CNN launches documentary strand

CNN launches documentary strand

CNN

MUMBAI: CNN International has teamed up with London based documentary maker 'Journeyman Pictures' to launch a new weekly 30 minute documentary strand, WORLD'S UNTOLD STORIES.

Launching on 17 February, CNN International has purchased an initial run of 25 documentaries from 'Journeyman Pictures' for 2007 with the first four films looking at police recruitment in Iraq, the sex trade in India, Afghanistan's first female governor and combating terrorism in the Philippines.

"These are remarkable documentaries and I'm proud to have secured the rights to show them", said CNN International senior vice president Rena Golden "The films are compelling and fresh, covering controversial issues and datelines that are not currently getting a lot of media attention. The series features superbly crafted journalism in which the commitment and courage of the reporters shines through."

Journeyman Pictures, director Mark Stuke said "We're delighted to have agreed with CNN International to provide programme selections from the Journeyman throughput on an ongoing basis. There can be no more qualified platform on which to see the international niche of programming we dedicate ourselves to. And I know our suppliers are going to be as pleased as us."

Some of the documentaries include The Very Thin Blue Line which takes the viewer inside a police training camp in Jordan where the instructors focus on one skill in particular - survival, Land of Missing Children shows reporter Sam Kiley accompanying reluctant police on a raid where girls are rescued from prostitution only to disappear again.

A Tale of Two Women is set in Bamiyan, Afghanistan where the country's first and only female Governor. Habiba Sarabi is trying to carve out a new Afghanistan by sending girls to school and persuading farmers to give up their opium crops and Member of Parliament Malalai Joya who lives under constant threat of assassination. Road to Terrorism provides extraordinary access to the fight against terrorism at the ground level in Phillipines.

The documentaries will be aired weekly on Saturdays at 9:30 am and 5:30 pm and Sunday at 5:30 pm.