SBS's blog

Wednesday, March 18 at 8.00pm on SBS

Prawn boat, Amity, is in the grip of a winter storm, 100 miles from shore. To make matters worse, the nets are caught on the seabed. Amity is stuck fast and in danger of sinking. Skipper Jimmy Buchan and his crew are battling to save the boat – and themselves. Elsewhere, their arch rival, another prawn trawler is filling their nets. Skippered by the young and ambitious James West, Frutiful Bough is one of the most successful prawn boats in Peterhead. If Amity can free herself from the ocean floor she’ll have to fight Fruitful Bough, for the prawns at the aptly-named Devil’s Hole.

Tuesday, March 17 at 10.00pm on SBS

On Saturday March 17th at 10:00pm, Parvez Sharma’s six-time award winning film, A Jihad For Love will screen on SBS in the Hot Docs timeslot. Sharma is a Muslim gay filmmaker who has spent over five and a half years uncovering the personal stories of gay and lesbian Muslims from around the world. Filmed in twelve countries and in nine languages, A Jihad For Love is a raw and powerful account of the conflict between their religion, and their sexuality.

Forbidden in the Koran, gay and lesbian Muslims must often travel a lonely and dangerous road, a road which can lead to many feeling forced to renounce their religion completely.

The individuals profiled in A Jihad For Love, however, are not willing to abandon their faith. Instead the film reveals their incredible stories of imprisonment, assault, confusion and humiliation.

Jihad or ‘an inner struggle’ truly gains a new meaning throughout this film. These courageous Muslims encounter countless hurdles in order to accept themselves, and be accepted by others. This film speaks with a Muslim voice, from Muslim people who are captured in between the passion of their love and religion.

Sunday March 15 at 7.30pm on SBS

We all know the word “Neanderthal” as an unflattering qualifier for some of our more uncultured and dim-witted fellow humans. But was the real Neanderthal man truly such an intellectual dunce? The Real Neanderthal Man looks at modern scientific findings that reveal quite the opposite.

In 1856, fossil remains of a type of early man were found in a pleasant little valley near Düsseldorf, the Neander Thal. The bones were studied, and various theories proposed, but the site was not further explored until one of today’s leading paleoanthropologists, Ralf W. Schmitz, insisted that there was more to be found.

It appeared that Schmitz was correct and in several recent explorations, the discovery of fragments of bone, stone tools, blades and other items gave scientists a better picture of the life of the early man. The expedition also provided evidence of other Neanderthalers, including a woman who’s DNA proved she came from present-day Croatia.

The Real Neanderthal Man looks at the new findings and the original fossils, and uses state of the art technology analysis methods to gain a better understanding of the early man.

Cellular nucleus DNA is extracted to find out whether we are actually related to the Neanderthal Man. By using stereo lithographic models and rapid prototyping, the skull is reconstructed for the first time in history, it is physically duplicated with all its features, and an artist’s rendering brings us face to face with him.

Evidence from bone chemistry is used to identify the composition of Neanderthal diets, and one fingerprint found on pieces of birch pitch from another excavation site are compared by criminologists to the fingerprints of modern humans and primates. Finally, a group of Italian scientists dives to the bottom of an ice-age lake to collect samples of sediment that show us what the world of the Neanderthal Man looked like over 40,000 years ago.

The Real Neanderthal Man recreates a prehistoric world using striking dramatisations and takes us back to the ice ages. The documentary looks at how the early man hunted with companions, engineered tools and became skilled craftsmen.

Saturday March 14 at 7.30pm on SBS

On Saturday March 14 at 7.30pm the brilliant scientific minds of the Prototype This team are at it again. In episode 4, the guys are on a quest to create a personal airbag that will sense when you start to fall, and automatically inflate, keeping you safe from injury on impact.

Statistically a person has a 50% chance of surviving a fall over thirty feet in height. By combining their skills, the Prototype This team hope to increase the odds of survival by creating a mobile personal air bag.

The team created their first prototype using a standard car airbag attached to the chest of a dummy. When deployed, the power of the air pressure inside the bags was enough to blow the dummy into several pieces before it had even hit the ground! The test, although unsuccessful, provided a good starting point for the teams’ research

To get a better idea of the complexities of creating the prototype, the team visited engineers at the NASA Jet Propulsion center, who were able to share their knowledge on the importance of air pressure, airbag venting and the potential safety risks involved in the deployment of the bag.

Taking on board the advice of the NASA engineers, the only thing that looked certain was that more testing was definitely needed! With the help of a local trapeze artist, the team decided to time the freefall from a height of 30 feet in order to gather data that would allow them to program the automatic deployment function of the airbag.

Next was the construction of the airbag, which was made of thick nylon and stitching that would allow ventilation. With the final pieces in place, all that was left was to prepare the stuntman, get the team of safety personnel in place, and take a step forward off the 30ft high platform!

Tuesday March 10 10.00pm on SBS

“Black on black violence at all time high”

“Fifty percent of young black men in America are unemployed”

“Big three automakers face bankruptcy”

“Obama wins … gives hope to millions of African Americans … can he deliver?”

The stark reality and contrast of these headlines highlights the dichotomy of post election ’08 America. A back man has attained the highest office in the world, while according to the New York Times black men are “sleeping through the holocaust”. One only has to look to the City of Detroit, once a model of upward mobility for blacks in America. It is now a mere shell of its former self, a city struck by economic distress.

After the great depression, the automobile industry in Detroit grew rapidly. Jobs were readily available, and the promise of work saw many black men move from the country to secure work. High times, however were short lived. The industrial revolution saw engineered machinery replace jobs once held by people, and crime and unemployment began to increase.

Black Nation, which screens on SBS at 10.00pm on Tuesday March 10 is a documentary feature film which takes a hard, uncompromising look at the sate of Black men in America today, through the prism of the streets of Detroit and the City’s controversial Church Shrine of the Black Madonna.

The Church’s focus on delivering pragmatic programs centred around economic self sufficiency, is a model for Obama’s America, as it searches for solutions to seemingly impossible problems. Set within the framework of a Father’s day service, the film tracks the despair of its congregation while at the same time showing the way forward with the great hope and dignity embodied in Obama’s words – ‘yes we can!’ The Church strives to promote and develop community led programs and institutions that restore pride and dignity to its congregation and in particular, black men.

Tuesday, 10 March at 8:30pm on SBS

Series Return

‘Cutting Edge’ returns to SBS on Tuesday, 10 March at 8:30pm with the compelling documentary
‘Captive in Gaza’.

On June 25, 2006 a group of Palestinian militants in Gaza crawled out of a tunnel and attacked an IDF tank. Two Israeli soldiers were killed and Gilad Shalit was captured and taken to Gaza. The Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert refused to negotiate with captors for his release and pursued aggressive retaliations.

This documentary picks up two years later, where Gilad still remains in captivity and examines the events which followed after his capture. Over 600 Palestinians were killed in a large scale retaliatory operation in the first three months after he was taken prisoner.

“The PM said no negotiations would be made for his release. He made statements about what he would not do instead of working for a fast release…He was captured during military service and it is a state obligation to bring him back” (Gilad’s mother, Aviva Shilat)

More than 11,000 Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli jails and thousands of families in Gaza saw this as an opportunity to free their relatives. The kidnapping evoked a widespread public movement and quickly turned from a humanitarian to a political issue.

“It’s terrible to sit at home while he’s there, held by them wounded and you can not reach out to them at all. There’s nothing you can do. Your life changes in a second.” (Aviva Shilat)

Among the events covered, the government ignores a proposal from Hamas to exchange five prominent prisoners of the Palestine leadership in exchange for Gilad.

Gaza is completely cut off from Israeli journalists. His captors, who are members of the group Azadin El Qasam, provide a rare comment about his confinement.

‘The soldiers won’t see the light of day and won’t be returned to his parents until our prisoners are released from occupation prisons. We are prepared to hold this soldier for years.’ (Captor. anonymous)

The documentary shows testimonies from negotiators, politicians, and terror experts who reveal the series of mistakes and missed opportunities from both the Israeli and Palestinian sides.

Sunday March 8 at 7.30pm on SBS

On Sunday March 8 at 7.30pm, SBS will screen the second instalment of the two part journey into the evolution of man.

The two part series documents the development of human civilisation from its earliest origins.

By using dramatic re-enactments, the first episode examines the emergence of Homo sapiens and highlights the similarities between modern day practices and the everyday lives of our prehistoric ancestors.

The history of humankind took a decisive turn 12,000 years ago, as Homo sapiens invented a new kind of life. Turning away from nomadic lifestyles, people settled into the first villages and invented the cornerstones of civilisation – farming, irrigation, commerce, religion, medicine, and much more.

With these new inventions came the first wars, the spread of deadly diseases and starvation due to over-population. But Homo sapiens overcame these challenges building cities and using their writing to communicate over great distances.

The Rise of Man shows how in 8,000 years Homo sapiens were able to boost the population of the world from three million to 100 million inhabitants, and build the society as we know it today

Saturday March 7 at 9.20pm on SBS

**Special Double episode**

The final episode of this season’s RocKwiz! Screening on March 7 at 9.20pm, the RocKwiz Salutes the Bowl special was filmed on February 13 during celebrations for the 50th Birthday of The Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

RocKwiz Salutes the Bowl pays tribute to artists and performances that have been associated with the Bowl.

Still hosted by Julia Zemiro and Brian Nankervis, the special varies from the standard RocKwiz format. Filmed in front of a crowd of 11000 the show includes 13 performances from a variety of true legends of the Australian music scene. All performances are backed by the RocKwiz Orkestra, and supplemented by the Wolfgramm Sisters on backing vocals, Ash Naylor on guitar, and a horn section featuring Paul Williamson. To fit in all this extra rock and roll, RocKwiz Salutes the Bowl runs for an extra fifty minutes, concluding at 10.50pm.

Please note that from Saturday March 14, repeats of RocKwiz will screen at 9.20pm each week.

Wednesday March 4 at 8.30pm on SBS

In this episode, Bruce sails to the island of Anuta, a tiny, remote tropical outpost in the South Pacific. It is one of the most isolated communities on Earth 75 miles from its nearest neighbour

Due to its extreme remoteness, Anuta is one of the most intact Polynesian cultures remaining on earth. Two hundred and fifty Anutans inhabit a beautiful island just a half mile wide.

They are an ocean-going culture, still capable of navigating great distances by the stars. The men fish with hand lines from traditional out-rigger canoes for sharks and marlin. They dive on the reef for lobster and collect shellfish at low tide. The women cultivate every available patch of land with taro, manioc and bananas.

To the Western eye it looks like paradise – white beaches, turquoise sea, swaying palm trees. But what is life like for the people who inhabit paradise? Bruce spent six weeks finding out.

New Two Part Series Begins Thursday February 26 at 8.30pm on SBS

A new two part documentary series called Baby Boom to Bust, which begins on SBS on Thursday February 26 at 8.30pm, says the world is at an extraordinary turning point. For the first time in history old people will soon out number the young.

With the huge middle age baby boomer generation on the cusp of old age, some experts are predicting our worst nightmares could be just around the corner – an entire society of elderly people, totally dependent on government assistance. What makes this prediction more alarming is that declining birth rates means there will be fewer people working, and that governments will consequently earn less revenue from taxes. This would put social, political and health care systems under intense pressure.

Through interviews with both experts on Ageing and residents of Japan, China, Italy and Australia, Baby Boom to Bust explores the issues surrounding the world’s aging population, and attempts to answer many crucial questions: What impact will global ageing have on the economy and our way of life? Are lower birth rates a cause for concern or a sign of prosperity? What are the responsibilities of governments, corporations and citizens?