Okinawa is known to many as a postcard perfect paradise. In 2019, before the pandemic stopped travel, the island welcomed 10 million tourists. But despite mass tourism, Okinawa is also the poorest prefecture in Japan.
Tag Archives: real story
Surviving Progress
Ronald Wright’s bestseller A Short History of Progress inspired this cinematic requiem to progress-as-usual. Throughout human history, what seemed like progress often backfired. Some of the world’s foremost thinkers, activists, bankers, and scientists challenge us to overcome progress traps, which destroyed past civilizations and lie treacherously embedded in our own.
Tucibi: The Pink Cocaine Wave
From Medellin’s elite clubbers to the cartel queens that run the underworld, all of a sudden everyone in Colombia seems to be snorting pink “cocaine,” also known as “tucibi.” It’s fashionable, it’s six times as expensive as regular “white” cocaine, it has its own genre of music called “Guaracha,” and it’s so popular that it has even spawned a whole new generation of “neo-narcos.” Cartels are expanding production into Europe, so expect to see this “magic pink powder”- if you haven’t already.
Manufacturing Consent
Funny, provocative and surprisingly accessible, Manu explores the political life and ideas of Noam Chomsky, world-renowned linguist, intellectual and political activist. In a dynamic collage of new and original footage, biography, archival gems, imaginative graphics and outrageous illustrations, the film highlights Chomsky’s probing analysis of mass media. A mammoth two-part project, MANUFACTURING CONSENT is nonetheless light on its feet, favoring a style that encourages viewers to question its own workings, as Chomsky himself encourages his listeners to extricate themselves from the “web of deceit” by undertaking a course of “intellectual self-defense.” Appearing in the film are major journalists and critics, including Bill Moyers, William F. Buckley, Jr., Tom Wolfe, Peter Jennings, Jeff Greenfield, philosopher Michel Foucault, White House reporter Sarah McClendon, New York Times editorial writer Karl E. Meyer and revisionist author Robert Faurisson.
The Reality of Legalizing Cocaine, Heroin, and Ecstasy
The War on Drugs has failed. Okay, but ending it is more complex than just letting people sell heroin to kids in supermarkets.We think about what a legal market might actually look like. We look at different classes of drugs, exploring exactly how legal, regulated markets for heroin, cocaine and MDMA can be structured in order to protect users from harm.
We examine the social implications of prohibition worldwide. Any attempt to shut down the trade in drugs such as heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine or weed invariably sets off a chain of events that just makes things worse, leaving a trail of death, illness, violence, slavery, addiction, crime and inequality across the globe.
Everyone loses – except, in a weird kind of way, the drugs themselves.
The 9/11 Chronology (series)
No narration. No interviews. No hindsight. Just the footage,audio, and news coverage that captured 9/11 as it unfolded. Through real-time footage, emergency radio, news bulletins, and raw field recordings, we experience the growing confusion and rising tension as the world starts to realise that something is deeply wrong. This series is not a traditional documentary. It is an actuality-based, real-time reconstruction — an unfiltered archive, compiled entirely from authentic sources recorded on the day itself. No commentary. No retrospective analysis. Nothing added, and nothing taken away.
The Archive Cut spans 20 episodes, tracing the entire day from the first takeoff to the final moments of collapse and chaos — moment by moment, as it was seen and heard. This project is intended as a historical and educational record, preserving the timeline and tone of the day with precision and respect. Whether you’re revisiting the events or encountering them for the first time, The 9/11 Chronology presents an immersive and sobering experience — a window into the reality of 9/11 through the eyes and ears of those who lived it.
Coping With Trauma Through BDSM
BDSM (short for bondage, dominance, submission, and masochism) is being used by some in the kink community as a tool for healing trauma. We meet Rebecca and Steph, a couple who uses BDSM to process their individual traumatic experiences and heal from their painful past.
The Black Market for Eels
Smugglers are getting rich from the world’s slimiest black market: baby eels. The fragile state of freshwater eel species, like the critically endangered European eel, has driven a multibillion-dollar international trafficking trade. We look at the crackdown on eel crime around the world, including Interpol’s war on smuggling in Europe, and the growing attempts to save a species on the brink.
Inside Japan’s Dolphin Trade
In Taiji, Japan, the dolphin hunting industry has shifted from killing dolphins for their meat to a more lucrative, but equally controversial industry—the capture of live animals for overseas “dolphin shows.”
In this video, we travel to the town made infamous in the Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove” with Ren Yabuki, the director of Life Investigation Agency, a Japanese animal rights NGO and the only group tasked with monitoring this year’s dolphin hunts.
Mexico’s Notorious Narco Pilots
Since the 1990’s Mexico’s Narco Pilots have risked life and limb transporting drugs for the Cartels. It’s a risky game but many are attracted to it by the upwards of $12,000 they can earn with every flight. In this documentary, we speak with these daredevils about the risks and rewards for a modern day drug smuggler.
China’s Bug-Eating Industry
Host Joshua Frank travels to China’s Yunnan Province, ground zero of the country’s booming edible insect industry, to understand why locals prize what much of the world dismisses as pests. From touring a wasp farm and cooking grub worms to harvesting cockroaches in the countryside, Josh dives hands-on into the culture, cuisine, and labor behind insect consumption. Along the way, he meets experts and the founder of Livin Hive, a startup helping people create indoor worm farms, to explore how this unconventional food source could offer surprising sustainability benefits for the future.
The Neo Nazi Biker Groups of Europe
The Black Flock Motorcycle Gang is a German biker club made up of former neo-Nazis who swear they’ve rehabilitated and abandoned their hateful ways. We went to hang out with some members of the club and learn about their bigotry-free lives of crime and debauchery.