Every year during the December school holidays the ‘cutting season’ takes place in Tanzania. Even though Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is illegal, thousands of young girls are forced to undergo an ordeal that could cost them their lives. Defying the Cutting Season follows the brave and courageous girls fighting against a tradition that goes back thousands of years and reveals the one safe place they can escape to. Rhobi Samwelly, who was herself a victim of FGM, now valiantly runs a safe house and works with the local police to rescue and protect girls at risk while arresting parents and cutters. But they have a tough and dangerous job and old customs die hard.

Defying the Cutting Season

The Internet's Dirtiest Secrets: The Cleaners

Under the Wire

In 1993, Mt. Carmel Ranch outside Waco, Texas, was the site of the deadliest siege in American history. A 51-day standoff with federal agents ended in tragedy, all at the hands of charismatic cult leader David Koresh. Now, a new group of Branch Davidians is living on the same property under a new leader, Charles Pace. His goal: to repopulate the Branch of Davidian sect before the coming apocalypse. This two-part feature documentary weaves a current-day narrative with the story of Koresh and his doomed followers. It is now 25 years since the Waco tragedy took place. The programme combines interviews with survivors on location at Mt. Carmel Ranch, some of whom have never spoken publicly before, as well as family, friends and key ATF/FBI officers, along with dramatic reconstructions of past events.

Waco: Madman or Messiah (1)

This episode begins with the fateful ATF raid. The two-and-a-half-hour gun battle rapidly develops into a stand-off with the FBI, watched by the world’s media. Tanks are sent in and sniper positions set up. Inside, the Branch Davidians, believing that prophecy is being fulfilled, sit tight, while the FBI dismiss Koresh and his followers’ words as just ‘Bible babble’. Finally, Koresh announces he will write his version of the Seven Seals and that they will all come out when it is complete. But it is too late. On April 19, a frustrated FBI starts inserting teargas into the compound with tanks. A fire develops and, fanned by high winds, devours Mount Carmel along with David Koresh and his followers. Now we finally answer the controversy that has been disputed ever since that fateful day - who lit the fire?

Waco: Madman or Messiah (2)

On 13 February 2012, war-correspondent Marie Colvin and photographer Paul Conroy entered war-ravaged Syria to cover the plight of civilians trapped in the besieged city of Homs, under attack by the Syrian army. Only one of them returned. This is their story. Marie Colvin was one the most fearless reporters of her time. She dedicated her life to bearing witness to the lives of ordinary people caught up in the world’s most dangerous conflicts. She covered Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Palestine, Sri Lanka, Chechnya and East Timor, and was on first-name terms with leaders like Muammar Gaddafi and Yasser Arafat. In 2001 she lost the sight in her left eye after being caught in crossfire by a piece of shrapnel. On 13 February 2012, Marie was smuggled into Syria with her photographer, Paul Conroy.

7,000 miles from Silicon Valley in downtown Manila, a secret team of content moderators have a target of 25,000 Facebook, Google and Twitter posts to delete each day. Trawling through the world’s most violent, disturbing and highly contentious online material - in the form of terrorist videos, child pornography, self-harm material and political propaganda - 'the cleaners' are individually responsible for deciding what stays online and what gets removed. This film explores the hidden and complex world of digital content moderation where undesirable material is 'cleaned' from the internet by a hidden army of nameless people. The Cleaners raises important questions for all of us who use these platforms daily without knowing what goes on behind the scenes:

The war crimes trial of Ratko Mladic, accused of masterminding the murder of over 7000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in the 90s Bosnian war, the worst crime in Europe since WW2.

The Trial of Ratko Mladic

Pervert Park is a film about the people no-one wants as a neighbour. It follows the everyday lives of sex offenders, living in a trailer-park community and struggling to reintegrate into society. The film-makers deep access allows us to get inside the minds and pasts of some of the residents and to gain a deeper understanding of the devastating ongoing cycle of sex crimes and the lives it destroys.

Pervert Park

The gripping untold story of the Brexit negotiations... from the other side. For two years, Belgian film-maker, Lode Desmet, has had exclusive access to the Brexit co ordinator of the European parliament, Guy Verhofstadt, and his close knit team. This revelatory fly-on-the-wall film captures the off-the-record conversations and arguments of the European negotiators as they devise their strategy for dealing with the British. Episode one watches as the Europeans’ respect for a formidable negotiating opponent turns into frustration and incredulity as the British fail to present a united front. At moments funny and tragic, it ends with the debacle in December 2017 when Theresa May flies in to Brussels to finalise details of a deal and is publically humiliated by her coalition partner, Arlene Foster of the DUP, who refuses to support the deal.

Brexit: Behind Closed Doors (1)

The gripping untold story of the Brexit negotiations... from the other side. For two years, Belgian film-maker, Lode Desmet, has had exclusive access to the Brexit co ordinator of the European parliament, Guy Verhofstadt, and his close knit team. This revelatory fly-on-the-wall film captures the off-the-record conversations and arguments of the European negotiators as they devise their strategy for dealing with the British. Episode two follows the rollercoaster events from December 2017 to the present day. Europe watches on incredulously as divisions in the British parliament and cabinet become more bitter and leave the talks paralysed. Eighteen months after the referendum, Britain still does not know what it wants and spends more time discussing internally than negotiating with Europe. Respect for Britain turns to irritation and finally ridicule.

Brexit: Behind Closed Doors (2)

The extraordinary story of Brunhilde Pomsel, secretary and stenographer to the Nazi proganda minister, Joseph Goebbels.

A German Life: Goebbels' Secretary Remembers

In 1973, five men and six women drifted across the Atlantic on a raft as part of a scientific experiment studying the sociology of violence, aggression and sexual attraction in human behaviour. Although the project became known in the press as 'The Sex Raft', nobody expected what ultimately took place on that three-month journey. Through extraordinary archive material, and a reunion of the surviving members of the expedition on a full-scale replica of the raft, this film tells the hidden story behind what has been described as 'one of the strangest group experiments of all time'.

The Raft

Eyewitness accounts and leaked secret documents provide a deeper understanding of the final bloody days of the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy demonstration.

Tiananmen: The People V the Party

A Malaysian wealth fund is robbed of US$3.5 billion. It is the world’s biggest white-collar heist involving government corruption at the highest level, an abuse of power and international money laundering. With little to go on, dogged investigative reporters from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Hollywood Reporter retrace the dirty money - via real estate deals and movie financing including ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ - back to the top echelons of the Malaysian government. Malaysia’s prime minister and his inner circle are implicated, assets are frozen, money is seized, but the Malaysian people fight back.

The PM, the Playboy and the Wolf of Wall Street

Storyville film that tells the story of President Duterte's bloody campaign against drug dealers and addicts in the Philippines, told with unprecedented access to people on both sides of the war.

On the President's Orders

How one man's refusal to overlook its financial irregularities led to the exposure of the subprime mortgage scandal that engulfed Lehman Brothers.

Inside Lehman Brothers: The Whistleblowers

The inspirational story of how Tracy Edwards became the skipper of the first all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989.

Maiden

Documentary that reveals the continuing impact of China's one-child policy, abandoned in 2015, on the country's people.

One Child Nation

Mads Brügger and Göran Björkdahl investigate the mysterious death of Dag Hammarskjöld, the United Nations Secretary-General, killed in a plane crash in 1961.

Murder in the Bush: Cold Case Hammarskjöld

A Storyville documentary that reveals the struggle of the victims of Franco's dictatorship in Spain, as they fight a government-sanctioned 'pact of forgetting' the crimes that they suffered.

Facing Franco's Crimes: The Silence of Others

Avicii: True Stories is Tim Bergling's own story. Made from extensive personal and family archive and behind the scenes footage, the film is an unparalleled insight into his life.

Avicii: True Stories

Showcasing the best in international documentaries, Storyville has developed an enviable reputation since its inception more than a decade ago. Screening over 340 films, from some 70 different countries, the strand has garnered a staggering array of awards: five Oscars, 15 Griersons, three Peabodys and two International Emmys. In true, unique, Storyville style, the new series promises to deliver the strand's usual eclectic mix of compelling stories from across the globe.

Defying the Cutting Season

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Season 23 Episodes20

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