BBC announces 2023 winter slate of Storyville films

A new lineup of films to air on BBC Four and iPlayer in early 2023 has been unveiled as part of the BBC’s award-winning Storyville strand highlighting the best in international documentaries.

And this follows the announcement that Emma Hindley will be taking on the role of Lead Commissioning Editor, Storyville.

Three Minutes: A Lengthening
(24 Jan, 10pm, BBC Four and iPlayer)

The Jewish community of Nasielsk, Poland, was documented by photographer David Kurtz in 1938, and just three minutes of footage survives today. Narrated by Helena Bonham Carter, “Three Minutes: A Lengthening” features interviews with the filmmaker’s grandson and the youngster seen in the fading footage, who turns out to be one of the few villagers to survive the Holocaust.

Directed by Bianca Stiger
Written by Bianca Stiger and Glenn Kurtz
Narrated by Helena Bonham-Carter
Co-produced by Steve McQueen

The footage was filmed by David Kurtz and made available courtesy of the Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Commissioning Editor for BBC Storyville, Lucie Kon

Casa Susanna
(31 Jan, 10pm, BBC Four and iPlayer)

Casa Susanna was a little wooden house with a barn in the back that served as a retreat for the first underground network of cross-dressers in the 1950s and 1960s in the rural American countryside at the foot of the Catskill mountains. Both Diane and Kate have turned 80. They were men at the time, and they used to spend weekends at the house with their families and friends. This early, almost forgotten history of transgender identification is recounted in Casa Susanna.

Directed by Sebastian Lifshitz
Produced by Muriel Meynard
Commissioning Editor for BBC Storyville, Lucie Kon
Agat Films in Association with BBC Storyville

Blue Box
Israeli director Michal Weits recalls her great-grandfather as a mysterious man from her childhood. Yosef Weits was a significant figure in the pre-state Jewish community in Palestine, where he was tasked with acquiring property for a Jewish state and was later dubbed the “ideal Zionist” by his own children. He established and directed the Blue Box campaign, which raised millions of dollars, and is remembered as the “Father” of Israel’s woods because of his role in “turning the desert green.” Michal’s great-grandfather helped build the Jewish state, but his diaries show a darker side: he also oversaw the expropriation of Palestinian land, ensuring that Arabs who had fled or been forcibly expelled during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence would never be able to return.

Directed by Michal Weits
Produced by Assaf Amir, Ina Fichman, Eric Goossens, Frederik Nicolai, Uri Smoly, Daron Djerassi
Edited by Erez Laufer and Commissioning Editor for BBC Storyville, Emma Hindley
Norma Productions, Intuitive Pictures, Offf-World, yesDocu

The Spy on Your Mobile
An inquiry into the Israeli firm NSO Group and its sale of the horrifying and powerful spyware Pegasus to governments throughout the world, where it was used against journalists, activists, and even the wife and fiancée of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi.

Directed by Anne Poiret and Arthur Bouvart
Produced by Laurent Richard, Sandrine Rigaud,Eamonn Matthews, Dan Edge
Commissioning Editor for BBC Storyville, Emma Hindley
Forbidden Films for BBC Storyville

Traitors and Heroes: Inside Russia
The risk for average Russians to speak out against Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship has been high for some time, but new censorship regulations passed after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 have increased that risk significantly. Two Russian filmmakers have been documenting the effects of the conflict on their country despite the enormous dangers they have been putting themselves in. While hundreds have fled, the remaining population has been forced to take a stand on whether they oppose Russia’s war in Ukraine, support it, or remain neutral.

Commissioning Editors for BBC Storyville, Emma Hindley and Lucie Kon
BBC Storyville presents a BBC Eye Investigation with Ronachan Films

Sex on Screen

The documentary Sex on Screen examines the production of sexually explicit sequences in Hollywood, the toll they take on the actors and crew, and the effect they have on real-life women and girls. The film highlights the voices of women who have spoken out against abusive behavior on sets and have been punished for doing so, and features candid interviews with actors and creators such as Jane Fonda, Rosanna Arquette, Joey Soloway, Angela Robinson, Karyn Kusama, Rose McGowan, Alexandra Billings, Emily Meade, and David Simon.

Directed by Kirsty Guevara-Flanagan
Produced by Helen Hood Scheer
Edited by Liz Kaar, Anne Alvergue

Featuring (In Order of Appearance)
Diana Elizabeth Torres, Rose McGowan, Sarah Tither-Kaplan, Jane Fonda, Michelle Krusiec, DeWanda Wise, Mishel Prada, Alexandra Billings, Joey Soloway, Rosanna Arquette, Angela Robinson, Karyn Kusama, Linda Williams, Lauren “Lolo” Spencer, Stacy Rukeyser, David Simon, Mick LaSalle, Stephane Dunn, Emily Meade, Amanda Blumenthal, Patti Felker, Jessica Yu, Zoe Hay, Laura Grady, Sarah Scott, Sheryl Lee, Guinevere Turner, Gloria Hendry, Shelley Michelle, Linda Teglovic, Marli Renfro, Sevan Najarian, Tanya Saracho, Alicia Rodis, Jim Frohna.

Commissioning Editor for BBC Storyville, Lucie Kon