Scientists are working to prove cancer, genetic deformities, and mental illness are direct consequences of nuclear testing during the Cold War. More than one and a half million people are estimated to have been exposed to radiation in Kazakhstan alone.
You can view the film here here. Press on "Watch the report".
Read the related article in the Sunday Telegraph.CREDITS:
Producer: Nick and Alex Story
Associate Producer Kazakhstan: Eleonora Bekova
Camera & Edit: Nick Story
Copyright: Story Productions Ltd
Gilberto Gil is a busy man. The Minister of Culture in Brazil's left-wing government is also an internationally known singer and composer. Both roles are invaluable to his efforts to make Brazilian culture and music more accessible to a wider national audience and to bolster their prominence on the international stage.
He is a relative newcomer to the political scene, but the 63-year-old Gil was already one of the best-known cultural figures in Brazil when he was named culture minister by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2003. It was the same year Gil was honored as Man of the Year at the Latin Grammy Awards in Miami.
He started his career as a businessman, becoming a manager at the consumer products giant Gessy Lever in Sao Paolo. But music was his true calling. By 1968, he had helped found the anti-establishment musical movement Tropicalia. He was considered a radical by the military government, imprisoned and then sent into exile in London in 1969.
When he was allowed back to Brazil in 1972, he devoted his career to music and the environment. He is affiliated with the Green Party and founded ONG Onda Azul, a nongovernmental organization that fights for the preservation of water resources.
Today; Gil still wears his hair in dreadlocks and walks around with a guitar slung over his shoulder. But he has proven to be a politician of remarkable action, aiming to increase Brazils movie output from 30 to 100 films a year, reform laws for financing cultural activities, and bring the arts to the countrys vast interior.CREDITS:
Producer: Nick Story
Executive Producer Brazil: Bob Nadkarni
Reporter: Lisa Baron
Camera & Edit: Nick Story
Production assistant: Delphine Lumb
Copyright: Story Productions Ltd
Brazil:China Fever.mov
Brazil:China Fever.wmv
There's a new sense of economic optimism in Brazil which has not been seen in many years. Growth, for example, was over 5 percent last year. Some it is due to the vision of President Lula da Silva, elected in 2004; much of it has been attributed to China's own economic surge. What opportunities are there for the largest economic power in South America to cooperate with the Asian giant - and what are the challenges and risks presented by China' status? Brazil has long been called "the country of the future" and many Brazilians have joked "it always will be." But by last year, Brazil was on the road to recovery and again attracting attention from international investors - who are also targeting China. Ironically, China's own development has been a major source of growth for Brazil. The Brazilian economy is hugely complimentary with China's hunger for food products and raw materials. Brazil's exports to China soared an astonishing 500 percent from 2000-2003. There are also opportunities for Brazilian business in the field of aerospace, with China launching Brazilian satellites and Brazil building passenger jets in northeast China. President Lula's visit to China in May, 2004, reciprocated by President Hu Jintao's visit to Brazil last November highlighted the significance of the new relationship. Yet there are major questions for Brazil, including can the export boom last? How big a challenge is the growing integration between China and the U.S.? Is Brazil becoming too dependent on China? Can Brazil resolve its own pressing domestic economic problems? Above all, can Brazil learn from China, or will it fail to take advantage of its current potential?
CREDITS:
Producer: Nick Story
Executive Producer Brazil: Bob Nadkarni
Reporter: Lisa Baron
Camera & Edit: Nick Story
Production assistant: Delphine Lumb
Copyright: Story Productions Ltd
Brazil Tropical Tech.mov
Brazil Tropical Tech.wmv
It could be one of the best-kept secrets in the software industry. Brazil's 7.7 billion dollar IT industry is nearly as big as India's. The main difference: exports. While India exports about 70 percent of its production, Brazil exports just 1.5 percent of its country's production, even though its IT markets are much more developed. Yet that is about to change.
The Brazilian government under President Lula has set a target of 2 billion dollars in IT exports by 2007, and it's likely to succeed. The country has all the key ingredients: a large domestic IT market, thousands of tech grads every year, and lower costs than in the US, Europe and Japan. But to achieve the target the government and the private sector are building a unique model rather than trying to replicate the success of India or Ireland. In fact, Brazil has more home grown IT solutions that either, such as a complex and efficient electronic payments system through which Brazilian banks operate, and an advanced system of e-government (most Brazilians file and pay their taxes online).
Brazilian IT companies are focusing on the US market as the one with the most growth potential at the moment. Several are already established in the US, with offices in cities catering to the American market. Many others have been taking part in events promoting their products and services to the US, such as CTIA Wireless 2005, which is being held in New Orleans next week.
There are of course challenges, as many in the sector admit, including language and experience. But the industry is banking on its assets.CREDITS:
Producer: Nick Story
Executive Producer Brazil: Bob Nadkarni
Reporter: Lisa Baron
Camera & Edit: Nick Story
Production assistant: Delphine Lumb
Copyright: Story Productions Ltd