Movies and Machines

Mark Grantham has an extreme degree of incapacity. He's thirty three and his movement is barely enough to nudge his motorized wheelchair using his chin. He has caregivers 24/ 7, yet he devotes his life to raising money for children in third world countries...and worries he is not doing enough. This is the extraordinary tale of a man determined to live life to the full, a man who makes you rethink all that is possible despite limits life can place on you.

Liv and Let Live. Livingston Taylor is that singer/songwriter, Mark Twain, professor, thrill-seeker determined to enrich the world through and throughout.

The social life of immigrants in Germany has been a widely discussed topic. Often ignored is the question of how the second generation deals with the presence of two cultures. Nazmi, Nagije and Bege are three Kosovar Albanian sisters - born in Offenbach/ Germany. After the death of their father (their mother died 11 years prior) the film accompanies them for a period of five years. The relatives are never seen in the film but it becomes evident that they have an enormous influence on the girls. Kosovar Albanian tradition clashes with German daily life as the three sisters struggle to establish their own identity. The film captures their individual inner conflict as they deal with two cultures.

Every year, thousands of women immigrate to the US legally on H4 or dependent spouse visas that deny them work authorization. Hearts Suspended - a short autobiographical documentary reveals the untold story of highly educated South Asian immigrant women, who struggle to survive having been denied the basic right to work. Once independent, now completely dependent, they face loneliness, depression, loss of self-identity, strained marital relations and - in extreme cases - exploitation and abuse. Through a unique expressionistic combination of visuals, monologue, verite footage and interviews, the film takes us on a journey into the director inner turmoil's, search for spiritual strength and eventual resolve to bring hope and political change for other women who are simply suspended in time.

You see the scare in the children's eyes when they arrive at Belgrade's airport. The gypsy families have just been deported out of Germany. From now on they become paper collector, scavenger, street musicians, beggars, and prostitutes. Life is unhygienic, sometimes dangerous. There is much resignation, and little hope. The documentary shows the isolation of the gypsies as well as the limited and conflict-laden intercultural exchange with the majority societies in Western and Eastern Europe.

Noel Edmonds looks back on 20 years of the BBC's Saturday morning children's shows.