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29'
Women of the Revolution
Australia - 2021
Generations apart, 74-year-old Nina Baginskaya and 27-year-old Maria Pugachjova seem like unlikely political allies. However, in Belarus, both women are taking a stand against a dictatorship which refused to recognise the election of a female president, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, in August 2020, instead declaring an overwhelming victory for the incumbent Alexander Lukashenko, despite widespread accusations of vote rigging. In the protests that followed, the government arrested thousands of people in a brutal crackdown. In the age of smartphones and digital activism, will these courageous protesters have their voices heard by a government that refuses to listen?
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29'
Poking The Bear
Australia - 2021
Alexei Navalny is a key symbol of opposition to Putin in Russia. Having returned to the country following a poisoning that nearly left him dead, Navalny is now on trial. Outside, protesters brave icy conditions and risk arrest for their voices to be heard. In this tale of a hero fighting a tyrant, who will prevail?
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12'
Covid in the Amazon
Brazil - 2021
Abandoned by the state in the face of a new deadly COVID-19 strain, foreign and indigenous activists of the Amazon are banding together to save their communities.
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06'
Dolphin Revival
Egypt - 2021
As the coronavirus pandemic puts tourism on hold along Egypt’s Red Sea coast, dolphins are making a comeback on the reefs. Marine biologists now have a unique opportunity to study their natural behaviour.
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30'
City of Fear
Hong Kong - 2021
Hong Kong, once a city of protest, is now a city of fear. Following pro-democracy protests throughout 2019 and 2020, the Chinese government is now cracking down on democracy activists. Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong has been repeatedly put on trial and jailed for organizing protests. ‘We have more than 10,000 Hong Kongers who were arrested, 2,000 of us were prosecuted,’ Wong explains. Yet these protesters are willing to risk arrest under increasingly severe national security laws to stand up for their beliefs. ‘Hong Kong will be independent. That’s what I believe in,’ says 20-year old pro-democracy protester Max Mok. Meanwhile, others like politician Nixie Lam want the protesters to stop their activities – and continue their campaigns within the rules set out by Beijing. ‘You can still do protests, you can say your views online and do your pages. … Just don’t say you want Hong Kong independence and do some actual movements or accept foreign monies … Then you’ll be totally fine,’ she says. Now, young activists face dramatic life-changing decisions over whether to stay and fight it out, risking jail sentences, or to leave Hong Kong, perhaps forever, to continue their campaign from abroad.
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28'
Give Us The Ballot
Australia - 2021
It was thanks to certain formidable women that democracy prevailed in the American state of Georgia. They battled generations of racism and voter suppression in order to inspire record black voter turnout.
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05'
Glacier's Edge
Afghanistan - 2021
In the Himalayan mountain range in Asia, the glaciers in summer are sources of some of the world's largest rivers that supply water to more than a billion people, including in India and China. According to researchers, warming in the Himalayan region is a few degrees higher than the global average, and in 25 years, 15% of the glaciers in Afghanistan have disappeared. This poses a threat to large sections of the country's population, like farmers here in the Fuladi Valley in Bamiyan province.
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14'
Sex and Social Distance
Switzerland - 2021
Though Switzerland is still largely locked down due to the pandemic, an unlikely form of business is reopening. As 'Erotic salons' open again, covid is posing some unique challenges for customers and workers alike.
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12'
Taliban Tango
Afghanistan - 2021
Since peace talks resumed in January, the Taliban have refrained from attacking US and NATO advisory forces in the country. But attacks and bombings against Afghan security forces and government employees have increased.
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14'
Speaking Out Against Incest
Switzerland - 2021
Victims of incest have long been silenced by cultural and familial taboos. But many are now taking the courageous step of speaking out, and challenging the culture that helps shield their abusers.