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‘The most ordinary things became kind of extraordinary.’
In the most widespread power outage in the history of North America, the Northeast blackout of 2003 left some 50 million people without power over two days. Combining several distinct animation styles, this short documentary chronicles the eerie, otherworldly and exuberant stories of those who experienced the blackout while living in Toronto, hinting that, if society were to collapse, at the very least there might be live music and a few days’ worth of free beer.
Director: Sharron Mirsky
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Family life
One family’s harrowing escape from postwar Vietnam, told in a poignant metaphor
10 minutes
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Fairness and equality
Visit the small Texas community that lives in the shadow of SpaceX launches
14 minutes
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War and peace
A frontline soldier’s moving account of the fabled ‘Christmas truce’ of 1914
12 minutes
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Bioethics
What a 1970 experiment reveals about the possibility and perils of ‘head transplants’
6 minutes
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History of technology
Replicating Shakespearean-era printing brings its own dramas and comedy
19 minutes
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Animals and humans
The wild tale of a young animal keeper, an angry tiger and a torn circle net
10 minutes
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Technology and the self
Why single Chinese women are freezing their eggs in California
24 minutes
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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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Childhood and adolescence
The police camp where tween girls enter a sisterhood of law and order
28 minutes