Global Voices Tackles Kony, Women’s Issues, and More

Global Voices returns for a fifth season begnning Sunday, May 6 at 10 PM with Peace vs Justice, a film that examines the local and international efforts made to stop Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Africa.

ITVS has announced the lineup for the fifth season of Global Voices, the international documentary television series airing on the WORLD channel, with select episodes available online on PBS Video. Showcasing documentaries from Uganda, Indonesia, Russia, Chile, and Pakistan, this season of Global Voices presents the U.S. broadcast premieres of 13 documentaries funded by ITVS International, and encore presentations of acclaimed programs previously broadcast on Independent Lens, POV, and on Link TV.

The series premieres on Sunday, May 6 at 10 pm with Peace vs Justice, which reveals the role of the International Criminal Court in the trial against rebel leader Joseph Kony, whose Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has spread death and destruction in Uganda for more than 20 years, and who was the subject of the recent viral video KONY 2012.

New this season for Global Voices is the inclusion of six documentaries from ITVS’s Women and Girls Lead catalog, a campaign that celebrates, educates, and activates women, girls, and their allies across the globe to address the challenges of the 21st century. Notable documentaries include Afghan American filmmaker Sedika Mojadidi’s Motherland Afghanistan (May 13), in which she follows her father to his native Afghanistan, where he brings desperately needed medical attention and expertise to the women most susceptible to maternal mortality; The Day My God Died (June 24), Andrew Levine’s unforgettable examination of the growing plague of sex trafficking of Nepali children in India; Pickles, Inc. (August 12), by Nitza Gonen and Dalit Kimor, following eight widows that challenge social conventions and establish the Azka Pickle Cooperative, seeking financial independence for themselves and their children; and Samia Chala’s Chahinaz: What Rights for Women? (September 30). 

Through her curiosity and self-discovery, Chahinaz, a 20-year-old Algerian student, begins to wonder what life is like for women in other Muslim countries and around the world and why things are slow to change in Algeria. Additional season highlights include Katherine Huang’s Tales of the Waria (June 3), following four transgender individuals in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, in search of love and acceptance with unexpected results; Town of Runners (June 17), Jerry Rothwell’s documentary following three young runners from Ethiopia as they move from high school track to national and Olympic competitions; The Collaborator and His Family (August 5), Adi Barash and Ruthie Shatz’s cinema-verité look at a Palestinian family torn apart by its patriarch's collaboration with Israel;  Nima Sarvestani’s award winning I Was Worth 50 Sheep (September 2), a look at an Afghani 10-year-old bride fight for her freedom six years later; and The Boy Mir (October 7), Phil Grabsky’s look at the generation of Afghans who have grown up since 9/11, specifically tracking the irrepressible and lovable Mir from a naïve 8-year old to a fully grown adult.

Global Voices broadcasts are supported by a number of online engagement opportunities — including online screenings, discussions, commentary, and opportunities for viewers to participate in live chats to discuss the issues presented in each episode. For up-to-date information on these events and opportunities, follow Global Voices on Facebook here. For the complete lineup and schedule, visit www.itvs.org/series/global-voices.