Mama Uganda / 2020
#Uganda

Mariam Nabatanzi from Uganda was married off at the age of 12. The following year she gave birth to twins. By the age of 39, Mariam had five more sets of twins, four sets of triplets and five sets of quadruplets. She gave birth to 44 babies, and only 38 of them survived.

The fertile mother asked a doctor for birth control, but he told her she couldn’t stop giving birth as it could cause health problems. So after her much older husband abandoned the family, she stopped having children.

Mariam blames her country’s customs, where child marriages and teen pregnancies are common. In 2020, the fertility rate in Uganda was among the highest in the world, with 4.7 children per woman.

May 15 celebrates the International Day of Families that highlights the issues central to the welfare of families, such as health and gender equality. Did you know that only 57% of married women make their own decisions about contraceptive use?

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Congo's Hell for Girls / 2022
#Congo

“The first time I was raped, I was 13 years old. There were three of them. I was scarred for life. I withdrew into myself,” confesses Falomi, a Congolese feminist artist. She attracts attention to the ongoing rape and sexual harassment problem through her performances. Her traumatic experience is familiar to many women in Congo – they have to face abusive behaviour on the streets and at home daily. Harassment is not recognised as violence, and rape is often blamed on the victim.

In Congo, there are no shelters for victims of sexual abuse, nor are there protective social institutions. Police also can’t help much. Society turns to magic rituals, which should make girls look less feminine. Witches and healers practice diverse methods to reduce the growth of breasts.
The sorcery should lower aggressive male attention. But does it?

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Dark net dope deals / 2022
#Internet

Veronika was 16 when police arrested her for drug possession. Just one bag of dope was enough to get seven years in prison. After that, her mother didn’t live to see her outside.

Teenagers enter the drug business for easy money — online trade platforms on the DarkNet promise $1,500 a day for drop men. They hide drugs in stashes all over the city and send coordinates to clients. This market makes $3.6 billion a year in Russia.

Police successfully hunt down dope labs and drop men, but the internet war is yet to be won. Watch how crime and technology intertwine in Dark Net Dope Deals.

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We are different / 2021
#Germany #India #Russia

“When I first went to school, the other kids saw me and ran away. They didn’t go back to school for two days, and no one would speak to me”. Lalit has lived his life covered with excessive hair. He had a hard time at school when he was bullied. Other children were scared and tried to steer clear of him. Lalit is the only one in his family who looks like it. His disorder is sometimes called the Werewolf syndrome. It is extremely rare, with about 60 cases in the world.

A human being has about 25,000 genes, and when one of them is mutated or damaged, it can be reflected in how a person looks. How do Lalit and other people who have genetic mutations handle their looks? Watch our film We are different to learn their unique stories

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Romany Romance / 2012
#Russia

“I’m 12; my wife is 15. There are never kisses at weddings. It is against the law. But, we’ll start talking to each other in a month or so,” says Yasha, a young Gypsy groom.

Kalderash Gypsies live in settlements apart from their Russian neighbours. Although they speak Russian and Kalderash, they uphold traditions to keep their unique identity alive. Their future job, home, and life partner are determined for them at an early age. Adults arrange the marriage. The family dynamic of the newly-wed couple is very unusual. While Cassandra, the wife, must put aside her dreams of becoming a nurse to do chores for her mother-in-law, her husband, Yasha, learns about computers and the rules of football in an attempt to break the ice with local Russian boys.

Watch our film Romany Romance, and you will find out more fascinating details about their life.

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Don’t sell me, mama / 2022
#Afghanistan

“I’m little. Please, don’t sell me,” young Noqra Gul pleads with her parents. This may sound shocking, but selling girls is becoming common in Afghanistan. It’s the only way for a family to survive. Afghanistan today is considered to have the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. According to various estimates, about two million families in the country are economic migrants.

This is why many parents in Afghanistan are forced to consider selling their daughters to survive. The average price ranges from $1,500 to $ 2000, but this is a lot for people who are deep in debts and earn an occasional dollar a day. So is there any way out?

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VolunTears / 2022
#Donbass #Maruipol

Seven-year-old Dima lost his parents in Mariupol. They covered him with their bodies during one of the artillery strikes. He barely survived, was found by Russian soldiers and moved to a social centre in the Donetsk People’s Republic. His first words after weeks of silence were: “It is quiet here. In Mariupol, they fire really hard”.

There are 17 children in the centre. Some of them were rescued from the frontlines of the Donetsk region and Mariupol by volunteers. The new documentary follows one of those volunteer groups that deliver humanitarian aid every ten days to ‘hot areas’ and evacuates families stuck in basements during shelling. Find out what stories they are told.

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The Shegué, the Sorcerer and Ché Guevara / 2016
#Congo

According to the UN, about 30,000 underage children in DR Congo are homeless. The so-called Shegué hail from dysfunctional families. The kids are accused of being ‘sorcerers’ and get kicked out of their homes. But does it really have to do with sorcery, or is it just a convenient excuse to get rid of unwanted children?

The Head of the children’s shelter in Kinshasa, called Ché Guevara, doesn’t believe in demonic possession. Instead, he does his best to protect the children from the anarchy of the streets. He is convinced the growing number of homeless kids in the country is a ticking time bomb. How do these abandoned kids survive? This is what The Shegué, the Sorcerer and Ché Guevara is about.

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Ukraine: Heading East / 2022
#Donbass #Ukraine #notonyourtv

“You came too late. We are glad. We are exhausted.” “When were we supposed to come?”. “About 15-20 years ago.”

This is a conversation between a Russian soldier and a Donbass refugee. The Ukrainian government forces have helped their people for eight years because of differences in language, history and views. As a result, Donbass residents fled southeast Ukraine. Some of the refugees used relief corridors; others waited out for the Russian soldiers to come and help them out, and the rest chose to risk their lives and look for the exit on their own.

All of them found shelter in Russia. Russian volunteers, psychologists, and priests help the fugitives settle, out the children in school, and recover from 8 years of constant danger. Find out more about how people adjust to everyday life.

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H2Woe / 2016
#India

Water is increasingly becoming a commodity as precious as gold, especially in India. The country of 1.38 billion people - nearly a fifth of the world’s population - has only four percent of the world’s water resources. In regions like Punjab, the search for water is life and death.

People rely on water deliveries from other areas and dig ponds to collect rainwater. Others go as far as to take second wives so they can bring more water.

So what is it like to live a life dictated by a drastic water shortage?

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Volhynia. No statute of limitations / 2022
#Poland #Ukraine

‘They are not just killing; they chop heads with axes, nail people to the trees, ripping tongues, stabbing eyes, cutting babies from the womb.’ In 1943, Stanislav Srokowskiy was six. He doesnt remember much about the Volhynia massacre, but his grandparents witnessed the hostilities with their own eyes.

The Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists and Ukrainian Insurgent Army killed over 100,000 Polish peasants during the Massacres.

In 2013, the Polish parliament classified the events as genocide. At the time, the Ukrainian Rada branded the Polish resolution as anti-Ukrainian, as the Ukrainian nationalists have openly praised Stepan Bandera, head of OUN, and massacre perpetrator Roman Shukhevich. They claim the Volhynia events were no more than territorial disputes ampng local peasants.

Is history being rewritten?

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Substitutes / 2018
#Japan

Senji Nakajima is 62, and he’s in love with a silicone doll! Saori is a life-sized doll with incredibly lifelike features. Senji treats her as a human, taking his silicone doll on dates and engaging in one-sided conversations.

Their romance isn’t unique - the demand for silicone love dolls is growing in Japan. Watch the documentary 'Substitutes' to discover the world of silicone love and companionship.

Did you know the Japanese believe dolls have souls like humans, and they can’t be just thrown out in the garbage? That’s why temples and shrines hold special funeral ceremonies for unwanted dolls.

We wonder if there’s a ritual for a former silicone doll… 🤔

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DIY Da Vincis / 2021
#Russia

DIY, or maker culture, is booming! Do-it-yourself tutorials on how to transform everyday items into solar-powered cars or how to build a wooden hut from scratch rack up millions of views. People spend many hours watching others create.

Why are we so fascinated with DIY and how makers use skill and imagination in their projects?

Check out 'DIY Da Vincis' to meet major DIY Russian bloggers and to mark Geek Pride Day!

May 25 is a worldwide celebration of geekiness and all things geeky! Are you a geek? 🤯

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Once Upon a Crime: US Police Brutality / 2016
#USA

Exactly two years ago, protests broke out across the US following the murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis. The death of a 46-year-old Black man in police custody set off a powerful movement against racism, discrimination and police brutality.

Six years before the George Floyd protests, 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. His death led to weeks of unrest and protests over police accountability.

The documentary 'Once Upon a Crime: US Police Brutality' delves deep into the reasons behind police violence and racial bias in the US legal system.

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Inferno Village / 2017
#India

Jharia in India looks a lot like a horror movie scene: it is wrapped in suffocating smoke from an underground fire burning for 100 years.

Jharia’s coalfields are just as rich in reserves as they are deadly. Even living here is risky: the ever-spreading pit of fire frequently consumes whole houses and blasting regularly shakes the entire village, damaging buildings and throwing plumes of coal dust into the air. High levels of carbon monoxide cause severe respiratory complaints among residents.

Despite the danger, most families daren’t relocate because extracting coal is their only source of income. Even little children work here.

What’s life like in hell? Watch 'Inferno Village'👆

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It’s a Pandaful Life! / 2017
#China

China is the only country where pandas still live in the wild. So no wonder the Giant Panda is a source of pride in China and a symbol of conservation and wildlife protection (remember the WWF logo?)

Chengdu’s Giant Panda Breeding Research Base is where scientists and caretakers work to ensure that the pandas successfully breed. They tend to the pandas’ every need, providing food, medicine, clean enclosures, and play. The caretakers even give these love-shy animals Sex Ed classes!

The Chengdu Centre has been so successful that pandas were taken off the endangered species list in 2016. There are some 600 pandas currently living in captivity and nearly 2,000 roaming the wild. But the viability of the black-and-white bears in the wild is still threatened by factors like loss of natural habitat.

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Tundra Wonder Mums / 2021
#Russia

A chum is a mobile home made from reindeer hides that is used by the indigenous people of Russia’s Far North. It has a simple design, tested by generations. The tent-like structure has to be easy to set up and move because this nomadic people has to change camps once every three to four weeks.

A chum takes about an hour to assemble. The task used to fall exclusively on the shoulders of women, though this custom isn’t often observed nowadays. But it’s still women who work to make their families feel comfortable and warm in these extreme conditions.

Since 2018, ‘chum-worker’ has been recognised as an official job noscript in Russia. Chum-workers are even paid a modest salary.

What does it take to keep the family hearth in the middle of the frozen tundra? Check out this beautiful documentary.

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