WORLD Channel Celebrates Native American Culture

Channel also Honors Veterans and Supports Push to Eliminate Violence Against Women

BOSTON – Ushering in November with moving original content, WORLD Channel programs feature narratives that chronicle the indigenous experience and culture for Native American Heritage Month. WORLD’s films will also highlight the ex-service experience in the United States for Veterans Day, and spotlight the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

WORLD features the best of public television’s original documentary films and news, including Our Voices, Independent Lens, America ReFramed, and Local, USA.

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Programs for Native American Heritage Month recognize the importance of aboriginal historical contributions to the establishment and growth of the United States and the brilliance of Native American culture. “These films examine the past, present and future for Native Americans in this country, on and off the reservation”, said Chris Hastings, WORLD Channel’s executive producer. “Our Voices: Native American Nations shares Native stories of culture, experience and identity from both individuals and communities.” Debuting films as a part of this collection include:

SOL (Wednesday November 4th 2015) [NEW]

Sol explores the mysterious death of a young Inuk man, Solomon Tapatia Uyarasuk.  He is found dead at a Royal Canadian Mounted Police detachment in a remote Inuit community and the locals suspect murder, but the police suggest suicide. As the documentary investigates the truth about Solomon’s death, it sheds light on the underlying social issues of Canada’s North.

 

Crying Earth Rise Up (Tuesday November 3rd 2015) [NEW]

A Lakota mother studying geology seeks the source of the water contamination that caused her daughter’s critical health problems. Meanwhile, a Lakota grandmother fights the regional expansion of uranium mining. Crying Earth Rise Up exposes the human cost of uranium mining and its impact on Great Plains drinking water.

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For Veterans Day, WORLD offers a week of 22 films, produced by or about veterans, that challenge audiences to understand the adversities and accomplishments for veterans that come with returning home and acclimating to civilian life after combat. Films include:

Reserved to Fight (Tuesday November 10th 2015)

In May 2003, Fox Company of Marine Reserve Unit 2/23 returned home from combat on the frontlines in Iraq. America ReFramed’s Reserved to Fight follows four Marines of the Fox Company through their post-war minefield of social and psychological reintegration into civilian life. The return home to rejoin their communities proves to be as formidable a battle as the actual firefights of previous months.

PTSD: Bringing the War Home (Monday November 16th 2015)

An examination of what has become all too common among U.S. veterans returning home from combat zones. PTSD: Bringing the War Home illuminates those affected by war-related post-traumatic stress disorder: a devastating injury pushes one former soldier into darkness; the family of a Navy Seal tells his tragic story; a woman rebuilds her post-war life; and a program at the City College of San Francisco is committed to rehabbing veterans.

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WORLD’s focus on human rights issues will continue throughout the month of November with the acknowledgment of International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women with the following thought-provoking presentations airing as a part of this effort:

The Perfect Victim (Tuesday November 24th 2015)

Four incarcerated women -- Shirley, Carlene, Tanya and Ruby -- were beaten, raped, sold, abused, and nearly killed by their husbands. Collectively, they spent over eighty-five years in Missouri State prison, each serving life sentences, ultimately, for killing their husbands to save their lives. The Perfect Victim, from the America ReFramed series, reveals their lengthy quest to secure freedom with the help of impassioned lawyers and law students from the Missouri Battered Women’s Coalition. Will the judicial system and a notoriously secretive Missouri parole board give them a chance to rebuild their lives?

Justice for My Sister (Tuesday, October 13, 2015)
Justice for My Sister follows Rebecca, a Guatemalan woman, as she embarks on a three-year battle to hold her sister’s killer accountable. Along the way, she encounters many obstacles: a police record that is missing, a judge who is accused of killing his own wife, and witnesses who are too afraid to testify. Will she be victorious in finding justice?

 

About WORLD Channel
The WORLD Channel delivers the best of public television’s nonfiction, news and documentary programing to US audiences through local public television stations and streaming online at worldchannel.org. WORLD reached 35.8 million unique viewers 18+ last year (55% adults 18-49) and over-indexes in key diversity demographics.* Online, the WORLD Channel expands on broadcast topics and fuels dialogue across social media, providing opportunities for broad and diverse audience interaction (*Source: Nielsen Local Buyer Reach Scorecard 01/14-12/14). WORLD is programmed by WGBH/Boston, in partnership with American Public Television and WNET/New York, and in association with the American Public Television and National Educational Telecommunications Association. Funding for the WORLD Channel is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Ford Foundation. Additional funding for “America ReFramed” is provided by the MacArthur Foundation.

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