Program Descriptions for the week of December 6, 2004
Against My WillIn Pakistan, many women who decide to leave abusive marriages are signing their own death warrants. They risk being disfigured or murdered by men who believe it is the only way to restore honor to the family. Authorities in Pakistan rarely respond to reports of honor killing. The Human Rights Commission Pakistan and the Women Action Forum estimate that 1000 women are murdered each year, with little or no response from the government.
At the Dastak women's shelter in Lahore, women accused of tarnishing the family honor find a safe haven. Here, in this tidy building with a well-kept lawn, they live in safety, receiving both counseling and legal advice. Kubra is one such woman. After enduring repeated beatings, the 28-year-old fled to Dastak. We meet Kubra - armed guard in tow - on her way to a meeting with members of her family. They entreat her to return. Eventually, she agrees. Three weeks later, she is murdered, shot to death in her sleep. Through Kubra's story, and the stories of other women at Dastak, the film creates a portrait of one institution that is protecting Pakistani women, at least the women who can make it there.�
For more information and to inquire about purchasing this program, click here.
More on Honor Killing:
Muslim Women�s League
Human Rights Watch
Amnesty International
A chronicle of�Algeria's struggle for peace, stability and democracy since independence from France. The documentary combines recent and archival interviews, newsreel footage, and recently filmed footage from Algeria to trace the origins of the violence that has left as many as 200,000 dead since 1988.�
For more information and to inquire about purchasing the film, click here.
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An in-depth documentary that looks at one of the world�s oldest systems of holistic healthcare. Traveling the world, we are introduced to practitioners at work in India, Greece, and the United States. The documentary reveals how the revitalized holistic discipline, based on the most ancient of techniques, can be applied in this age of nuclear power, the internet and instant everything. To purchase the film, click here.
Also, please visit the National Institute of Ayurvedic Medicine (NIAM) site. Dr Scott Gerson, one of the Ayurveda practitioners featured in the film, is the founder of NIAM.
Baaba Maal is one of the great musical stars of Africa, who has been able to bring Western and African music together in a seamless, natural blend. His powerful vocals and tirelessly exuberant stage performances have won him fans worldwide, and made his albums best sellers. This documentary captures all the color and grace of his Fulani culture, as Baaba returns to his hometown of Podor, Senegal, where, in his own words, and in the words of his friends and co-workers, the story of how he came to be a musician is revealed. For more information about Baaba Maal and his music, please visit the unofficial Baaba Maal fan site.
To purchase the music of Baaba Maal, visit the LINK TV MUSIC STORE.
To buy "Baaba Maal Live at the Royal Festival Hall" DVD at the Link TV music store, click here.
A two part discussion of corporate farming and its global effects.
Part 1 examines how corporate globalization of food threatens the livelihoods of small farmers in the U.S. and developing countries and how free trade is the route to mounting hunger worldwide, despite an overabundance of food.
Part 2 looks at mass produced, low-cost food imports to developing countries and cash crop exports that deplete natural resources and render developing countries unable to feed themselves.
To purchase this film, click here. (note-this film is alternately titled The Global Banquet: The Politics of Food)
Transylvania means �across the forest� so this music documentary is aptly aptly named as it follows two members of Hungary�s most famous folk band, Muzik�s, as they gather songs from Transylvanian villages near and far.
Under communism, the Hungarian government attempted to homogenize the musical heritage of the country into manageable uniformity. People were told that they had no real music of their own. In opposition, young Hungarian musicians started filtering into Transylvania, in Romania, where a large Hungarian population still lived the village life that had been stamped out elsewhere. They collected songs, brought them back to Hungary and started a vibrant folk renaissance, called the �Tanchaz� (dance house) movement.
The film features brilliant performances from virtuoso folk musicians, playing for weddings, harvests and various rites of passage, showing the relationship of the music to every stage of life.
To own the music of Transylvanian villages, visit the Link TV Music Store.
The great Texas bluesman Sam (Lightnin') Hopkins is captured brilliantly in this deeply moving film. Filmmaker Les Blank reveals Lightnin's inspiration, and features a generous helping of classic blues. Includes performances at an outdoor barbeque and a black rodeo; and a visit to his boyhood town of Centerville, Texas. The film was made in 1969, 12 years before Hopkins� death due to esophagal cancer in 1982.
For more about the making of this film, and to purchase it, click here.
Purchase Lightnin' Hopkins song downloads, CDs and other live performances on DVD from the Link TV Store.
For a biography of Lightnin� Hopkins, click here.
Between 1964 and 1973 the United States conducted a secret air war, dropping over 2 million tons of bombs and making tiny Laos the most heavily bombed country in history. Millions of these cluster bombs did not explode when dropped, leaving the country massively contaminated with �bombies� as dangerous now as when they fell a quarter century ago.
BOMBIES examines the problem of unexploded cluster bombs through the personal experiences of a group of Laotians and foreigners and argues for their elimination as a weapon of war. Unfortunately they are still a standard part of the US arsenal and were dropped both in Kosovo and Afghanistan.
For more information and to get involved, click here.�
To own the film, click here.
A revealing film about a clash of cultures that ensues when a group Kenyan soldiers, including some Samburu warriors, are sent Bosnia as part of the U.N. peacekeeping force. The Kenyans tell of their experience in the "white man's war." The film juxtaposes Samburu practices that are looked upon askance by "civilized" people - animal sacrifice, the ritual drinking of blood from the freshly slaughtered animal, and circumcision of adolescent males - with the warrior's observations of the white man's world in which, though there was much progress, neighbor killed neighbor and many large houses were shattered. For more information on this film, click here.
On the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea thousands of people were killed in a war of secession that grew from a local uprising against an Australian copper company. When the ten-year-old civil war ended in 1998, the islanders had to deal with the challenging emotional terrain of personal reconciliation. BREAKING BOWS AND ARROWS documents the islanders' road to forgiveness and healing, a process governed by their own cultural tradition.
For more information, and to inquire about owning the film, click here.
This dramatic story takes place while the producers are creating a series about the daily life in Brussels� Zaventem Airport. In the midst of production, Sabena, the Belgian national airline, declares bankruptcy and the producers decide to focus on the effects of this sudden termination on the company�s employees. Suddenly the story of the bankruptcy becomes incredibly personal.
A rare desert cactus, the Hoodia, contains a never before discovered molecule that may hold the answer to one of the world's greatest health problems, obesity and over-eating.� Scientists have isolated an appetite suppressant in the flesh of the plant that is powerful enough to stop people eating all day.� But who holds the rights to this information?� The San Bushmen of the Kalahari desert have known of its powers for decades.� This film reveals how, thanks to a rare spirit of co-operation between first world and third, one of the poorest tribes on earth stands a good chance of becoming overnight millionaires, if the drug is approved.�
For more information, and to inquire about purchasing the film, click here.
This concise masterpiece by famed Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine began as a commission by French TV for a news series. Using his unique sense of artistic digression, Chahine transforms this portrait of a city into a self-portrait of a filmmaker. The film was banned in Egypt for its realistic portrayal of Cairo. For more on Youssef Chahine, click here. For official Chahine fan site, click here.
To inquire about purchasing this film, please contact the distributor below:
Arab Films Distribution:
John Sinro
e-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: (206) 322-0882.
Nine college students from Baghdad and twelve from Ohio talk to one another via satellite television about politics and war, school and parents.
For more on this program, click here. For more on the Chat the Planet series, click here.
Two young men open a makeshift movie theater in Cite Soleil, the largest shanytown in Haiti to earn a living for themselves and their families. Every day the two boys have to overcome numerous obstacles to ensure the projections take place. In spite of their poverty, the spectators come in great numbers. Although the theater cannot offer them any real escape from the oppression of 40 years of dictatorship, it does provide a window on the outside world.
To purchase the film, please contact the following distributor:
Margarita Seguy
F for Film
[email protected]
An expos� of the CIA's secret experiments on humans in the 1950s. Through the use of drugs, hypnosis and torture, suspected Soviet agents were subjected to a rigorous brainwashing to induce their confessions. The issue is explored through the story of U.S. scientist Dr. Frank Olson, who was involved in these experiments. Tormented by his conscience, Olson wanted to quit the program � and died shortly thereafter under mysterious circumstances.
Forty years later, Eric Olson had his father's body exhumed to prove that he had been murdered, most likely to prevent Dr. Olson � one of the most important bearers of secrets in the U.S. � from revealing the truth. Working closely with Olson's survivors, authors Egmont R. Koch and Michael Wech shed light on these incredible events. For the first time ever, "Code Name Artichoke" shows exclusive photos and visual documents from Frank Olson's private archives and gives the scientist's former companions and colleagues a forum to air their views. For a transcript of the film, click here. WorldLink TV Spotlight is hosted by Mark Hertsgaard.
Official CIA statement about this case from Sept 20, 1994:
�We regret the tragic death of Frank Olson and sympathize with his family. If the private investigation being conducted at the behest of the Olson family produces new information on the case, it should be brought to the attention of the appropriate authorities. We cooperated with the investigations of this case by the Congress and the Executive Branch in the 1970s, and we certainly will cooperate if the case is re-opened.�
RELATED SITES:
Olson Family Website
The Sunshine Project
A Link TV exclusive documentary that presents highlights of an extraordinary day-long ethics conference, featuring the Dalai Lama in conversation with some of the nation�s leading activists. A co-production of Tibet House U.S. in New York, and Link TV, the program brings together for the first time ever, one of the world�s most important spiritual leaders with renowned journalists, economists, environmentalists and politicians to discuss the ethical dilemmas of the new millennium.
With allegations of government subterfuge, corporate malfeasance scandals and a devastating global warming crisis dominating the headlines, this unprecedented television program gives millions of Americans a rare glimpse into the enlightening ethical teachings, peaceful nature and often surprising humor of the Dalai Lama.
The program shows highlights from four panels: Ethics and the Environment (with David Crow, Randall Hayes, Paul Hawken), Ethics and the Media (with Amy Goodman, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Susan Sarandon); Ethics and Economics (with Ben Cohen, Amy Domini, Russell Simmons); and Ethics and the Politics of Peace (with Dr. Helen Caldicott, Dennis Kucinich, and Rev. Al Sharpton). The discussions are intercut with interviews from the panelists, who provide personal insights into their impressions of the dialogue and what ethics means to them.
The program was filmed in September, 2003 at New York�s Town Hall.
To view a 3-minute streamed introduction suitable for broadband connections, click here; and for dialup connections click here.
To purchase this film, click here.
This documentary follows three welfare recipients in New York City from 1997 to 2000 as they participate in the largest welfare-to-work program in the nation. When forced to work at city jobs for well below the prevailing wage and deprived of the chance to go to school, these individuals decide to fight back, demanding programs that will actually help them move off of welfare and into jobs.� For more information, and to inquire about owning the film, click here.�
Democracy Now! is a national independent news program, hosted by award-winning journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez and produced out of the Downtown Community Television Center, a community media center in New York City�s Chinatown.
The show is committed to covering issues the conventional media avoid and bringing the voices of the marginalized to the airwaves.� Goodman and Gonzalez�s engaging reports feature interviews with activists, muckrakers, visionaries, artists, academics, and "ordinary folks" who share a commitment to truth, justice, diversity, and peace.
For more information, visit the Democracy Now! site.
Amy Goodman hosts a retrospective of the best Democracy Now! reports of the past year.
It is wedding season in India.� All over the country the booming middle class is spending a fortune on dowries - bikes, fridges, microwaves, cars and large amounts of cash - all in the attempt to find a suitable husband.� It can cost up to $100,000 for a family in India to find a groom for their daughter.�
This all happens despite the fact that it is illegal to give or receive more than $150 in dowry payments.� And it is resulting in the return of dowry crime. The aim: to get the money then get rid of the wife as soon as possible.� Demands for money often continue well into the marriage. If the family does not pay, there can be a heavy price.� Cases of newly-wed women burning to death in stove "accidents" occur daily.� Some women are forced to commit suicide by their husbands; others are simply murdered by their husband's family.�
But women are fighting back.� The producers join Delhi's female crime unit in the fight against dowry crime. The unit, which was recently given the power to make arrests, responds to calls across the city from women who feel harassed.� The Indian Government has also responded to the increasing problem by passing a law so that anyone even remotely connected to the death of a wife can be thrown in jail.� As a result, entire families can be imprisoned.� India has even built a special jail block in Delhi for mothers-in-law accused of killing their sons' wives.�
Featured prominently in the film is one case where a young doctor died a week after she moved in with her in-laws. Her parents and a leading feminist take the fight to the police. The programconfronts her husband and in-laws in an attempt to find out how she died.�
For more information, and to inquire about owning the film, click here.
The people of Jalsindhi in central India must make a decision fast. In the next few weeks, their village will disappear underwater as the giant Narmada Dam fills.� They have three choices: move to the slums in the city, accept a place at a resettlement site or stay at home and drown. Bestselling author Arundhati Roy joins the fight against the dam and asks the difficult questions. Will the water go to poor farmers or to rich industrialists? What happened to the 16 million people displaced by fifty years of dam building? Why should I care? DROWNED OUT follows the Jalsindhi villagers through hunger strikes, rallies, police brutality and a six-year Supreme Court case. It stays with them as the dam fills and the river starts to rise...
For more information and to own the film, click here.
A special Deutsche Welle report on Al qaeda�s return to Afghanistan. Since the end of the U.S. invasion in 2001, the terrorist organization has regained a foothold in the mountainous region along the Pakistan border.
A Deutsche Welle special report on state of Palestine and its people in the post-Arafat era.
Journalist Mark Hertsgaard interviews Robert F. Kennedy Jr., senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council and author of the book "Crimes against Nature", about the Bush Administration record on environment issues.
To watch a streamed version of this installment of Earth Focus, click here.
Modern living requires enormous amounts of energy. New houses in the West are designed to sell, just like any other consumer product, not to save energy. If everyone in the world were to consume natural resources at the same rate as people in the UK, we would need three planets. Therefore, we need to learn fast how to live with the one planet that we have. But can we expect to live sustainably and comfortably without overspending our planet's capital resources?
This week's Earth Report looks at sustainable living in and around London. At the Millennium Eco Village and the Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED), eco-friendly living meets innovative design and architecture, proving that an environmentally sound lifestyle is no longer the preserve of the "beards and sandals brigade". For more information on this program, and to inquire about purchasing the film, please visit the Earth Report site.
A�touching documentary about the resilience of two brothers travelling with a group of young Tibetans along the treacherous terrains of the Himalayan range. Every year, hundreds of Tibetans trek through Nepal to India to try to escape Chinese-occupied Tibet to escape persecution and to fulfill their dream of meeting with the Dalai Lama.� Traveling on foot, many die because of hunger and the unbearable weather conditions.�
For more on the plight of Tibetans and how you can help, click here.
Highlights of the week's European news, from Deutsche Welle.
A dramatic account of the lives of killer whales in the wild, and how they have been captured for marine parks.� Killer whales have entertained us with their amusing antics and playful demeanor, charmed us with their built-in smile, and impressed us with their remarkable intelligence.� However, there is a darker side to life in the glass tanks which house these entertainers.�
This film documents the tragic history of the industry where the killer whale, beluga whale and dolphin are torn from their close-knit families in violent and often illegal captures. We witness footage of trainer injuries caused by killer whales driven to violence by the stress of captivity, contrasted with the mesmerizing social interactions and herd camaraderie exhibited by these gentle and peaceful animals in their ocean kingdom.
To protect wild killer whales, click here.
To inquire about purchasing this film, contact:
Parthenon Entertainment Ltd.
66-68 Bell Street
London
NW1 6SP
TELEPHONE:� +44 (0)20 7563 8323
FAX:� +44 (0)20 7723 8489
In the public's eye, reporters will do anything for a story. "Fear And Favor In The Newsroom" takes viewers behind the scenes to shatter this myth. Narrated by Studs Terkel, the film shows how ownership of the press by a small corporate elite constricts the free flow of ideas and information upon which our democracy depends. For more information, video clips and to purchase this film, click here.
GET INVOLVED
The dangers of media consolidation discussed in this film are more relevant than ever. In late June, the FCC voted 3-2 to lift the existing limits on national media ownership by large media conglomerates. The new rules would eliminate a 20-year old ban on cross-ownership, allowing one company to own newspapers, television and radio stations in the same market. In addition, a single broadcaster would be allowed to acquire multiple television stations whose signal reached up to 45% of the potential national audience. The current limit is 35%.
The proposed changes have run into resistance on Capitol Hill. On July 16, the House Appropriations Committee voted to effectively maintain the 35% limit and even many Republicans are questioning the wisdom of the FCC�s stance. The unanticipated resistance in Congress is an increasingly rare example of grass roots efforts making an impact over the well-financed lobbyists of major corporate interests.
While some progress has been made in slowing down the media consolidation juggernaut, the issue is a long way from being settled. Large media organization are lobbying heavily for easing the restrictions and the Appropriations bill must still be passed by the full House of Representatives and signed by President Bush.
If you feel that the proposed FCC rules are a threat to the diversity of information available to U.S. media consumers, make your feelings known to decision makers in Washington. Below are links for more information and to organizations actively involved in the effort:
Background and Current Status of Media Ownership
Media Consolidation Issue Brief
Free Press is a national organization working to increase informed public participation in crucial media policy debates.
Common Cause is helping to coordinate citizen action to register concern over ownership of media issues.
Media Access Project is a non-profit, public interest law firm which promotes the public's First Amendment right to hear and be heard on the electronic media of today and tomorrow.
Want to Know Who Controls Your Local Media? Use the Center for Public Integrity Media Ownership Database to research who owns what in radio, TV, cable, and telephone across the U.S.
The Festival in the Desert held outside Timbuktu has become the destination of choice for World Music cogniscenti. Initially conceived as a way for the nomadic Tuareg people to unite with their brethren who had been disbursed by a now resolved political upheaval, it has transformed into a splendid event; one that has attracted some of the best musicians that West Africa has to offer.
In a joint production with Link TV, Sean Barlow and Banning Eyre of Afropop WorldWide sought out and filmed the spontaneous sessions that occurred in the tents peppering the sand dunes around the festival site. They caught extraordinary moments, music made by people whose names may be as yet unfamiliar to western ears, but whose voices and virtuosity are unforgettable.
Highlights include Haira Arby a woman with a voice and heart as big as the desert where she was born, electric guitarist Lobi Traore who traveled many miles from his urban home to participate and absorb new sounds and experiences, Tartit the Tuareg ensemble that performs traditional dances and songs, and Baba Djire whose haunting tenor voice is pure pleasure. Even aficionados of world music will find the performances captured here to be rare and inspiring. There are also stellar performances by world music superstar Ali Farke Toure, and rock and roll legend Robert Plant.
From magnificent camel riders to enchanted lantern-lit sand dunes �The Festival in the Desert� captures the sights and sounds of the event so well that it is the next best thing to making the arduous journey one�s self.
To own the music featured in this film, please visit the Link TV Music Store.
To own a related film about the Festival on DVD, click here.
An emotionally charged documentary about the use and misuse of technology on the American farm. In less than fifty years the face of agriculture has been utterly transformed by synthetic chemicals which have had a serious impact on the environment and on the health of farm families. This film tells the story of two farmers, different in all details, yet united by their common goal of producing healthy food.
One of the farmers is the father of the filmmaker. Herbert Smith was a hero of his age: dedicated, innovative, a champion of the new miracle sprays of the 50s. His fate is the heart of this film. The other, Fred Kirschenmann of North Dakota, is a hero for our age. Faced with a shattered economy and the devastating environmental effects of conventional chemical farming, Fred steered his land through the transition to organic farming.
Twenty years later, the Kirschenmann farm is a thriving testament to ingenuity, hard work, and a reverent understanding of nature. Fred proves that sustainable agriculture is a viable alternative on any sized farm and that we can bring health and beauty back to the Garden.
For more information, and to purchase this film, contact Miranda Productions.
An extraordinary first-person account of two women caught in a war where rape was as much of an everyday weapon as bullets or bombs. Jadranka Cigelj and Nusreta Sivac, childhood friends and lawyers, enjoyed the lives of "ordinary modern women" in Bosnia - Herzegovina until one day former neighbors became tormentors. Taken to the notorious Serb concentration camp of Omarska, the two women, like other Muslim and Croat women interned there, were systematically tortured and humiliated by their Serb captors. Once released, the pair turned personal struggles for survival into a larger fight for justice, aiding other women who had been brutalized and successfully lobbying to have rape included in the international lexicon of war crimes by the UN Tribunal at the Hague. Chronicling the two women's experience and their remarkable transformation, Calling the Ghosts is an indispensable resource for deepening understanding of human rights abuses and combating violence against women. For more information on the Life Series, click here.
The story of how Joe Leahy, a wealthy mixed-race coffee plantation owner,�persuades the Ganiga tribespeople of Papua New Guinea to join him in a coffee growing venture.� Always suspect because of his mixed-race status, Joe is in deep trouble with the tribespeople when his promises of riches fail to materialize. As he organizes to emigrate with his family to Australia, he is a saddened man with an uncertain future.
People harbor a misconception that the AIDS epidemic in the United States is over. While medical advances have transformed AIDS from a short term death sentence into a more manageable long term illness-at least for those individuals who have access to the newest drug therapies-the epidemic is still very much alive, it just has a changing face.
�
Increasingly, the epidemic affects women. Women account for almost one quarter of new AIDS cases, and one fifth of those already living with the disease. Almost two thirds of these cases occur among African-American women. Moreover, by almost any measure, the average woman with AIDS is likely to be worse off then her male counterpart; she' s more likely to be uninsured and to have less access to medical care. Why haven't the steady declines seen in the male infection rate over the last decade been re�ected among women? What are the underlying social conditions that lead to these grim statistics?
This one-hour documentary film explores the stories and issues behind the numbers, examining the factors that have led to this new front in the battle against the AIDS epidemic.� Produced for the Kaiser Family Foundation� by Moxie Firecracker Films.
Official World AIDS Day site
A revolution in information technology is redefining poverty, as how much you know is becoming just as important as how much you own. "The Hole in the Wall" examines one possible solution to the growing technological gap between rich and poor -- the so-called 'digital divide' -- that threatens to consign millions to an "information underclass." When Indian researcher Sugata Mitra embedded a high-speed computer in a wall separating his firm's New Delhi headquarters from an adjacent slum, he discovered that slum children quickly taught themselves how to surf the net, read the news, and download games and music. Mitra then replicated the experiment in other locations. Each time the results were similar: within hours, and without instruction, the children began browsing the Internet. Can children -- given only access and opportunity -- really teach themselves the rudiments of computer literacy with no instruction? "The Hole in the Wall" experiment, and the documentary film that chronicles it, show the answer to be a "Yes!" Mitra estimates that, given access to one hundred thousand computers, one hundred million Indian children could teach themselves computer literacy within five years. The film concludes by noting that the spread of information technology is changing societies around the world, and the implications of Mitra's experiment are profound -- particularly for poor people.
For more information and to purchase this film, click here.
During the Second World War, while America was fighting the Japanese, a unit of second generation Japanese-Americans was fighting bravely on the European front. These sons of Japanese immigrants proved their courage and loyalty on the fiercest battlefields, as they fought to overcome the stigma of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The 100/442nd Regiment suffered the highest rates casualty and became the most decorated unit in American history. Meanwhile back at home, their families were in desolate internment camps, having been forced to leave their homes, farms and businesses. This film, made by the daughter of one of the soldiers, tells their story through remembrances and archival footage. With pride the veterans recall how they rescued the" Lost Battalion" of 211 Texans about to be annihilated by the enemy. Eight-hundred soldiers were wounded or killed in this operation which the U.S. Army has called one of the top ten battles of all time. The veterans also remember the friendly rivalry between the exuberant Hawaiian-Japanese, who had never faced discrimination, and the reserved American Nisei who had the double burden of fighting prejudice at home as well as the enemy abroad. Produced and directed by Wendy Hanamura.
RELATED SITES:
Japanese American National Museum
A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the Constitution at the Smithsonian National Museum
FACE TO FACE, which connects the experiences of Japanese Americans imprisoned during WWII with those of Arab Americans and Muslim Americans today.
To purchase this film, contact TRANSIT MEDIA:
[email protected]
1-800-343-5540
The touching story of an elderly brother and sister who have lived together in their small Swedish town their entire lives. The film shows their special bond, the kind of world they inhabit, and provides an inspirational look at family values and the simple joys of life.
Hugo is approaching 100 and his sister Rose is 96. In their little red house in the Swedish countryside they live in the same way as people there lived 100 years ago. �The trick is in staying happy,� the always elegant Rosa confides to the filmmakers. In addition to cooking and caring for the household, she also sometimes plays the accordion. And when a sparkling Hugo with his amusing tales is chopping wood and digging in the garden, it appears as if nothing can disturb the idyllic life of the siblings. The march of time, however, is relentless, and after Hugo�s health complications, both find themselves in a retirement home. Even here they do not lose their remarkable optimism about life, their good mood, or their ability to take a humorous and detached view of the ailments associated with their age. A discreet camera follows Rosa and Hugo up to the final climax of their long life�s pilgrimage.
This very humane and cheerful documentary is a celebration of dignified old age and shows that the autumn of one�s days does not have to be only a hopeless wait until death.
International news and business report from Deutsche Welle, live from Berlin.
Architectural historian Dan Cruickshank journeys to Afghanistan on an expedition into the heart of its war torn cities and mountainous regions in search of what remains of its once rich cultural heritage. Over the last 20 years, Afghanistan has been blown apart by successive civil wars and the tyrannical regime of the Taliban. This was a country with a unique cultural identity, whose ancient trade road, the Silk Route, had brought a great fusion of influences from the Han dynasty in the East, the Caesar dynasty in the West and from India in the South. Now Afghanistan lies in ruins and archaeological sites and architectural ruins have been plundered by soldiers and profiteers. For this Omnibus Special, Dan Cruickshank attempts to discover what cultural treasures remain. He travels to Bamiyan to see first hand the colossal Buddhas that were destroyed by the Taliban in March 2001. He meets the Hazara people of Bamiyan, who speak openly about life under the Taliban. In Kabul, Dan visits the town�s museum which has lost approximately 70% of its collection. All artifacts containing imagery thought contradictory to the Taliban version of Islam were destroyed. What little remains is due to the heroics of museum staff and members of the Afghan "Cultural Resistance" who risked their lives to save art work. Dan Cruickshank is one of the Britain�s leading architectural and historic building experts.
For more information about this program, click here.
For more information about Don Cruickshank�s Afghanistan project, click here.
A compassionate wake-up call for and about those in this country with the fastest growing rate of HIV-infection: African American women. This 30-minute film features Black women talking directly to other Black women about the very real threat AIDS poses to every sister, and focuses on how women can protect themselves, empower themselves and ultimately love themselves.� Directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Mustapha Khan.
Official World AIDS Day site.
For Laleh and Ladan Bijani, conjoined twin sisters living in Iran, life has never been simple. Although they are similar to other girls their age in many ways, they must constantly confront issues of individual and shared identity as they go about their everyday lives together. Although aware that it could prove fatal for one of them, they hope to one day undergo the operation that will separate them.
Sadly, in July of 2003, four years after this film was made, Ladan and Laleh both lost their lives while undergoing the surgery necessary to separate them.
For an update on this story, click here.
To inquire about purchasing this film, click here.�
A look at efforts to save sea turtles, in particular the leatherback, whose population is seriously declining at all major nesting beaches throughout the Pacific.� For more information on this graceful, vulnerable creature, click here.
The extraordinary story of a preacher who runs the largest Sunday school in America in the ghettos of New York. In the ghettos of New York lies the largest Sunday school in America. Led by Pastor Bill Wilson and attended by up to 20,000 kids a week, its services are far from what we may imagine Sunday school to be like.
In March 2003, Pastor Bill was shot in the head by armed muggers, but this near death experience was for Bill just part of the price he has to pay in trying to bring the children in one of New York�s most notorious ghettos closer to God. In this documeantary, we are taken behind the scenes. In dramatic footage, we follow Pastor Bill and one of his newest recruits, 21-year-old Paul from England, as they face up to the challenges of life as Sunday school teachers in the tough ghettos New York.
To inquire about owning this film, click here.
On December 3, 1984, huge amounts of toxic gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, poisoning hundreds of thousands of people, and killing thousands, the biggest and deadliest chemical disaster of all time. Today, hundreds of thousands of people still suffer. Drinking water for at least sixteen nearby communities remains severely polluted, while, to date, no court of law anywhere in the world has ever held Union Carbide or any of its officers responsible for what happened that night. How is it possible that nearly two decades after an event of such magnitude there is no legal closure? Why has the case been left to rot in the backwaters of the legal system without delivering justice to the victims?
This powerful film explores how Union Carbide successfully manipulated both the US and the Indian legal systems against each other, to avoid having to defend its record in the Bhopal plant in court. Featuring, a young Indian-American lawyer, the film follows the case he brought on behalf of the victims in front of the Federal District Court in New York. Case number 99CIV 11239 has survived two motions to dismiss, and is now proceeding to trial.
To view a streamed short introduction to this documentary, click here.
To view streamed highlights of this film, click here.
For more information, and to inquire about owning the film, click here.
This documentary, filmed over a 10-year period, centers on the debate over censorship as it follows Vancouver�s Little Sister�s Bookstore and its 20-year struggle with Canada Customs over the seizure of books. In the face of bigotry, bombings and repeated book seizures, the bookstore waged one of the most important legal battles in Canadian history.
The film features a cast of writers and activists, including Pierre Berton, Jane Rule, Sarah Schulman and Pat Califia-Rice, who speak out passionately on the issue of censorship. They are joined by lawyer Joe Arvay, who took this case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, and John Dixon of the BC Civil Liberties Union.�
To inquire about owning the film, click here.
What do Charles I, Marilyn Monroe and Charles Darwin have in common?� They all had stammers (known as stuttering in the U.S.).� This documentary observes four people in their daily battle with this speech impediment.� Most of us don't think twice about using the phone, asking for something in a shop, or getting on a bus. However, for an estimated 60 million people worldwide, these routine tasks can be terrifying.�
The film follows Steve, Lee, Max and Gouri as each deals with their stammer differently. Steve, an aspiring DJ, also experiences jerky body movements when he stammers. Can an intensive course help him gain confidence and improve his speech? Lee, 33, has already tried a course, but still finds it difficult to talk on the phone. How will he cope with the arrival of his new baby? The film also discovers how stammering can affect school children.� Max, 13, is teased three to four times a day. His mother has enrolled him in a local drama class, but how can Max learn to curb his temper if he's continually ridiculed?� The last case study is Gouri. She's hidden her speech problems for years, and has only just told her parents. As a covert stammerer, Gouri thinks through all her sentences before she speaks, making her appears far quieter and less confident than she really is. How will her best friend react to the news? Each individual deals with their condition with the support and love of families and friends.�
For more information on stammering, visit the British Stammering Organization site, or, in the U.S., the Stuttering Foundation of America.
The award winning story of the remarkable life of an extraordinary man: Eddie Koiki Mabo. Filmmaker Trevor Graham, a friend of Mabo, portrays Mabo�s struggle to have his ownership of property on Mer (Murray Island) legally recognized, and how that claim grew into a case that changed indigenous rights in Australia.
Eddie Koiki Mabo was born on Murray Island, but lived most of his life in exile on mainland Australia. On June 3, 1992, five months after Eddie Mabo died tragically of cancer, the High Court of Australia upheld his claim that Murray Islanders held 'Native Title' to three islands on the eastern fringe of the Torres Strait. After more than 200 years, Australian law had to recognize pre-existing indigenous law.
For more information, click here.
The story of the AIDS epidemic in Malawi, South-Eastern Africa, where 200 people die of AIDS every day. To fight this catastrophe, a new way of life is emerging, creating a deep awareness of the AIDS epidemic, famine, and the other problems facing not only Malawi, but all of sub-Saharan Africa. Directors Doug Karr and Sierra Bellows travel across Malawi bringing us a glimpse of a complex situation that encompasses sadness and hope, defeat and renewal.
To inquire about purchasing this film, please contact Human Scale Productions.
Official World AIDS Day site.
A complex, engaging coming-of-age story that explores what happens when love gets in the way of letting go. The film features Mark Puddington, a teenager with multiple disabilities who is a local celebrity in his New York City neighborhood. Against the backdrop of preparations for his Bar Mitzvah, and with the constant, unstinting support of his devoted mother, both his family and the wider community face the reality of his uncertain future.
They must consider what Mark's life will be like when they are no longer able to protect and take care of him. Filmmaker Judd Ehrlich worked for nearly ten years as a caretaker for Mark, and his close relationship with the family results in an unusually intimate portrait of family dynamics.
For more information on this film, click here.
To inquire about owning this film, click here.
Mosaic features selections from daily TV news programs produced by national broadcasters throughout the Middle East. The news reports are presented unedited and translated, when necessary, into English.
Mosaic includes television news broadcasts from selected national and regional entities. Some of the broadcasters are state controlled and others are private networks, often affiliated with political factions. These news reports are regularly watched by 300 million people in 22 countries all over the Middle East.
For more on the countries and broadcasters represented in our Mosaic series, please click here.
To view a recent episode in streaming format and for episode summaries, click here.
Mosaic also produces periodic 1-hour special reports. The latest is Election 2004 - The Middle East Factor, in which top journalists analyze news reports from Arabic language news stations�from Al Jazeera Television to the Hezbollah-backed Al Manar TV�to show you how 300 million viewers in the Middle East are watching and reacting to the U.S. presidential elections. To view this program in streaming format, click here.
Shot in Britain, Africa, the Caribbean and America, this film follows the three descendants of African slaves as they return to Africa armed with the science that will finally enable them to rediscover their lost African roots.
The ancestors of British African Caribbeans were deprived of their history as well as their freedom when they were packed into slave ships and transported over the Atlantic to the plantations of the Caribbean. Now, for the first time, groundbreaking genetic analysis makes it possible for some to discover just which part of Africa their ancestors came from.
Motherland: A Genetic Journey is the exclusive inside story of this pioneering project - an exciting partnership of science, history and people. By analysing genetic markers on samples taken from 230 men and women from Britain�s African Caribbean community, scientists in Britain and America are able for the first time to identify the geographic origins of the participants� maternal� and in the case of men, paternal � ancestors.
�To inquire about owning this film, please contact Takeaway Media.
Singer Mari Boine lives way beyond the arctic circle in northern Norway. She belongs to the Sami, an ancient indigenous people who used to be reindeer herding nomads. Because of pressure to assimilate, she was brought up to reject the songs of her people. It was only when she reclaimed her heritage she finally found her real voice as a singer. In her music she blends the traditional Joik singing of the shamans with elements of Jazz and Rock to create emotional and haunting statements. Since Peter Gabriel released her first Album Gula Gula in 1992 Mari Boine has gained an international reputation as one of the leading personalities in World Music. This film follows Mari Boine in her musical journeys, simultaneously tracing her traditional roots and her recent immersion in African musical cultures.
For more information, and to purchase this film, click here.
To own the CDs of Mari Boine, visit the Link TV Store.
For 99 cent song downloads, click here.
For more information on Mari Boine, including a biography and discography, click here.
Recently President Bush has made sweeping statements arguing that America is safer as a result of its actions in Iraq...But is� it?�
In March of 2003, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, producer/director Tom Selinski released a documentary film titled, The Nuclear Iceberg, which investigated the potential threat of terrorist groups procuring materials to produce crude nuclear weapons and use them on the United States.
In this, his most recent film, Selinski revisits this concern 18 months later and compares President Bush's statements with the realities of the times. The film�contends that better leadership might more effectively and peacefully address this issue.
To purchase this film, visit Amazon.com or contact Tom Selinski at selinskitom@qwest,
or call (218) 727-4335.
For more information on the dangers of nuclear terrorism, click here.
An October 2004 report from Public Citicen details how the Bush administration has failed to harden our defenses against terrorism and secure the most vulnerable, high-impact targets. The report is based on an analysis of five key areas � chemical plants, nuclear plants, hazardous material transport, ports and water systems. The report is available at www.HomelandUnsecured.org��
Set in 1930s outback Australia and based on a true story, �One Night the Moon� is a moving dramatic musical. Captivated by the moon one night, Emily, a six year old girl, climbs out of her bedroom window and wanders into the bush. Her distraught parents call in the police but, against all advice, her father refuses to let Albert, the black tracker - or any other �blackfella� - onto his land. After exhausting and fruitless searches, Emily's mother takes matters into her own hands and asks Albert for help. Aboriginal filmmaker Rachel Perkins (whose first feature, �Radiance� was voted best film at the Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals) draws together award winning cinematography of the starkly beautiful landscape, and powerful, emotional music composed in part by the acclaimed singer/songwriter Paul Kelly who also stars as the father. Perkins' understated treatment of the underlying racial issues only serves to emphasize their current relevance. Winner of the Gold Awgie Award 2001 (Australian Writers Guild's top honor) and screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.
Interview with Director Rachel Perkins.
For a review of the film, click here.
To purchase this film, please contact the following distributor:
MusicArtsDance Films
94 Cole St.
Victoria, Australia 3186
Tel: 03 9596 9999
Fax: 03 9596 9988
A study of pairs of people who have made peace with each other against truly extraordinary odds. The film offers a totally different perspective on handling the long lasting Israel-Palestine conflict. It encourages us to think about our own responsibility in bringing about peace in a seemingly hopeless world. For more information on this project, click here.
Highlights of a dynamic live performance by Nigeria�s Afropop superstar Femi Kuti. Sharing the bill is Malian singer Salif Keita and Madagascar�s accordion virtuoso, Regis Gizavo.
The music of Femi Kuti can be purchased at the LINK TV MUSIC STORE.
This film chronicles the post-911 racial profiling, large-scale round-ups, detentions, and mass deportations of Arab, Muslim, and South Asian men as part of the government's "War on Terrorism."� The film frames the plight of these immigrant communities within the broader context of the US government's "other war" against civil liberties that is being waged via the USA Patriot Act.�
An exploration of the health effects of radiofrequency radiation from wireless devices such as cell phones and from the antennas which service them. 65,000 cell phones are being sold each day in the U.S. alone. Worldwide, there are estimated to be 1 billion users. The antennas which broadcast the microwave signals to service these phones are mounted contiguously throughout urban and rural areas.
Though the exact scientific understanding of the mechanism of harm still remains unknown, growing numbers of independent scientific studies appear to show that bio-effects of low level RFR exposure like that emitted by cell phones and cell phone towers include: attention span deficit, memory loss, infertility, childhood & adult leukemia, eye cancer, weakened blood-brain barrier, lowered reaction time, immune system effects, sleeplessness, irritability, anxiety, depression, melatonin/seratonin imbalance, calcium efflux disruption, abnormal cell growth promotion and DNA damage. Additionally, microwaves interact unpredictably with the chemicals and heavy metals in the body.
PUBLIC EXPOSURE was produced by award-winning human rights and environmental issue filmmakers James Heddle and Mary Beth Brangan, of the Ecological Options Network (EON) and co-produced by Libby Kelley, national organizer and Director of Council on Wireless Technology Impacts, CWTI. The film can be ordered from EON: (415) 868-1900 or from CWTI: (415) 892-1863.
To order the film online, click here.
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A new series that tells the inspiring stories of youth leaders from around the world who overcome difficult personal situations to take control of their lives and help others.�
This episode features Victor "Gotti" Cherry, a former gang leader and drug dealer on the streets of Harlem who has transformed himself into a poetry-writing role model who works with troubled youth.�
For more information on this series and to inquire about purchasing this film, click here.
A new series that tells the inspiring stories of youth leaders from around the world who overcome difficult personal situations to take control of their lives and help others.
Celso Magumbe is deaf and mute. He's leading an inspiring campaign for the rights of the hearing impaired in Mozambique, one of Africa's poorest countries. As a child, he believed that only black people were deaf but now works alongside Europeans to promote his cause.
For more information on this series and to inquire about purchasing this film, click here.
A new series that tells the inspiring stories of youth leaders from around the world who overcome difficult personal situations to take control of their lives and help others.
This episode features Jesus Tecu Osorio, who witnessed the murder of his parents and siblings in 1982 during Guatemala's bloody civil war. Today, he leads a courageous campaign for memorials, exhumations and the prosecution of former military officers.
For more information on this series and to inquire about purchasing this film, click here.
The Stanley sound is true old-time, mountain style bluegrass music. This film tells Ralph's story through interviews with Ralph, fellow musicians and those who know him best. "Rank Stranger," "White Dove," "Pretty Polly," "Man of Constant Sorrow," and over twenty other songs help tell the story. Ralph performs with Dwight Yoakam, Patty Loveless, Junior Brown, Larry Sparks, George Shuffler, Ricky Skaggs, and members of the Clinch Mountain Boys. For more on Ralph Stanley, visit his official fan site. To purchase this film, click here.
The music of International Bluegrass and Bluegrass fusion artists can be purchased at the LINK TV MUSIC STORE.
"God has been kind to me. The spiritual journey through music is the only thing I feel has been important in my life", Ravi Shankar humbly declares at the beginning of Mark Kidel's gentle portrait of one of the most influential and brilliant musicians of the 20th century. Born into a Brahmin family in 1920, Shankar moved to a dazzling Paris in the '30s to perform in his older brother's dance company. Nine years later, he became the student of the great master Baba Allaudin Khan, and from his pampered life of five-star hotels and the glitterati, Shankar moved to a coconut-frond bed in Khan's simple compound and severe asceticism. Seven years of the master's strict discipline and tyrannical mentorship laid the foundation for Shankar's incandescent, international career. With sepia-toned stills, archival film footage of concerts, interviews, and surreal scenes of Benares's burning ghats and pretzel-postured fakirs, Kidel weaves a fascinating visual history of Shankar's extraordinary life. Then, of course, there is the sublime music. Although the film's title suggests the cultural bridge that Shankar created by presciently bringing classical Indian music to the West, the transcendence on Shankar's face when he plays evokes a bridge between two other worlds: the human and the divine. For more information and links, click here.
To purchase the music of Ravi Shankar, visit the Link TV Music Store.
To purchase this film, please call H&B Direct at 800-222-6872.
To purchase the "Ravi Shankar - In Portrait" DVD, click here.
To contact the producer:
J. P. Weiner Productions, Inc.
tel: 212-691-4864, fax: 212-691-3439
[email protected] / [email protected]
Celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson is challenged to create a world-class meal from ingredients that reporter have been bought from some of the world's poorest farmers - from voodoo villages in Haiti to tomato fields in Ghana. The film investigates whether we harm the world's poor more through unfair trade than we help them through aid. WorldLink TV Spotlight is hosted by Mark Hertsgaard.
For more information and to inquire about purchasing the film, click here
RELATED SITES:
International Forum on Globalization
Speech on hunger by Brazilian President Lula da Silva
Food First
Human Resources begins as a documentary-like examination of the monotony and bureaucracy of an anonymous French factory and soon erupts into a committed social drama whose conflicts extend from the workplace into the family.
The protagonist, Franck has just graduated from college and become a management trainee at the same factory where his father works manual labor.� He soon finds his own ideals are being twisted to serve the profit concerns of management, and used to justify lay-offs, including his father who is two years away from his retirement.� Franck sides with the unions against management, jeopardizing his own comfortable position in Human Resources that his father�s hard labor helped him earn.
Director Laurent Cantet uses Franck and his family to portray the psychological and human implications of management�s inhumane use of their employees as just another cog in the functioning of their factory. Human Resources reveals the real personal implications that bureaucratic decisions based solely on profit can have on individuals and the ability and responsibility we all have to fight for our own basic rights in the workplace.
For reviews, click here.�
For an interview with Laurent Cantet, click here.
To inquire about owning this film, click here.
In the long years of war against France and the U.S., Vietnamese women fought alongside men as equals. Women such as Madam Binh, who negotiated with Henry Kissinger at the Paris Peace Accords, and later became Vice President of Vietnam, and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Dinh, general and deputy commander of the Vietcong forces, reached the highest positions of power. But 20 years after the signing of the peace agreement, the revival of Confucianism and the spread of market forces are conspiring to relegate women once again to the role of second class citizens. This film looks at what happened to Mrs. Binh and Mrs. Dinh and three other women since the war. For more information, and to purchase this film, click here.
While policymakers and scientists argue about how much - or how little - to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next decades, there are others who wonder if they have a future at all.
For seven million people living on thousands of islands scattered across the Pacific, global warming is not something which looms in the distant future: it's a threat whose very real effects have already begun. Through personal stories of Pacific Islanders - fisherman, elders, scientists and farmers - RISING WATERS puts a human face on the international climate change debate.�
For more information on this film and this issue, and to get involved, click here.� To purchase this film, click here.
A heartfelt evocation of the music, culture and people of Mali, West Africa, as seen through the eyes of acclaimed singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn. As on-camera host and commentator, Bruce traverses the desert, with stars of the Malian music scene, and brings us a close up, personal look at a people who are fighting hard to hold back the encroaching desert.
For more information and to purchase the film click here.
A fascinating documentary about the daily lives of� women and children living in a tiny settlement of Orthodox Jews within the West Bank city of Hebron, protected by omnipresent Israeli soldiers. Despite their mistrust of the media, filmmaker Ruth Walk built trusting relationships with the families. The resulting accessibility provided unique insight into their lives and psychology.�
For more information, and to purchase this film, click here.
An inspiring film about the work of leading ethnobotanist Dr. Mark Plotkin in the depths of the Amazon rain forest, and his efforts to save the dying traditions of the Shamanic healers. With a dearth of young tribal members willing to train as Shamans, ancient rainforests being cut down, and exotic plants nearing extinction, Plotkin is racing against time. As apprentice to a Shaman in one of the most isolated Amazon villages in Suriname, Plotkin has taken on the massive task of translating the Shaman�s wisdom into an encyclopedia that will both preserve this little known tradition, and benefit the future of both the local people and Western medicine.
For more information and to purchase this film, click here.
Simon and I recounts the lives of two giants in the South African gay and lesbian liberation movement, Simon Nkoli and the film maker herself, Bev Ditsie. The story is narrated by Bev, both as a personal statement and a political history. Through good times and bad, their relationship is viewed against a backdrop of intense political activism and the HIV/AIDS crisis. Their converging and diverging lives, culminating in Simon 's death, are revealed in this heartfelt testament using a mixed format of interviews and archive footage.
For more information, click here. To inquire about owning this film, click here.
An inquiry into the feminine vision of Buddhism. Filmed on location in Ladakh, on the Himalayan border between India and Tibet, this documentary features stunning photography and compelling testimonies of Tibetan nuns. The film presents their daily activities in an intimate and candid way, encompassing both their religious practices and interaction with local communities. The nuns discuss the condition and role of women in Buddhism, the current efforts to overcome gender prejudices and the challenges that lie ahead to build a compassionate world. Also featured are the recent teachings of the Dalai Lama in the region. The Sisters of Ladakh is a unique look at a vanishing world, bringing to Western audiences a rare contemporary perspective from Buddhist nuns.�
To help support Tibetan Nuns, click here.
For more information and to inquire about purchasing the film, click here.�
This episode addresses issues surrounding IMMIGRATION:� 1 million immigrants arrive yearly� in the United States, out of which thousands are rejected or eventually deported. With the government cracking down on its policies, immigrants are risking their lives in hopes of crossing the border. Australia has one of the harshest immigration policies in the world.� There are currently 6 detention centers throughout the country, holding 2,500 illegal immigrants in a prison-like environment. What does it mean to be an immigrant? How do shifting immigration policies have an effect on our national identity?� What immigration issues are we faced with today?
�Snap� is a series of interactive television specials for people aged 16 to 22.� Youth-oriented programs, including short animations and international music videos, are interspersed with live conversations among viewers, hosts, callers and a �virtual audience� of webcammers.�� The program solicits young viewers to participate in discussions on issues that matter in their lives -- inviting them to connect using whatever device they want -- email, cell phone, telephone, and web-cam.� Two �chat jockeys� sit at the nexus of a connection machine in the live TV studio. Each day special guests are invited to add their personal experiences to the mix.
�Snap� is designed to expose its Generation Y viewers to new ways of thinking and to help bridge the gap between themselves and their peers worldwide by using the medium of the media.� It shows young adults and teens how people their age are making a difference in their lives and communities, giving them a venue to share their thoughts and connect on the air and on the web, in an open and uncensored manner.
For more information on "Snap", please visit the Chat The Planet site.
This episode addresses issues surrounding POLITICAL CORRECTNESS:� Language is more than just words; language is political.� Who does the naming, and why?� Words yield power. Born on U.S. college campuses in the 1980�s, Political Correctness challenged the status quo.� Is P.C. innovative thinking, or is it censorship?
�Snap� is a series of interactive television specials for people aged 16 to 22.� Youth-oriented programs, including short animations and international music videos, are interspersed with live conversations among viewers, hosts, callers and a �virtual audience� of webcammers.�� The program solicits young viewers to participate in discussions on issues that matter in their lives -- inviting them to connect using whatever device they want -- email, cell phone, telephone, and web-cam.� Two �chat jockeys� sit at the nexus of a connection machine in the live TV studio. Each day special guests are invited to add their personal experiences to the mix.
�Snap� is designed to expose its Generation Y viewers to new ways of thinking and to help bridge the gap between themselves and their peers worldwide by using the medium of the media.� It shows young adults and teens how people their age are making a difference in their lives and communities, giving them a venue to share their thoughts and connect on the air and on the web, in an open and uncensored manner.
For more information on "Snap", please visit the Chat The Planet site.
This episode, presented live from the Sony Metreon in San Francisco, focuses on YOUTH CULTURE: Does youth culture exist today? Do young people today have to go further and further in order to find something of difference to identify with? It seems that every time you flip on the television or read a magazine, marketing executives are telling kids what is cool and how to think. Are young people rebelling against this commercialization? Or have the scales tipped in the other direction: Has uncertainty with employment, world affairs and future issues taken young people to an age of neo traditionalism?
SNAP is a series of interactive television specials for people aged 16 to 22. Youth-oriented programs, including short animations and international music videos, are interspersed with live conversations among viewers, hosts, callers and a �virtual audience� of webcammers. The program solicits young viewers to participate in discussions on issues that matter in their lives -- inviting them to connect using whatever device they want -- email, cell phone, telephone, and web-cam. Two �chat jockeys� sit at the nexus of a connection machine in the live TV studio. Each day special guests are invited to add their personal experiences to the mix.
SNAP is designed to expose its Generation Y viewers to new ways of thinking and to help bridge the gap between themselves and their peers worldwide by using the medium of the media. It shows young adults and teens how people their age are making a difference in their lives and communities, giving them a venue to share their thoughts and connect on the air and on the web, in an open and uncensored manner.
SNAP is also the home of Chat The Planet -- a two-way television show linking people across the globe.
This International AIDS Day special examines how different young people are dealing with HIV/AIDS across the world. Popular MTV VJs and CNN reporters will be taking a look at a variety of issues surrounding the epidemic, including rising infection rates, condom use, discrimination, and access to treatment.�
For more information about this film and how to get involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS, please visit the Staying Alive site.
Sylvia, born into a high-ranking German military family during WWII, discovers at a young age the truth about the Holocaust. She is shocked by this awful revelation and by her parents silence when faced with her questioning. As a result, Sylvia vows to leave Germany and never to return. Several years later she happens upon a newspaper story on the persecution of the Tibetans by the hand of the Chinese military. Sylvia connects the Tibetan struggle with the plight of the Jews in WWII, and she makes a second vow to dedicate her life to helping the Dalai Lama achieve Tibet�s independence.
As an adult, Sylvia embarks on a spiritual journey leading her through India and ultimately to Tibet where she finds a new family within the Tibetan community. She fulfills her vow to the Dalai Lama, helping to build a hostel and monastery in the Himalayas to give shelter to the fleeing Tibetans. Narrated by Bill Cosby, this program is an intricate portrayal of a people and its history and Sylvia�s Path. Executive Producer: Camille O. Cosby.
For more information and to purchase the film, please visit Sylvia's site.
For information on the International Campaign for Tibet click here.
A journey through the music of the small island of Sardinia, a treasure house of beautiful folk music, from lyrical ballads to stark a capella polyphony. Talam Sardinia takes the viewer into the caves, harbors and villages of the island, where ancient customs are followed, and every event has a song.
A documentary about the collaboration between Markus James, a white American blues guitarist, and three Malian musicians who have often played with the great Ali Farka Toure.
James first started going to Mali in 1994. Over time he was befriended by the three Malians, Hamma, Hassi and Solo, and they began to work together. The film observes this quartet rehearsing, performing and hanging out, and speaking about what they have been learning from each other. Along the way we are introduced to several of the cultural and musical traditions of Mali.�
To own the film or the music of Markus James, click here.
A revealing documentary about the 2001 presidential election in Iran. The filmmaker looks at the decisive role played by middle-class teenagers and one of 48 women candidates whose bid gave voice to Iran's young, poor and unemployed female population. For more information, and to purchase this film, click here.
For updates on Iranian politics in the Iranian press, click here.
Additional links for updates on Iran and it's current political situation:
BBC: Iran�s Political Struggles, June, 25, 2004
Iranian Majlis election: February 2004
Iranian Politics After the 2004 Parliamentary Election,
by Mark Gasiorowski, Professor of Political Science at Louisiana State University
Iran�s Nuclear Developments: July, 2004 News Links
Iranian TV Networks
After twenty years of devastating pollution by oil companies in the Amazon basin of Ecuador, a new kind of oil company - Dallas based MAXUS - promises to be the first company that will protect the rainforest and respect the people who live there. The film tells the story of how MAXUS set out to convince the Huaorani - known as the fiercest tribe in the Amazon - to allow drilling on their land. It is a story which starts in 1957 with the Huaorani massacre of five American missionaries, moving through the evangelization of part of the tribe by Rachel Saint, pollution of Huaorani lands by Texaco and Shell and manipulation and buying off of Huaorani leaders by MAXUS. Filmed over two years, �Trinkets and Beads� reveals the funny, heartbreaking and thrilling story of the battle waged by a small band of Amazonian warriors to preserve their way of life.
For more information and to purchase the film, click here
Personal, passionate and controversial, Troubled Waters looks at the dilemma of dams and the cultural, economic, environmental and spiritual arguments for and against their continued existence. It raises the complicated question of how much economic value we should extract from our rivers in exchange for damaging an eco-system and the wild beauty of free-flowing streams. Informative, compelling and controversial, Beth and George Gage's documentary blends still photos, archival and new footage with stories from a cross section of people intimately involved with dam and river issues.
An interesting look at the younger generation living in the Middle East.� Since the fall of Iraq, students throughout the Middle East have returned to their universities. Same faces, same crowd, same questions. Everything appears perfectly normal. And yet nothing is like it was. The world in which these young people live has become even more confusing.�
Those who are now twenty, who are about to enter adulthood, have promised themselves not to make the same mistakes their fathers made. They feel they have been cheated by their elders and no longer believe in a great and triumphant Arab nation.� The film offers an indispensable snapshot of a generation that desires liberty over extremism, but at the same time fears that American policies will lead them into more warfare.� Above all, it�s a generation that simply wants to pursue its dreams.�
To inquire about owning this film, click here.
Ten mini-documentaries on the impact of HIV/AIDS epidemic on the youth of Southeast Asia.� Produced by the Asia Institute for Broadcast Development for UNESCO.�
Following the ten mini-documentaries will be a 15-minute film that combines information on HIV transmission with testimony from HIV-positive people on the effects of stigma.� This film was produced by Internews.�
A live call-in discussion program about Middle East and world issues hosted by Dr. James Zogby from Washington D.C. and broadcast throughout the Middle East by Abu Dhabi Television. U.S. viewers may call 1-800-528-2090 with their questions or comments during the program. Dr. Zogby, founder and president of the Arab American Institute, has also written a weekly column on U.S. politics for the major newspapers of the Arab world. The column, "Washington Watch" currently is published in 14 Arab countries.
This film explores the hidden story of the distorted media coverage during the Iraq war. There were two wars going on in Iraq - one was fought with armies of soldiers, bombs and a fearsome military force. The other was fought alongside it with cameras, satellites, armies of journalists and propaganda techniques. One war was rationalized as an effort to find and disarm WMDs - Weapons of Mass Destruction; the other was carried out with even more powerful WMDs, Weapons of Mass Deception.
The TV networks in America considered their non-stop coverage their finest hour, pointing to the use of embedded journalists and new technologies that permitted viewers to see a war up close for the first time. But different countries saw different wars. Why? This film tracks the media war through February 2004.
Weapons of Mass Deception was produced, and is reported by, former network journalist, Danny Schechter, who is one of America's most prolific media critics. For more information about the film, the issue and Danny Schecter, click here.
