Al Jazeera English is reporting deeper on certain subjects concerning America and the world in their line-up of six documentary series.
The series, which will be released between August and October of this year, is going to be about subjects such as 9/11, environmental concerns, slavery in the 21st century, and more.
“The 9/11 Decade,” will tell the stories of both sides of the first big conflict of the 21st century. The series will be made up of three one-hour long documentaries–“The Intelligence War,” “The Image War,” and “The Clash of Civilizations?” –and will premiere August 30, 2011.
“Al Jazeera Correspondent” will be a series of eight one-hour films about human interest films, made by the network’s team of correspondents. The first film of “Correspondent,” “Chile Miners: Still Trapped,” will premiere on August 18, 2011; Al Jazeera English’s Lucia Newman will tell the story behind the exploitation and poverty that placed the 33 miners in jeopardy. Future episodes include the stories of an Amazonian activist who knew he was going to be killed and was, a Nigerian World War II veteran who fought the Japanese in Burma and the sole international journalist to stay in Haiti for the year after their devastating earthquake.
“Sold Into Slavery: A 21st Century Evil” will be hosted by Somali-born British journalist Rageh Omaar. This documentary will be about the largest case of human trafficking ever, where slaves from Thailand are sold to commercial farms in The United States, a country that fought a civil war to end slavery. The seven 30-minute and one 60-minute episodes begin on October 10, 2011.
All three series – “The 9/11 Decade,” “Al Jazeera Correspondent” and “Sold Into Slavery” – were executive produced for Al Jazeera by Oscar, Emmy and BAFTA winner Jon Blair.
The last three series are “Activate,” “Earthrise” and “Surprising Europe.” “Activate” is a series of eight 30-minute episodes starting on September 20, 2011, and provides a window on activists around the world, such as Debby Chan, who risked her own safety to expose the labor rights abuses and a number of suicides at a Chinese factory supplying Apple.
“Earthrise” is a series of 12 30-minute magazine shows, and, unlike other shows about environmental issues and concerns, neither preaches at the audience nor spews out apocalyptic predictions. There are four stories per episode of real people engaged in helping to save the planet, such as the small community living on the Isle of Eigg off the coast of Scotland, who have become entirely self-sufficient in terms of electricity. Earthrise begins on September 23, 2011.
“Surprising Europe” has started on August 8, 2011 and follows some of the 4.5 million official and 7-8 million unofficial African migrants in Europe. The nine 30-minute episodes are told from an African perspective and explore success stories, like Ghanaian Peter Bossman, who came to Yugoslavia to study medicine, became a doctor and was elected as the first black mayor in Slovenia, as well as more harrowing stories about forced prostitution and stowaways.
You can view both the promos for “Surprising Europe” and “Al Jazeera Correspondent” below the post. You can also learn more about the various series at Al Jazeera’s website.