It’s almost May, the time when schools let out and another class of scholars graduates. As the season changes, celebrate this noteworthy time by screening a couple of fresh, entertaining documentaries that represent a full array of interests on MagellanTV. Here are some highlights of the films that will debut in May, along with a complete list of our new offerings.
Miles in the Life: The Story of A BMF Drug Trafficker – Coming May 4
Miles in the Life: The Story of a BMF Drug Trafficker is a white-knuckle ride through the drug underground. With the full cooperation of its main subject, the film puts viewers right in the heart of a billion-dollar illicit business where many never make it out alive.
Meet Jabari Hayes. This star student-athlete, a graduate of Morehouse College, saw a bright future for himself as a business entrepreneur. But, to his everlasting regret, Hayes was sidetracked into the world of drug trafficking and laundered money. This is the story of his career as a drug courier for the crime syndicate known as BMF, for Black Mafia Family, and of his eventual return from the criminal underworld to “straight” society.
Post-college, Hayes used his entrepreneurial skills to establish a limousine company. As his fleet of cars was always on the move, Hayes and his business were a natural fit for BMF. Given the street name “Miles,” he was attracted to the easy money and relatively low risk of being a cocaine runner. Until 2007, when he was arrested by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, he used his smarts to make extraordinary amounts of cash under the cover of an Atlanta limo driver. Now, after paying his debt to society, he is keen to share his story with the world. Hayes is living proof that, at least for some, there can be light at the end of a long, twisted tunnel of criminality.
Also, check out "Cocaine Captains" - Available Now!
Discovering Dalí – Coming May 11
Spanish Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí made a big impact on the art world beginning in the 1930s and continuing to his death in 1989. His paintings were marked by their extremely refined, almost photorealistic style, featuring surreal imagery such as the wilted timepieces in his work titled The Persistence of Memory.
In the documentary Discovering Dalí, filmmaker Jack Bond travels to Stockholm, Sweden, where the Moderna Museet is holding an exhibition of Dalí’s work. While in Sweden, Bond revisits his 1965 film, Dalí in New York, which explored the enigmatic character of Dalí. In his new documentary, Bond reflects on Dalí’s artistic impact and on the surreal nature of his own films.
As part of his investigation, Bond discusses Dalí and his work with museum curators and art historians. Through the journey, the filmmaker discovers the influence Dalí had on his own craft and learns more about the personality and politics of the groundbreaking Surrealist artist. This film presents an outstanding opportunity to see many of the artist’s masterful works and to experience for yourself Dalí’s significance to the Surrealist movement.
Also, check out "The Impressionists" - Available Now!
The Secret Story of Stuff – Coming May 18
Zoe Laughlin, a British artist, designer, and engineer, is known for her investigations into the materiality of such simple objects as spoons and other crafted objects. Her designs appear in several collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Tate Modern. She also founded the Institute of Making, a London-based organization that seeks to explore materials and construction from many perspectives.
In The Secret Story of Stuff, Laughlin takes her keen interest in the built world to the public. This documentary series searches for the alchemy behind the latest developments in the science of synthetic materials. From her workshop at the Institute of Making, Laughlin examines such materials as 3D-printed dental crowns, said to last forever, and new textiles made with thread eight times stronger than cotton.
Exploring the “stuff” that shapes our world, Laughlin reveals emerging but lesser-known technologies with great potential. Join her on a fascinating trip to the future of constructed objects available to us right now.
Also, check out "How to Make" - Available Now!
Vietnam: The War that Made Australia – Coming May 25
In the early 1960s, Australia sent an elite unit of soldiers called the Australian Army Training Team (AATT) to Vietnam to train the South Vietnamese Army to oppose communist North Vietnam and its guerrilla allies, the Viet Cong. The team was the first to arrive “in country” and was the only Australian unit to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with South Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War.
At first, the AATT worked with the American CIA to raise and train an indigenous guerrilla force to combat the communists. But, as the war escalated and became ever more vicious, the team found itself in the middle of intense fighting to defeat an elusive enemy, especially during the Tet Offensive of 1968. When American and Australian combat troops were withdrawn from Vietnam in 1973, the AATT was forced to leave behind their Vietnamese comrades who fought on for another two years.
Vietnam: The War that Made Australia vividly presents the story of the Australian Army Training Team and the sacrifices its members made. Some of the veterans interviewed in the documentary bear the physical and psychological scars of the war, and for many this is the first time they’ve told their stories. The film is also an inspiring account of how AATT members have maintained their bonds with the people they were forced to leave behind but refused to abandon altogether. Their efforts to help Vietnamese refugees settle in Australia have helped transform the country into a modern multicultural society.
Also, check out "The Vietnam War" - Available Now!
