Docs For Schools Archives
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2012
BROOKLYN CASTLE
D: Katie Dellamaggiore | USA | 100 min
Producing national champions straight out of junior high, I.S. 318 is a chess powerhouse. But when the financial crisis brings severe budget cuts to its after-school programs, promising students become pawns in school board politics.
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CHARLES BRADLEY: SOUL OF AMERICA
D: Poull Brien | USA | 74 min
What are the odds of a 62-year-old illiterate soul singer from Brooklyn’s projects making it in the music industry? Bring your hankies. Feel the love. Prepare to be astonished.
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DETROPIA
D: Rachel Grady, Heidi Ewing | USA | 90 min
Once home to the American dream, Detroit has been hard hit by economic depression and population decline. Academy Award-nominated directors behind Jesus Camp and 12th & Delaware deftly craft a haunting humanistic portrait of a city on the brink of disaster.
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FINDING NORTH
D: Lori Silverbush, Kristi Jacobson | USA | 84 min
From hard-working families surviving on food-bank handouts to children of low-income households facing obesity due to a reliance on cheap fast food, Finding North puts a different face on poverty—that of the working poor.
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GRACE, MILLY, LUCY… CHILD SOLDIERS
D: Raymonde Provencher | Canada | 71 min
Ugandan girls who were abducted and forced into battle for the Lord’s Resistance Army – often with babies on their backs and machine guns in their hands – now fight for peace and to save other girls form the same hell.
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H2OIL
D: Shannon Walsh | Canada | 81 min
Alberta’s oil sands now make Canada America’s major oil supplier, but the billion-dollar industry extracts a terrible price: some of the cleanest water on earth is used to make the dirtiest oil in the world, with catastrophic results.
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ONLY THE YOUNG
D: Elizabeth Mims, Jason Tippet | USA | 72 min
One last summer of first loves, friendship and adventure in a small desert town is captured as the lives of three teenagers move from the security of childhood into an ever-changing adult world.
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QUEEN OF VERSAILLES
D: Lauren Greenfield | USA, Netherlands, UK, Denmark | 100 min
Meet Jackie Siegel: mother of eight, former Mrs. Florida, and owner of the largest private home in the world. Alas a sweeping economic crisis threatens to wake this Queen from her American dream.
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RADIOMAN
D: Mary Kerr | UK | 72 min
Once a homeless alcoholic, Radioman is now a fixture of NYC film sets. With over a hundred Hollywood cameos and A-listers like Meryl, Marty, George and Cher as pals, he gets noticed… but not as he would like.
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SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN
D: Linda Goldstein Knowlton | USA | 94 min
After adopting her own daughter from China, Linda Goldstein Knowlton follows four remarkable Chinese-born adoptees as they come of age between two cultures. Each girl seats her roots and her own future in inspiring ways.
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WAITING FOR LIGHTNING
D: Jacob Rosenberg | USA | 90 min
To many people, jumping the Great Wall of China on a skateboard would be unthinkable, but to Danny Way it’s just another in a series of personal challenges that shape his journey of passion without limitations.
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WE ARE LEGION: THE STORY OF THE HACTIVISTS
D: Brian Knappenberger | USA | 93 min
Delve inside the world of Anonymous, the radical “hacktivist” collective that has redefined civil disobedience for the digital age, and discover why this powerful force makes corporations and governments nervous.
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THE WORLD BEFORE HER
D: Nisha Pahuja | Canada, Germany, USA, UK | 90 min
As young hopefuls compete in a Bombay beauty pageant, village girls undergo combat training in a rural fundamentalist camp. Director Nisha Pauja brilliantly captures the clash between modernity and tradition faced by young women in India.
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2011
BEING ELMO: A PUPPETEER’S JOURNEY
D: Constance Marks | USA | 76 min
Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, this Sundance Special Jury Prize-winner sneaks us behind the scenes at Sesame Street to reveal the inspirational story of Kevin Clash, shy puppeteer and creator of the world’s favourite Muppet.
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BETTER THIS WORLD
D: Katie Galloway, Kelly Duane de la Vega | USA | 95 min
In this provocative study of post 9/11 paranoia, two earnest childhood friends seek to impress a revolutionary-activist-turned-FBI-informant. Homemade bombs lead to domestic terrorism charges, culminating in a controversial entrapment defense.
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BLOOD IN THE MOBILE
D: Frank Piasecki Poulsen | Germany, Denmark | 82 min
Are the minerals in your mobile phone contributing to the violence in eastern Congo? Filmmaker Frank Poulsen documents one of the world’s most notorious mines and exposes its links to the bloodshed that plagues the region.
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BOY CHEERLEADERS
D: James Newton | UK | 59 min
On a tough South Leeds estate, an all-boy cheerleading team the DAZL Diamonds rehearses for nationals. Led by their flamboyant coach, these sensitive kids breakdance, break down and break free – Billy Elliot-style.
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BUDRUS
D: Julia Bacha | USA | 115 min
Through peaceful protest and skillful leadership, one man heroically struggles for 10 months to protect his small Palestinian village from being arbitrarily divided by an Israeli-built barrier in this gripping and inspirational tale.
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ECO PIRATE: THE STORY OF PAUL WATSON
D: Trish Dolman | Canada | 110 min
Founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and co-founder of Greenpeace, Paul Watson has been on a crusade to save our oceans for 40 years – and he’s not about to let corrupt or lily-livered governments stop him now.
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THE HOLLYWOOD COMPLEX
D: Dan Sturman, Dylan Nelson | Canada | 110 min
Every spring, thousands of hopeful child actors flock to Hollywood for television’s crushingly competitive “pilot season.” Many stay with their families at the Oakwood apartment complex, a place where dreams are chased at surprising costs.
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HOW ARE YOU DOING RUDOLF MING?
D: Roberts Rubins | Lativa | 60 min
Twelve years old and misunderstood, Ming creates ultra-violent movies from drawings on long strips of paper, his creativity as undeniable as his passion for gore. What happens when a concerned priest in his Latvian village commissions a film for a special church screening?
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I BOUGHT A RAINFOREST
D: Helena Nygren, Jacob Andrén | Sweden | 58 min
Jacob Andrén, like over 400,000 other Swedish children, remembers raising money to help save a rainforest. Twenty years later, wondering if his efforts made any real impact, he visits Costa Rica to see whether his piece of land remains preserved.
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THE PIRATE TAPES
D: Matvei Zhivov, Roger Singh, Andrew Moniz, Rock Baijnauth | Canada | 72 min
In this riveting tale of danger, politics and international intrigue, a Somali-Canadian journalist risks his life to infiltrate a Somali pirate cell. His hidden camera footage is woven with insights into the complex causes that turned ordinary fishermen into marauders.
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POSTER GIRL
D: Sara Nesson | USA | 38 min
Sara Nesson’s Oscar-nominated debut follows Iraq War veteran Robynn Murray’s harrowing battle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. A one-time poster girl for young women in combat, Murray’s raw emotion devastates and inspires in this impassioned journey towards healing and self-discovery.
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SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION
D: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman | USA | 82 min
The story of the American civil rights movement as told through its powerful music – the freedom songs protestors sang on picket lines, in mass meetings, in paddy wagons, and in jail cells as they fought for justice and equality.
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YOU’VE BEEN TRUMPED
D: Anthony Baxter | UK | 95 min
When Donald Trump sets out to build the world’s most luxurious golf resort in the bonniest village in Scotland, residents chafe at his particular brand of American know-how. David meets coiffed Goliath in this scrappy exposé.
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2010
A SMALL ACT
D: Jennifer Arnold | USA | 88 min
For $15 a term, a Swedish stranger sponsors a young Kenyan’s education and transforms his life. Now a Harvard-educated lawyer, he founds a scholarship to pay it forward, but discovers a failing school system that’s leaving its children behind.
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CANDYMAN: THE DAVID KLEIN STORY
D: Costa Botes | New Zealand | 76 min
Jelly Belly releases an official history of the candy, but the inventor’s name, David Klein, isn’t to be found. Featuring an eccentric millionaire, conniving corporations, lots of sugar, and Weird Al Yankovic, this is the unbelievable story explaining why.
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CONGO IN FOUR ACTS
D: Dieudo Hamadi, Divita Wa Lusala, Kiripi Katembo Siku | Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa | 69 min
A quartet of powerful, hard-hitting short films that lay bear the disturbing reality of everyday life in the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo.
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GASLAND
D: Josh Fox | USA | 107 min
Flammable tap water, mysterious ailments, poisoned land and livestock: Sundance prize-winner Gasland exposes the shocking environmental calamities and cover-ups caused by natural gas drilling, shedding an absurd light on America’s new energy race.
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IN THE NAME OF THE FAMILY
D: Shelley Saywell | Canada| 90 min
The tragic murder of Mississauga’s Aqsa Parvez is featured in this powerful and sensitive investigation into the killing of young girls in the name of the family honour in North America. Heartbreaking stories expose the beliefs used to justify violence against women.
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LISTEN TO THIS
D: Juan Baquero | Canada | 76 min
Jasmine Jacobs is an artist – she just doesn’t know it yet. Three special kids blossom through a music program at an inner-city Toronto elementary school in this inspiring doc about what it means to be truly heard.
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P-STAR RISING
D: Gabriel Noble | USA | 83 min
What’s da word? P-Star is the world’s youngest rap artist. An atypical tween, she rhymes what she knows: temporary housing, crack, single dad and bling. When the dough starts to flow, you wonder who’s really the adult.
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TEENAGE PAPARAZZO
D: Adrian Grenier | USA | 101 min
Who better to expose the world of the paparazzi and star-worship than a celebrity? Actor Adrian Grenier turns the camera onto 13-year-old shooter Austin Visschedyk, and stalks famous friends Alec Baldwin, Matt Damon and Paris Hilton.
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THE STORY OF FURIOUS PETE
D: George Tsioutsioulas | Canada | 85 min
Peter was recovering from anorexia when a friend dared him to eat a super-sized breakfast. He rose to the challenge and ate four. Now, he’s a YouTube sensation and world champion competitive eater.
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THUNDER SOUL
D: Mark Landsman | USA | 83 min
Big afros, funk arrangements and a super tight stage show put the Kashmere High School Band on the map in the 1970’s. Thirty-five years later, the band reunites to honour their mentor, Conrad “Prof” Johnson.
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WASTE LAND
D: Lucy Walker | UK, Brazil | 99 min
A multiple-award winner on the festival circuit, Lucy Walker’s transcendent doc follows artist Vik Muniz and his work with pickers of recyclable materials in Brazil’s Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest landfill site.
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2009
AFGHAN STAR
D: Havana Marking | UK | 90 min
Is Afghanistan ready for its own Kelly Clarkson? After years of repressive Taliban rule that banned music and dancing, a TV signing competition à la American Idol attempts to reinstate art, democracy and tribal unity.
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BLACK WAVE: THE LEGACY OF THE EXXON VALDEZ
D: Robert Cornellier | Canada | 90 min
In 1989 the Exxon Valdez ran aground off Alaska, spewing millions of gallons of crude into Prince William Sound. Masterful filmmaking contrasts personal testimonies, corporate spin and shocking statistics to create a sting indictment of ExxonMobil’s irresponsibility.
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BURMA VJ: REPORTING FROM A CLOSED COUNTRY
D: Anders Høgsbro Østergaard | Denmark | 85 min
This critically-acclaimed, multiple-award winner reveals the incredible story of the underground view of journalists in Burma and their tactics for bringing footage of 2007’s massive uprising to the world.
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INSIDE HANA’S SUITCASE
D: Larry Weinstein | Canada, Czech Republic | 90 min
A name scrawled on a suitcase delivered from Auschwitz leads a Japanese teacher to unravel the mystery of its owner, a young Jewish girl. Documentary and drama blend in this film of astonishing power and hope, based on the best-selling book.
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INVISIBLE CITY
D: Hubert Davis | Canada | 75 min
Oscar-nominated director Hubert Davis follows the lives of two black teenagers over there years as they navigate issues of race, crime and notions of manhood in Toronto’s Regent Park community.
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PROM NIGHT IN MISSISSIPPI
D: Paul Saltzman | Canada | 90 min
When Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman offers to pay for his hometown high school’s first-ever integrated senior prom, Charlton’s long-standing traditions and racial tensions intensify as students prepare for the big day.
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REPORTER
D: Eric Daniel Metzgar | USA | 92 min
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York times columnist Nicholas Kristof delves into the horrific humanitarian atrocities in the Congo, searching for the story what will galvanize an increasingly jaded and detached Western reader.
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RISEUP
D: Luciano Blotta | Argentina, Jamaica, USA | 88 min
In the heart of Jamaica talent abounds but opportunity is scarce. With amazing music and electrifying performances, RiseUp follows three distinctive artists in their struggle to rise from the underground music scene to reggae super-stardom.
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THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD
D: Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, Kurt Engfehr | France, UK, USA | 90 min
The Yes Men are back, bravely and brilliantly infiltrating corporate corridors with outrageous political pranks. Can they find a way to defeat the cult of greed and save civilization from its excesses? Yes, they can.
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ZOMBIE GIRL: THE MOVIE
D: Aaron Marshall, Justin Johnson, Erik Mauck | USA | 91 min
Perhaps the best “making-of” movie since Hearts of Darkness, this irresistible doc chronicles 12-year-old Emily’s inspirational two-year struggle to complete her directorial debut – Pathogen.
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2008
BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER
D: Christopher Bell | USA | 106 min
Is it still cheating if everyone’s doing it? This engaging and provocative examination of America’s steroid culture offers illuminating insight into the ethical and health issues of this current worldwide phenomenon.
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THE BLACK LIST
D: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders | USA | 87 min
The term “blacklist” gets poignantly redefined. African-Americans, including Chris Rock, Rev. Al Sharpton, Sean “Puffy” Combs and Toni Morrison, share their vividly personal and politically controversial views on black America.
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CLUB NATIVE
D: Tracey Deer | Canada | 88 min
Stories of love and rebellion unfold on the Kahnawake Mohawk reserve as residents struggle with the consequences of marrying white. Director Tracey Deer crafts an intimate look at the complex policies that dictate status.
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FLOW: FOR THE LOVE OF WATER
D: Irena Salina | USA | 93 min
An alarming global tour of the emerging catastrophe threatening the world’s water supply – and the greed and politics precipitating it - Flow is an informative and urgent call to action.
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KIDS + MONEY
D: Lauren Greenfield | USA | 32 min
Only in L.A. can a 14-year old rationalize dropping a grand on a purse. Kids from pampered and poor neighbourhoods discuss the pressures of money – getting it, spending it and learning to live without it.
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THE LAST CONTINENT
D: Jean Lemire | Canada | 105 min
Scientists and filmmakers spend a year on a schooner in the Antarctic studying climate change’s effects on deep winter in this stunningly cinematic, vérité-style adventure full of risk, joy and life-threatening danger.
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PLANET B-BOY
D: Benson Lee | USA | 95 min
Japan, Korea and France clash in the B-Boy Battle of the Year. The dancers’ infectious energy and mad skillz make for a ridiculously entertaining competition. The globalization of hip hop culture is here – r u ready?
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TAKING ROOT: THE VISION OF WANGARI MAATHAI
D: Lisa Merton, Alan Dater | USA | 81 min
The inspiring story of Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees inspired Kenya’s environmental movement, protected the human rights of its people, and defended the democracy of an entire nation.
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TRIAGE: DR. JAMES ORBINSKI’S HUMANITARIAN DILEMMA
D: Patrick Reed | Canada | 88 min
Tirage chronicles the return of the former president of Médecins Sans Frontières to Somalia and Rwanda where he confronts his past and the tragedy he faced in choosing who would live and who would die.
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2007
EVERYTHING’S COOL
D: Daniel B. Gold, Judith Helfand | USA | 95 min
Award-winning filmmakers expertly expose the political machinations that fueled the debate over global warming’s very urgent and real threat; a “toxic comedy” about the most dangerous chasm to emerge between scientific understanding and political action.
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GIRLS ROCK!
D: Arne Johnson, Shane King | USA | 87 min
At Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for girls, a death metal-loving Korean teen and an 8-year old who writes experimental rock songs about her dog are taught that it’s okay to sweat, scream, and to wail on their instruments with utter abandon.
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MANUFACTURING DISSENT
D: Debbie Melnyk, Rick Caine | Canada, Australia | 96 min
Michael Moore, frequently heralded as the flag-bearer for the documentary renaissance, gets an inquisitive camera turned upon him for a change in this revelatory and critical biography.
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SUPER AMIGOS
D: Arthuro Perez Torres | Canada, Mexico | 82 min
When injustice strikes in Mexico City, Super Varrio, Super Gay and their Lucha Libre friends answer the call. Five real-life masked superheros take their fight out of the wrestling ring and into the streets.
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THE FIGHTING CHOLITAS
D: Mariam Jobrani, Kenny Krauss, Teresa Deakins | USA | 20 min
In Bolivia, bold and resilient indigenous Indian female wrestlers jump into the ring every week sporting their traditional, vibrant, multi-layerd skirts to perform the acrobatic feats of Lucha Libre.
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THIN ICE
D: Håkan Berthas | Sweden | 58 min
Hockey night in the Himalayas. Dolkar, a tenacious young Buddhist woman, overcomes male opposition by forming a hockey team with neighbouring Muslim women and completes in the local tournament.
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THREE TIMES DIVORCED
D: Ibtisam Mara’nan | Israel | 75 min
When she divorces her abusive husband, Muslim law also forces Khitam to lose custody of her six children. As her frustrating battle with the patriarchal legal system rages, she resorts to kidnapping.
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TO COSTCO AND IKEA WITHOUT A CAR
D: Peter Tombrowski |Canada | 5 min
A downtown Calgary man sets off – on foot – to shop at suburban big box stores. An epic journey that humorously comments on our car-dependent society.
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WAR/DANCE
D: Sean Fine, Andrea Nix Fine | USA | 105 min
Victims of the war compete for victory in this hope-filled documentary about three orphans from a displacement camp in Northern Uganda who succeed to the finals of a national dance and music contest.
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WITHOUT THE KING
D: Michael Skolnik | USA | 84 min
Swaziland, Africa’s last monarchy, is at a crossroads. The people want democracy. King Mswati III wants a fleet of limousines. Unprecedented access to the royal family reveals an unlikely source for change – the country’s teenaged rapper Princess.
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