Al Jazeera America Presents - Season 1 / Year 2013

Season 1 / Year 2013

Episodes

Into Eternity
Every day, large amounts of radioactive waste is placed in interim storage, which is vulnerable to natural & man-made disasters. In Finland, the world's first permanent repository is being hewn out of solid rock - a huge system of underground tunnels - that must last 100,000 years as this is how long the waste remains hazardous.

Google and the World Brain
The most ambitious project ever conceived on the Internet: Google's master plan to scan every book in the world and the people trying to stop them. Google says they are building a library for mankind, but some say they also have other intentions.

Skydancer
This film takes a provocative look at 21st Century Indian life: from the top of the steel structures in New York City to life 'on the Rez' where unemployment and crime make it hard to see the pristine beauty of the surrounding lands. The film shows the lives of ironworkers and offers a new perspective on contemporary Native Americans.

Words of Witness
Defying cultural norms and family expectations, 22 yr-old Heba Afify takes to the streets to report on an Egypt in turmoil, using tweets, texts and Facebook posts. Her coming of age, political awakening and the disillusionment that follows, mirrors that of a nation seeking the freedom to shape its own destiny, dignity and democracy.

Do the Math
"Do the Math," is based on a Rolling Stone article by Bill McKibben last year, and on a multi-city tour he took over the last few months. He states we only need to know three numbers to understand climate change. This film opens up the debate on the issue.

Budrus
Ayed Morrar, an unlikely community organizer, unites Palestinians from all political factions and Israelis to save his village from destruction by Israel's Separation Barrier. Victory seems improbable until his 15-year-old daughter, Iltezam, launches a women's contingent that quickly moves to the front lines.

Head Games
Head Games is a revealing documentary about the silent concussion crisis in American sports. Athletes from the professional to the youth levels share their personal struggles in dealing with the devastating and long-term effects of concussions, an epidemic fueled by the 'leave everything on the field' culture so prominent in American sport.

Comic Books Go to War
In this age of hundreds of television stations, 24-hour news and web sites, the comic book has become a documentary medium, providing a understanding of the human dimensions of war, genocide and revolution. This film explores the journalistic, aesthetic and political implications of reporting the most violent and terrible of human experiences through "comix."

Alias Ruby Blade
Kirsty Sword, aspired to be a filmmaker, but instead became a underground operative code named 'Ruby Blade'. Her task: to become a conduit of information for the enigmatic resistance leader, Kay Rala "Xanana" Gusmão, while he was serving life.They fell in love. Alias Ruby Blade captures their incredible love story, demonstrating the power of individuals to change history.

Two Americans
An American family is living in a state that has criminalized their existence. The parents of Katherine Figueroa are arrested when Sheriff Joe Arpaioe raids a carwash suspected of hiring illegal workers. Young Kathy fights to save her parents from deportation, while the County Board is pressured to investigate.

Open Secret
A documentary that chronicles Steve Lickteig's 20-year search for who his real birth parents were; why a whole town kept the truth from him; and how his family's tumultuous history revolves around the hidden lives of two unconventional women.

The Team
An alternative local response to Kenyan's violence is the creation of a taboo-breaking TV soap opera, The Team, following the struggles of a co-ed multi-ethnic soccer squad to overcome their differences.

Tiny
A documentary about home, and how we find it. The film follows one couple's attempt to build a "tiny house" from scratch, and other families who have downsized their lives into homes smaller than the average parking space. Through homes stripped down to their essentials, the film raises questions about good design, the nature of home, and the changing American Dream.

Lockerbie: Part 1
In 1988 a bomb destroyed Pan Am 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie killing 270 people. Abdel Baset Mohamed Ali al-Megrahi, was eventually tried and found guilty of the largest case of mass murder in UK history. Megrahi maintained his innocence right up his death in May 2012 and many serious commentators continued to express doubts about the safety of this conviction

Lockerbie: Part 2

American Commune
In 1970, 1,500 hippies founded a commune in rural Tennessee. They shared their savings, grew their own food and built a self-sufficient society. Raised on "The Farm" by a Jewish mother and a Puerto Rican father, sisters Rena and Nadine return for the first time since 1985. They chart the rise and fall of America's largest hippie commune and their own family tree.

The Search for a Cure
Al Jazeera South East Asia correspondent Stephanie Scawen investigates the causes of Multiple Sclerosis and the possible treatments, and takes us on a journey through life as a MS patient. She must confront the inevitable decline in her physical abilities and come face to face with what seems an inevitable fate, all the while never relinquishing her hope for a cure.
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