S4.E3 ∙ Cultivating Writers

The Ukrainian veteran who returns home burnt out and traumatized from war but hoping to find peace for himself and his family

There is nothing left of the American dream on the Nine--a solemn destination, a resting place for those who have relinquished the dream. Modesto is a city that lies in California's Central Valley, a region devastated during America's Great Depression. Modesto's notorious South Ninth Street-the Nine-is a no man's land where the rules of polite society do not apply. The people living along the Nine form a ravaged micro community whose Darwinian existence is a day to day hustle, and survival is by any means necessary. Kiki, however, is the rare bright light whose magnetic optimism is a means of self-preservation. Her childlike enthusiasm belies the stark reality that surrounds her. THE NINE, filmed in an elegiac style, honors the casualties of a broken system-people who might otherwise be forgotten. Like a Townes Van Zandt song, THE NINE is a film about the beauty of those who fall by the wayside, a bittersweet country ballad that feels at times like a lost page by John Steinbeck or William Faulkner.

C.T. Fletcher shows you his story, and what he's all about.

Vertigo is a Real Life Superhero. He helps the needy in Padova, his hometown. The movie follows him while he seek a way to leave a better world until, on one evening, an unexpected event will forever change his way of seeing his mission.

On the Franco-belgian border, there's a unique place that takes in children with mental and social problems. Day after day, the adults try to understand the enigma that each one of them represents and, without ever imposing anything on them, invent the solutions that will help them to live in peace, case by case. Through their stories, 'Like an Open Sky' reveals their singular vision of the world to us.

A historian attempts to recapture an ancient world and unveil the secrets hidden in ancient Egypt in this documentary.