High in the Bolivian Andes it is time for the annual Tinku festival. Last year eight people died during the traditional ritual fighting in the square at Machas. Village leader Florencio wants to preserve the event, but the priest and the mayor are threatening severe punishment if there is any violence this year.

Chief Nalubutau is preparing to die. As the "magician" of his people in the Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea, he has been custodian of their culture, but western influences are eroding his world. The day approaches when he will stand down, and he faces the prospect of his successor clearing traditions to make room for new technology.

Fox hunting - which conjures up quintessential images of traditional rural England for some, and an outdated and barbaric practice for others - is under threat. As the political battle over banning hunting rages, this programme shows graphic pictures of the digging out and shooting of foxes, and the disposal of retired hounds. But for hunt servant Simon Hall, it all reflects the unforgiving laws of nature they see around them.

Melbourne's most successful, legal, heterosexual prostitute is a pleasant-looking 32-year-old man with more than 1,200 female clients who each pay him 90GBP for an hour of sex. He also adores his wife and four children, but found that his furniture-making business could not support them. The man, his wife, and his clients are all interviewed.

For American teenagers, the prom night is the most important of their lives so far. But this documentary, which follows New York teenagers Nana, Danielle, and Michelle in the weeks leading up to the prom, shows how many of the expectations and traditions of this expensive rite of passage can cause their own problems.

Two brothers are at loggerheads with each other. One is a warrior-commander who worries that his tribe's new attachment to guns will bring death and destruction. The other is a young blood determined to trade his cattle for the gun that he believes will bring him wealth and status.

Gaish is an elegant Japanese playboy with lots of girlfriends who meet him at the Club Marilyn in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo. Gaish is a so-called "onnabe", one of a group of cross-dressing ladies who provide comfort for lonely women. The female clients know that onnabes are not supposed to enter into serious relationships, but that doesn't stop onnabes trying.

Tristan Da Cunha, Britain's smallest colony is 2,000 miles from the nearest land mass, and is forgotten by the outside world. Elaine left the island as a teenager but now she returns and provides an emotional and humorous insight into a community where almost everyone is a relative.

This documentary following the children's beauty-pageant circuit in the American South has been updated since first airing in 1996. Five-year-olds Asia and Brooke, rivals in the race to be crowned Supreme Queen at Atlanta's Southern Charm pageant, are just part of a lucrative business where children aged from four months to 17 years can win cash, cars, and holidays. The film updates the stories of Brooke and Asia to see how they have coped with this existence. (season end)

America's most powerful leaders are drawn from a network of secretive societies known as the "Greek system". A look at their selection procedures. 1/8.

The Buddhist monks of the Shaolin monastery have practiced kung fu for 1,500 years. For a look at the state of their martial art in contemporary China, we follow the progress of two paying students at the kung fu school run by Buddhist monk De Yang to witness the clash between the austerity of a Chinese monastery and modern market forces.

Aberash, then aged 14, was kidnapped on her way to school in a remote part of southern Ethiopia. Her abductor raped her - a common way for men in the region to claim their wives - but Aberash stole a gun, escaped, and shot her would-be husband dead in the ensuing chase. She was subsequently arrested and placed on trial. A newly formed group of women lawyers attempts to challenge the male-dominated culture in Ethiopia.

Every 1 July, around 200,000 inhabitants of Montreal, Canada, simultaneously move home for reasons even they find obscure. To explain the phenomenon, this film follows removal man Ericson Martin in his attempt to move 12 households in 24 hours.

For many young Dominicans professional baseball offers a chance to break away from poverty. Teenage brothers Isaias and Agustin Perex, and Melvin Frias, whose mother works in a tobacco field, are hoping their time at the LA Dodgers academy will mean a chance to make a better life for themselves and their families.

Venice's gondoliers have a reputation for approaching both their job and their female conquests with legendary passion. As the number of gondoliers punting through the city dwindles, Armando Nardin reflects on the glorious past and his turbulent life.

Newly crowned King Letsie III of Lesotho is under pressure to get married and produce an heir to the throne, but like many men in their thirties he is loath to make a commitment. In his turbulent first year as king, he tries to find a woman he both likes and who will make a good queen, and also faces political crisis and the prospect of invasion.

Calling themselves the Rock People of Palawan, the Taw Batu tribe escape the annual monsoon on their Philippine island by migrating to an extraordinary world of labyrinths and chasms in the mountains. Tulibak, the argumentative and fiercely traditional son of the former headman of the tribe, left two years ago with his family and headed for the lowlands. On his return, Tulibak is perturbed at the changes that have occurred in his absence.

Sex therapist Dr. Chen Kai claims that political upheavals in China over the past generation have resulted in a populace damaged emotionally and sexually. Clients at Dr. Chen's Shanghai sex clinic unburden themselves in frank fashion by talking about life behind the bedroom door. 1/9.

Deep below the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming, an elite group of 200 men and women are on alert - ready and willing to launch up to ten of America's 550 nuclear missiles. Follow recruit Rene Hernandez as he trains to be a "missileer".

Adam and Mark are 12-year-old boys born deaf and blind. With no understanding of language, how do their parents communicate with them? Gaela and Graham, two remarkable deafblind adults who became deaf after childhood, can describe their lives and thoughts. They take us into their extraordinary world, and we see how they are able to live adventurous and fulfilled lives despite their devastating disability. Scored by Evelyn Glennie, acclaimed percussionist who is herself profoundly deaf.

A documentary following four New York City taxi drivers over the course of six months. Philosophy-loving Kwame Fosu sees his recently arrived Ghanaian family acclimatise to the city's hostile winter, while trainees from Tajikistan and Bangladesh struggle to pass the exam that will enable them to work as licensed drivers. Meanwhile, an Indian driver is using his modest wage to fund a girls' school in his home village.

Kotey, a 45-year-old Ghanaian man, has recently collapsed and died in mysterious circumstances. Some of his relatives suspect he was poisoned, but superstition has just as important a role to play in the subsequent intrigue.

Min-Ah and Hee-Jung are two young South Korean women who have fallen madly in love with American soldiers based in Seoul. But cultural differences inevitably lead to friction. The couples have to learn to adjust. Part of this process is for the women to enroll at the USO Bride School in Seoul to learn how to become perfect all-American wives.

The Tadjibajev family are entertainers living together in a rickety old bus as they travel through the beautiful but barren landscape of the Uzbekistan to Moscow highway, eking out a living with nightly performances before frequently small audiences. In Russian with English subtitles.

Documentary exploring modern love and changing attitudes to sex, commitment, and friendship. The film looks at how the bond between two male friends is affected by their friendship with the filmmaker.

Four years ago at the age of 18 Mamehisa Toriguchi left home - supposedly to study architecture at university. Instead she entered the secretive world of the pleasure district to learn the arts of the geisha. The film follows Mamehisa as she prepares for the three-day graduation ceremony.