Program Category: Arts & Culture

China’s rapid growth has seen it rise to become a leader in fashion and the arts. Craft a Destiny presents the stories of Song Huaigui, Zhu Zheqin and Liu Wen, pioneering women whose passion and creativity has helped redefine the nation’s art and fashion landscapes. Song Huaigui was a fashion trendsetter, introducing the contemporary concepts of fashion to China. Zhu Zheqin is a musician and was the first artist in China to release a record internationally since the 1940s. Liu Wen is a bonafide supermodel, having graced runways all over the world, and was named in the Top 5 highest earning models by Forbes. In this film, their trailblazing stories are told and explored, revealing their struggles and how they overcame them to put China on the map.

China is one of the fastest growing countries in the world. In an age of rapid urbanisation, the guardians of its traditions are striving to protect a culture built on centuries of customs through food, art and everyday life. Transmitters of Heritage presents stories of seven individuals who come from varied walks of life – from entrepreneurs, chefs, opera instructors to horse herders, these are the luminaries protecting the future of their heritage for the coming generations.

Change is coming to the heart of Borneo. We follow Peluk Anak Apeh, the last of the famed Bidayuh Ring Ladies, as the construction of a dam drives her from her ancestral home in the world’s oldest rain-forest to a modern settlement. Peluk struggles to adapt to her new environment and longs for the vanishing world she left behind. 

But her new life also brings new opportunities: A famous local fashion designer, Miss Leng Lagenda, discovers Peluk and the Ring Ladies, she creates a Ring Ladies collection. Leng travels to Borneo to meet Ring Lady Peluk. Together they embark on an astonishing journey of personal discovery with the mission in preserving the Ring lady Heritage. Together these two very different women introduce the unique culture of the Ring Ladies, through fashion, to a modern world.

Djalu Gurruwiwi is an aging elder in a line 60,000 years long who is running out of time to pass on the Yidaki Songlines entrusted to him for the future of his people, before it dies with him. His sons and community, struggling to come to terms with the consequences of colonisation, are lost. When Djalu breaks with tradition to try and save it, world famous musician Gotye becomes an unexpected family member and helps heal Djalu’s sons and amplify his songs to the world.

An 18 year-old Afghan girl, Sonita has become an online sensation as a rapper. She’s a refugee in Iran.

Now, she’s fighting to avoid being sold by her parents as a bride for an amount that some would call a pittance. Living under the protection of a non-governmental organisation that supports refugees, she has formed a rap group with friends and begun using her songs to proclaim her desire to live the way she wants.

Then, success in a music contest thrusts her into the spotlight.

They speak in their own language, practice unique rituals and follow strict laws. They share common values and are driven by a unified goal. These are the common characteristics of tribes throughout history.

My Son the Pornographer is a love story about the relationship between a father and a son. We follow Art, a man raised with conservative moral values, as he visits his son Kole who works as a writer and actor in the pornography business in Prague.

Tattoos are everywhere. It seems like everyone wants one. But what’s really fascinating is the anticipation and transgression that having a tattoo still represents and the feelings and fear behind having your first one.

From the producer of Channel 4’s ‘My Tattoo Addiction’, comes a new and intimate documentary that meets people about to have their first tattoo. We hear their reasons behind it, from ink-crossed lovers, to BFFs, mid-life crisis and superfans. We’ll follow them to the studio and share their experience, then we’ll be with them as they reveal their creation to the world.