This documentary shows us stories about people like Tonderai Ndira was a shrewd choice for assassination: young, courageous and admired. Kill him and fear would pulse through a thousand spines. He was an up-and-comer in Zimbabwe's opposition party, a charismatic figure with a strong following in the Harare slums where he lived.There were rumors his name was on a hit list. For weeks he hid out, b
What Andy Capper, Vice UK Editor, is saying about the film: “We arrived in Liberia with a small crew of three and quickly rendezvoused with a local journalist who would be our fixer and guide. Our first shooting location was the West Point slum, home to 80,000 people living in conditions that redefine squalor. Miles of rotting garbage surround the slum, which has no sewage system.Pretty much e
Getting into North Korea was one of the hardest and weirdest processes VBS has ever dealt with."After we went back and forth with their representatives for months, they finally said they were going to allow 16 journalists into the country to cover the Arirang Mass Games in Pyongyang.Then, ten days before we were supposed to go, they said, No, nobody can come. Then they said, OK, OK, you ca
A short documentary made about the survivors of the earthquake and tsunami that occurred in Japan in March 2011."We visited a town on the east coast called Ishinomaki, part of which was completely erased by the tsunami. Made up of interviews with survivors, Then and Now lets the survivors tell us about their experiences during the event and the progress of the recovery that has been taking pla
In this feature documentary, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Shuibo Wang (Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square) aims his camera at the astonishing story of 21 American soldiers who opted to stay in China after the Korean War ended in 1954. Back home in the United States, McCarthyism was at its height and many Americans believed these men were brainwashed by Chinese communists. But what really happened? Using n
In January 1954, months after the end of the Korean War, U.S. soldiers held in POW camps were at last free to return home. A small group, however, refused repatriation to the U.S. and, after being given 90 days to reconsider their decision, 21 American soldiers decided to stay in China. In They Chose China, Academy Award-nominated Chinese documentarian Shuibo Wang tells the controversial story of
From a small town in Oaxaca, Mexico, and from a kitchen table in East Los Angeles, from a flophouse in a coastal farming town, to a strip-mall in Phoenix, Arizona, these are snapshots of illegal immigration in America. It’s estimated that as many as 12 million people are living in United States illegally, but this story is about just two.An American lit major named Ilse, and a strawberry picker
Adventurer and journalist Simon Reeve heads to Cuba to find a communist country in the middle of a capitalist revolution. Two years ago Cuba announced the most sweeping and radical economic reforms the country has seen in decades. From ending state rationing to cutting one million public-sector jobs, one of the last communist bastions in the world has begun rolling back the state on an unprecedent
Part I: The Dalai Lama, The Monasteries and the People. Filmed in the Dalai Lama’s residence in Dharamsala, North India, and in the re-built Sera Monastery, the second largest monastery of the old Tibet, this opening part of the Trilogy observes the Dalai Lama in his dual role as Head of State and spiritual teacher. In an elegant cinematic style, at one with its subject, the film interweaves this