Leslie Woodhead Movies

Fire Will Eat Us, directed by Leslie Woodhead and David Turton, reveals the struggles facing the Mursi people as they attempt to deal with the harsh natural environments of their dwellings in Ethipoia. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

American Deborah Lipstadt brought a lawsuit against British historian David Irving in 1999. Though the case was based on libel grounds, it became a challenge to Irving's claims that the Holocaust never really occurred, and that Adolf Hitler never ordered the mass slaughter of millions of Jews and others deemed societal outcasts. A reenactment of court testimony brings this unusual trial to life. Viewers should be aware that the film contains graphic footage of offensive Nazi behavior. This program is a part of the Nova series that's regularly aired by PBS. ~ Elizabeth Smith, Rovi

Veteran ethnographic documentarian Leslie Woodhead helmed this U.S.-British docudrama about Ethiopian long-distance runner Haile Gebrselassie (with the Atlanta Olympic games sequence directed by Bud Greenspan). Gebrselassie won the gold medal in the men's 10,000-meters race at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, and the Atlanta race serves as a framing device. Yonas Zergaw, the athlete's nephew, portrays him as a youth, with Gebrselassie portraying himself from age 18. At his native village of Asela, he ran 12 miles daily to school. When fellow Ethiopian Miruts Yifter won the 10,000-meter race at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Haile was inspired and became a serious runner at 17, moving to Addis Ababa to begin training. Haile's late mother is played by his eldest sister. Haile's father portrays himself in later scenes, with Haile's first cousin acting as the father as a younger man in the film's earlier sequences. Shown at 1998 film fests (Telluride, Venice). ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi