A new frontline has opened in Afghanistan. Thousands of
Taliban and mujahedin soldiers have moved into the north of
the country, further stretching the ISAF forces’ attempts
to contain the insurgency. They aim to take over the
countryside surrounding the towns and cities, and block the
main supply route, the Kunduz-Baghlan road, which services
coalition troops...
As the West pours billions of dollars into the fight against
the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, an ancient tradition
(banned when the Taliban were in power) has re-emerged
across the rest of the country. Hundreds of young boys
living in extreme poverty are lured off the streets on the
promise of a life away from...
On 7th February 2009, Australia suffered its worst peacetime
disaster. ‘Black Saturday’ claimed 173 lives, left
almost 8,000 homeless and destroyed millions of hectares of
bush-land. One year on, Inside the Firestorm is a
documentary record and commemoration of this unprecedented
mega fire – faster, hotter, larger, and more dangerously
dynamic than ever before.
Made up of...
Since 1960 developed countries have given almost $500
billion in aid to Africa. Yet there are more Africans living
in extreme poverty today than ever before. If international
efforts to eradicate poverty have failed, is there another
way? Narrated by Tilda Swinton and shot on a grand scale
across great swathes of land, this controversial,...
In Eritrea, a newly independent nation struggles to preserve
the health of its children – and its incredible cultural
riches – while balancing a population half Muslim and half
Christian.
Behind the Crisis is an informative documentary which looks
deep within the complexities of this situation and explores
the inside stories of how it affects individuals,...
If your country has no cultural history, can you simply buy
one? The ruling family of Dubai certainly thinks so – and
has ordered everything under the sun to make the desert
bloom.
With exclusive access, Drilling For Art goes behind the
scenes of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority which has
launched an ambitious plan...
Fearless, feisty and resolute, the Rough Aunties are a
remarkable group of women unwavering in their stand to
protect and care for the abused, neglected and forgotten
children of Durban, South Africa.
This documentary by internationally acclaimed director Kim
Longinotto (Sisters In Law, Divorce Iranian Style) follows
the outspoken, multi-racial cadre of Thuli, Mildred, Sdudla,
Eureka and...
This is a love story – of a woman, a man, a family, a
people and a homeland. It is the story of Rebiya Kadeer,
China’s nightmare – the woman it accuses of inciting
terrorism within China’s borders. It is also the story of
the ‘other Tibet’ – the country its people call East
Turkestan,...
Since the invasion and attempts at aid and reconstruction,
Afghanistan is still experiencing widespread hunger,
homelessness and lawlessness. In this film we travel through
this troubled land with Rosemary Morrow, an Australian aid
worker who operates outside the mainstream. By trade
Rosemary is an expert in the field of Permaculture, an
agricultural technique that enables individuals...
Everywhere you look, groups of people are using the Internet
to come together, work together, or take some kind of public
action. New technologies and a closely related culture of
collaboration present radical and exciting models of social
organisation. For the first time in history, we have the
tools that truly amplify group effort and...
Never have so few companies controlled so much of the music
sold at retail stores and played on the radio. At the same
time, there are more bands and more ways to discover their
music than ever. Music seems to be split in two – the
homogenous corporate product that is spoon-fed to consumers,
and...
This film offers unique insight into the US-led initiative
to train and recruit women for Iraq’s New Army and police
force after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s government.
Hundreds of Iraqi women responded to recruitment
advertisements and knowingly put their lives on the line to
protect their country and its fledgling democracy.
They expected criticism from...
Touching, passionate and provocative, A Team for Peace
follows the riveting journey of a group of pre-adolescent
soccer players, half of them Arab, half of them Israeli, who
are put together to play on an all star team – The Peace
Team – and compete in the world’s largest international
youth soccer tournament.
Behind the...
The acclaimed current affairs strand Dispatches and
award-winning journalist Rod Liddle join forces in a
documentary that investigates the day to day struggle of
both Palestinians and Israelis living on the West Bank. In
an attempt to portray a balanced account of eveyday life on
the West Bank Liddle talks to residents from either side...
During the Vietnam War, American bombs rained down on Laos
in the ‘Secret War’, leaving it the most bombed country,
per capita, in history. The deadly legacy of this
destruction continues, as the country is still scattered
with unexploded ordnance which kills and injures people on a
weekly basis.
In the war-ravaged countryside, bomb scrap metal...
A 6-part series in which John McCarthy explores the complex
relationship between religion, money and power in a
fast-changing world. God’s Business aims to get to the
heart of what it means to be religious today, as well as
what it takes to function as a large religious organisation
in the modern world, full of...
What inspires people to risk their lives for their beliefs
– to sail a ship into a nuclear test zone, to get between
a pod of whales and an explosive harpoon, or to block
bulldozers mowing down a forest? What happens when
individual citizens decide to make a stand, however
formidable the challenge or severe...
One of the best known UK news journalists, Krishnan
Guru-Murthy, reveals the dark side of modern India -
discrimination against Muslims, a rise in Hindu nationalism,
farmers driven to suicide by debt and a caste system which
prevents those at the bottom from securing any but the most
menial and humiliating jobs.
As the gap between...
Narrated by Christopher Olgiati, Jihad: The Men and Ideas
Behind Al Qaeda is the definitive history of the world’s
most dangerous terrorist organisation. With rare footage and
first hand testimony from those who fought, conspired and
lived with them, it tells the inside story of Al Qaeda’s
three leaders – Osama Bin Laden, Ayman Zawahiri,...
A brand new documentary film celebrating the newly
democratic Liberia and the so far successful presidency of
Africa’s first elected woman head of state. This
award-winning film examines the complex issues of
nation-building confronting the country’s transitional
government, the international community and the nationals of
Liberia. At a critical moment in Liberia’s bitter history,
the documentary bears...
Despite being a U.S. territory, Saipan is exempt from
federal minimum wage and certain immigration laws. The
clothing the labourers sew is shipped duty-and-quota-free to
the U.S. for sale by The Gap, Polo and other retailers.
Powerful hidden camera footage, along with the personal
stories of many of the garment-workers, offers a rare and
unforgettable insight...
A revolutionary television series, Chat the Planet allows 15
to 22 year olds to speak their minds about the world around
them. In the first 6 episodes, young people - filmed in
their home countries and linked by satellite - from South
Africa, Australia and Jordan discuss issues such as
political correctness, materialism, youth culture,...
Written and presented by Bob Geldof and shot entirely in
Africa, this original series guides the Live Aid generation
through the continent to create awareness of and inspire
response to the beauty of Africa’s inhabitants and
landscapes. The series celebrates Africa and unravels its
complexities: cultural, historic, climatic and political.
The episodes are filmed in West...
Aukland Harbour, New Zealand. July 10th 1985. French navy
combat men place two mines against the hull of the
Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior. At ten minutes to
midnight, the bombs explode, sinking the ship and killing
photographer Fernando Pereira.
The French government is desperate to hide the truth. The
truth about the bombing. The truth about...
In the aftermath of the Boxing Day Tsunami, a group of
volunteers travel to Sri Lanka to help rebuild a small
fishing village. On a tight ten-day deadline, they try hard
to do everything they can to help; build a refugee centre,
help the locals fix the engines on their fishing boats and
create some...
A remarkable film revealing how 57,000 silent killers were
prised from the soil of South Lebanon in one of the
world’s most successful de-mining operations. In 2000,
thousands of people were able to return to their villages
for the first time in over 10 years. But within days their
dreams were once again shattered. Mines...
Set in the sprawling urban capital of Buenos Aires, The
Cardboard Train is an amazing story of Argentinean culture
and the will to survive. This is a personal story of a young
girl and her family adapting to their newly impoverished
lives. Instead of commuting to the office, they travel by
train as a community...
Big Brother Africa is a fever that is infecting all of
sub-Saharan Africa, grabbing the attention of millions of
viewers and giving rise to passionate debate: ‘How is it
possible to broadcast the love stories of these young
housemates, their kisses, their talking about sex' – some
people are saying – 'in a continent where...
Brian Haw, a 53-year-old father of seven, left his family
home in Birmingham in June 2001 and moved to the pavement at
Parliament Square, London. He is still there now. His aim
was to protest against the sanctions imposed on Iraq. Brian
has now lived rough opposite the Houses of Parliament for
over two years,...
This observational series documents the British troops who
have been on a NATO peacekeeping regiment in Bosnia for over
a decade, highlighting the real low-down of their duties.
Most soldiers find their tours of duty a difficult
combination of boredom, danger and incomprehension and their
feelings have been captured openly on camera.
The Army knows the...
With ETA terrorist activity continuing to plague the Spanish
tourist centres in the summer of 2003, a timely and
fascinating film about a remarkable young man, Borja Semper,
a 25 year-old politician in a northern Spanish town near to
San Sebastian. As the youngest councillor in the country, Mr
Semper faces daily risk and danger....
In 1997, the temple of Queen Hatshepsut in Luxor was the
scene of the brutal murder of 58 tourists. When the Islamic
fundamentalist group Al Gamaa al Islamiya claimed
responsibility and the Egyptian government quickly drew a
veil over the incident, many relatives were left with
unanswered questions regarding their lost family.
This documentary follows the...
An intimate story about the tragic use of rape as a weapon
of war told through the personal stories of three young
girls who were abducted, taken to be "rebel wives," sex
slaves, domestic servants and combatants held for many years
against their will; and one boy abducted to be a child
combatant.
WITNESS filmmakers...
Amazons in Saris is one filmmaker’s journey to the heart
of Patna, a remote province of India, where caste system
violence prevails and where a band of women are arming
themselves in resistance. The Dalits are a people that have
been oppressed throughout the ages and dominated by the
landed or ‘upper’ classes. The film...
In a major investigation these award-winning programmes
expose British companies trading in weapons which are used
for torture, such as electro-shock batons. Supposedly used
for riot control, evidence shows that they are widely used
for torture in repressive countries. The electro-shock baton
is known as 'the universal tool of the torturer' because the
body shows few...
This programme films several kinds of mixed marriages
between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs ranging across
different generations and social classes and tries to show -
through these couples - the human side to one aspect of the
Arab-Israeli conflict. There is, for example, a Jewish girl
who fell in love with a Palestinian in...
Despite strong feelings about the killing of whales and the
impact of international whaling bans, the people of the
Faroe Islands, a Danish community, still practise an annual
whale cull. Each year they entice a pod of whales into their
harbour, and men and youths enter the water to slaughter
them. As many as 1000...
