S5.E9 ∙ Rise of Hope

There comes a time when the destructive actions and policies of leadership must be confronted by the people they represent. The national security enterprise has succeeded in developing a permanent system that diverts much of the country's resources to the military/intelligence/security sector. This action undermines and threatens the social and economic status of our nation. The event, Speaking Truth to Power: a permanent state of war was an evening of provocative commentary by a collection of powerful speakers from academia, political activism and advanced peace studies including veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who shared their personal stories and perspectives of our permanent state of war and the true costs on human life. We believe the American people must know the truth.

Saluting the Sun are twelve continuous yoga postures and these movements have been used to tell a story that all is not what it appears to be.

Oscar winning documentary director and Shakespearean actor Sir Antony Sher, both ex South Africans, investigate the murder in Cape Town of up-and-coming actor, Brett Goldin, and discover that 13 years after the arrival of democracy in South Africa, the country of their birth is suffering one of the highest murder rates in the world with 50 people a day being killed. What is going on in South Africa and is the rainbow nation which brought so much hope to the world just a few years ago, under threat?

Cherike-ye Bidang is a 2013 documentary by Narges Abyar, an Iranian writer and director. The story of the film happens in Sardasht, a city in northwest of Iran which was a target of a couple of chemical bombings by Iraq air-force on June 28, 1987 during the age of Saddam Hussein's ruling in Iraq. The movie shows the situation of the victims of those bombings through the eyes of children of a primary school who have an artistic group in which they play the story of those attacks and bombings. Many of the staff of the school were chemically affected and are still sick, but they somehow figured how to live with their situation.

This film deals with topics of HIV Aids and rape, told from a unique perspective of a raped woman. In fact it is the female filmmaker herself who decided to go for this film starting a few days after the rape took place, knowing the film will end three months later, at the time when she can go for the final HIV Aids test. The realization of this film was possible only due to the immediate commitment of South African camera operators and many other South Africans who supported this no budget project. We would appreciate your time and effort for a film on a sensitive issue that is of so much relevant around the globe, without the restrictions of any boarders.