From acclaimed director, Amir Bar-Lev (The Tillman Story, My Kid Could Paint That), A&E IndieFilms, Asylum Entertainment and producer John Battsek comes the story of the paedophile scandal that rocked America. The town of State College, home of Penn State University, lies at the heart of an area long known as Happy Valley. Its iconic figure for more than 40 years was Joe Paterno, head coach of the school’s famous football team, known affectionately as “Saint Joe.”
ISIS or IS, the so-called Islamic State - DAECH in Arabic - controls today a large territory that stretches over Syria and Iraq. ISIS is not just a terrorist movement, it has become something of an out-law state attracting militants and combatants from around the globe. The jihadist start-up born in Iraq under American occupation became a global corporation of terror which succeeded in making Al Qaeda look outdated.
Why are Europeans, children of immigrants like Coulibaly or the Kouachis brothers, attacking their countries of birth? What leads them to reject the values of the nation in which they grew up, to be reborn as extremists of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. What role does religion play and which religion? What propaganda and mental mechanisms are being used to convince this generation of killers that they must turn vigilante on behalf of their victimised Muslim world?
The United Nations celebrates its 70th anniversary in the fall of 2015. Among other innovations, members of the UN devised the novel concept of “soldiers for peace.” But can peace be enforced militarily? The original mission of the United Nations was to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war by maintaining peace and security between states. Now that terrorists and internal conflicts strike far more frequently than traditional inter-state wars, what does international security mean?
For centuries, the Dutch have tamed the sea with dykes and criss-crossed their country with canals and waterways. Lately, climate change is whipping up storms and raising the sea level and the Netherlands is now seeking a new pact with water in order to protect the low-lying country. They’re making use of state-of-the-art technologies and the power of nature and are systematically making space for the water elsewhere.
"With the birth of the knowledge society, higher education is booming. There were 13 million university students in 1960. In 2015, their ranks had swollen to nearly 200 million. The number of students attending university is exploding around the globe, as a gigantic global student market is being forged… It’s a simple fact: for the past two decades, the new wealth producing champions have been business executives and members of the intellectual and scientific professions.
The documentary tells the story of the slow transformation of a man. Once democratic and pro-European, he is now a reactionary head of state with autocratic aims. From the abrupt cessation of Turkey's EU accession talks in 2010 to the colossal purges destabilizing the country today, we are studying the implementation of a ruthless strategy aimed at making the Turkish president the new Sultan of the Middle East.
How has the extremist group Boko Haram, which began as a small Islamic sect, managed to make Nigeria, the richest country in Africa, and all its neighbours, tremble with fear? Who are they and how did they become so powerful? Xavier Muntz spent a month in Northern Nigeria, in the heart of the red zone, to answer these very questions. He met with many people, all directly affected by this religious uprising. Victims, soldiers and even Jihadi sympathisers.
