In the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, boys and girls are raised almost entirely separately. While young men are educated not to look at or think about women, young women are taught to dress, think and behave with modesty. Marriages are arranged and when the time comes to marry, young couples will have had little, if any interaction with one another.

On their wedding night, despite this being their first time alone together, the expectation is they will consummate their marriage. The forbidden becomes permitted, the impure pure, and modesty turns into full exposure.

The Contestant

Tuesday 17 June, BBC Four and iPlayer

The incredible true story of a man who lived for 15 months trapped inside a small room, naked, starving and alone... completely unaware that his life was being broadcast on national TV to over 17 million viewers a week.

The Contestant traces the experience of aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, who in 1998 thought he was going to an audition when a Japanese TV producer enlisted him to take part in a challenge. He led Nasubi into a room, ordered him to strip naked and left him with a stack of magazines. Nasubi was told his task was to fill out contest coupons to win what he needed to survive—food, clothing, appliances, and so on—until he reached the prize goal of one million yen.

The Wolves Always Come at Night

Tuesday 24 June, BBC Four and iPlayer

This beautiful film - shot in inner Mongolia - tells the moving story of a young couple left devastated by a sandstorm which kills their entire flock of sheep. They are forced to move to the city and leave behind the land and rural lives they treasure.

Born to generations of herders in Mongolia’s immense Gobi desert, young couple Davaa and Zaya are raising their four children as they were brought up: with an intimate connection to the land and the animals they share their lives with.

The Srebrenica Tape

Tuesday 1 July, BBC Four and iPlayer

Once a town with vibrant and integrated communities, Srebrenica, was torn apart by racial hatred. During the Bosnian war, it was cut off by Serb forces – its now mostly Muslim inhabitants surrounded by a hostile Army. Although the United Nations declared it a “safe area” – an enclave under its protection, it was far from safe when Bosnian Serb troops invaded in July 1995, murdering around eight thousand Muslim men and destroying every trace of their lives: their diaries, photos and letters.