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The Best Episodes of Storyville

Every episode of Storyville ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Storyville!

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Showcasing the best in international documentaries, Storyville has developed an enviable reputation since its inception more than a decade ago. Screening over 340 films, from some 70 different countries, the strand has garnered a staggering

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Storyville Season 19 Episode 19 - A Syrian Love Story
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #1 - A Syrian Love Story

    S19:E19

    Award-winning documentary film by renowned filmmaker Sean McAllister, telling the poignant story of a family torn apart by the Assad regime. When Sean begins filming them in Syria in 2009, prior to the wave of revolutions in the Arab world, Raghda is incarcerated as a political prisoner and Amer is caring for their young boys alone. Raghda is eventually released from prison, but the family is forced to flee the country following the arrest of Sean McAllister himself. In exile, Raghda battles between being a mother or a revolutionary. Filmed over five years, this is an intimate and deeply moving portrait of a family trying to survive in exile - adapting to their new home, but missing their homeland. For Raghda and Amer, it is a journey of hope, dreams and despair: for the revolution, their homeland and each other.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Storyville Season 2 Episode 2 - When We Were Kings
    8.6/10(8 votes)

    #2 - When We Were Kings

    S2:E2

    On 30 October 1974, perhaps the most famous heavyweight championship boxing match of all time took place in Kinshasa, Zaire - the "Rumble in the Jungle" between champion George Foreman and challenger Muhammad Ali. In historical footage and new interviews, this documentary explores the relationship between African-Americans and the African continent during the Black Power era in terms of both popular culture and international politics, including the brutality of then-dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Storyville Season 22 Episode 13 - Hurt Locker Hero
    8.6/10(42 votes)

    #3 - Hurt Locker Hero

    S22:E13

    The heart-stopping story of 'Crazy Fakhir', a Kurdish colonel in the Iraqi army and legendary bomb disposal expert who single-handedly disarmed thousands of landmines across the country with just a pocket knife and a pair of wire clippers. Between the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and the chaos and destruction wreaked by IS ten years later, Fahkir's unwavering bravery saved thousands of lives throughout Iraq. 'Hurt Locker Hero' tells Fakhir's story through the raw and visceral amateur footage captured by his soldiers on a camcorder intended for filming family occasions. Instead, it records Fakhir endlessly snipping wires, searching family homes and digging out roadside IEDs, insisting it's too dangerous to wait hours for the highly trained American bomb disposal teams to arrive. Whilst their father and husband becomes a hero, Fahkir's wife and eight children struggle to make ends meet and worry endlessly about his safety.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Storyville Season 27 Episode 9 - In the Name of the Father
    8.6/10(9 votes)

    #4 - In the Name of the Father

    S27:E9

    A Storyville documentary that, with extraordinary access to one of Israel's most Orthodox Hasidic communities, explores the scandal that erupted when the rabbi who established and led the community died. Inheritance battles, violent reprisals, sexual abuse and underage marriages are revealed by those that experienced it.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Storyville Season 26 Episode 10 - Navalny
    8.5/10(11 votes)

    #5 - Navalny

    S26:E10

    In August 2020, a plane travelling from Siberia to Moscow made an emergency landing. One of its passengers, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was deathly ill. Taken to a local Siberian hospital and eventually evacuated to Berlin, doctors there confirmed that he had been poisoned with Novichok, a nerve agent implicated in attacks on other opponents of the Russian government. President Vladimir Putin immediately cast doubt on the findings and denied any involvement. While recovering, Navalny and his team unravel the plot against him, finding evidence of the Kremlin’s involvement, and prepare to go public with their findings.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Storyville Season 19 Episode 10 - India's Daughter
    8.2/10(2266 votes)

    #6 - India's Daughter

    S19:E10

    The story of the brutal gang rape and murder of 23-year-old medical student Jyoti on a moving bus in Delhi in 2012, and the unprecedented protests and riots which this horrific event ignited throughout India, leading to the demand for changes in attitudes towards women. The film examines the values and mindsets of the rapists, and interviews the two lawyers who defended the men convicted of Jyoti's rape and murder.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Storyville

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  7. Storyville Season 22 Episode 5 - Olympic Dreams Of Russian Gold: Over The Limit
    8.2/10(6 votes)

    #7 - Olympic Dreams Of Russian Gold: Over The Limit

    S22:E5

    'You're not a human being, you're an athlete,' 20-year-old Rita is told by one of her two merciless coaches as she prepares to represent Russia in rhythmic gymnastics at the Olympics. It is the most crucial year of her career and her last chance to achieve her ultimate dream, a gold medal. However gracefully Rita catches rings or rolls a ball across her shoulders, her coaches expect more from her, time and again. Described as the 'Black Swan' of sports documentaries, Over the Limit offers unprecedented access to the hidden world of elite gymnasts and the unrelentingly brutal training demanded by the Russian system.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Storyville Season 27 Episode 21 - Songs of Earth
    8.2/10(5 votes)

    #8 - Songs of Earth

    S27:E21

    This epic nature documentary follows in the footsteps of the director’s 85-year-old father as he hikes during all four seasons through raw and magnificent meditative landscapes in the mighty Oldedalen valley in Nordfjord in western Norway.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Storyville Season 17 Episode 23 - Blackfish - The Whale that Killed
    8.1/10(14 votes)

    #9 - Blackfish - The Whale that Killed

    S17:E23

    Documentary which unravels the story of notorious performing whale Tilikum, who - unlike any orca in the wild - has taken the lives of several people while in captivity. So what exactly went wrong? Shocking, never-before-seen footage and interviews with trainers and experts manifest the orca's extraordinary nature, the species' cruel treatment in captivity over the last four decades and the growing disillusionment of workers who were misled and endangered by the highly profitable sea-park industry. This emotionally wrenching, tautly structured story challenges us to consider our relationship to nature and reveals how little we humans have learned from these highly intelligent and enormously sentient fellow mammals.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Storyville Season 24 Episode 3 - The Gene Revolution: Changing Human Nature
    8.0/10(7 votes)

    #10 - The Gene Revolution: Changing Human Nature

    S24:E3

    The biggest tech revolution of the 21st century isn't digital, it's biological. A breakthrough called CRISPR has given us unprecedented control over the basic building blocks of life. It opens the door to curing diseases, reshaping the biosphere and designing our own children. This Storyville documentary is a provocative exploration of CRISPR's far-reaching implications, through the eyes of the scientists who discovered it, the families it’s affecting and the bio-engineers who are testing its limits. How will this new power change our relationship with nature? What will it mean for human evolution? To begin to answer these questions, we must look back billions of years and peer into an uncertain future.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Storyville Season 24 Episode 19 - The Hijacker Who Vanished: The Mystery of DB Cooper
    8.0/10(5 votes)

    #11 - The Hijacker Who Vanished: The Mystery of DB Cooper

    S24:E19

    A mysterious fugitive, a hijacked airplane and a daring mid-air escape. This is the extraordinary, real-life tale of one of the greatest unsolved heists in American history and a case that has taunted the FBI for decades. This documentary brings the stories of the four possible suspects to life through candid testimony, archive footage and stylised drama. Each account is gripping and highly plausible. But who is telling the truth, who is lying and, ultimately, who is DB Cooper?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Storyville Season 29 Episode 11 - The Contestant
    8.0/10(7 votes)

    #12 - The Contestant

    S29:E11

    The incredible true story of a man who lived for 15 months trapped inside a small room, naked, starving and alone... completely unaware that his life was being broadcast on national TV to over 17 million viewers a week.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Storyville Season 18 Episode 25 - Exposed: Magicians, Psychics and Frauds
    7.9/10(22 votes)

    #13 - Exposed: Magicians, Psychics and Frauds

    S18:E25

    Renowned magician James 'The Amazing' Randi has been wowing audiences with his jaw-dropping illusions, escapes and sleight of hand for over 50 years. When he began seeing his cherished art form co-opted by all manner of con artists, he made it his mission to expose the simple tricks charlatans have borrowed from magicians to swindle the masses. This entertaining film chronicles Randi's best debunkings of faith healers, fortune tellers and psychics. It documents his rivalry with famed spoon-bender Uri Geller, whom Randi eventually foiled on a high-profile television appearance. Another target was evangelist Peter Popoff, whose tent-show miracles and audience mind-reading were exposed as chicanery when Randi revealed a recording of Popoff's wife feeding him information through a radio-transmitter earpiece. In telling Randi's strange, funny and fascinating life story, the film shows how we are all vulnerable to deception - even, in a surprising twist, 'The Amazing' Randi himself.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Storyville Season 19 Episode 20 - Lockerbie: My Brother's Bomber
    7.8/10(6 votes)

    #14 - Lockerbie: My Brother's Bomber

    S19:E20

    For some 25 years, Ken Dornstein has been haunted by the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland - a terrorist act that killed 270 people, including his older brother David. Only one person was ever convicted of the plot - who else was involved remains an open case. In this emotional and suspenseful documentary, Dornstein sets out to find the men responsible for one of the worst attacks on Americans before 9/11. From the ruins and chaos of post-Gaddafi Libya, Dornstein hunts for clues to the identities and whereabouts of the suspects, who he tracks for almost five years across the Middle East and Europe. He encounters new witnesses and unearths fresh evidence that brings him closer to the truth about what really happened. This is a rare, real-life spy thriller, but also a meditation on loss, love, revenge and the nature of obsession.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Storyville Season 26 Episode 9 - The Truffle Hunters
    7.8/10(5 votes)

    #15 - The Truffle Hunters

    S26:E9

    Deep in the forests of Piedmont, Italy, a handful of elderly men hunt for the rare and expensive white Alba truffle. This award-winning film follows these truffle hunters, who live and work alongside their cherished dogs in an eccentric world, guided by a secret culture and a training passed down through the generations.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Storyville Season 27 Episode 6 - Nelly and Nadine: Ravensbrück, 1944
    7.8/10(10 votes)

    #16 - Nelly and Nadine: Ravensbrück, 1944

    S27:E6

    A Storyville documentary about two women who fall in love in the Ravensbrück concentration camp.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Storyville Season 14 Episode 20 - Marriage Chinese Style: When My Child Is Born
    7.7/10(11 votes)

    #17 - Marriage Chinese Style: When My Child Is Born

    S14:E20

    How much freedom can there be in a Chinese marriage? This is a remarkable, intimate film about two people who want to have freedom and happiness at the same time. You may think this sounds like a western story, but it isn't - it's all deeply Chinese.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Storyville Season 18 Episode 15 - The Lance Armstrong Story - Stop at Nothing
    7.7/10(10 votes)

    #18 - The Lance Armstrong Story - Stop at Nothing

    S18:E15

    Documentary telling the intimate but explosive story about the man behind the greatest fraud in recent sporting history, a portrait of a man who stopped at nothing in pursuit of money, fame and success. It reveals how Lance Armstrong duped the world with his story of a miraculous recovery from cancer to become a sporting icon and a beacon of hope for cancer sufferers around the world. The film maps how Armstrong's cheating and bullying became more extreme and how a few brave souls fought back, until eventually their voices were heard. Director Alex Holmes tracks down some of his former friends and team members who reveal how his cheating was the centre of a grand conspiracy in which Armstrong and his backers sought to steal the Tour de France. Friends and fellow riders were brought into a dirty pact that no-one could betray. But the former friends whose lives he destroyed would prove to be his nemesis, and help uncover one of the dirtiest scandals in sports history.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Storyville Season 22 Episode 12 - Poisoning America: The Devil We Know
    7.7/10(24 votes)

    #19 - Poisoning America: The Devil We Know

    S22:E12

    A Storyville documentary following a group of citizens in West Virginia who take on a corporation after they discover it has been dumping a toxic chemical into the water supply.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Storyville Season 24 Episode 21 - Red Penguins: Murder, Money and Ice Hockey
    7.7/10(19 votes)

    #20 - Red Penguins: Murder, Money and Ice Hockey

    S24:E21

    A tale of capitalism and opportunism run amok - complete with gangsters, strippers and live bears serving beer on a hockey rink in Moscow. Shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the famed Red Army hockey team formed a joint venture that showed that anything was possible in the new Russia. Eccentric marketing whiz Steve Warshaw is sent to Russia and tasked with transforming the team into the greatest show in Moscow. He takes the viewer on a bizarre journey, highlighting a pivotal moment in US-Russia relations in a lawless era when oligarchs made their fortunes and multiple murders went unsolved.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Storyville Season 19 Episode 17 - Circus Elephant Rampage
    7.6/10(18 votes)

    #21 - Circus Elephant Rampage

    S19:E17

    The gripping and emotionally-charged story of Tyke, a circus elephant who went on a rampage in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1994, killed her trainer in front of thousands of spectators and died in a hail of gunfire. Her break for freedom - filmed from start to tragic end - traumatised a city and ignited a global battle over the use of animals in the entertainment industry. Looking at what made Tyke snap, the film goes back to meet the people who knew her and were affected by her death - former trainers and handlers, circus industry insiders, witnesses to her rampage, and animal rights activists for whom Tyke became a global rallying cry. Tyke is the central protagonist in this tragic but redemptive tale that combines trauma, outrage, insight and compassion. This moving documentary raises fundamental questions about our deep and mysterious connection to other species.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Storyville Season 25 Episode 6 - Collective: Unravelling a Scandal
    7.6/10(5 votes)

    #22 - Collective: Unravelling a Scandal

    S25:E6

    In 2015, a fire at a nightclub in Bucharest, Romania, leaves 27 dead and 180 injured. Soon afterwards, the burn victims recovering in hospital - from seemingly non-life-threatening injuries - begin dying too. A doctor at the heart of the story acts as whistleblower to a team of journalists, who in turn uncover outrageous corruption in Romania’s hospitals that goes all the way to the top. One revelation leads to another as the journalists begin to find fraud on a vast scale in the healthcare system. When a new health minister is appointed, the journalists follow his attempts, in the face of monumental obstacles, to reform a system riddled with corruption. Oscar-shortlisted and Bafta-longlisted for best documentary, Collective: Unravelling a Scandal examines the explosive impact of investigative journalism.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Storyville Season 27 Episode 8 - Blue Bag Life
    7.6/10(16 votes)

    #23 - Blue Bag Life

    S27:E8

    Storyville documentary in which UK artist and film-maker Lisa Selby turns the camera on herself as she tries to understand her relationships with her late mother and her partner, both heroin addicts. The film won the audience award at the 2022 London International Film Festival.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Storyville Season 18 Episode 5 - K2: The Killer Summit
    7.5/10(15 votes)

    #24 - K2: The Killer Summit

    S18:E5

    In August 2008, 25 climbers from several international expeditions converged on high camp of K2, the final stop before the summit of the most dangerous mountain on earth. Just 48 hours later, 11 had been killed or simply vanished, making it the deadliest day in mountaineering history. In a century of assaults on K2, only about 300 people have ever seen the view from the planet's second highest peak. More than a quarter of those who made it didn't live long enough to share the glory. At the heart of this documentary lies a mystery about one extraordinary Irishman, Ger McDonnell. At the very limit of his physical resources, he faced a heartbreaking dilemma. Through recreations, archive and home movie footage, and interviews with survivors and families, the film creates a forensic, vivid version of events that is emotive, engrossing and, at times, deeply shocking.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Storyville Season 18 Episode 23 - Russia's Toughest Prison: The Condemned
    7.5/10(12 votes)

    #25 - Russia's Toughest Prison: The Condemned

    S18:E23

    With unprecedented access, this documentary looks into the hidden world of one of Russia's most impenetrable and remote institutions - a maximum security prison exclusively for murderers. Deep inside the land of the gulags, this is the end of the line for some of Russia's most dangerous criminals - 260 men who have collectively killed nearly 800 people. The film delves deep into the mind and soul of some of these prisoners. In brutally frank and uncensored interviews the inmates speak of their crimes, life and death, redemption and remorselessness, insanity and hope. The film tracks them though their unrelenting days over several months, lifting the veil on one of Russia's most secretive subcultures to reveal what happens when a man is locked up in a tiny cell for 23 hours every day, for life. A startling insight into inscrutable minds and the forbidding world they have been condemned to.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Best Episodes Summary

"A Syrian Love Story" is the best rated episode of "Storyville". It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 9/28/2015. This episode scored 1.4 points higher than the second highest rated, "When We Were Kings".