Suroosh Alvi
Examining the foreign policies that have shaped the modern world and meeting people living through today's major conflicts.
At the Covenant House, located on the outskirts of the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana, the doors never close, and there is always room for one more. On any given day, a constant stream of young people carrying everything they own in plastic garbage bags fills the courtyard. The prospective residents are just teenagers, but have already been labeled drug addicts, schizophrenics, criminals and outcasts. As one staff member puts it, “the most damaged population of youth that exists in society today”. Filming over the course of a full year, brothers Brent and Craig Renaud tell the raw and emotional stories of the incredible kids who seek shelter at the Covenant House, and the staff struggling to work miracles everyday on their behalf.
Suroosh Alvi investigates the global jihadi movement: traveling to some of the most volatile countries, he speaks to victims, activists, government officials and fighters on both sides of the War on Terror to discover the line between isn't always clear.
Alex Honnold is the most accomplished free climber in the world. Angola is a southwest African country that recently emerged from 27 years of bloody civil war. What brings together these strange bedfellows you ask? Some of the most epic unclimbed rocks in the world, and a community needing help to diffuse the hidden land mines leftover from the conflict. (Plus a shadowy local hotel magnate, but we'll get into that later). This is Alex Honnold in Angola, for one of the most unique adventures of his storied climbing career this far.
A seven-part series examining the people and the culture that helped foster bands like Down, Eyehategod, Crowbar, Acid Bath, Goatwhore and many others. The documentary features in-depth interviews discussing the bands, catastrophe, drugs, suicide, murder, and records that helped shape the New Orleans sound known the world over.
In February, Just Jam's event at The Barbican was cancelled at the last minute. It was an event that seemed to be yet another victim of the London authorities now notorious risk assessment procedure, Form 696.
Called “the most famous cat on the Internet,” the wide-eyed perma-kitten Lil Bub is the adorable embodiment of the Web’s fascination with all things cats. Join Lil Bub and her owner on wild cross-country romp as they meet the Internet’s most famous cat-lebrities. Chock full of adorable kitties, hilarious videos and the dedicated cat enthusiasts who love them, Lil Bub & Friendz is a fun and hip peek behind the memes we know and love. Includes Mike "The Dude" Bridavsky, Ben Lashes, Grumpy Cat, Nyan Cat, Keyboard Cat.
In the Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan, tradition is king. Polo's still played with a freshly killed goat and the men still marry their women the old-fashioned way: by abducting them off the street and forcing them to be their wife. Bride kidnapping is a supposedly ancient custom that's made a major comeback since the fall of Communism and now accounts for nearly half of all marriages in some parts.
Warlords, soldiers, and child laborers all toil over a mineral you've never even heard of. Coltan is a conflict mineral in nearly every cell phone, laptop, and electronic device. It's also tied to the deaths of over 5 million people in Congo since 1990.
Back in June, we invited South African rave-rap crew Die Antwoord to play their first show in New York City. They are one of our favorite bands and their performance that day was one of the most hectic, intense and amazing shows we had seen in a long time. While we were hanging out with them here, Ninja and Yo-Landi kept talking about a little monster called Tokoloshe, the most feared of all African demons. Ninja told us about how when he was growing up, his nanny would use a stack of bricks to raise her bed up, just to keep the Tokoloshe away at night. It turns out this is a fairly common practice among women in South Africa since this hairy, pot-bellied dwarf, unlike your typical Western boogiemonsters, is believed to have a penis the size of a horse’s and a penchant for sneaking into people’s bedrooms and raping them.
Follow up to Heavy metal in Baghdad. We see the band after they move to Turkey.
The story of Iraq's only heavy metal band and their fight to play music
Brooklyn-by-way-of-Texas indie rockers Parquet Courts are blowing up in a big way, and we couldn't be more thrilled for the guys—even though bassist Sean Yeaton gave up his gig as editor of Motherboard to become a superstar (tough call, we know). We tagged along on their recent tour to document midnight desert peyote sessions and foreign language festival love. Here's a statement from director Andy Capper: "When Sean Yeaton (bassist) quit his job to leave behind the safety of his desk for the wild life of a performing minstrel I decided to get a camera and follow him on the first three weeks of his new life. We went from Mexico to Texas and London in a very short period of time. I love Sean and his band — Austin, Andrew and Max — and I hope that this is reflected in this short film that we made together."
