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Campaign
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by Kazuhiro Soda
Broadcast Date: July 29, 2008 at 10 PM (1 hour)
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This is democracy — Japanese style. "Campaign" provides a startling insider's view of Japanese electoral politics in this portrait of a man plucked from obscurity by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to run for a critical seat on a suburban city council. Kazuhiko "Yama-san" Yamauchi's LDP handlers are unconcerned that he has zero political experience, no charisma, no supporters and no time to prepare. What he does have is the institutional power of Japan's modern version of Tammany Hall pushing him forward. Yama-san allows his life to be turned upside down as he pursues the rituals of Japanese electioneering — with both tragic and comic results. A co-presentation with the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM).
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Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music
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by Robert Elfstrom
Broadcast Date: August 05, 2008 at 10 PM (90 minutes)
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In this classic 1969 documentary, the Man in Black is captured at his peak, the first of many in a looming roller-coaster career. Fresh on the heels of his Folsom Prison album, Cash reveals the dark intensity and raw talent that made him a country music star and cultural icon. Director Robert Elfstrom got closer than any other filmmaker to Cash, who is seen performing with his new bride June Carter Cash, in a rare duet with Bob Dylan, and behind the scenes with friends, family and aspiring young musicians. "Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music" paints an unforgettable portrait that endures beyond the singer's 2003 death.
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Belarusian Waltz
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by Andrzej Fidyk
Broadcast Date: August 12, 2008 at 10 PM (1 hour)
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Belarus has been called "Europe's last dictatorship." Since 1994, Alexander Lukashenko has ruled the ex-Soviet republic with a despotic hand, jailing the opposition, shutting down the press and refusing to investigate the assassinations of dissidents. He has virtually silenced his critics — but not one lone performance artist who stages public stunts mocking the dictator's pretensions. "Belarusian Waltz" is the story of Alexander Pushkin, whose audacious, comical exploits find him facing the hostility of the police and the consternation of his family. An offbeat tale of post-modern street theater meeting 1930s-style authoritarianism, the film offers a surprising window into the soul of the Belarusian people. A co-production of ITVS International.
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The Judge and the General
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by Elizabeth Farnsworth and Patricio Lanfranco
Broadcast Date: August 19, 2008 at 10 PM (90 minutes)
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When in 1998 Chilean judge Juan Guzman was assigned the first criminal cases against the country's ex-dictator, General Augusto Pinochet, no one expected much. Guzman had supported Pinochet's 1973 coup — waged as an anti-Communist crusade — that left the democratically elected president, Salvador Allende, and thousands of others dead or "disappeared." The filmmakers trace the judge's descent into what he calls "the abyss," where he uncovers the past — including his own role in the tragedy. "The Judge and the General" reveals one of the 20th century's most notorious episodes and tells a cautionary tale about violating human rights in the name of "higher ideals." A co-production of Independent Television Service (ITVS) in association with Latino Public Broadcasting.
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Kokoyakyu: High School Baseball
(encore presentation*)
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by Kenneth Eng
Broadcast Date: August 26, 2008 at 10 PM (1 hour)
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In Japan, baseball is not a pastime — it’s a national obsession. And for many of the country’s youth, the sport has become a rite of passage, epitomized by the national high school baseball tournament known simply as "Koshien." Four thousand teams enter, but only 49 are chosen to compete in the championship that grips the nation for two weeks every August. Following two teams and their dedicated coaches, "Kokoyakyu: High School Baseball" take viewers inside a world where baseball becomes a proving ground for life’s challenges.
* Note: Not all PBS stations choose to rebroadcast encore presentations. Please check local listings to see whether this show will be airing.
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Lomax the Songhunter
(encore presentation*)
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by Rogier Kappers
Broadcast Date: September 02, 2008 at 10 PM (1 hour)
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Alan Lomax was "the song hunter." He devoted his life to recording the world's folk tunes before they would permanently disappear with the rise of the modern music industry. In "Lomax the Songhunter," filmmaker Rogier Kappers seeks to tell Lomax's story by interviewing friends such as Pete Seeger, combining it with archival recordings of music greats Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly, and gathering footage of the cotton fields, rock quarries and prisons where Alan Lomax captured America’s quintessential music. Finally, Kappers followed the route that Lomax took so many years ago and traveled to remote villages in Spain and Italy, hearing memories and music from the farmers, shepherds and weavers whose songs Lomax recorded decades earlier.
* Note: Not all PBS stations choose to rebroadcast encore presentations. Please check local listings to see whether this show will be airing.
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Freedom Machines
(encore presentation*)
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by Jamie Stobie and Janet Cole
Broadcast Date: September 09, 2008 at 10 PM (1 hour)
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"Freedom Machines" takes a new look at disability through the lens of assistive technology. The experiences of a group of unforgettable people let us re-examine ideas about ability and disability grounded in our culture and attitudes. Engineers, designers and users challenge barriers inherent in our built environments, and reveal the gap between the promises of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and everyday reality for 54 million Americans with disabilities. Whether mainstream technology or extraordinary inventions such as stair-climbing wheelchairs, "Freedom Machines" reveals both the power and limitations of technology to change lives. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) co-presentation.
* Note: Not all PBS stations choose to rebroadcast encore presentations. Please check local listings to see whether this show will be airing.
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Calavera Highway
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by Renee Tajima-Pena and Evangeline Griego
Broadcast Date: September 16, 2008 at 10 PM (90 minutes)
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When brothers Armando and Carlos Pena set off to carry their mother's ashes to south Texas, their road trip turns into a quest for answers about a strangely veiled past. As they reunite with five other brothers, the two men try to piece together their family's shattered history. Why was their mother cast out by her family? What happened to their father, who disappeared during the notorious 1954 U.S. deportation program Operation Wetback? "Calavera Highway" is a sweeping story of seven Mexican American men grappling with the meaning of masculinity, fatherhood and a legacy of rootless beginnings. Produced in association with American Documentary | P.O.V. A co-presentation of Latino Public Broadcasting. Funded in part by the Center for Asian American Media with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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Critical Condition
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by Roger Weisberg
Broadcast Date: September 30, 2008, Special Broadcast at 9 PM (90 minutes)
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What happens if you fall sick and are one of 47 million people in America without health insurance? "Critical Condition" by Roger Weisberg ("Waging a Living," P.O.V. 2006) puts a human face on the nation's growing health care crisis by capturing the harrowing struggles of four critically ill Americans who discover that being uninsured can cost them their jobs, health, home, savings, even their lives. Filmed in vérité style, "Critical Condition" offers a moving and invaluable expose at a time when the nation is debating how to extend health insurance to all Americans. A production of Public Policy Productions in association with Thirteen/WNET New York and American Documentary | P.O.V.
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