Best Regional Movies & TV Shows

The tumultuous TV newsroom world of overbearing regional news director George Findlay, who is solely motivated by casualty statistics which will improve his ratings.

When Emilia and her daughter Sophie are left in an unexpected, dire financial situation, they discover an intriguing option to pay for Sophie’s college—entering a regional Mother[1]Daughter beauty pageant with a lucrative scholarship prize. But they don’t realize a competing mother-daughter team are willing to go to disturbing and dangerous lengths to win the crown.

This documentary, filmed and told by residents, shows how the city was ravaged and what it was like to live through the Russian attacks. Hear from those who survived the bombing of the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre and a maternity hospital, who hid in the bunkers of the Azovstal plant, and who escaped the occupied city, only to return to save family members.

Globe Trekker is an adventure tourism television series produced by Pilot Productions. The British series was inspired by the Lonely Planet travelbooks and began airing in 1994. Globe Trekker is broadcast in over 40 countries across six continents. Each episode features a host, called a traveller, who travels with a camera crew to a country—often, a relatively exotic locale—and experiences the sights, sounds, and culture that the location has to offer. Special episodes feature in-depth city, beach, dive, shopping, history, festival, and food guides. The show often goes far beyond popular tourist destinations in order to give viewers a more authentic look at local culture. Presenters usually participate in different aspects of regional life, such as attending a traditional wedding or visiting a mining community. They address the viewer directly, acting as tourists-turned-tour guides, but are also filmed interacting with locals and discovering interesting locations in unrehearsed sequences. Globe Trekker also sometimes includes brief interviews with backpackers who share tips on independent travel in that particular country.

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern is a travel and cuisine television show hosted by Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel. The first season debuted on Monday, February 26, 2007 at 9pm ET/PT. Bizarre Foods focuses on regional cuisine from around the world which is typically perceived by Americans as being disgusting, exotic, or bizarre. In each episode, Zimmern focuses on the cuisine of a particular country or region. He typically shows how the food is procured, where it is served, and, usually without hesitation, eats it. Originally a one-hour documentary titled Bizarre Foods of Asia, repeated showings on the Travel Channel drew consistent, considerable audiences. In late 2006, it was decided to turn the documentary into a weekly, one-hour show with the same premise and with Andrew Zimmern as the host. In 2009, Zimmern took a break from Bizarre Foods to work on one season of the spin-off Bizarre World.

Enjoy an all-American celebration of what may be the country's most popular fast food. From Connecticut to South Carolina to California, Rick Sebak visits some of the nation's coolest hot dog places, taking viewers inside a giant hot dog-shaped building, stopping at some crazy late-night stands, and looking at how hot dogs are made. Wonder how and when hot dogs became so popular-or what toppings are tops these days? Tune in and find out.

Jeremy Brown, a language teacher, tries to make a living by teaching English to immigrants. With pupils from India, France, China, and many other countries, his lessons do not always go as planned.

Everybody loves ice cream. It’s cool, sweet and delicious. It’s also the tantalizing topic of this happy documentary program that takes viewers to ice cream places across America from Vermont to Hawaii, highlighting outstanding places to get a cone or a bowl. An Ice Cream Show features mostly small ice cream lovers – from makers and eaters to collectors and cone-makers.

For all her life, Riley Adams has dreamed of being a world class dancer. Victory in regional competition has gained her a coveted shot at the nationals, but a horrific accident brings her dreams to a standstill. She is faced with the greatest setback of her life, yet Riley clings to her faith, determined to recover in time for the national competition. Turning to equine therapy to regain mobility, she discovers a special bond with a beautiful mare named Grace, and a most unexpected burgeoning romance as well! Just when it seems the old Riley is back, disaster strikes and it seems all her efforts will come to nothing. That is, until God's grace appears from a most unexpected place. Healed By Grace is a charming, romantic, and heart wrenching journey of faith that will take you from the excitement of elite dance competition to the heartwarming horse ranch where Riley rediscovers her will to succeed.

A young offender on the mend, 19-year-old Cole Hurley agrees to attend a university devoted to prisoner reform. But hope for a turnaround is endangered by his impulsive affair with the seductive Kay Weller, a professor desperate to escape her abusive husband - and Cole is her only way out. But when Kay's husband is found murdered, Cole's education comes with a new lesson: trust no one.

Why is the English spoken by Maine lobstermen so different from thatscene from the broadcast spoken by cowboys in Texas? Does Spanish pose a threat to English as the dominant language in America? And what on earth do yins, wickety wack, ayuh, catty whompus, and stomping it clean mean? Robert MacNeil travels cross-country to answer these questions and examine the dynamic state of American English – a language rich with regional variety, strong global impact and cultural controversy.

Stanley Tucci travels across Italy to discover the secrets and delights of the country’s regional cuisines.

The Riveras are Mexican Regional Music's most beloved family, but you've never seen them like this. See Chiquis and her younger siblings step up and pull together to raise each other with humor and love; and go for their biggest dreams.

Rick Stein sets off on a new culinary adventure to search for France's best kept gastronomic secrets.

In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance.

Discover the game-changing partnership between a then undiscovered Michael Jordan and Nike's fledgling basketball division which revolutionized the world of sports and culture with the Air Jordan brand.

Constructed from a wealth of archival footage, the documentary follows Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from 1955 to 1968, in his rise from regional activist to world-renowned leader of the Civil Rights movement. Rare footage of King's speeches, protests, and arrests are interspersed with scenes of other high-profile supporters and opponents of the cause, punctuated by heartfelt testimonials by some of Hollywood's biggest stars.

Two single parents come head to head when their kids want to adopt the same dog. Agreeing to co-foster, free-spirited Kate and type-A Eric must work together to find the dog's forever home.

Three amateur artists are given four hours to paint, in watercolour, the same scene or landscape, often with widely different interpretations. At the end of the four hours, the guest professional artist for the week judged the paintings and selected the winner, who would then appear in a regional final, and if successful would compete in the end of series final.

Maybe it's Pittsburgh's chipped-beef "Slammer" you're craving. Or Iowa's Maid Rite "loosemeat"? Louisville's "Hot Brown"? Escape fast-food sameness on a mouth-watering tour through America's distinctive sandwich landscape. Let veteran guide Rick Sebak (A Hot Dog Program, An Ice Cream Show) take you across the country to New Orleans for muffaletta, to Chicago for Italian beef, and New York City for pastrami on rye.

In the poor, desolate northern provinces of the mountainous feudal Sunni kingdom of Afghanistan (before the Soviet-engineered republican revolutions), the status of the proud men and their clans is determined less by wealth or even military power (both rare) then by victories in the ancient, though game of buskashi, a vicious form of polo dating back to Genghis Khan, in which the chapendaz (participating horsemen) use their horse-whips on both mounts and rivals in a ruthless fight for a heavy 'ball', a dead calf, which must be carried a long way, almost impossible with all the others mercilessly assailing. Tursen, a former champion, now holds the status of village notable thanks to his position as stable-keeper of the regional lord Osman Bey, and has finally bred a horse without equal, the white stallion Jahil, in time for the royal tournament on the plain of Bagrami, just outside the capital Kabul...

An opus in three parts, Iraq In Fragments offers a series of intimate, passionately-felt portraits: A fatherless 11-year-old is apprenticed to the domineering owner of a Baghdad garage; Sadr followers in two Shiite cities rally for regional elections while enforcing Islamic law at the point of a gun; a family of Kurdish farmers welcomes the US presence, which has allowed them a measure of freedom previously denied. American director James Longley spent more than two years filming in Iraq to create this stunningly photographed, poetically rendered documentary of the war-torn country as seen through the eyes of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

Recruited to assist Montreal police in their desperate search for a serial killer who assumes the identities of his victims, FBI profiler Illeana Scott knows it's only a matter of time before the killer strikes again. Her most promising lead is a museum employee who might be the killer's only eyewitness.

A well-established tale of a long-running feud between two mountain clans.

One fateful night in a small English regional theatre during World War II a troupe of touring actors stage a production of Shakespeares King Lear. Bombs are falling, sirens are wailing, the curtain is up in an hour but the actor/manager Sir who is playing Lear is nowhere to be seen. His dresser Norman must scramble to keep the production alive but will Sir turn up in time and if he does will he be able to perform that night? The Dresser is a wickedly funny and deeply moving story of friendship and loyalty as Sir reflects on his lifelong accomplishments and seeks to reconcile his turbulent friendships with those in his employ before the final curtain.

A high-maintenance realtor forced to do community service must lead a group of hopeless girl scouts in the regional cookie drive competition.

Fourteen-year-old Watts Davies is estranged from his dad, a former International Karting Federation (IKF) champion. Watts's resolve to race in the upcoming IKF Regional Championships rekindles their relationship as they pursue the dream together.

Geordie Shore is a British reality television series broadcast on MTV. Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, it premiered on 24 May 2011, and is the British spin-off of the American show Jersey Shore. "Geordie" is the regional nickname and dialect given to the people of the Tyneside area of North East England, and is closely associated with the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and its environs where the show is set. However the show includes cast members from various parts of North East England.

Four people become trapped in the once-vibrant Rosemont Lodge during a blizzard before Christmas.

Things appear to be looking up for a cash-strapped, regional hospital when it hires a reputedly brilliant cardiac surgeon to head up its pediatric cardiac surgery unit. But when increasing numbers of children begin dying on the operating table, the unit's top O.R. nurse begins to suspect that the new surgeon is not as experienced as everyone has been lead to believe. She finds herself alone, faced with jeopardizing the career she loves by taking on the powers that be and blowing the whistle on the influential surgeon and the harrowing goings-on at the hospital.

Following the success of the 1979 show and the financial benefits accruing to Amnesty from the spin-off movie, TV special and record albums – Cleese, Lewis and Walker planned the next show to be a more spectacular event. Cleese focused on broadening the comedic talent to be presented at the show. In addition to the Amnesty show stalwarts drawn from the Oxbridge/Monty Python/Beyond The Fringe orbit, he invited newcomers such as Rowan Atkinson’s colleagues from the BBC TV show Not the Nine O'Clock News including Pamela Stephenson and Griff Rhys Jones; comedian Victoria Wood and regional comic Jasper Carrott. Lewis secured a return appearance by Billy Connolly and a debut appearance by "alternative" comedian Alexei Sayle who Lewis had recently discovered and was managing. Building on the success of Pete Townshend's 1979 appearance Lewis recruited other rock musicians to perform at the 1981 show including Sting, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Donovan and Bob Geldof.

Mandy Leeds, a successful young woman living in Miami, is climbing her way up the corporate ladder in the hotel industry. Though she doesn’t get back to her small northern hometown much, this year her Gram is able to finally convince her to come home for Christmas. Mandy has another reason too – the quaint local inn is for sale, and she wants to acquire it for her company. With her eyes on the prize, Mandy travels back home but on her way there, she runs into Lucas Menzino—her high school rival—who also has his eye on the inn as well.

An insurance detective encounters numerous surprises when he is assigned to investigate a meticulously-planned train robbery in Arizona.

Two ex-lovers get snowed in at a regional airport overnight. Indefinitely delayed, Willa, a magical thinker, and Bill, a catastrophic one, find themselves just as attracted to and annoyed by one another as they did decades earlier. But as they unpack the riddle of their mutual past and compare their lives to the dreams they once shared, they begin to wonder if their reunion is mere coincidence, or something more enchanted.

The movie tells the story of a handsome but frugal CEO who takes over a family-owned regional airline and plans to cut their annual Christmas charity event, while the original owner’s daughter, who is a pilot for the airline, rallies the community to save the event, and finds unexpected love in the process.

Roadfood: Discovering America One Dish at a Time is a new PBS TV show that aims to re-discover America’s regional culture through its iconic dishes. Our host, Misha Collins, will hit the highways and byways of America, exploring a uniquely American dish in each episode. Meeting local cooks, pit-masters, bakers, cafe owners, and proprietors of local eating establishments, Misha will explore the roots of a dish through these modern culinary folk artisans.

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is an American children's television series that was created and hosted by namesake Fred Rogers. The series originated in 1963 as Misterogers on CBC Television, and was later debuted in 1966 as Misterogers' Neighborhood on the regional Eastern Educational Network, followed by its US network debut on February 19, 1968, and it aired on NET and its successor, PBS, until August 31, 2001. The series is aimed primarily at preschool ages 2 to 5, but has been stated by PBS as "appropriate for all ages". Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was produced by Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA public broadcaster WQED and Rogers' non-profit production company Family Communications, Inc.; previously known as Small World Enterprises prior to 1971, the company was renamed The Fred Rogers Company after Rogers' death.

Blackball follows the fortunes of Cliff Starkey, a working-class fine of lawn bowls with an exceptional talent. Wanting to take on the Aussies he manages to become regional champion, only to get banned. Sports agent Rich Schwartz picks him up and makes him so popular the Bowls Committee deem to lift the ban. Now the question is whether he can regain his form and his friends to beat the Aussies.

When a large forest fire breaks out in the mountains of Montana, a squad of 'Smoke Jumpers', the paratroop-corps of fire-fighters in the U. S. Forest Service, is flown to the scene from their regional headquarters in Missoula, Montana. The Forest Rangers, under Cliff Mason, put out the blaze, but several of the fire-fighters are killed. Ed Miller, son of one of the dead rangers, thinks he died because Mason was a coward, and sets out to prove it.

A mother obsessed with mind-altering televangelism consequently vomits a pulsating growth that slithers down the throat of her son during the night. Upon spewing the parasite, the son is driven by an uncontrollable force to murder and feed corpses to the now-multiple-toothed monsters manifesting throughout the house. This gory, shot-on-Super-8 regional rarity is a micro-budget salute to H.G. Lewis and H.P. Lovecraft. — Evan Husney, Drafthouse Films

Regional finalists of the Masterblaster paintball competition gather together at the national championship for a chance at the title and fifty thousand dollars in cash. The competition turns deadly when someone stops playing games and starts taking lives.

Fleeing from his evil guardian, the witch Mombi, young Tip runs off to the Emerald City, where he's caught up in a palace coup with the Army of Revolt.

Sonny falls asleep while his mom reads him a bedtime story and wakes up in Balloon Land, a magical world filled with giant balloon people and animals.

Andrew Zimmern visits families across America to explore how the cultural, regional, and historical facets of who we are inform what and how we eat, and all the ways food brings people together.

A dark comedy thriller about a director driven to madness during a regional production of Julius Caesar.

A look at how the Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) Animal Hospital works tirelessly to offer low-income pet families access to top healthcare.

Chef Curtis Stone visits far-flung regions of the world for local food and flavors, while soft selling his cookware as he recreates the regional dishes in his home studio kitchen.

We Are England was a regional current affairs documentary programme shown on BBC One. The programme was made by six teams around England, based in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Newcastle and Norwich. It explored the issues people cared about, as told by them from across the country. It replaced the long running BBC programme "Inside Out".

From 1978 to 1985 Alan Lomax traveled the American South and Southwest with a television crew to document regional folklore with deep historical roots. From the resulting 400 hours of footage came the five-program series American Patchwork, which aired on PBS in 1991.

A Wild West cow town is starving for entertainment and it falls upon Calamity Jane, a rowdy, gun-toting tomboy, to go to Chicago to bring back a famed stage actress. She brings instead the star's maid, who settles in the town, but Jane's "Secret Love" falls for her. This television special was based on a stage adaptation of the film that was playing regional circuits at the time it aired.