First Peoples by
200,000 years ago we took our first steps in Africa. Today there are seven billion of us living across the planet. How did our ancestors spread from continent to continent? This is a global detective story, featuring the latest archaeological discoveries and genetic research. On each continent, we track down the earliest members of our species, Homo sapiens. Who were these First Peoples? What drove them to the ends of the earth?
The Great Rift by
A diverse landscape home to the greatest concentration of animals on Earth. Each episode is accompanied by a 10-minute featurette. With traditional African music by Emmy Award winner Barnaby Taylor.
Surviving Ebola by
As the Ebola epidemic threatens to spiral out of control, NOVA reports from the hot zone, where courageous medical teams struggle to cope with a flood of victims, to labs where scientists are racing to test vaccines and find a cure. Surviving Ebola includes chilling firsthand interviews of what it's like to catch and survive this terrible affliction.
Up from Slavery by
In 1860, as the American Experiment threatened to explode into a bloody civil war, there were as many as four hundred thousand slave-owners in the United States, and almost four million slaves. The nation was founded upon the idea that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The nation would pay a bloody cost for denying those rights to more than twelve percent of its population. But when slavery was first brought to America's shores, this war, and even the nation it tore apart, was centuries in the future. How did it come to pass that more than 10 million African men and women would be brought against their will to the New World? How could educated, deeply religious Europeans trade the human flesh as casually as they traded sugar and rice? With historical reenactments, commentary, and the stories of slaves told through first-hand accounts, this is a struggle 400 years in the making.
Beat the Drum by
A young boy looks for his uncle after a mysterious illness strikes his village and leaves him an orphan. As he tries to survive and learn about the world around him, he finds a job and returns to teach the elders of his village about truth and compassion.
Hotel Rwanda by
Based on the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a five-star-hotel manager who uses his wits and persuasion in striving to save more than 1,200 Tutsis and Hutus from being massacred by the Interahamwe militia during the 1994 Rwandan conflict.
Invictus by
In 1994, having been released from his long imprisonment, Nelson Mandela is elected as the first president of post-apartheid South Africa. Racial tension runs high, even in the president's offices, and especially among the members of his half black, half Afrikaner security team. As hosts of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, South Africa's low ranked national team, the Springboks, have a berth in the tournament. Mandela begins making public appearances supporting the team, and meets privately with captain Francois Pienaar, encouraging him to inspire his teammates to victory. The Springboks' new slogan is "One team, One nation." President Mandela is betting that if they win the Cup, it might even be a bit true.
War Witch by
A brutal yet poetic snapshot of life as one of Africa's child soldiers, following a young girl who is kidnapped from her village by a group of rebel fighters. Forced to gun down members of her family and enemy soldiers, she takes solace in fellow soldier Magician, a young albino with whom she escapes and starts a new life.
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