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Political and Social Documentaries
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4 CHOSEN
Directed By: Jon Doscher
Narrated by: Montel Williams
Country: United States
Runtime: 48 Mins
Language: English
Year of Production: 2008
2008 Awards
This is a true story of courage and survival that began when the dreams of four young black men were suddenly shattered in a hail of bullets on April 23, 1998. Danny Reyes was a burgeoning college basketball star when he set off on a road trip in a rented minivan with Jarmaine Grant, Keshon Moore and Rayshawn Brown, intending to go from New York to North Carolina to a basketball talent showcase, where their skills would be seen by college recruiters. They never made it past Exit 7A on the New Jersey Turnpike.
Without just cause or provocation, two New Jersey state troopers pulled them over and fired 13 shots into the van, seriously injuring three of the boys. The fight had just begun for Danny and his friends. Enlisting the help of attorney David Ironman, the boys fought for justice. Together they broke open one of the largest racial profiling cases in American history.
In an epic story that stretches all the way to Washington DC and involves such prominent individuals as Christie Todd Whitman, Johnny Cochran, and Al Sharpton, 4CHOSEN is the personal tale that makes the events so remarkable. The shooting brought the four young men together; forever connected by memories of the horrible event. Danny also became close friends with David Ironman, who relentlessly pursued justice above all else.
Ironman’s investigation exposed the disturbing truth behind racial profiling, as well as the corrupt police officers that put it into practice that night on the Turnpike. Fighting against a stone wall of opposition from government and state agencies, Ironman gave hope back to Danny and the boys at a time when almost all hope was lost.
Danny and the three other boys rose from the ashes of their dreams and made remarkable lives for themselves - discovering that it takes more than bullets to destroy the human spirit.
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The Love Market
Director: Shalom Almond
Country: Australia
Runtime: 52’
Language: English
Year: 2008
In the highlands of North Vietnam lies the remote town of Sapa, home to a mosaic of colorful hill tribes. Sapa opened to tourism in the late 1990’s and now roughly 200 hill tribe girls aged 7 – 18 years live independently on the streets of Sapa to sell embroidery.
A few years ago Australian film maker Shalom Almond visited Sapa as a tourist and became friends with four Hmong girls. The girls are savvy, street smart and dream of life beyond selling souvenirs. But how will these young girls survive the leap from remote tribal culture to 21st century Asia? Over the next three years Shalom returns to Vietnam with her camera to find out.
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Thorn By Terror
Country: Singapore
Runtime: 23 Mins
Language: English
Year of Production: 2006
A wave of attacks in southern Thailand forced the government to stop blaming "bandits" and acknowledge, for the first time in decades, that Islamic separatist militants were operating in the country. On 05 January 2004 Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra declared martial law in the region, consisting of the provinces of Satun, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat. The south of Thailand has historically served as a dumping ground for corrupt and/or incompetent civilian and military officials. This has been further aggravated by the population's ethnic make-up, predominantly Thai Muslims, which has produced a major degree of alienation intensified by government misadministration.
Since 2004, more than 1,300 people have been killed. As militants fight for independence from the central government, villagers in Yala, Patani and Narathiwat have started to arm themselves, learn how to shoot and patrol the streets. Even monks are hiring bodyguards
Unravel the reasons behind the violence in this documentary film.
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Eliminated Without Bleeding
Directed By: Rebecca Sommer
Country: United States
Runtime: 53 Mins
Language: English
2008 Awards  
The Khmer Krom are Buddhist and indigenous to the Mekong River Delta in southern Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, the Khmer Krom sided with the United States and fought against the Vietcong along side American soldiers. When the United States pulled out of Southeast Asia in 1975 and the Vietcong unified Vietnam under communist rule, hundreds of thousands of Khmer Krom fled and settled in other countries. Those who remained became targets of retaliation and persecution.
ELIMINATED WITHOUT BLEEDING gives a direct voice to the Vietnam’s Khmer Krom people who share with us their way of life, their personal stories, eyewitness accounts and glimpses into their people’s collective oral history. Others who have recently fled to Thailand and Cambodia give us an insight of their physical, cultural and economic oppression in their native country. Aggressively ‘Vietnamized’, the Khmer Krom struggle to maintain their way of life and identity.
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Inside the Jemaah Islamiyah
Country: Singapore
Runtime: 23 Mins
Language: English
Year of Production: 2006
INSIDE THE JEMAAH ISLAMIYAH shines the spotlight on the most feared terrorist group in Southeast Asia - Jemaah Islamiyah. This militant Islamic organization is dedicated to the establishment of an Islamic State in Southeast Asia. Jemaah Islamiyah was added to the United Nations Committee's list of terrorist organizations linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Who are the militants behind the masks?
In this documentary, a former senior commander reveals how he was recruited and how he trained some of the region's most notorious bombers. Terrorism expert Sidney Jones also weighs the success of the arrests of key organisation members and the continuing threat posed by the group.
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I, Woman
Country: Singapore
Runtime: 6x23 Mins
Language: Original languages with English subtitles
Year of Production: 2001
This series looks at how women from 6 Asian cities cope with society's demands and expectations from the cultural world to the corporate ladder, which reflects both the liberation and suppression of women.
This documentary series illuminates women’s inner strength that has helped sustain families and clans through decades of turmoil and turbulence in Asia. And through their life stories, we record the verve and the willpower that is at once uniquely feminine, yet universal.
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Hunted Like Animals
Directed By: Rebecca Sommer
Country: U.S.A.
Runtime: 52 & 87 Mins
Language: Hmong Lao, Thai (English subtitles)
Hunted Like Animals is an eye-opening documentary about an ongoing, but unknown, genocide — against the Hmong people in the jungles of Laos. Coerced into joining the CIA’s anti-communist efforts during the Viet Nam war, this ethnic minority became a Secret Army. When the U.S. pulled out of Southeast Asia in 1975 and the Lao kingdom was overthrown by the communists, the Hmong became targets of retaliation and persecution. Hundreds of thousands fled the country; others ran to remote mountainous regions of Laos.
Over thirty years and two generations later, the Hmong in hiding are still mercilessly hunted, attacked, raped, tortured and killed by the military. Since 2004, the crackdown has intensified and those who can escape seek refuge in Thailand. The traumatized refugees have not been promised protection or help. Instead, they are threatened with deportation back to Laos, the very place from which they barely escaped. In this documentary, the refugees speak for thousands of voiceless people still trapped in the jungle, surrounded by Lao and Vietnamese soldiers — and hunted like animals.
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Sacred Ground
A Film by Kim Mavromatis
Country: Australia
Runtime: 55 Mins
Language: English
2007
 
2008
5 years in the making, this observational documentary captures Quenten Agius and his family fighting to save what is left of their ancient heritage and culture.
This multi-layered film is a microcosm of what is happening to Aboriginal peoples all over Australia. In the lucky country, 40,000 years of ancient heritage, culture and traditions are being swept away – it’s a national disgrace. Quenten and his family are witnessing the desecration and destruction of the last remaining heritage and cultural sites on their traditional lands (Adjahdura Land - Yorke Peninsula, South Australia) - sites that are vital to their Dreaming stories and cultural beliefs - stories and beliefs that have been handed down from generation to generation for thousands of years.
From the opening scenes, the discovery of human skeletal remains in the middle of a multi-million dollar housing development, to the thought provoking climax, this is a contemporary story - challenging, enriching and emotional - that takes us into an Aboriginal world that is rarely seen or heard.
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Raul the Terrible
Director: David Bradbury
Producer: Carlos Alperin
Runtime: 52 or 80 min
Country: Australia
Language: English
 
 
 
Raul Castells was born in the city of Rosario, birthplace of the legendary Che Guevara. He is a walking, talking, pushing, barging force of nature. He fights the Government. He fights big business. He invades buildings and occupies casinos. And he has good reason.
In December 2001, there was a seismic shift in Argentina’s economic and political landscape. The Government devalued the currency and froze people’s savings - effectively pushing the middle class into the even larger pool of unemployed working poor.
Currently, there are 20 million people below the poverty line. 25% of children suffer malnutrition and up to 17,000 a year die from it. The average Argentinian does not have a job, a roof over their head or any means to provide for their family.
With intimate and often dangerously close access, Raul, the Terrible is a warts-and-all portrait of a man driven to change the world and a frightening insight into the politics of poverty.
Available only for Australia and New Zealand. For other territories contact ABC Content Sales: dacey.karen@abc.net.au
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My Home, Your War
Directed By: Kylie Grey
Country: Australia
Runtime: 52 Mins
Language: English
Shot in Baghdad over three years – before, during and after the Coalition attack on Iraq, My Home – Your War takes us inside the home of an Iraqi family as they deal with the disruptions and terrors of war as it affects their daily lives.
Layla Hasan, 40, husband Yasir and teenage son, Amro live in the district of Adhamiya, the heartland of Sunni Muslim resistance against US forces in Baghdad. Layla is a middle class Iraqi woman. Striking and intelligent, Layla speaks four languages, she had little choice when she was hand-picked to work as a translator for Saddam’s regime. When the US forces arrived she hoped they might offer a path to freedom.
Yet now the war is testing her most intimate relationships.
Meet her shy teenage son who she suspects is working with the anti-US resistance; her steady but workaholic husband: and her once radical sister who is becoming increasingly conservative and religious as the chaos of Baghdad fuels her insecurities. Layla, herself, becomes more personally isolated as the war progresses and she dreams of escaping to another country.
The hallmarks of the turbulent years in Baghdad, the invasion, the looting, the capture of Saddam, the Abu Ghraib Prison scandal, and the beheadings of foreigners by Islamic militants are images that are familiar to viewers across the world.
In this film we see these events from a different perspective, from the inside, from the point of view of a Sunni Muslim family living through them. Layla and her family give a revealing insight into the contrasting ways war and regime change strain close relationships, nurture extremism and change a family’s destiny.
My Home – Your War is not only a historical document of an important time in the history of the Middle East. It is a personal account of how these changing times are playing out in Arab women’s lives, and how Iraqi women have become the first casualties of democracy denied.
Available for Australia and New Zealand only.
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 Gold World Medal for Best Documentary in New York, USA
Australian TV Atom awards for Best Documentary-Social & Political Issues
Australian TV Atom awards for Best Documentary - Human Story |
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The Blood of My Brother
Director: Andrew Berends
Cast: Sara Simmonds, Jake McDorman, Matt Vodvarka
Runtime: 81 min
Country: USA/Iraq
Language: English
The Blood Of My Brother takes the view gehind the scenes of one Iraqi Family's struggle to survive amidst the carnage of the growing Shia insurgency.Nineteen-year-old Ibrahim struggles to provide for his family when his older brother is shot and killed by an American patrol. With scenes of fighting and death on the streets of Baghdad, THE BLOOD OF MY BROTHER is the closest most viewers will ever come to being in Iraq; kneeling in prayer amidst a thousand Muslim worshippers, feeling the roar of low-flying Apaches, riding atop a sixty-ton tank, driving with masked resistance fighters to attack American positions, fleeing the threat of an overwhelming response, the blood in the street, a tank on fire, or the cold, distant stare of a dead Iraqi fighter..
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Brothers 3 vs Female Abuse
Duration: 1 X 52 minutes
Available with separate language tracks and English subtitles
He had one regret in his life which was being too late to save a young Nepalesa girl from prostitution. So he and his brothers decided to make a career out of fighting trafficking, AIDS and female foeticide. Against the apathy of social service agencies and the authorities, the three men went against the tide of conventions to rescue girls from their abductors, teach prostitutes about AIDS prevention and villagers about conmen in the trafficking trade.
Available for Australia, New Zealand and Latin America only.
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Fagin and Oliver - The Asian Twist
Duration: 1 x 50'
English subtitles.
They started working on the streets at a mere six years of age. They left the warmth and familiarity of their village life, to follow strangers into a hostile city environment to find work, so as to support themselves and send money back to mum and dad. We go into the lives of the street children of Indonesia - Fitri, Robin, Nina and the rest of their friends, to get a feel of the lives they lead on the streets. This is an amazing story of survival - the child. Their innocence, courage and determination to survive amidst the odds agabist them is a reflection of the same in us, except that we have forgotten. Celebrate the in us with this story.
Available for Australia, New Zealand and Latin America only.
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No One Needs to Die
Duration: 1 X 52 minutes
English subtitles
Health care - a universal nightmare far governance. Bring in 1 billion people and the magnitude of the responsibility is unimaginable. This documentary gets personal because one of them lost his wife in a road accident because there were not enough ambulances and the hospital did not care enough. So Kushwaha, a 38 year-old lawyer, created his own 'On-line Ambulance Service" for accident victims because he believes that no one has to die. He takes this one step further by picking up the helpless and homeless found in the city and builds shelters for the mentally challenged who have been abandoned by their families. This is a story of unbelievable courage of an individual determined to turn a personal tragedy into a communal good.
Available for Australia, New Zealand and Latin America only.
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The Skinheads of Asia
Duration: 1 x 52'
English subtitles.
He became a smneaa wnen ne was in his twenties. Today, he is the leader of the skinhead generation in Indonesia. His name is Hadi. Not ashamed or apologetic for his chosen lifestyle, Hadi brings us into his world of tattoos, body piercings and fixed ideologies. Why are young Indonesian men and women joining him? What is their quest in life? The story also takes us to Hanover, Germany, where skinheads originated. How is the German skinhead different from their Asian counterpart?
Available for Australia, New Zealand and Latin America only.
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With These Two Hands
Duration: 1 x 52'
English subtitles.
AIl she wanted to do was to save children from being married off by their families. She spent ten days explaining to them why this practice was not good for the children. But on the eve of the planned marriage, a man came to her house and hacked at her head and arms, leaving her hands hanging by mere threads of skin and flesh. Shakuntala Verma, a government social worker, became Instantly handicapped. Find out more about this courageous woman and her undaunted crusade against child marriages in this shocking documentary.
Available for Australia, New Zealand and Latin America only.
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Trafficking - Demand & Supply
Duration: 1 x 52'
English subtitles.
Child trfficking has been a problem for over three decades. Millions of children - boys and girls - have been subjected to untold abuse and shame. Our story reveals three kinds of trafficking thats is still prevalent: direct kidnapping of children from their parents, use of trickery to con young girls into prostitution and lastly, a 'voluntary' entrapment - a form of trafficking that somes in the guise of legal marriages.
Available for Australia and New Zealand only.
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