Black Lives: Struggle / 2018
#USA

Fifty years after Martin Luther King’s death, some American cities are still divided along racial lines. St. Louis is one of them. Its African-American population is mostly confined to neighbourhoods with high violent crime rates and low wages.

“Most of the people out here are not bad people – they are in bad situation,” say, Rev Kenneth McKoy and priest, Jay Kanzler, who hold weekly 'peace walks' to call for an end to violence in troubled neighbourhoods.

Black Lives: Struggle follows St. Louis activists who are fighting battles old and new: against inequality, poverty, bias, lack of prospects, police abuse, and extrajudicial killings.

Men of Salt: When salt is your whole life / 2022
#Bolivia

Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat, has been the source of livelihood for generations. Though working on a salt flat can be bad for their health, they still stay, go to work every day and use the salt to build houses and make art pieces. So how does it feel when salt is your whole life?

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Dragon of Afghanistan: Bruce Lee lookalike reviled by Islamic fundamentalists / 2017
#Afghanistan

People on the streets of Kabul call Abbas Alizada the “Afghan Bruce Lee.” After his striking resemblance to the Chinese martial arts icon made him a social media star, he took a year to work on himself and become even more like his hero. His makeover was a smashing success. Today, Abbas uses his celebrity to inspire other young Afghan athletes, but fame has come with a price – he now must be wary every time he leaves his house. 

After the Taliban takeover in 2021, Abbas Alizada couldn't leave the country and now has to hide and change his appearance so the Taliban can't recognise him. He has difficulty finding time to practice, and he hopes to leave the country one day.

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Fed to Wed: Force-feeding girls in Mauritania / 2015
#Mauritania

Corpulent women are in vogue in this desert country in North West Africa. In rural areas, people still believe “a big woman takes a big place in man’s heart,” and consider fat and stretch marks a badge of wealth.

To pile on the pounds, girls as young as four are put through ‘leblouh’, or force-feeding. Mauritanian families send their daughters to special ‘fattening camps,’ where older women feed children with enormous amounts of milk, couscous, and butter. If a child refuses to eat, force-feeders squeeze her toes with sticks to open her mouth so they can continue.

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Georgia’s Gamble Revisited: South Ossetia's war victims / 2018
#SouthOssetia

Ten years after the Georgian army attacked the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinval, locals on both sides share their memories of those tragic events. Georgian tanks rumbled into Tskhinval, South Ossetia's capital, under cover of night on August, 8. 2008. Decades of smouldering tension between Tbilisi and the breakaway republic finally exploded in a military action launched to retake the region.

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Toxicity: Agbobloshie, a graveyard for electronics... and people / 2015
#Ghana

E-waste (discarded electronic appliances) is often shipped by developed nations to poorer countries such as Ghana. Locals call its most infamous dumping ground, Agbogbloshie, “Sodom and Gomorrah” after the Biblical sin cities. Its air and soil are polluted with toxic chemicals, while child labour and criminal gangs are also rife.

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Dance of the Little Swans. The Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet / 2016
#Russia

Many young girls dream of becoming ballerinas, but only very few are prepared to apply the all-out effort and make the sacrifices that this dream demands. The Vaganova Ballet Academy in St.Petersburg welcomes the most talented and determined young dancers, but it makes them no promises.

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Yakuza: Good For Nothing / 2017
#Japan

Members of Japan’s feared Yakuza crime syndicate are often portrayed as grim-faced professional killers in sharp black suits and dark glasses, but the reality is somewhat different. Meet Mr. Makoto, a tubby tattooed Yakuza mobster and ‘old-fashioned guy’ who shows how the life of a gangster in modern-day Japan ain’t what it used to be. 

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Escobar’s Hitman / 2017
#Colombia

Popeye, whose real name was Jhon Jairo Velásquez Vásquez, killed, tortured, maimed and terrorised. Nevertheless, people queued to take pictures with the ex-hitman.

After spending 23 years behind bars, Popeye earned a living by writing books, becoming a YouTube blogger and starring in a Netflix series. In 2020, he died after battling esophageal cancer.

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