American Scrap & Children of the Drones

Summary 'American Scrap' (correspondent: Davd Choe) - Cities like Detroit and Cleveland have found themselves at the forefront of a new phenomenon: scrapping. People left behind are literally ripping apart old school, houses, hospitals and factories for raw materials to hawk to local scrap yards for cash. Scrap metal is one of the U.S.' biggest exports, with billions of dollars' worth traveling to China every year, where it's invested into their infrastructure. The price for a pound of copper, for example, is about five times more than it was in 2002. David Choe looks into the life cycle of scrap metal, from the people who risk their lives to find it, to the yards that buy it, all the way to the Chinese traders who take it back home to build their economy. 'Children of Drones' (correspondent: Suroosh Alvi) - After a long and costly war in Afghanistan, American foreign policy has taken a drastically different approach to dealing with suspected Taliban insurgents. In place of the old 'boots on the ground' strategy, President Obama has increasingly relied on remote-controlled drone warfare, with operators stationed thousands of miles away who eliminate targets with the click of a button; their only interaction with the battlefield is through a screen. Drones are touted as a surgical weapon that keeps soldiers out of harms's way. But for the innocent victims, described as 'collateral damage,' drone strikes are hardly precise. Suroosh Alvi investigates the effects of drone strikes in Pakistan, where extremism and militancy are only growing in the wake of Obama's drone campaign.

S2.E3 ∙ American Scrap & Children of the Drones

Directed : Unknown

Written : Unknown

Stars : Shane Smith Gianna Toboni Thomas Morton Ben Anderson

8

Details

Genres : Documentary News

Release date : Mar 27, 2014

Countries of origin : United States

Official sites : Official site

Language : English

Production companies : Vice Media

Summary 'American Scrap' (correspondent: Davd Choe) - Cities like Detroit and Cleveland have found themselves at the forefront of a new phenomenon: scrapping. People left behind are literally ripping apart old school, houses, hospitals and factories for raw materials to hawk to local scrap yards for cash. Scrap metal is one of the U.S.' biggest exports, with billions of dollars' worth traveling to China every year, where it's invested into their infrastructure. The price for a pound of copper, for example, is about five times more than it was in 2002. David Choe looks into the life cycle of scrap metal, from the people who risk their lives to find it, to the yards that buy it, all the way to the Chinese traders who take it back home to build their economy. 'Children of Drones' (correspondent: Suroosh Alvi) - After a long and costly war in Afghanistan, American foreign policy has taken a drastically different approach to dealing with suspected Taliban insurgents. In place of the old 'boots on the ground' strategy, President Obama has increasingly relied on remote-controlled drone warfare, with operators stationed thousands of miles away who eliminate targets with the click of a button; their only interaction with the battlefield is through a screen. Drones are touted as a surgical weapon that keeps soldiers out of harms's way. But for the innocent victims, described as 'collateral damage,' drone strikes are hardly precise. Suroosh Alvi investigates the effects of drone strikes in Pakistan, where extremism and militancy are only growing in the wake of Obama's drone campaign.

Details

Genres : Documentary News

Release date : Mar 27, 2014

Countries of origin : United States

Official sites : Official site

Language : English

Production companies : Vice Media

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The Dream of Shahrazad

The Dream of Shahrazad

THE DREAM OF SHAHRAZAD is a feature-length documentary film that brings together the famous story collection THE 1001 (or "ARABIAN") NIGHTS with recent political events in Egypt, Turkey and Lebanon... Description The "Arab Spring" of early 2011 was a momentous global event, raising great hopes for anyone interested in the forward march of humanity. No one, however, is yet sure about the meaning or consequences of these events... THE DREAM OF SHAHRAZAD is a feature-length documentary film which locates the Egyptian revolution - and also recent political changes in Turkey and Lebanon - within a broader historical and cultural framework: that of storytelling and music. More particularly, it looks at the legacy of the famous collection of stories known as THE 1001 (or "ARABIAN") NIGHTS. Weaving together a web of music, politics and storytelling, the film follows a series of unforgettable characters, all of whom draw their inspiration from the NIGHTS and whom, like Shahrazad - the storytelling princess in the NIGHTS who saves lives by telling stories - puts creativity to new political use... A young female Turkish violinist travels to Istanbul, where a charismatic conductor uses Rimsky-Korsakov's SCHEHERAZADE suite as a tool for political education, leading up to a final performance at Istanbul's Topkapi Palace. A young Lebanese woman makes peace with her past by learning the art of storytelling in Egypt. An older visual artist who is obsessed with THE NIGHTS finds his "dream of Shahrazad" manifesting through the appearance of a beautiful young storyteller. Members of a Cairo theatre troupe meet with the mothers of martyrs of the January 25 Revolution and turn their testimonies into new storytelling performances... This richly kaleidoscopic film is at once observational documentary, concert film, political essay and visual translation of an ever-popular symphonic and literary classic. It is a documentary homage to THE NIGHTS, to the SCHEHERAZADE suite, and to the role of a rich historical and creative legacy within huge current political change.

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