Kiran was castrated four months ago. His best friend Harish yearns to be a woman but has a wife and two children. Shardabai is the Empress of the Eunuchs. She preserves the courtly traditions of the eunuchs who once guarded the Maharaja's hareems. But today most eunuchs end up in the brothels of Bombay. Eunuchs are both man and woman in one body and granted the power to bless and curse. They have all survived the trauma of gender identity. This film shows how the 'third gender' still has an accepted place in India today.
Palestinian children in Gaza, armed with only stones and slogans, are fighting the Israeli military occupation. A staggering 20,000 children have been injured by live bullets, rubber bullets, and tear gas in the last three years. Over 50 children under 15 years of age have been killed by live ammunition. Palestinian and Israeli parents and children agree to speak out for a generation whose minds are deeply scarred by the violence of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
'When a girl gets married, she goes hunting' say the Hamar of southwest Ethiopia. No Hamar girl would want to remain unmarried, yet her wedding day is the saddest day of her life. Duka and Gardi are betrothed. Soon they must leave their families forever to marry men they've never met. Duka is secretly excited, but her young cousin Gardi dreads the day when she'll leave home to start a new life among strangers.
Divination, sacrifice, spirit possession, and witchcraft all play a part in the preparation for a carnival that has taken place in the northeastern city of Recife in Brazil since the 17th century. Dona Elda is Queen of the Marcatu nation of Porto Rico, and as she explains, Carnival is actually the festival of Exum, the West African trickster god, master of rebellion, chaos, and revelry. The film follows her to victory for the third successive year at Carnival and through the much tougher task ahead.
The real life story of two 'Mariachi' musicians who leave home in search of work. One joins the fight for the poor. The other is smuggled across the USA border through a network of low-life and masked wrestlers. His fate is sealed by the border patrol.
On 20 December 1990, Mardy Colliery was closed, ending over 200 years of coal mining in the Rhondda valley. But the 300 miners have more to adjust to than the loss of their jobs. Since the strike of 1984/85 when miners' wives played a major part, women have become the breadwinners.
Asia's largest and oldest traveling circus winds its way across rural India, bringing fun, fame and fortune. Every few months the circus disbands to allow the players to return to their villages. At home the players and trainers explain why they have chosen life under the Big Top.
The Wodaabe of the southern Sahara consider themselves 'the most beautiful people on earth'. Their slender and graceful young men, many of them seven feet tall, adorn themselves with beads, hats, and blue lipstick as part of a tribal celebration in which the young women choose the most beautiful man among them.
In the backstreets of old Islamic Cairo, marriage can be far from the ideal. Funny and resilient Wiza, a second wife deserted by her husband, is determined to find ideal marriage partners for her own children. When her son meets a potential bride, Wiza takes control.