Wide Angle

WIDE ANGLE reports from the frontlines of the staggering refugee crisis that is unfolding in the Middle East as Iraqis flee their war-torn country at the rate of up to 50,000 people per month.

"Lord’s Children" follows three former child soldiers in Uganda who escape from the bush and try to put their lives back together.

Midwives are being trained in advanced lifesaving surgery in Mozambique.

The film Heart of Darfur captures the desperation of daily life in remote villages, crowded refugee camps, and in El Fasher, the once sleepy capital of North Darfur that is now home to 100,000 refugees and 10,000 U.N. personnel.

Since Afghanistan emerged from under Taliban rule in late 2001, women's rights have made great strides on paper. But the reality on the ground is a mixed picture.

At a moment when India is enjoying record economic growth, THE DYING FIELDS turns to Vidarbha's four million cotton farmers who have been left behind, struggling to survive on less than two dollars a day.

In the summer of 2006, as internal battles fracture the Palestinian Territories, WIDE ANGLE provides a glimpse inside the conflict as it spirals out of control. Gaza E.R. follows doctors, nurses, and staff at Shifa Hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, as they struggle in the face of turf wars between Hamas, rival faction Fatah, and powerful families with competing agendas.

WIDE ANGLE travels to the royal headquarters of the United Arab Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah as HH Sheikh Saud solicits top European architects to carry out his grandiose dream of a new capital city in the middle of his desert kingdom.

"The People's Court" takes viewers inside the courtrooms and law schools of China to provide an unprecedented and unexpected portrait of its rapidly growing legal system. The documentary follows itinerant judges, law students, a human rights lawyer, and ordinary Chinese citizens seeking justice as the country tackles the massive task of establishing a legal framework for its new market economy. Poised to surpass the United States as the largest economy in the world, China faces mounting domestic and international pressure for a fair and transparent framework of laws. This experiment to introduce justice and the "rule of law" to a nation still firmly controlled by the Communist Party has global implications.

WIDE ANGLE is on the ground as the Democratic Republic of Congo holds its first elections in 45 years -- an election supported by more than $450 million from the United Nations. "Democracy in the Rough" immerses us in a nation haunted by war, threatened by corruption, and torn over how to move toward a democratic and more promising future.

In Sao Paulo, where someone is kidnapped every three days on average, "Ransom City" explores a twist in Brazil's dangerous crime fad as the mothers of five celebrity soccer players are abducted and held for ransom in a six month period.

For years, Turkey has been run by a stridently secular business and political elite struggling to align itself with the Western world, while its pious Muslims have been pushed to the political and economic fringes. But now, even the most devout Muslims are embracing Western-style capitalism and commerce.

WIDE ANGLE cameras are on location in Morocco as history is made. In May 2006, an imam academy in the city of Rabat holds a graduation ceremony. But the class of 2006 includes 50 women pioneers, among the first contemporary group of women to be officially trained as religious leaders in the Arab world.

With unprecedented access to the lives of these self-proclaimed “homeboys,” "18 with a Bullet" uncovers the inner workings of a gang whose transnational membership numbers in the tens of thousands and which has captured the attention of U.S. law enforcement.

WIDE ANGLE travels to Vietnam to investigate the threat of a global pandemic, portraying Vietnam's response to outbreaks in its cities, provinces and villages, where doctors, epidemiologists and veterinarians are battling the virus.

Through unfettered access to political strongmen, gangsters turned presidential hopefuls, and ordinary Haitian citizens, WIDE ANGLE reveals Haiti's struggle to fashion a true representative government out of a volatile failed state.

“Gutted” charts the final voyages of a family-owned Scottish fishing boat that has been decommissioned to accommodate European Union cod quotas, despite being only seven years old. Fishermen and their supporters, who call themselves the “Cod Crusaders,” accuse British politicians of turning their backs on them. “We're being sacrificed on the altar of Euro Union,” says one fisherman. “We could be the first island in the history of the world that doesn't have a fishing industry,” says another.

"Future for Lebanon" takes viewers to the oldest democracy in the Middle East as voters go to the polls in a new era. From the beaches of Beirut to the radical rallies of Hezbollah, WIDE ANGLE explores political change in one of the pivotal nations of the Arab region -- change from within, not imposed from the outside.

This episode of WIDE ANGLE chronicles the life of the Vatican in the days between the announcement of Pope John Paul II's death and the election of the new pope by a conclave, the group of more than 100 cardinals who gather in Rome's Sistine Chapel for this historic vote.

Twenty-five years after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the struggle for political reform is the big story. With rare access, WIDE ANGLE films behind the scenes with the young reporters of one of Iran's leading reformist newspapers.

As Afghanistan struggled to adopt a new constitution, WIDE ANGLE filmed behind the scenes at the December 2003 loya jirga. The documentary profiles two aspiring Afghan delegates who face political opposition and physical intimidation as they literally risk their lives to participate in the future of their country.

WIDE ANGLE presents the story of a unique marathon that is staged annually in the hope of drawing attention to the plight of the Sahrawi people.

“The Russian Newspaper Murders” explores the tenuous state of freedom of speech in Russia as it investigates the murders of two editors of the same newspaper in 18 months in 2002 and '03. The paper, the Togliatti Observer, was known for investigating links between organized crime and public officials. “We have to balance on the edge all the time,” says deputy editor Rimma Mikharova, “otherwise we might not be around to write the next article.” In Moscow, the pressures facing the fiercely indpendent Novaya Gazeta (whose editor, Dimitri Muratov, is seen interviewing Mikhail Gorbachev) are more subtle---but not much. Here, a Gazeta reporter must investigate the beating of one of his colleagues. Following the film: an interview with Ann Cooper, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

"The Dammed" raises important questions about the costs and consequences of modernization and development, as the global community re-evaluates the social and environmental impacts of large dam projects.

“Time for School” follows first graders in places around the world where free and compulsary education is not available to all children. Countries visited include Kenya, Benin, Brazil, Romania and India.

The Prime Minister and the Press examines Silvio Berlusconi's rise to prominence, and explores what happens to public debate when extreme wealth and political power converge with media dominance.

WIDE ANGLE explores the role of the Angolan military, the only functioning arm of the state, in its bold attempt to combat the AIDS pandemic. The challenges it faces offer an arresting portrait of a nation at a crucial moment in history.

WIDE ANGLE goes behind the scenes of Al-Jazeera's broadcast headquarters in the Arabian Gulf state of Qatar during its nonstop coverage of the war in Iraq. Watched by millions of people in the Arab world, the first Arabic all-news network had continuous access to events in Iraq.

The bloody conflict between Hindus and Muslims in northwestern India is at the forefront of a struggle for India's identity. The film focuses in part on the efforts of India's supercop, K.P.S. Gill, a Sikh, sent by the federal government to quell the violence in Gujarat and on Harish Bhatt, a leader of the Bajrang Dal or Monkey Brigade, India's largest Hindu youth movement.

The election of President Vicente Fox in 2000 ended more than 70 years of single-party rule. This film examines the hopes that a new dawn has come in Mexico's history, and the fear that graft and corruption are immovable.

With the departure of the Taliban, the current opium crop in Afghanistan is among the largest ever. How will the world's drug control authorities deal with this fact of Central Asian life? And how will the United States resolve a dilemma that pits the war on terror against the war on drugs?

"Land of Wandering Souls" follows a group of workers who are laying a high-tech fiber optic cable that will link Cambodia to the rest of Asia and Europe. This film provides a haunting glimpse into the lives of these indigent workers as they encounter the painful remnants of the past and labor to bring Cambodia into the modern age.

Once the home of the "iron ricebowl" and social equality for all, today China has joined the ranks of the World Trade Organization. This extraordinarily candid film introduces viewers to the unemployed, the working poor and the nouveaux riches alike.