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A hugely satisfying portrait of production, this short documentary observes workers in Spain’s La Mancha region as they harvest cork from a quercus suber (commonly known as a cork oak). The process requires immense patience: each tree must be 25 years old before its uniquely light and durable bark can be harvested, and even after the tree has reached maturity, it can only be stripped again roughly every nine years thereafter. At harvest time, teams skilfully remove the bark with small axes, making sure not to harm the tree and risk damaging the renewable resource. Part of a series of short films about life in rural Spain, Cork shows harvesters in a delicate dance of force and care, simultaneously exploiting and stewarding the land.
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The ancient world
Petty squabbles and bloody battles – the life of an ancient Roman soldier
18 minutes
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Astronomy
The remarkable innovations inspired by our need to know the night sky
5 minutes
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Knowledge
Why it takes more than a lifetime to truly understand a single meadow
11 minutes
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Physics
Groundbreaking visualisations show how the world of the nucleus gives rise to our own
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War and peace
‘She is living on in many hearts’ – Otto Frank on the legacy of his daughter’s diary
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Art
Why Diego Velázquez needed a lifetime to paint his enigmatic masterpiece
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Earth science and climate
There’s a ‘climate bomb’ ticking beneath the Arctic ice. How can we prepare?
8 minutes
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Political philosophy
The radical activist couple who fought for social change in the courtroom
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Physics
To change the way you see the Moon, view it from the Sun’s perspective
5 minutes