Summary: In the 1990s, thousands of Salvadoran nationals living illegally in the U.S. were deported to their homeland. Some took Los Angeles gang culture with them. This Wide Angle report documents six months spent inside the transnational gang known as "18"-a Salvadoran permutation of L.A.'s notorious 18th Street gang. Following teenage "homeboys" as they patrol their turf in the streets of San...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: In spite of mounting ecological damage, the Amazon Basin continues to nurture age-old stories and beliefs. This documentary illustrates the importance of indigenous narratives to those who dwell near the city of Iquitos, Peru, and view their natural surroundings in mythical terms. Concerning a young man who has recently gone missing in the forest, the film depicts his mother's attempts to find...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Stretching over 4,000 miles across South America, the Amazon River has long defied human efforts to tame it. Not a single bridge crosses it, and not one dam halts its flow. This program visits urban centers on the banks of the Amazon and examines new attempts to harness-or exploit-the river's energy and natural abundance. The journey begins at Iquitos-a Peruvian city blighted by poverty and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program examines Chile under martyred socialist President Salvador Allende, and the subsequent Pinochet regime that followed. Allende's niece and novelist, Isabel Allende, exile Hortensia Bussi, Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriela Mistral, and others discuss women's role in the eventual toppling of Pinochet, and the formation of the Latin American Federation of Associations of Families of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This documentary reveals just how divisive the 40-year Colombian civil war has become. It ventures behind government spin and FARC guerilla secrecy to interview army commanders, public officials, Colombian journalists, drug cartel paramilitaries, and ordinary citizens who are literally caught in a crossfire. Testimonials from impoverished farmers-who have essentially no other options than to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Isolated in jungles, or crowded into large cities, Latin American Indians constitute the most exploited sector of society. This program traces the harsh life of indigenous women from several tribes, including the Otavalan, Puruha, and Quechua of Ecuador, from pre-Columbian times to the present. Topics discussed include rape as an ongoing practice; labor exploitation; the effects of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: South America has tilted to the left, and its socialist governments are forging an economic alliance that places public power, not market dynamics, at the center. The plan? To exploit revenues from the continent's abundant natural resources to build a better future where all will benefit from that wealth-and, in the process, to become free from North American interference. To explore the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: A seldom-discussed dimension of the war on drugs is the plight of impoverished farmers in the developing world. This program tells the story of Peru's struggling cocaleros, whose livelihoods and ancient agricultural traditions have become a casualty of antidrug policies. Shot on the steep hillsides where Peruvian growers have produced the crop since pre-Columbian times, as well as in villages...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program contrasts indigenous, community-based culture with market economics driven by multinational corporations. The film assesses the growing conflict between Burlington Resources, an American oil company licensed to prospect in regions of Ecuador, and the self-sufficient Achuar people of that country, who believe the oil industry will destroy their environment and non-materialistic way...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: As opposed to passively monitoring the electoral process, the Organization of American States responded actively to the lack of procedural transparency and the blatant corruption in Peru's 2000 elections, waging a campaign to keep voters informed of irregularities. This program provides a detailed account of the elections and shows how the OAS observation mission set a controversial precedent...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program documents a visit by Brazilian government officials to the Korubo people, hunter/gatherers of the Javari River Valley. Transcending a history of mutual distrust and violence with other groups, especially Caucasians, the Korubo warm to the camera team after receiving medical help for their malaria-stricken leader. The team's unprecedented access leads to breathtaking, revelatory...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program tells the powerful story of a group of women who banded together and dared to defy the brutal dictatorship of Chile's Gen. Augusto Pinochet. The women-mothers, wives, and sisters of the tens of thousands of victims of the regime's torture and execution-armed only with scraps of cloth, sewing needles, and the overwhelming desire to find their loved ones, set to work to tell their...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: In just 25 years, Chile has gone from a Marxist state to a dictatorship to a democracy. The transition has strengthened Chile's economy, but not all Chilean citizens have shared in the prosperity. In fact, the divisions between rich and poor have widened, causing critics to question whether democratic capitalism is the right solution. As the scenario unfolds, so do the moral issues surrounding...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program provides and overview of the rise and fall and rise again of Juan Peron. Events covered include Peron's first presidency, during which his second wife, Evita (Maria Eva Duarte), died; the coup that drove Peron out of Argentina; Peron's return to Argentina and his second presidency; Peron's death and the succession of his third wife, Isabel Martinez de Peron (Maria Estela Martinez...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: In Colombia, government and paramilitary forces are terrorizing the populace to deprive the FARC and NLF guerrillas of civil support. But far from stamping out the war, this policy has led to an escalation that threatens to destroy the country. This program combines newsreel and documentary footage of life and death in Colombia's rural districts, cities, and guerrilla camps with interviews to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Colombia's
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Inhabiting a shrinking pocket of rainforest in Paraguay's Eastern Canindeyu Region, the Ache are one of South America's last hunter-gatherer societies-and in imminent danger of cultural extinction. This program presents an intimate portrait of the Ache in their natural habitat, focusing on the Gatu tribal group. Sequences filmed during extensive stays with the tribe reveal their customs and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Journeying to a remote land high in the Andean mountains, this program follows a team of adventurers and scientists on a perilous rescue mission. Their goal is not to save lost tourists or injured hikers but to rediscover forgotten cultures, ancient Inca ruins, and rare species of plants and animals. All of this work must be done before a massive highway, which will crisscross the South...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Since the United Nations prohibited coca cultivation in 1961, a battle has raged around the simple, versatile plant. In the West, coca is synonymous with violence and terror. For the people of the Andes, however, coca represents a viable and ancient livelihood. This program follows their resistance to the sweeping illegalization and eradication measures instituted by Latin American governments,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: The rise of leftist leaders in South America has surprised the international community-and has resulted in some equally surprising alliances. This Wide Angle documentary focuses on populist leader Evo Morales, who has taken up the fight of coca farmers against the Bolivian establishment. Traveling to the stunning highlands of Bolivia, the program examines Morales' efforts to expand the amount...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Ascending to the Venezuelan presidency on a wave of anti-corruption, anti-poverty, and anti-American sentiment, Hugo Chavez has become one of the most charismatic and controversial leaders on the world stage. This program details the rise of the Chavez government and the challenges it has faced in reforming the South American nation's economy and political culture. Incorporating incisive...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: From medicinal shamans to taxi drivers in rusty death traps, this program plunges further into the depth and breadth of life in South America-following American adventurer Karin Muller as she travels the ancient Incan highway. Muller joins Peruvian fishermen plying their trade in handmade reed boats; watches herds of vicuna penned and sheared of their precious wool; absorbs the spectacle of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: When an 11-year-old Paraguayan boy named Silvino Talavera died from pesticide poisoning in 2003, his name became a rallying cry in the fight against intensive soya production. This program recounts the tragedy and the legal, political, and economic impact of "agritoxins" in Latin America. Opening with a poetically filmed reenactment and moving on to feature key players in the story, the film...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010