If you would like to buy Unreported World for Broadcast contact Hana Palmer of Mentorn International, email: hpalmer@mentorn.tv
Click here to visit the Channel 4 Unreported World Website
Somalia:
Hearts, Minds & Holy War
Japan:
Red Sun Rising
Afghanistan:
Never Mind the Taliban
Lebanon:
Hezbollah
Mexico:
The Longest Journey
South Africa:
The New Apartheid
West Papua:
Rainforest Warriors
India:
India’s Hidden War
Guatemala:
City of the Dead
Nigeria:
Fire in the Delta
Back to Top
Back to Top
Back to Top
Back to Top
Back to Top
Back to Top
Back to Top
Back to Top
Back to Top |
|
|
|
Somalia: Hearts, Minds and Holy War
From Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, Reporter Aidan Hartley and director Robin Barnwell provide an eye-opening account of the most successful Islamic revolution to happen in the world since 9/11, and the setting up of a new Taliban-style state that threatens to export war to the entire horn of Africa.
Westerners are completely absent from Mogadishu, and Barnwell and Hartley are forced to work under constant threat of assassination from various factions. It's immediately clear that militants, known as the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) have seized the capital and are extending their power through both the gun barrel and religious persuasion. While Western powers failed to bring law and order to even a few blocks of Mogadishu and rescue Somalia from years of anarchy and 500,000 deaths, Unreported World shows how UIC has been winning the hearts and minds of ordinary Somalis by quickly bringing about a real improvement to their lives.…
“an important dispatch from a quite literally unreported corner of the world…. a fine way to end another superlative series”
The Observer
Japan: Red Sun Rising
This week's Unreported World travels to Japan to reveal the rise of an increasingly influential extreme right-wing nationalist movement; a movement which - faced with a rising China and belligerent North Korea - is trying to persuade the government to rewrite Japan's pacifist constitution and become a nuclear power.
Reporter Evan Williams and director Edward Watts meet hardcore nationalist groups, allegedly funded and controlled by an alliance of mafia bosses and nationalist politicians, who have been accused of using intimidation, arson and physical violence to enforce their vision of a patriotic Japan.
They're calling for Japan to become a military as well as economic superpower; with an army freed from the constraints imposed by the Allies after World War Two and armed with nuclear weapons. And they want atrocities committed by the army written out of the history taught in the country's schools.
Despite allegations that this movement is partly funded by the Yakuza, some believe it has the ear of new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.…
Afghanistan: Never Mind the Taliban
Kate Clark and director Tom Porter report from northern Afghanistan where, five years after the fall of the Taliban, Western intervention has produced a mafia-style state whose economy revolves around the drugs trade. Even in the north, where there is no threat from insurgents, it is too dangerous for a foreigner to travel. According to locals, the danger does not come from the Taliban, but from local commanders of the old Northern Alliance who are disenchanted with NATO forces. Allegations of corruption are rife. A farmer growing opium poppy claims he has to pay up to 20 per cent of the sale price to the district governor. Commanders from the old Northern Alliance are importing weapons, rearming themselves and selling weapons to their old enemy, the Taliban. Meanwhile, British and other NATO soldiers continue to die in defence of the country.…
“A must”
The Observer
Lebanon: Living with Hezbollah
After the devastating Israeli bombardment, Lebanon is faced with the immense task of rebuilding its infrastructure -an undertaking complicated by the political and sectarian tensions generated by Hezbollah's self-declared victory over Israel. Reporter Kate Seelye and director Rodrigo Vasquez film Hezbollah's state-within-a-state in the southern suburbs of Beirut. In the south, the Lebanese Government is trying -and failing -to assert its authority. Iran and Syria are using Hezbollah to stir up sectarian and anti-government tensions in Lebanon, and Christian nationalists are determined to resist. It is not just Lebanon's infrastructure that has been destroyed; now the country's democratic future is at risk…
“A fascinating insight!”
The Guardian
Mexico: The Longest Journey
This week Unreported World travels to Mexico. Reporter Sandra Jordan and director Nick Sturdee reveal the harrowing three month, 3,000 kilometre journey undertaken every year by thousands of Central American migrants desperate to reach the US. Once across, they have to survive what they call "la pesadilla mexicana" - the Mexican nightmare - evading immigration police and the armed gangsters and rapists who prey on the vulnerable migrants as they cross the country to reach the US border. Many risk their lives riding La Bestia - The Beast - a 1km long freight train that starts off in Arriaga in Chiapas State.
“Excellent front-line reportage… A brutal, harrowing yet compelling film.”
The Guardian
South Africa: The New ApartheidFriday 13 October 2006 7.35pm
“Black South Africans are the most racist people in the world,” announces a young Zimbabwean queuing for food in Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's moving and horrifying film about the growing influx of illegal immigrants to South Africa. She and director Robin Barnwell travel from the Zimbabwean border to Johannesburg investigating how a flood of illegal immigrants has led to xenophobic violence. This film contains shocking scenes of the abuse and hostility illegal immigrants face in South Africa, from both blacks and whites.
“A hard-hitting return for Channel 4's superlative foreign reporting strand.”
The Observer, October 8, 2006
West Papua: Rainforest WarriorsFriday 20 October 2006 7.35pm
Journalists aren’t allowed in Western Papua but reporter Evan Williams and director Siobhan Sinnerton managed to spend three weeks undercover filming the struggle between the local tribes and the Indonesian government. Whole villages congregated desperate to tell their stories of killings and disappearances, smeared in mud to show their grief. The team succeeded in bringing out unique footage of West Papua’s underground resistance.
”Unreported World continues to find journalists brave enough to take huge risks to tell these stories, all without fuss or flourish.”
The Observer, October 15, 2006
India: India’s Hidden WarFriday 27 October 2006 7.35pm
Reporter Sandra Jordan and Director James Brabazon travel deep into the Indian jungle to expose how India’s booming economy is fuelling an increasingly bloody civil war in the country’s neglected rural heartland. Government backed militias battle Maoist guerrillas for control of central India’s vast mineral resources, with hundreds of thousands of tribal villagers are caught in the crossfire. Jordan and Brabazon work relentlessly to capture every angle of this complex struggle, filming with government militias, disenfranchised villagers, steel workers and finally trekking for days to film in the secret camps of the Maoist rebels.
“… excellent… a hidden jewel in the schedule.”
The Guardian, October 21, 2006
“Sandra Jordan's a tough nut - makes Kate Adie, Orla Guerin and Janine di Giovanni look like the 3am Girls. I think she has the Lonely Planet Guide to the World's Really Scary Places, and she's working her way round them. She is one serious lady.”
The Guardian, October 28, 2006
Guatemala: City of the DeadFriday 3 November 7.35pm
Unreported World visits a world of unimaginable lawlessness where disappearances, death and torture have become part of the daily routine. Reporter Ramita Navai and director Sam Farmar present a shocking exposé of the rampant violence that afflicts areas of Guatemala City, as vigilante groups, street gangs and the beleaguered security forces battle for control; A film full of shocking and disturbing imagery.
“Powerful, if gruesome stuff, acquired at no small risk.”
The Guardian, October 28, 2006
“Navai is…righteous and brave in the face of being shot at, and threatened and pawed by prisoners.”
Sunday Times, October 29, 2006
“…superb reportage…”
The Daily Telegraph, November 3, 2006
Nigeria: Fire in the DeltaFriday 10 November 7.35pm
Last year the Nigerian government earned $45 billion in oil revenue – but most people in Nigeria’s southern delta, the source of the country’s vast oil wealth, struggle to survive on less than a dollar a day. Instead of prosperity the delta’s black gold has brought its people corruption, crime, pollution and, now, civil war. Paramilitary insurgents fighting for a share of the riches kidnap oil workers, attack refineries and sell stolen oil on the black market. Matt McAllester and director Tim Hetherington travel up-river into the heart of the conflict where they meet the rebels and the impoverished people they claim to be fighting for.
“…extremely brave…”
The Guardian, November 4, 2006
“…a sobering piece of reportage…”
The Telegraph, November 5, 2006
“A well told story about a tragic situation.”
The Sunday Times, November 5, 2006
 |
