Independent Lens
The Big Payback
A rookie alderwoman in Evanston, Illinois led the passage of the first tax-funded reparations bill for Black Americans and stirs up a debate about the debt owed from the U.S.
Unfinished Country
As a country attempts to organize for presidential elections, it endeavors to fashion a representative government out of a volatile state.
- Series
- Wide Angle
- Premiere Date
- September 6, 2005
- Length
- 60 minutes
- Funding Initiative
- Series and Special Projects
Director
Whitney Dow
Whitney Dow is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and educator, whose work has focused on race and identity for more than two decades. His directorial credits include I Sit Where I Want: The Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education, POV’s Two Towns of Jasper, and the Independent Lens documentaries When the Drum is Beating and The Big Payback.
- Other ITVS Films
- The Big Payback
- Two Towns of Jasper
- When the Drum Is Beating
We fund untold stories for public media.
Learn more about funding opportunities with ITVS.
The Film
Battered by hurricanes, embroiled in political turmoil, overrun by armed gangs, and largely ignored by the international community, Haiti is trying, yet again, to embrace democracy. As the hemisphere's poorest country attempts to organize for presidential elections, Unfinished Country reveals life on Haiti's streets and among its power brokers as the country endeavors to fashion a representative government out of a volatile state.
