The $15BN Island That Will Make Or Break Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has reclaimed two square kilometers of land from the Indian Ocean to double the size of its capital and retain talent, but will the investment pay off?
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Sri Lanka has reclaimed two square kilometers of land from the Indian Ocean to double the size of its capital and retain talent, but will the investment pay off?
Youri Fernandez turns his lens on the art of skateboarding in this monochromatic portrait of four boarders as they make Berlin their playground, soundtracked by a metronomic composition from electronic musician Petit Fantôme.
The food at McDonald’s has always sold like hotcakes but once the restaurant started franchising, the world began eating up the brand. But being a franchise owner isn’t as easy, or profitable, as you might think. Buying into a McDonald’s franchise is expensive, between $1 million and $2.2 million.
In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennon’s hotel room in Toronto and convinced him to do an interview. 38 years later, Levitan, director Josh Raskin and illustrators James Braithwaite and Alex Kurina have collaborated to create an animated short film.
Former Secret Service Agent Jonathan Wackrow explains how the Service keeps counterfeit currency out of circulation. The Secret Service was installed to combat counterfeit money during the Civil War, and the Service still to this day works tirelessly to suppress counterfeits.
Exit 12 is a New York-based dance company led by Veterans and military families. Through dance and choreography, Exit 12 tells stories about the effects of war — both to heal themselves and also to change the perceptions and stereotypes of the Veteran community.
Former FBI agent and body language expert Joe Navarro breaks down the various ways we communicate non-verbally. What does it mean when we fold our arms? Why do we interlace our fingers? Can a poker player actually hide their body language?
Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant, in Austria, was ready to go: it just needed starting up. But that never happened, and forty years later, it still sits mothballed. The government eventually held a referendum: “do you want nuclear power?” When everything was counted, 50.5% said…”No”.
As the Japanese populace shrinks and ages, and young people leave the suburbs and rural areas for cities, more and more communities are becoming ghost towns. The municipality of Okutama, on the outskirts of Tokyo, has come up with a novel solution: Give away houses to young families for free.
Huge amounts of rice straw are left over after the harvest in Thailand. Farmers often burn it, which is terrible for the environment. A young entrepreneur has found a new use for the material. Turned into paper, it can replace plastic food packaging.
Africa is changing so fast, it is becoming hard to ignore. In the short term, the continent faces many problems, but in the long term, it could rival China’s economic might. By the end of this century, Africa is set to play a much bigger role in world affairs. The Asian growth miracle is likely to slow Africa’s rapid rise could be next.
The lake was built by the British for irrigating nearby farmlands. But gradually it became a dumpsite for Salem’s municipal solid waste. In 2010 the Salem Citizen’s Forum (SCF) took over the work of cleaning the lake. Using the silt of the lake, the SCF created 45 small islands.
When French President Mitterrand tells President Reagan in July 1981 that the KGB has been stealing Western technology, it confirms Reagan’s distrust of the Soviet Union. Reagan fears that stolen technology will help the Soviet Union complete a giant engineering project, the Trans-Siberian pipeline.
Back in 1989, a guy by the name of Igor Dmitrovsky filed the paperwork to incorporate a small little business in the state of New York. This company would enter the metal cylinder organism transport business under the name Baltia Airlines. The airline was to fly from New York, US to St Petersburg, USSR.
Whatever your beliefs, most people seem to agree that the body left behind when we depart this mortal coil is just a heap of bones and flesh. Assuming that nature is left to its own devices, our bodies undergo a fairly standard process of decomposition that can take anywhere from two weeks to two years.
When Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson passed away on February 3rd, 1959 after a small plane crash, rock and roll lost some of its most notable early pioneers. Singer-songwriter Don McLean called this moment in music history “The Day the Music Died,” in his song “American Pie.”
The landscape of Iceland has changed a lot in a thousand years. When the Vikings first arrived in the ninth century, the land was covered in 25 to 40 percent forest.
Are people in North Korea allowed to laugh, dance and marry? This documentary provides unique insights on everyday life in the East Asian country, which most people associate with dictatorship, military parades and nuclear missile testing.
Capable of producing nearly five million tonnes of steel each year, the steelworks in Port Talbot, South Wales is the UK’s largest—and it’s currently losing £1 million each day. Here, London-based director Robin Mason talks about his portrait of the town at a vital moment in its history.
Lost & Found is a stop motion short film that tugs at the heartstrings. A knitted toy dinosaur must completely unravel itself to save the love of its life. Directed by Andrew Goldsmith and Bradley Slabe.
By 2050 there could be more plastic in the ocean by weight, than fish. Plastic pollution is definitely one of the largest threats our oceans face today. Meet the engineers who are using rubbish-guzzling boats to stem the flow at its source.
Although Tesla reigns as king of the EV market thanks to its Model 3, Volkswagen has a plan in place to outsell them in the next few years. The automaker has set its sights on becoming a major name in the EV game, investing $37 billion in its electric car program.
Cody BigTobacco is a new jockey in North America’s original extreme sport: Indian Relay — where jockeys ride horses bareback and jump from one horse to another in the middle of the race. Fast Horse puts the audience on the back of a galloping horse, an exhilarating POV experience.
The coffee supply chain is rife with uncertainty, unfairness, and even corruption. Bext360 wants to change that. This video looks at how they’re using machine vision, artificial intelligence, and blockchain payments to bring the largest un-automated system in the world into the digital age.
Nigeria is reclaiming 10 square kilometres of land from the ocean to create “Eko Atlantic” – a vast new city that is set to become the financial heart of Africa. 10 new city districts will then be constructed on this reclaimed land, providing commercial, residential and recreational amenities and homes to more than 250,000 residents.
Nearly 2,000 drones took to the night sky and illuminated the Huangpu River in Shanghai to welcome in the new year. At around midnight, the drones gathered to form a running man. It moved forward, showing the changes and achievements Shanghai has made in the past 40 years.
The 16 residents who live on the tiny German island of Oland must cope with extreme flooding on a regular basis. But they have no intention of leaving.
Filmmaker Brandon Li made a thrilling 7-minute film on life in the South Korean city of Seoul. Li’s distinctive filming style is present—swooping gimbal shots, push-ins, a saturated vibrancy.
Gaddafi’s 25 Years in Power (1994): A historic report filmed as Libya celebrated 25 years of Gaddafi’s rule. This short documentary challenges the West’s view of Libya and looks at Gaddafi’s struggles both at home and abroad.
As Shenzhen companies look to Africa for new consumer markets, African entrepreneurs are turning to Shenzhen for manufacturing partners to turn their ideas into reality. How the movers and shakers in Ethiopia’s burgeoning tech startup scene are tapping into the open source manufacturing ecosystem of China’s most entrepreneurial city.
Tómas Tómasson’s all-American burger joint is so legendary in Iceland, it ousted McDonald’s from the country. It all began back in 1981 when the good folk of Reykjavík, Iceland still thought fish and chips was exotic foreign food. Along came Tommi and taught them to worship a new kind of sustenance: the mighty burger.
When one man discovers a way to beat the system, Vegas becomes his playground. From slot machine alone he steals millions with the authorities none the wiser, but when he pushes the limits and increases the risks, things take a turn for the worst.
UN estimates indicate that Kiribati could disappear in just 30 or 40 years. That’s because the average elevation is less than two meters above sea level. And some of the knock-on effects of climate change have made the situation more difficult.
Ocean water is saturated with salt, and undrinkable. Most of the freshwater is locked away in glaciers or deep underground. Less than one percent of it is available to us. So why can’t we just take all that seawater, filter out the salt, and have a nearly unlimited supply of clean, drinkable water?
How do well-meaning, intelligent people end up in a cult? EnlightenNext was an organization, founded by self-styled guru Andrew Cohen, that aimed to facilitate spiritual awakening. Cohen’s most devoted students meditated for hours—at times, months—on end, were often celibate, and lived together.
This short film tells the story of Alli, a mother of young children who has grown frustrated with her daily routine and husband. But her life is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings move in across the street and she discovers that she can see into their apartment.
While road types can vary greatly depending on their use, location and construction method, the majority are formed from crushed rock, sand and asphalt in a process that releases volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere. In order to curb the environmental impact of road construction, a number of new innovations are now being trialed.
Director Tim Mason pulls the curtain back on the glamorous world of advertising in this short comedy about a voiceover actor trying to nail the right tone for a pair of indecisive ad creatives selling a fictitious children’s ice cream brand.
“1917” stars George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Colin Firth, and Benedict Cumberbatch and was filmed to look like one continuous shot. Cinematographer Roger Deakins explains how he and director Sam Mendes did it, from digging up a mile of trenches to attaching cameras to cranes and drones.
A self-described liberal from cosmopolitan Tel Aviv, Iris Zaki wanted to get behind the politics of Israel’s controversial settlements in the occupied territories — so she moved there, temporarily, setting up an improvised cafe where she could chat with settlers from her own generation.
