Promised Land
Tuesday, July 6th at 11:00 p.m. on WPBT2
Though apartheid ended in South Africa in 1994, economic injustices between blacks and whites remain unresolved. As revealed in this incisive documentary, the most potentially explosive issue is land redistribution. The film follows two black communities as they struggle to reclaim land from white owners, some of whom have lived there for generations. Amid rising tensions and wavering government policies, the land issue remains South Africa’s “ticking time bomb,” with far-reaching consequences for all sides. “Promised Land” captures multiple perspectives of citizens struggling to create just solutions.
Good Fortune
Tuesday, July 13th at 11:00 p.m. on WPBT2
This is a provocative exploration of how massive international efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa may be undermining the very communities they aim to benefit. In Kenya’s rural countryside, Jackson’s farm is being flooded by an American investor who hopes to alleviate poverty by creating a multimillion-dollar rice farm. Across the country in Nairobi, Silva’s home and business in Africa’s largest shantytown are being demolished as part of a U.N. slum-upgrading project. The gripping stories of two Kenyans battling to save their homes from large-scale development present a unique opportunity see foreign aid through eyes of the people it is intended to help.
El General
Tuesday, July 20th at 11:00 p.m. on WPBT2
Past and present collide as award-winning filmmaker Natalia Almada (POV “Al Otro Lado,” 2006) brings to life audio recordings she inherited from her grandmother, daughter of Plutarco Elias Calles, a revolutionary general who became Mexico’s president in 1924. In his time, Calles was called El Jefe Maximo (Foremost Chief). Today he is remembered as El Quema-Curas (Priest Burner) and a dictator who ruled through puppet presidents until his exile in 1936. Airing during the centennial of the Mexican Revolution, “El General” moves between a daughter’s memories as she grapples with history’s portrayal of her father and the weight of his legacy on Mexico today.
Presumed Guilty
Tuesday, July 27th at 11:00 p.m. on WPBT2
Imagine being picked up off the street, told you have committed a murder you know nothing about and then finding yourself sentenced to 20 years in jail. In December 2005, this happened to Antonio Zúñiga in Mexico City and, like thousands of other innocent people, he was wrongfully imprisoned. The award-winning “Presumed Guilty” is the story of two young lawyers and their struggle to free Zúñiga. With no background in film, Roberto Hernández and Layda Negrete set about recording the injustices they were witnessing, enlisting acclaimed director Geoffrey Smith (POV “The English Surgeon,” 2009) to tell this dramatic story.
Visit the website at www.pbs.org/pov.
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