Peter Watkins
Peter Watkins (29 October 1935 – 30 October 2025) was an English filmmaker, documentarian, writer and film theorist. He is known as a pioneer of the docudrama and the mockumentary genres, typically with heavy political content. His films present pacifist and radical ideas in a... Read full bio →
La commune (Paris, 1871)
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 interpret characters of the Commune, especially the Popincourt neighborhood in the XIth arrondissement.
Fritänkaren
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 posthumously published "The Occult Diary" (published 1977 ).
Resan
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.
Edvard Munch
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 becomes part of a cultural revolution lead by the likes of nihilist Hans Jæger.
Punishment Park
"Punishment Park" is a pseudo-documentary purporting to be a film crews's news coverage of the team of soldiers escorting a group of hippies, draft dodgers, and anti-establishment types across the desert in a type of capture the flag game.
Gladiatorerna
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.
Privilege
Steven Shorter is the ultimate British music star. His music is listened to by everyone from pre-teens to grandparents. He has no trace of public bad habits or drug involvement. Everyone in Britain loves him. His handlers begin to use his popularity for projects like increasing the consumption of apples after a bumper crop as an aid to farmers.
The War Game
The War Game is a fictional, worst-case-scenario docu-drama about nuclear war and its aftermath in and around a typical English city.
Culloden
Portrays the 1746 Battle of Culloden that resulted in the British Army's destruction of the Jacobite uprising and, in the words of the narrator, "tore apart forever the clan system of the Scottish Highlands".
The Forgotten Faces
“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".
The Diary of an Unknown Soldier
A short story narrated by an unknown British soldier who reveals his hopes, fears, and disillusionment while heading into battle against the German army.