Exposed: Magicians, Psychics and Frauds
A Storyville documentary: chronicling magician James Randi's debunkings of faith healers, fortune tellers and psychics, including Uri Geller and tent-show evangelist Peter Popoff.
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.
This documentary is part of Louis Theroux: Docs That Made Me, a collection of his favourite documentaries.
As someone who interviewed Uri Geller a number of times and came close to making a film about him, it's easy to see why this Storyville film grabbed Louis Theroux. The themes of 'fakery and quackery' and the charismatic figure of arch skeptic James Randi make this an entertaining look into how we separate fact from fiction.
Exposed: Magicians, Psychics & Frauds is the winner of multiple awards... The Audience Award (AFI Docs Festival, 2014), Jury Award (Dallas Video Festival, 2014), Best Documentary (Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, 2014), Jury Prize (Key West Film Festival, 2014), Jury Award (Napa Valley Film Festival, 2014), Jury Award (Newport Beach Film Festival, 2014).
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Clips
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Randi exposes Uri Geller
Duration: 02:20
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The miraculous ministry of Televangelist Peter Popoff
Duration: 03:02
Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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01:08
Farrah
Fear of Flying
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Director | Tyler Measom |
Producer | Tyler Measom |
Director | Justin Weinstein |
Producer | Justin Weinstein |
Series Editor | Nick Fraser |
Broadcasts
- Sun 2 Nov 2014 21:00
- Thu 4 Jun 2015 21:00
- Sun 20 Sep 2015 21:00
- Wed 23 Sep 2015 23:00
- Tue 15 Mar 2016 22:00
- Wed 5 Apr 2017 22:00
- Mon 10 Apr 2017 02:30
- Wed 27 Jun 2018 00:05
Featured in...
Louis Theroux’s Favourite Documentaries
Louis Theroux reveals his favourite documentaries, all available on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer.
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