Having emerged from an 11-year civil war that left more than 50,000 people dead and two million displaced, Sierra Leone strives for a peaceful and democratic future. Since the end of conflict in 2002, the people of Sierra Leone have strived to build a democratic and peaceful society. The path remains difficult, with poverty entrenched, yet signs of progress, too often ignored by the international media, can also be found. Sierra Leone has held two consecutive democratic elections, and women and young people have taken the lead in creating an engaged civil society. This short film documents the progress Sierra Leone has made since the end of its brutal civil war and the hope of a new generation for creating a more just society.
A comedy documentary about performing stand-up comedy for U.S. Troops stationed in Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq. Heartfelt interviews with top professional comedians are woven in with filmmaker Jordan Brady's first-hand experience going to the Middle East. While traveling (Spring 2016) brutal terrorist attacks in Brussels, Turkey and Iraq remind us of the dangers in thew world, and underscore the mission to provide laughter for the men and women serving the military.
In Iraq 2003 Corporal Martin Webster filmed fellow soldiers beating Iraqi youths during rioting in Al Amara. Two years later, a British newspaper obtained his footage. The story that ran led to outrage across the world.
Using historically-accurate, battle-filled re-enactments and interviews with expert historians and noted authors, this two-part documentary series brings to vivid life the captivating true stories behind Britain's bloody civil wars.
Eight men escape from the most isolated prison on earth. Only one man survives and the story he recounts shocks the British establishment to the core. This story is the last confession of Alexander Pearce.
This feature documentary examines its own genre, which has often been called Canada's national art form. Released in the year of the NFB's 75th birthday, Shameless Propaganda is filmmaker Robert Lower's take on the boldest and most compelling propaganda effort in our history (1939-1945), in which founding NFB Commissioner John Grierson saw the documentary as a "hammer to shape society". All 500 of the films produced by the NFB until 1945 are distilled here for the essence of their message to Canadians. Using only these films and still photos from that era, Lower recreates the picture of Canada they gave us and looks in it for the Canada we know today. What he finds is by turns enlightening, entertaining, and unexpectedly disturbing.
Presenter and former England football captain Gary Lineker follows in the footsteps of his grandfather, Stanley Abbs, to explore a brutal but often overlooked chapter of World War Two.
In 2008 two best friends found themselves trapped in one of the most dangerous places on earth - the only western journalists in the Gaza Strip on what was supposed to be a 24-hour assignment. The War Around Us captures the collision of veteran war correspondent and one of TIME's most 100 influential people, Ayman Mohyeldin, with rookie reporter Sherine Tadros. As missiles shower the city and unspeakable atrocities emerge, the pair is torn by fierce professional rivalry, private terror and grim humor - with no way out and the whole world watching.
Pray the Devil Back to Hell chronicles the remarkable story of the Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country.
This episode from the Czech Journal series examines how a military spirit is slowly returning to our society. Attempts to renew military training or compulsory military service and in general to prepare the nation for the next big war go hand in hand with society’s fear of the Russians, the Muslims, or whatever other “enemies”. This observational flight over the machine gun nest of Czech militarism becomes a grotesque, unsettling military parade. It can be considered not only to be a message about how easily people allow themselves to be manipulated into a state of paranoia by the media, but also a warning against the possibility that extremism will become a part of the regular school curriculum.
Danish soldiers are sent to Afghanistan in 2009 for 6 months, to help stabilize the country against the Taliban. They're stationed on Armadillo military base in Helman province. Unlike other war movies, this is the real deal – no actors.
Single mother Anna and her four children live in the front-line war zone of Donbas, Ukraine. While the outside world is made up of bombings and chaos, the family is managing to keep their home a safe haven, full of life and full of light. Every member of the family has a passion for cinema, motivating them to shoot a film inspired by their own life during a time of war. The creative process raises the question of what kind of power the magical world of cinema could have during times of disaster. How to picture war through fiction? For Anna and the children, transforming trauma into a work of art is the ultimate way to stay human.
An investigation of "disaster capitalism", based on Naomi Klein's proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance.
A look at the feud between graffiti artists King Robbo and Banksy.
A suicidal war veteran finds like-minded souls in a surf therapy program that helps traumatized soldiers heal while riding the waves.
The title of this film, which combines flicker effects and comic strip elements, refers to an old belief that each solar eclipse produces a war.
What is a socially acceptable conversation when your family's killer sits down to dinner? 'Unforgiven' explores the interactions between murderers, rapists, thieves and their victims in this documentary exploring the power of restorative justice, forgiveness and reconciliation 20 years after the Rwandan Genocide.
A British artist misses his parents' wedding anniversary for a last-minute sketching commission in Cornwall, but memories of them affect his work along the way.
Fallujah, November 2004. While bombings and massacres with unconventional weapons follow one another in the city, an American soldier and an Iraqi woman meet in a strange room. The story told, based on episodes that really happened, is interspersed with repertoire material and interviews with Simona Torretta.
The Execution of Wanda Jean chronicles the life-and-death battle of Wanda Jean Allen, the first black woman to be put to death in the United States in the modern era.