Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
‘It’s the great waiting of winter … hulking there and biding its time until life comes back.’
A meditation on the appeals and challenges of solitude, Winter’s Watch accompanies Alexandra de Steiguer who for 19 winters has been the ‘caretaker’ of the Oceanic Hotel on Star Island in New Hampshire while it is closed during New England’s coldest months. Tasked with tending to the island’s 43 acres by herself, de Steiguer finds peace and meaning in being alone with her thoughts, and creative inspiration for her photography, though at times her mind has turned to ghosts and intruders. With breathtaking cinematography from the US filmmaker Brian Bolster, Winter’s Watch was a film festival favourite in 2017, appearing at AFI Docs, Camden International Film Festival, DOC NYC and Palm Springs International ShortFest, among many others.
Director: Brian Bolster
Executive Producer: Thomas Harrington
video
Ageing and death
Death is a trip – how new research links near-death and DMT experiences
9 minutes
video
Technology and the self
Adaptive technologies have helped Stephen Hawking, and many more, find their voice
5 minutes
video
Gender and identity
‘When you’re done, you stay human!’ What gender transition means to John
6 minutes
video
Stories and literature
Solaris and beyond – Stanisław Lem’s antidotes to the bores of American sci-fi
7 minutes
video
Ecology and environmental sciences
To renew Yosemite, California should embrace a once-outlawed Indigenous practice
6 minutes
video
Music
Before the Beatles dropped acid, a BBC workshop was creating far-out sounds
6 minutes
video
Art
Is paying with hand-drawn banknotes artistry or forgery? The knotty case of J S G Boggs
10 minutes
video
Neuroscience
The brain repurposed our sense of physical distance to understand social closeness
5 minutes
video
Consciousness and altered states
You need to make friends with pain to run through the Grand Canyon and back
5 minutes