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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Abortion. America’s Divide / 2022
#USA

On 19 May 2021, the Republican Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, signed one of the strictest and most scandalous abortion laws in the US, the Heartbeat Act. It prohibits abortion from the sixth week of pregnancy.

Such a controversial decision sparked a wave of public unrest among pro-choicers supported by celebs like Uma Thurman and Lady Gaga. However, this outrage was not unanimous. Some women have other points of view.

So what do both sides have to say?

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Miracle Monk. Mystery and science behind the incorruptible body of the Buddhist lama / 2022
#Russia

Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov is a miracle monk. He was born in the 19th century, but he’s still considered alive by worshippers and Buddhist monks. Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov entered a deep meditative state in 1927 and was placed in a wooden box underground. Then, according to his will, he was taken out of the earth 75 years later to find that his body showed no signs of decay.

How is it possible, and could the Buddhist monk hack natural body processes with the help of meditation?

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Albino Africa / 2014
#Tanzania

Being an albino in Tanzania (and a few other African countries) is very dangerous. Not because it's sunny all the time and UV radiation is bad for people with this condition. But instead, albinos are hunted down and hacked for body parts by witch doctors. Some people believe that albino body parts can be used in witchcraft to cure disease or make them rich.

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Scrapped. The deadly business of dismantling ships in Bangladesh / 2015
#Bangladesh

Bangladesh has no metal resources of its own, so the shipbreaking yards in Chittagong, its largest second city, generate high profits for their owners. Workers though, enjoy none of the benefits of that profit; wages are barely enough to live on and there are no health and safety regulations to protect them. Injuries are a frequent occurrence and even death is not uncommon.

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I Want My Sex Back. Transgender people who regretted changing sex / 2018
#USA

Rene Jax was born a boy. As a child, he felt that his male body was all wrong. At 30, he finally went through the sex change he thought would bring him peace, but it didn’t work out. Having lived as a transgender woman for almost 30 years, Rene says she regrets the decision. I Want My Sex Back! is the story of three American men who underwent gender reassignment surgery and later changed their minds.

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Zabbaleen: Trash Town / 2016
#Egypt

Tens of thousands of people live in Zabbaleen, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt, they all make a living out of recycling the entire capital city’s refuse. Their whole town is practically a giant dump and it provides them with almost everything they need: from kids’ toys to fodder for livestock.  Even their pigs play an important part in recycling food waste. Most important of all though, the dump provides livelihoods for the people of Zabbaleen.

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Gagarin / 2014
#Russia

To millions, Russia's first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the embodiment of both Soviet heroism and Russian folk legend: a carpenter's son who ascended into the heavens and returned. To those that knew him, however, he was a talented, handsome and athletic man who, despite his modesty, was destined for greatness. April 12 is celebrated every year in Russia as Cosmonautics Day, marking Gagarin’s space flight in 1961.

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Dying Alone / 2019
#Japan

Lonely deaths, or kodokoshi, have become disturbingly common in Japan. Elderly people die alone in their apartments, where their bodies sometimes lie undiscovered for weeks or months… until neighbours catch whiff of the stench, that is. A whole industry has even emerged around the phenomenon, with numerous companies offering to clean out the homes of the deceased.

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Voodoo, Money and Sex Slaves / 2022
#Nigeria

Young girls come to Europe from Nigeria hoping to find a good job and better life. People who assist them with the journey tell them they can help their families, work as babysitters, become housemaids or hairdressers. Instead of jobs and cushy lives, the girls are exploited and raped. But they can’t go anywhere, because they are bound by a voodoo oath, and breaking it means death, at least that’s what they think.

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Brides by Force / 2012
#Kyrgyzstan

Kidnapping girls to marry them is common practice in Kyrgyzstan. Some of those couples live happily together for the rest of their lives, but a lot of the women can never put up with the shame of forced marriage and sometimes take their own lives.

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Children of the Tundra / 2013
#Russia

People living in the tundra are accustomed to a nomadic life. Their homes are ascetic, food is basic, and deers are their everything. They don’t watch TV or use the Internet. However, their children do go to boarding schools. Away from the tundra, being separated from the family is not easy: many can’t wait for the reunion. The most impatient even attempt to escape and set out on a perilous journey through the wilderness.

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Wombs for Rent / 2015
#India

The Akanksha Infertility Clinic in Gujarat, India, offers surrogacy services to childless couples desperate for their own baby. While making money from surrogacy remains controversial, doctors such as Nayna Patel stay convinced of the benefits for all concerned.

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