A West African Story
Flashback Television for Teachers’ TV – 30 minutes.
Karrus Hayes, a Liberian living in a refugee camp in Ghana, started a free primary school in the camp with a borrowed room, volunteer teachers and an open door to students. The school has grown but the struggle continues - to find money for salaries, to overcome the trauma of civil war, and to educate the children so one day they can go back and rebuild Liberia.
Winner of the special UNICEF award for programmes that promote understanding of the lives or circumstances of children in difficult situations at the Japan Prize 2007. [Link to Teachers TV] [Link to Flashback Television]
Cold Comfort
Piranha Productions for C4 – 30 minutes.
The story of the Comfort Women of South Korea, captured by the Japanese and used as sex slaves for the army before and during WWII. Filmed in Seoul and at a conference of Comfort Women from all over Asia, this documents their story — which would have been forgotten had it not been for two Korean women activists — and their fight for compensation and an apology from the Japanese government.
Die Hard
Maverick Television for BBC 2 First Sight – 30 minutes.
Portrait of a south London cemetery, the people who visit and work there, and the imminent London-wide shortage of burial space. Given the British public‘s fondness for family plots and elaborate floral tributes, the need for more space is reaching crisis point. Yet the caretaker’s view is that people should be cremated and “the land should be kept for the living”.
Daniel’s Big Adventure
Carlton TV Community Programme Unit, “Everyday Lives” – 30 minutes.
Observational film in a series about the everyday lives of disabled people. Daniel’s Big Adventure records a few weeks in the life of a family who are all deaf or hard of hearing, in the run-up to their four year old son‘s first day at a mainstream school.
Dare to Care
BBC 2 ”First Sight” – 30 minutes.
Dare to Care explores people‘s behaviour when they witness an attack in public, asking when, how and why they are willing to intervene. Using a staged incident and secret cameras, the film records the reactions of passers-by, as well as telling the stories of those who have helped others, or been helped, in the past.
World of Difference (Co-producer)
Resource Base for C4 Schools – 30 minutes.
As part of the Global Citizenship curriculum, six U.K. teenagers visited Cambodia to learn what education means to young people there. The journey includes a visit to the “Killing Fields” as well as an encounter with young women who had to leave school to work in the garment industry or the sex trade.
The Power List
Fulcrum Productions for C4 – 5 minutes each.
Two profiles for Observer-linked series on the 300 most powerful people in Britain today. Subjects: Sir Richard Doll, epidemiologist who first established the link between smoking and cancer; and Howard Davies, then head of the Financial Services Authority.
Channel Four News
Glass Pictures for ITN – 8 minutes.
Special report announcing the results of U.K.’s largest study of child sex abuse by the Child and Woman Sex Abuse Unit at London Met University.
What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?
Alfalfa Prods for C4 – 30 minutes.
Historical examination of rape in war, in light of the conflict in former Yugoslavia. Experts and ordinary women suggest that there is nothing inevitable about rape in war, and that it can be prevented.
Taking Drugs Seriously
BBC 2 – 30 minutes.
Half-hour authored documentary, on film, in which a former drug user promotes a radical approach to heroin addiction and AIDS prevention. Allan Parry’s premise is that use of pharmaceutical heroin is less damaging to health than comparable amounts of alcohol, therefore drug policy towards it is irrational. A harm reduction approach would keep users healthy until they’re ready to quit, by prescribing heroin and even giving “safe injecting” lessons.
I'm Not a Feminist, but I Know a Woman Who Is
Piranha Productions for C4 – 30 minutes.
Examination of feminism in the 90s; why are young women afraid of the F-word while enjoying the benefits won by an older generation? Shown at the Edinburgh Film Festival.
The Investigators
McDougall Craig for Carlton – 30 minutes.
Investigation into the effects of council cost-cutting on the education of autistic children. Too often parents have to fight for an accurate Statement of Educational Need before they can get their statutory right to appropriate schooling. This puts them in direct conflict with hard-pressed councils seeking to avoid paying for expensive autistic schools.