The People's Court (July 3, 2007)

"The People's Court" takes viewers inside the courtrooms and law schools of China to provide an unprecedented and unexpected portrait of its rapidly growing legal system. The documentary follows itinerant judges, law students, a human rights lawyer, and ordinary Chinese citizens seeking justice as the country tackles the massive task of establishing a legal framework for its new market economy. Poised to surpass the United States as the largest economy in the world, China faces mounting domestic and international pressure for a fair and transparent framework of laws. This experiment to introduce justice and the "rule of law" to a nation still firmly controlled by the Communist Party has global implications.

Victory is Your Duty (July 10, 2007)

Boxing has held a special place of honor in Cuban society since the revolution, not least because Cuban President Fidel Castro has long deployed the nation's athletes as an unconventional tool of foreign and domestic policy. Now, for the first time, the Havana Boxing Academy -- where physical training and revolutionary spirit go hand in hand -- has opened its doors to a foreign film crew. From the patriotic zeal of Castro's birthday celebration to harsh training regimens to intimate kitchen table conversations, we will share in the lives of these young men being groomed as "the standard bearers of the revolution." Their gripping journey to the national championships reveals that victory is not just their hope. It is their duty.

Back to School (July 17, 2007) (encore)

WIDE ANGLE's ongoing profile of seven children in seven countries struggling to overcome daunting obstacles to achieve what is not yet a global birthright -- a basic education. We began filming with the children in Afghanistan, Benin, Brazil, India, Japan, Kenya, and Romania during their first year of school in 2003, and returned to film their progress three years later -- only to find that some are hanging onto their enrollment by a thread. With over 100 million children around the globe out of school, this special puts a human face on an issue with profound consequences for global development.

The Sand Castle (July 24, 2007)

His Highness Sheikh Saud of Ras al-Khaimah has a grandiose dream -- a new capital city in the middle of his desert kingdom. Once an outpost for pirates and the pearl trade, the United Arab Emirates is reinventing itself, and Ras al-Khaimah, the northern emirate, wants a piece of the future. "The Sand Castle" follows a Norwegian architectural firm as it bids to create a city on the sand dunes. The film immerses viewers inside the royal headquarters and a fascinating encounter between Eastern and Western minds -- the Emirates' ambitions and the architects' struggle to realize their demanding Arab client's mirage.

Dishing Democracy (July 31, 2007)

"Dishing Democracy" goes behind the scenes at Arab television channel MBC in Cairo and its hit all-female talk show, KALAM NAWAEM. Similar in style to ABC's THE VIEW, the top-rated program is hosted by four hosts of different ages, nationalities, and points of view who tackle such sensitive issues as homosexuality, domestic violence, women voting, and social and political equality between the sexes. WIDE ANGLE demonstrates how the satellite television revolution is bringing unexpected voices for social reform into living rooms throughout the Middle East -- in primetime.

Gaza E. R. (Aug 14, 2007)

As internal battles fracture the Palestinian Territories, WIDE ANGLE provides a glimpse inside the conflict as it spirals out of control. In July 2006, seven months after the militant movement Hamas' landslide election victories, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip became a battlefield. Gaza E.R. follows doctors, nurses, and staff at Shifa Hospital as they struggle in the face of turf wars among Hamas, rival faction Fatah, and powerful families with competing agendas. Gunfights, medical shortages, and disappearing salaries are a daily reality in this gripping portrait of the troubled Palestinian landscape.

Gold Futures (Aug 21, 2007)

Gold Futures is a David-and-Goliath story set in a scenic Romanian village in the heart of Transylvania. At stake: a massive deposit of gold ore - and a 2000-year-old village community that has existed since the ancient Romans founded a mining town on the edge of their empire. Now, as a Canadian company plans the largest open-pit gold mine in Europe, mineral wealth and badly-needed jobs compete with time-honored rural traditions and concerns about poisoning the environment.

The Dying Fields (Aug 28, 2007)

A tragedy is unfolding in the cotton-growing region of Vidarbha, central India, where crop failures, sinking global cotton prices, spiraling debts and a forbidding bureaucracy are driving farmers to unbearable levels of despair. In 2006, 1,044 suicides were reported in Vidarbha alone – that's one suicide every eight hours. WIDE ANGLE captures the tense relations between farmers and illegal money lenders, traveling salesmen hawking expensive "miracle seeds" that often require irrigation few farmers have, and a businessman turned activist, staking a political career on the cause of Vidarbha's farmers and farm widows.

Brazil in Black and White (Sept 4, 2007)

Are you black enough? New affirmative action quotas in Brazil, one of the world's most racially diverse nations, launch a controversial dialogue about race and identity. WIDE ANGLE follows the lives of four students from diverse backgrounds competing to win a coveted spot at the elite University of Brasilia, where 20 percent of the incoming freshmen must qualify as Afro-Brazilian. Brazil has long presented itself as a colorblind "racial democracy" but deep disparities in income, education, and employment have finally prompted a campaign for equal treatment for Afro-Brazilians. Brazil in Black and White captures a unique moment as a nation looks in the mirror.

A Woman Among Warlords (Sept 11, 2007)

WIDE ANGLE presents a profile of Malalai Joya, the outspoken Afghani women's rights activist who was suspended from her seat in Afghanistan's democratic parliament in May 2007 for sharply criticizing her fellow legislators. In a documentary that captures one woman's courage and determination under harrowing circumstances, WIDE ANGLE follows Malalai Joya's historic and perilous 2005 campaign in Afghanistan's first democratic parliamentary election in more than 30 years.