Female prisoners experience the liberating effect of creative writing with the help of inspirational poet Leah Thorn. Poet Leah Thorn is writer-in-residence at HMP Bronzefield, a high security women’s prison in Middlesex. Through her workshops we meet a variety of women striving to find a voice through creative writing. Personal histories, emotions and inner conflicts are revealed through their
A fascinating look at the relationship between genius and autism, with particular focus on the phenomenon of savants; a small group of enigmatic talents with extraordinary mental abilities.Savants number less than 100 worldwide. Some can work out five-digit multiplication in their heads, or recite thousands of books by heart. Others can play a piano melody after hearing it only once. Over half
In 1988, Chris Bryson was found running down a Kansas City street naked, beaten, and bloody wearing nothing but a dog collar and a leash. He told police about Bob Berdella, a local business man and how Berdella had captured him, held him hostage, raped him, tortured him, and photographed him over several days.Police later arrested Berdella and searched his mid-town Kansas City home where they fo
Family violence has reached epidemic levels in Papua New Guinea, the South Pacific's largest nation.Two out of three women experience domestic violence and 50 per cent of women have experienced forced sex or gang rape in the South Pacific's biggest country.In PNG's Western Highlands Provinces, 97 per cent of women surveyed by an NGO said they had been attacked by male family members. From
Raised in the Athens Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, Cle "Bone" Sloan was four years old when his father died, and 12 when he became a member of the Bloods. Now an inactive member of the notorious gang, Sloan looks back at the history of black gangs in his city and makes a powerful call for change in modern gang culture with his insightful documentary, Bastards of the Party.Bastards of the P
The barber shop culture that resides within the 32 boroughs of London is extensively unique unto itself. On the streets of South London there are over 500 operating barber shops, open to business to thousands of people that awash that city everyday. Having adopted a large Caribbean influence in many of the boroughs, London is home to a large number of Jamaican owned establishments.These black
Named after a Sufi word that translates roughly as "breath of life" or "blessing," Baraka is Ron Fricke's impressive follow-up to Godfrey Reggio's non-verbal documentary film Koyaanisqatsi. Fricke was cinematographer and collaborator on Reggio's film, and for Baraka he struck out on his own to polish and expand the photographic techniques used on Koyaanisqatsi.The result is a tour-de-force in 70
This series tells the true stories that would be any traveller’s worst nightmare – when a holiday in paradise becomes a journey into hell that ends up in prison abroad.Through graphic dramatic reconstruction, each film tells the story of someone who’s been arrested and thrown into a foreign prison. It could be for smuggling drugs, falling foul of local corrupt policemen or for being duped into
Daredevil outlaws. The Mexican drug war. All night trips on small fishing boats called "pangas" that smuggle migrant workers & marijuana into the United States. This is Baja Smugglers.