Soft Occupation / 2017
#Germany

Jurij Kofner is an investigative journalist from Germany. As a German citizen, he wonders to which extent his country’s policy decisions are influenced by America’s agenda. He explores Germany’s post-war history to understand how relations with the US were formed. He also looks into the dynamics of the two countries’ cooperation under the umbrella of NATO.

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Heroes Among Us / 2023
#Donbass

‘When I got up, I saw there was nothing I could do. I heard Evelina’s screams and followed them. I found her, started to pull her out and saw her belly was ripped, her intestines were spilling out’, recalls Natalia, Donbass resident. She was at home with her husband and granddaughter Evelina when the Ukrainian shelling started. They had no time to go to the bomb shelter. Though the grandmother thought that was the end, Evelina survived that blast injury. Five weeks later, Yevgeniy Zhilitsyn, a surgeon at DPR Trauma Center, still teaches the girl to stand again. Every day he rescues wounded children and helps them return to normal life. Watch the Documentary to see how the surgeon copes with seeing injured kids and death every day.

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Inside TikTok House / 2021
#Russia

TikTok houses are literal houses where bloggers and aspiring influencers live together and create content for their social media. For some bloggers, it is a way to get more media attention — Timur sees the opportunity as a stepping stone in his singing career. Valentina has completely changed her life thanks to TikTok House. She abandoned her economics background and reinvented herself as a photographer. Eva dropped out of school and has garnered the attention of thousands of followers. They all had different reasons for joining TikTok House, but all of them are certain it was an invaluable experience and a chance to grow and creatively express themselves.

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Argentinian DNA: The Fracture / 2019
#Argentina

Argentinians take politics as seriously as football, and past left-right conflicts are still dividing their society. The antagonism between the left and the right often goes beyond class-consciousness. This divide, known as The Fracture (‘La Grieta’), is a legacy of the violence between Marxist guerrillas and the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. The documentary features victims of that period and hears from famous ‘Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo’.

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Black Lives: Liberty Maze / 2018
#USA

In the biggest US cities, sprawling tent cities where the homeless concentrate exist against the backdrop of shopping areas and celebrity estates. The homeless population is exploding with many people at risk of hitting rock bottom just by missing their next paycheck. More than 500,000 people are homeless in the US, according to the latest figures. The documentary explores America’s homelessness crisis and how people end up on the streets of the US wealthiest cities.

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The Ket People / 2009
#Russia

Ket are indigenous people from the Yenisei River in Central Siberia. Their settlements can only be reached by a helicopter or a boat. The Ket way of life has remained the same for hundreds of years. They go hunting and fishing. Some people call them the Siberian Indians, as they are related to some native North American groups. There’re only around 1000 Ket people left and only 200 of them speak their native language. February 21 is International Mother Language Day! Ket is one of the rare languages in Russia, its closest relative language died out in the 20th century.

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Operation Ukraine: America's Fingerprints / 2023
#Ukraine

‘From the beginning, the whole Bandera movement was founded with Western money. First Austrian money, then German money. So, the fact that those contacts continued after the war is not surprising. It’s just that the masters changed’, says historian Aleksandr Myasnikov. After the fall of Berlin in 1945, SS-backed organisations began collaborating with US intelligence. CIA directed a secret operation called ‘Prolog’ that stoked nationalist sentiment in Ukraine by smuggling anti-Soviet literature. What are the milestones and outcome of this covert action?

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Fragile People / 2013
#Russia

Osteogenesis imperfecta is a genetic bone disorder. Also known as brittle bone disease, it affects bones and causes them to break easily. Even the tiniest movement can lead to serious fractures. This documentary gives an insight into the strong community of people living with the disease, and how neither young nor old are held back by their disability.

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The Shantar Islands: Braving the Storm / 2011
#Russia

Russian explorers first spotted the Shantar Islands in the middle of the 17th century. Shantar translates as ‘island’ from the language of the indigenous Nivkh people who used to live on the archipelago in the Sea of Okhotsk. Now it’s a national park that has strict rules of visiting and is off the beaten path for most adventurers. Join six tourists on a journey as they discover the remote archipelago and its wildlife.

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US & the Wall / 2017
#USA

When Donald Trump called for the building of a bigger wall on the border with Mexico, the idea immediately sparked a sharp reaction. His supporters cheered him on, and his opponents denounced him as racist. The fierce debate threw a spotlight on America’s southern border, which separates not only two countries, but often families as well. Hear from border patrol agents, volunteers helping illegal crossers and deportees. In 2022, illegal crossings to US from Mexico plummeted, as US authorities stopped illegal migrants more than 2 million times.

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Argentinian DNA: A Different Argentina / 2019
#Argentina

Correspondent Francisco Guaita explores rural, remote, and less international Argentina. It’s a land of barren plateaus, where boys choose between getting a PlayStation or a horse. A land where gauchos, chivalrous cowboys who must be generous to everyone, dream of winning rodeo competitions that are bigger than the World Cup.

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Black Lives: Truths / 2019
#USA

Drug trafficking, violent crime, police brutality and chronic poverty have long been part of many black enclaves. These are the results of city planning decisions that divided black and white communities. ‘Black Lives’ visits disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia to hear local opinions about why racial inequality persists in the modern USA.

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Dangerous Garbage / 2023
#Bangladesh

Faruk, a garbage collector from Bangladesh, has to work barefoot and sort used materials by hand, without any protection. Every minute he is risks catching a disease, and as the pandemic hit, COVID-19 added to the list of possible threats. While medical waste requires separate handling to avoid spreading the infection, it is illegally dumped in rivers, fields, or simply thrown into dumpsters along the roads. The COVID outbreak has overflowed landfills with toxic waste from hospitals. Businesses prefer not to waste extra money on the proper disposal of dangerous waste. Faced with the daily danger of contracting a virus, Faruk says he cannot afford being afraid of illnesses or death as he must work to provide for his family. As many others, he believes God will protect them from the virus.

Tune in for the premiere of the Dangerous Garbage documentary to find out more!

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Javgar Magomedkadiyeva is one of the last bladesmiths in a village in Dagestan renowned for its blacksmiths and she claims she has maintained the secret craft of her descendants!

Video by: @kavkaz_gender

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Back to Fukushima / 2019
#Japan

In March 2011, a deadly earthquake hit Japan. The reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station were shut down as a precaution. However, a 15-metre tidal wave triggered by the earthquake flooded the plant’s cooling system, shutting it down. Over the next few days, a series of hydrogen explosions occurred in the reactors. Levels of radioactivity in the area skyrocketed as radioactive contamination was released into the atmosphere. It was the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. After more than a decade, former residents are returning to their town.

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Donbass: That’s Why I’m Here / 2023
#Donbass

‘It's very difficult to withstand the onslaught of a system that does everything possible to prevent the truth from reaching people who want to get information’, says Italian journalist Vittorio-Nicola Rangeroni. In 2015, he went to the city of Lugansk in Eastern Ukraine to show the world how the Ukrainian government shells its own people. Like many other investigative journalists, Rangeroni not only risks his life while reporting from the hot zones, but faces extreme pressure and the prospect of imprisonment when returning home. To better understand how he feels about what he sees in Donbass every day and why Western media ignore such reports — check out our new documentary.

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Beirut: Picking Up the Pieces / 2021
#Lebanon

In August 2020, a giant blast tore through the Lebanese capital of Beirut. Eyewitnesses described it as if the end of the world had come. Some 2,700 tonnes of highly explosive ammonium nitrate exploded in the city port, creating shock waves for kilometres in all directions.

The explosion levelled much of the city. At least 220 people were killed, thousands more were injured and scores lost their homes. More than two years after the deadly explosion, victims and their families are still looking for accountability.

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Argentinian DNA: Music of the Downtrodden / 2019
#Argentina

Cumbia is huge in Latin America. This musical genre is based on a simple drum beat brought by African slaves, blended with local rhythms. Millions of Argentinians enjoy upbeat motifs and straightforward lyrics. For more about the popular Latin American music watch this final episode of the Argentinian DNA.

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