For Release: 2008-06-16 10:59:00
Wide Angle, PBS’ acclaimed series that delivers up-to-the-minute reports from global hot spots, begins a new season with “Heart of Darfur,” an eyewitness account of what the U.N. Secretary-General has called “the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.” The new season of Wide Angle airs Tuesdays, beginning July 1 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET2 and Mondays, beginning July 7 at 10/9 p.m. CT on KET1.With the Darfur Peace Agreement in shambles and fears rising that the region is headed for a new cycle of bloodletting, “Heart of Darfur” reports from Al Fasher, once a sleepy desert town of 30,000, but today home to 100,000 refugees and 10,000 U.N. personnel. The program captures the desperation of daily life in Al Fasher's sprawling Abu Shouk refugee camp, then travels beyond Al Fasher into the volatile rebel-held areas of Sudan to portray the lives of black African villagers who get up every morning to face yet another day filled with threats of looting, murder and rape by Sudan's pro-government Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed.
“Japan’s About Face,” airing July 8 and 14, looks at Japan’s National Defense Academy. Since WWII, Japan’s constitution has mandated a strictly defensive military force. But the line between defense and offense has blurred in recent years, as Japan looks over its shoulder at North Korea's nuclear ballistic missiles and China’s growing military and economic strength.
“Birth of a Surgeon,” airing July 15 at 21, travels to Mozambique, where midwives are being trained in advanced life-saving surgery. Suffering from an acute shortage of doctors, Mozambique launched a bold grassroots initiative that has cut the maternal death rate in half. Starting in the capital city of Maputo, Wide Angle follows student Emilia Cumbane through intensive medical classes and night shifts in the delivery ward as she learns to heal the life-threatening complications of pregnancy.
Wide Angle is produced by WNET/New York. More information about KET programming and education services, as well as how to support KET, can be found at www.ket.org.
Contact: Amanda Stroud
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