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"Manon", wrote Puccini to his publisher Giulio Ricordi in 1889, "is a heroine I believe in and therefore she cannot fail to win the heart of the public." This turned out to be a truly prophetic statement since none of Puccini’s other world successes were received on their first nights as rapturously as Manon Lescaut. The popularity of Puccini’s great masterpiece has never waned and the highly acclaimed Götz Friedrich production at Covent Garden was hailed as an operatic milestone. Two of the world’s leading stars--Kiri Te Kanawa and Placido Domingo--head a strong cast conducted by the brilliant Italian conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli.

The story of two young women, Donna Edwards and Mary Katherine Jones, who aspire for careers in the theatre business.

Maya Deren is a legend of avant-garde cinema. This authoritative biography of the charismatic filmmaker, poet and anthropologist features excerpts from her pioneering Meshes of the Afternoon and her unfinished documentary on Haiti, interviews with Stan Brakhage and Jonas Mekas, and recordings of her lectures. Narrated by actress Helen Mirren, this definitive documentary offers startling insights into one of the most intriguing, accomplished figures in cinema history.

A documentary featuring the making of the July 1987 recording of Gustav Mahler's Second Symphony conducted by magazine publisher Gilbert Kaplan, who developed a passion for this piece of music at an early age and has conducted the symphony with major orchestras.

Set on a steam-shrouded railway station and shot in high-contrast black and white, Richard Kwietniowski's film lovingly twists David Lean's stiff-upper-lipped romance Brief Encounter into a rich and witty contemporary melodrama, with two devilishly handsome young men standing in for Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard.

Bruce Forsyth and Ronnie Corbett team up for this festive comedy show from 1988, featuring their own version of Gone With the Wind with guest star Fiona Fullerton as Scarlett O'Hara.

Will they starve her? Shave her head? Force her to wear a hair shirt? Elspeth's friends and family react with horror, grief and even derision to her desire to become a nun. She experiences her parents' hurt, her fiancee's feeling of betrayal, her friends' incomprehension - and her own obstinate joy.

Poppy is a celebration of Victorian values and exposes the hypocrisy, racism, drug dealing, money worship and sexual repression of the time through its favourite entertainment form, pantomime. Dick Whittington, his man Jack, Sally the Principal Girl, the Dame, two pantomime horses, a flying ballet, a transformation scene and even the traditional song-sheet are all brought on to tell the serious and finally devasting story of the single most profitable crop of the British East India Company.

An unconventional portrait of painter Frida Kahlo and photographer Tina Modotti. Simple in style but complex in its analysis, it explores the divergent themes and styles of two contemporary and radical women artists working in the upheaval of the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution.

A day in the life of Mrs Radcliffe , who believes that the advice she so freely gives is done only out of kindness.

A film made for the Central Office of Information concerning Britain's coastline, with music by Michael Nyman.

Documentary tracing the history of horror films from the silent period to the splatter films of the 1980s. Hosted by genre stalwart Vincent Price, segments include 'naked fear and terror torture'. includes clips from many Dick Randall productions 'Crocodile', 'Pieces', 'Queen of Black Magic' and 'Don't Open Till Christmas'.

A girl answers a job advert in a newspaper and becomes the target in a knife throwing act. But she is unaware exactly what she is letting herself in for.

1985:- England has been invaded by the Warsaw Pact countries and middle-class couple Hermine and Godfrey retreat to their rural hide-away but after witnessing a bunch of incompetent commandos kill each other, they get separated.

A black and white, fantasy-like recreation of high-society gay men during the Harlem Renaissance, with archival footage and photographs intercut with a story. A wake is going on, with mourners gathered around a coffin. Downstairs is an elegant bar where tuxedoed men dance and talk. One of them has a dream in which he comes upon Beauty, who seems to reject him, although when he awakes, Beauty is sleeping beside him. His story and his visits to the jazz and dance club are framed by voices reading from the poetry and essays of Hughes and others. The text is rarely explicit, but the freedom of gay Black men in the 1920s in Harlem is suggested and celebrated visually.

1999: A tower block contains youths ‘bought off’ by the government, in a climate of microchip-created endless leisure, who experience (often pornographic) virtual reality-style fantasies by donning the titular ‘shades’, until a 1980s theme party (they predicted that right, at least) leads to ideology and political thought seeping in under the dazed lifestyle.

Eddie's 40th birthday party reunites friends not seen since the old days of ton-up bikes and early rock and roll. It could be a chance to relive those 'good times', if the others can only match Eddie's enthusiasm.

'That man came to die here ... for a reason.' It is 33 years after Final War and an outsider has broken in to the City. Only Solus can probe his memories to discover his purpose, the substance of his dreams.

Activists take action to disrupt activities at an air force base after cruise missiles are stored at the facility.

Young Col is not enjoying his Cornish holiday and wishes his father would not join the family. Events make him grow up rather fast.

In this film, some who were not strangers - friends, relatives and fellow-broadcasters, who in their various ways loved the poet Dylan Thomas - give an account of the person he really was. The portrait that emerges, enriched by Thomas's own voice in poetry and prose, is different from the generally accepted picture of the inspired and irresponsible drunkard who somehow received a commemorative stone in Westminster Abbey.

This anti-smoking public information film has the kind of stylistic sheen often associated with 1980s British advertising, with its sci-fi setting, filtered smoke and gloomy aesthetics clearly inspired by the works of Ridley Scott (although it’s directed by his contemporary, Barry Myers). It imagines a genetically advanced future humanoid who’s evolved to be a ‘natural born smoker’ – complete with enlarged nostrils and tapping finger - before reminding us that no such creature yet exists. While we expect smoking adverts to be disturbing, the titular character is disquieting in a refreshingly unusual sense.

Goodie-Two-Shoes is a 1984 British short film written and directed by Ian Emes. A teacher volunteers a group of misfit students to take a new dance class including a goodie-two-shoes and his bully. Awkwardness, friendship, competition, and romance follows. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

A group of elderly women go on vacation to the seaside. One of them takes her son along and constantly watches him saying he has a brain tumor. His problem is something else entirely.

Historia is a compilation video released by Def Leppard, containing all the band's promotional videos from 1980 to 1988.

The controversial English artist Stanley Spencer scandalised the art world when he painted the Resurrection taking place in the churchyard of Cookham, his home village by the River Thames; and further scandalised the village when he decided that to nourish his imagination he needed two wives.

When Marjorie's husband of 20 years dies of a brain tumour, she's hit financially as well as emotionally. The money she makes packing tights in a factory isn't enough to cover her rent, and her TV is repossessed. Soon after the funeral she meets Arnold, a wealthy pub landlord, who squires her to the local Conservative Club ball in an effort to cheer her up. Life with Arnold promises not only companionship but undreamt-of luxury, but Marjorie's friends and family do not necessarily approve.

Sarah Jane Smith arrives at the home of her Aunt Lavinia in the cozy village of Moreton Harwood, only to find that Lavinia is nowhere to be found and that the Doctor has left her a parting gift in K·9 Mark III. With the help of K·9 and Lavinia's young ward Brendan Richards, Sarah Jane starts investigating her aunt's disappearance. In the process, they discover that Moreton Harwood is home to a coven worshipping the pagan god Hecate and preparing for a human sacrifice...

During the Irish Civil War in 1922, a family earns a big inheritance. They start leading a rich life, forgetting what the most important values are. In the 1980 BBC adaptation of "Juno and the Paycock," Dudley Sutton played the role of Captain Jack Boyle, alongside Frances Tomelty as Juno. The play, written by Seán O'Casey, is set in Dublin during the Irish Civil War and centers on the Boyle family's experiences with an anticipated inheritance and the subsequent fallout.

Christine, grieving for her fiancé who was shot down by the German Luftwaffe during the war, is persuaded by her cousin to meet a German prisoner-of-war—a Luftwaffe pilot.

Recorded live Royal Albert Hall, London, 5th-6th June 1988. Mixed at Moutain Studios, Montreux, Swizerland. Comes in the "TDK Collection". Total playing time : 1h 19mn approx.

Composed of stills by renowned Magnum photographer Susan Meiselas taken in 1978 and 1979 during the overthrow of the fifty-year dictatorship of the Somoza family. Written in the form of a letter from Meiselas to Karlin, it is a ruminative and often profound exploration of the ethics of witnessing, the responsibilities of war photography and the politics of the still image.

Short animated film centred on Kenny Everett's sci-fi character, Captain Kremmen, a pastiche of Dan Dare.

The film tells the story of a love affair between a poor poet and an equally poor seamstress in 19th century Paris.

A behind-the-scenes look at the putting on of the successful West End stage musical, including footage of the cast rehearsing and the triumphant first night.

One for the Road is a live concert video by the rock band "The Kinks". It was released in conjunction with a live album of the same name. Many of the bands classic songs are featured, including "You really got me", "Lola" and "Celluloid Heroes"

A week in the life of Redditch investigative reporter Kevin Turvey. As you would expect, not a lot happens!

Cyril Lionel Robert James (1901-1989) was a historian, journalist and contributor to Marxist thought. Stuart Hall was able to interview him for Channel 4 in the UK . The interview discusses his thoughts on revolution, socialism, and politics. His involvement in activism lasted decades. Born in Trinidad, much of his life was spent in the UK. C.R.L James became a teacher and notably taught Eric Williams. Williams went on to lead Trinidad and Tabago to independence. C.L.R. James also wrote fiction and about cricket. During his youth he did play the sport and wrote Beyond a Boundary (1963) describing cricket’s cultural significance. One of his favorite novels was Vanity Fair. This novel followed the lives of Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley during the Napoleonic Wars. James was a figure in the Pan-African movement and the anti-colonial freedom struggle. What tends to be ignored is his concern about class exploitation.

A young music journalist dreams of meeting his idol, Bob Dylan.

A talented, independent artist lives by the sea with her daughter. As summer approaches, she faces two threats to her way of life: the local doctor who is in love with her and her unhappy sister who comes to stay.

John Fothergill, aesthete and scholar, becomes the proprietor of the Spread Eagle, in Thame, Oxfordshire, with the intent of turning it into the most celebrated Inn in England, catering to the brightest lights in London's literati.

A couple of slackers' apartment is invaded by a garden shear-wielding maniac (think The Burning) bent on brutally murdering everyone in his path.

A pulsing, kaleidoscopic view of London's famous West Indian street party and sound systems.

What is the future of the controversial relationship of Jews and Arabs in Israel and the West Bank? How do Israelis see the issues, perceive what is happening to their country and themselves, and view the media which brings them distressing news about the effects of an extended occupation? This film draws particularly on the testimony of Rafik Halabi, an Israeli Arab journalist who has covered this beat for Israel Television, and who is the only Arab working in the Hebrew section of Israeli TV news.

Les is an aimless young man, unemployed and still living with his mother. He decides to give her a present - her name tattooed on his arm…

A man becomes an extremist after a military official disrespects his country.

A behind-the-scenes look at Roger Waters and Alan Parker’s 1982 film, “The Wall”

In Candy Guard's debut film, an overweight woman with a bag on her head sits down and swears at everyone she sees.

Powerful statement about the abuse of human rights by totalitarian governments, finds an unctuous and "civilized" interrogator humiliating the doomed members of a family who have become enemies of the state.

Special featuring Cilla Black and her guests Frankie Howerd, Graham Fletcher, the Bee Gees, Julio Iglesias and George Benson.

A young woman shakes eels out from between the sheets of a bed. She sews the eels on to a sheet, then cuts them away and they fall to the ground. A dilemma. Jayne Parker discovered film as a medium when she was a sculpture student at Canterbury College of Art (1977-80). In early works, objects, performance and gesture were combined by the camera to explore space, duration and the physical body. The images in these early films were both literal and metaphoric, depicting exact events but also creating physical and personal associations for the viewer. Ideas are evoked in images rather than words; ordinary actions are also enigmas.

Simon Templar thwarts a Hong Kong syndicate's takeover of a businessman's Australian fun park.

It's Josie Ingham's first day at Blackwall Firestation but things aren't going so well being the only female firefighter in an all-male team. Not only does she have to prove to them that she can do the job, problems at home complicate her life even further. Outside, in the heart of the city, tensions are rising to the extreme, Blue Watch have a long night ahead.

A profile of composer Steve Reich, a leading creator of stripped-down, "minimal" music. The program explores how Reich's music eventually became accessible to the musical audience at large. Included are interviews with the composer himself, and contemporaries, and also performances of some of his works.

An elegy on the death of the film-maker's mother. Fragments from dreams, nightmares and memories combine with natural sound and landscape in this short film poem "a myriad of instances in transit" M. Maziere, Independent Media. Through various texts and spoken diaries oblique reference is made to the persistence of the imagination; the dark, wild wood of Dante's Inferno with Paolo and Francescs buffeted on an infernal breeze, whilst an iconoclasic re-depiction of a Renaissance painting of the deposition by Raphael, describes an age in which the reality of death and grief were less hidden.

Valtos is a story told from thirty years hence, in the last moments of its narrator, who awoke one day in 1987 'with the knowledge that I had been duplicated during the night, and that I was an inferior replica of myself'. There follows a relentless, epic, pursuit of an absconding phantom - his 'original' - which ends in catastrophe at Valtos, a place at once ethereal and terrifying.

James van Santen, a white South African writer facing imminent arrest for acts of sabotage, has escaped to England. He leaves behind him not only a violent political life but also his handsome lover, Stephen. With little money or inclination to work, he fights a battle of wills with his Jamaican landlady, Katherine.

Stop-motion animated short film in which, among other things, a man made of wire looks malevolent.

A look at the decline of the 200-year-old slate roofing tile industry in North Wales, which once supported thousands of workers and their families and since dwindled to just a few working quarries.