Wide Angle

One of the world's least-known societies, Iraqi Kurdistan, is under ongoing genocidal attack by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. British filmmaker Gwynne Roberts shot inside Iraqi Kurdistan for five years to prepare this unique report on a group who may play a crucial role, equivalent to that of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, in any military attempt to overthrow Saddam's bloody regime.

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.

The ruined cityscape of Grozny, Chechnya and the scarred roads and fields of the countryside bear witness to a conflict that has been marked both by brutal occupation and terrorist resistance. This film is a journey that leads the viewer behind the lines on both sides, and into the hearts of civilians and soldiers alike.

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.

WIDE ANGLE follows Salman Ahmed as he journeys to the tolerant, ancient city of Lahore and the fundamentalist stronghold of Peshawar to reveal the internal religious and political conflicts of nuclear-armed Pakistan.

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.

In a series of unique, powerful, and revealing interviews from inside Israeli prisons, this film examines the minds of Palestinian suicide bombers. Three failed suicide bombers, one recruiter, and one bomb builder captured by Israeli security forces speak openly of their training, motivation, operational methodology, and profound belief in the idea of entering paradise by becoming a martyr killed in the cause of Islam.

“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.

“Ladies First” explores the role of Rwandan women in building bridges between Hutus and Tutsis 10 years after the genocide that killed 800,000 people in 100 days. Director Gini Reticker and producer Deborah Shaffer were co-producers of the Oscar-nominated 2003 documentary “Asylum,” about a woman who flees Ghana to avoid genital mutilation and runs into trouble with U.S. immigration.

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.

Some call it "Russia's 9-11." The siege of School No. 1 in the Russian town of Beslan on September 1, 2004 was the bloodiest act of terrorism in Russia since Chechnya declared independence in 1991. As the trial of the only terrorist who survived the siege begins, this wrenching film examines the three-day ordeal that saw Chechen gunmen hold more than 1,000 hostages, most of them children.

"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.

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.

"Mixed Blessings" looks at Ireland's dramatic transformation from a poor nation of rolling green fields, farmers' pubs, and devout Catholics to an urbanized, secularized and giddily flush society. In this program, WIDE ANGLE visits the city of Limerick.

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.

"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.

A report on boxing in Cuba, including a visit to the Havana Boxing Academy to observe fighters as they work out and train for future fights.

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 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.

The film "Japan's About-Face" is a remarkable window into the shifting role of the military in post-war Japanese society. WIDE ANGLE has acquired exclusive access to the National Defense Academy, Japan's "West Point."

Midwives are being trained in advanced lifesaving surgery in Mozambique.

North Korean defectors take a life-threatening journey, traveling thousands of miles through China, Laos and Thailand, in the hope of settling as free citizens in South Korea. Intrepid South Korean journalists risk their own lives to capture the action and emotion.

The parents of a Palestinian boy killed by Israeli soldiers consent to donate their son's organs.

An Ethiopian economist sets up her country's first commodities exchange, hoping to revolutionize Ethiopia's market system and end its food shortages.