Visit Your Local PBS Station PBS Home PBS Home Programs A-Z TV Schedules Watch Video Support PBS Shop PBS Search PBS
Wide Angle human stories. global issues.
search
Home show finder watch online about the series global classroom

About the Series: Film Descriptions

Photo of a shrine in Qom

Photo of Pilgrims to Karbala on their bus

Photos: Adam Toy
Pilgrimage To Karbala
Monday, March 26, 2007 at 10 P.M.

In the summer of 2006, as the Iranian-backed Hezbollah fought off Israelis in Lebanon and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faced down President George Bush at the United Nations, a bus full of Iranian pilgrims left Tehran on a journey to the holy city of Karbala, deep inside a shattered Iraq. "Pilgrimage To Karbala" follows this intense journey into the heartlands of Shia Islam, revealing how two ancient crimes – the murder of Muhammad’s grandson and the disappearance of a six-year-old imam – became the founding legends of Shiism and increasingly dominate events and attitudes in the Middle East today.

Watch a preview video
BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Kevin Sim directed WIDE ANGLE's "Beslan: Siege of School No. 1" about the bloodiest act of terrorism in modern Russia in which Chechen gunmen took over a school and kept more than 1,000 women and children hostage for three days. His other films include "Sacred Ground," a FRONTLINE episode on rebuilding the Twin Tower site; "Remember My Lai," also for FRONTLINE; HITLER'S SEARCH FOR THE HOLY GRAIL; THE SHAKESPEARE MYSTERY; and COLLEGE GIRLS, a six-part series chronicling a generation of students at Oxford's last women-only college.



Continue to next episode: 18 with a Bullet   

Intro
film descriptions
anchor bio
FAQs
awards
credits
screensaver
Wide Angle Online! Explore this episodes Web-exclusive articles
Tools
email this page

© 2002-2007 Educational Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. [an error occurred while processing this directive]