This is a film about the response by a community to New Zealand’s largest environmental disaster, seen through the eyes of that community. The film captures the shock, anger and grief driven into the heart of the local community, but also the humour, purpose and overwhelming positivity when people join together with a common goal.
The Ashtabula train disaster and bridge collapse was the worst train disaster of the 19th century, claiming the lives of 97 people. The engineering and structural failures that caused the collapse of a bridge that stood for over a decade, also took down the most luxurious train of the day, “The Pacific Express #5.” The accident happened in Ashtabula, Ohio on December 29, 1876 during a raging blizzard, sending the luxury train crashing 70-feet into a river gorge and costing the lives of 97 people. The disaster shocked the nation, yet it’s a story that’s been lost in the pages of history. In a strange twist of fate and intrigue, the bridge disaster also became the backdrop to the still unsolved murder of Charles Collins, the railroad’s chief engineer. It also contributed to the eventual suicide of millionaire Amasa Stone, the president of the railroad and the designer and builder of the bridge.
Jaw-dropping real-life footage, from the funny to the dramatic, reveals exactly what can go wrong when we venture onto the roads
In November 2017, a devastating earthquake hit western Iran. It took only 13 seconds to lose everything. This is a fleeting observation of the days after the disaster.
The World Trade Centre attack was perhaps a foretold disaster waiting to happen. The proof is in this highly incandescent film: a rapid-fire montage of images taken from 20 years of Hollywood blockbusters. Edited and crafted with mastery in the Metamkine laboratory.
A found footage experiment made using footage from a 50s disaster film. Slowed down audio and lots of distorted textures are present.
British Steam Railway Disasters is the definitive DVD collection of newsreel reports covering no fewer than 55 incidents from the steam era between 1913 and 1967 Also included is a specially made 15 minute analysis of the greatest tragedy of all - the multiple crash at Harrow And Wealdstone in 1952 which features much rare footage including previously unseen film rushes. Throughout, British Steam Railway Disasters investigates the common causes of railway accidents with a view to the lessons learnt from :- Driver Error, Excessive Speed, Poor Visibility In Fog, Signals Passed At Danger, Signalling Errors, Road Vehicle Collisions, Equipment Failure, Rolling Stock Instability and Track Defects.
On May 30, 1889 the South Fork Dam, which maintained a pleasure lake for wealthy Pittsburgh industrialists and their families, failed due to very heavy rains and poor maintenance by the dam's owners. The burst dam sent a wall of water and debris, 40 feet high and half a mile wide, 14 miles downstream to the bustling industrial city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. More than 2000 people lost their lives in the disaster. This documentary tells the story, and tells us that the disaster was easily avoidable.
This pseudo-newsreel uses special effects to illustrate the fire caused by the San Francisco earthquake. A miniature model of downtown San Francisco is set ablaze and filmed.
The camera scrolls through a landscape to reveal the aftermath of a huge gas explosion.
This shows the heart of one of the tremendous drifts in the east end of Galveston. Hundreds of dead bodies are concealed in these immense masses, and at the time the picture was taken the odor given out could be detected for miles. The subject shows a gang of laborers clearing away the debris in the search for corpses, one of which was discovered while the picture was being taken. (Edison film catalog)
The scene is a railroad track on the side of a steep mountain, with a tunnel in the background, toward which a train is running at a high rate of speed. At this instant the audience is appalled at the sight of a second train rushing out of the tunnel. Both trains are on the same track and traveling toward each other at a high rate of speed. They collide. Cars and engines are smashed into fragments and thrown down the steep incline. (Edison Catalog)
The festive start and disastrous aftermath of the launch of the H.M.S. Albion.
Ancient myths tell of catastrophic destruction by fire and flood. The legends are so extreme that they are often dismissed. Earth Under Fire connects "myths" to science in order to reconstruct the details of prehistoric disasters and explain how they could recur. Compelled by ancient warnings hidden in zodiac lore, and working with science, to confirm that our Galaxy's core exploded at the end of the last ice age, unleashing cosmic rays that enveloped our solar system in a nebula, leading to darkness, frigid cold, solar storms, searing heat, and floods that plagued man for generations. Linking science to details in the myths and monuments of the ancients, he shows how our ancestors recorded the causes of these events, knowledge of which may be crucial for the human race to survive. This information reveals the intelligence and ingenuity of our ancestors who, when faced with extinction, found the means to warn us that the apocalypse that destroyed them could occur once again.
At 7:14 am on 30 June 1908, the largest explosion recorded in human history to date reverberated throughout our planet. The force of the explosion was two thousand times that of the Hiroshima bomb. A woodland area the size of Luxembourg was eradicated in the Siberian taiga. This incident is recorded in history books as the Tunguska catastrophe. To this day, internationally renowned scientists of various disciplines argue about the causes of this disastrous explosion. The documentary discusses the latest and most controversial insights of these leading scientists. It identifies the reasons why Tunguska has evolved into a phenomenon and points out the curious results produced by this mythical event in culture and economy.
The largest man-made disaster of the 20th century, now largely lost to history. A journey through the early history of Los Angeles and the city's water needs. Ever-growing demand led to larger and larger projects, and eventually to tragedy. The history of the tragedy, the role of William Mulholland in the disaster and the city's water development, and how the lessons of the tragedy reflect on our current infrastructure needs today.
On January 8, 2020, Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 went down as it was leaving Iranian air space. All 176 people on board were killed, many of them Iranian Canadians. For weeks Iranian authorities vociferously denied responsibility, but foreign governments and agencies were certain the plane was shot down by Iranian military, a fact Iran’s government eventually admitted. There were no answers as to why the plane was fired on or even why it was allowed to take off, since hostilities had broken out in the region in preceding days.
A one hour documentary on the aftermath of the 2013 Alberta Floods in the town of High River.