Focus America

Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the Hawaiian island chain, a drama is unfolding around the planned Thirty Meter Telescope. The mountain, sacred to the Hawaiians, becomes the scene of a conflict between scientists and indigenous people. While astronomer Doug Simons wants to explore the boundaries of the universe and strives for groundbreaking discoveries, Jojo, a Native Hawaiian, fights passionately to protect the sacred site. The conflict raises fundamental questions about faith and knowledge, shaped by religion, homeland, conservation, and scientific progress. History shows that there are no easy answers. Proud scientists are pitted against Native Hawaiians who protect their culture and nature. Mauna Kea becomes a symbol of the complexity of our time, in which the urge for knowledge collides with the need for conservation.

In Catatumbo, Colombia's largest coca-growing area, hundreds of thousands of people make a living from cultivating the plant from which cocaine is produced. But for the past year and a half, local farmers have been unable to find buyers for their coca paste. Production has therefore stopped in many places. Harvesters are being laid off, depriving them of their livelihood. The region is under the control of the ELN and Farc guerrilla groups. The police can hardly leave their stations, as they quickly become the target of attacks. The law of the strongest rules. This documentary gives a rare insight into this dangerous region: from coca harvesting to cocaine production in laboratories hidden in the forest to former Farc fighters who are now hunted as dropouts by the armed groups themselves. Those who suffer most in this war for land, power, money and influence are the people from the civilian population who suffer under the brutal rule of the guerrillas.

The homelands of Colombia's largest indigenous community are threatened. A fight for their traditions wages against the big coal giants. In Colombia, the indigenous Wayuu people have traditionally lived from fishing and the land for centuries. The families, settled in the immediate surroundings of Latin America's largest coal mine, are fighting for their ancestral territory. But despite the lucrative mine, the local population lives in poverty. When coal mining began in La Guajira, the mine operators promised the local population progress through, for example, connection to the state power grid. However, these promises have still not been fulfilled 40 years later. Instead, the fishermen are increasingly deprived of prey and have no access to their only source of fresh water. But the Wayuus are not giving up and are fighting for their homelands.

"La Bestia": the dangerous goods train that migrants jump on to get from the south of Mexico to the U.S. border. Most of them come from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and cannot afford a bus ticket or a smuggler. Travelling by train is the fastest way for them to reach the USA, but also the most dangerous. Many people fall off the train, land on the tracks, are run over, mutilated and robbed or raped by criminal gangs. Nevertheless, people make their way to a hopefully better life in the USA.

During the Storming of the Capitol, three police officers were badly injured. Now their stories are being told. On January 6, 2021, a mob stormed the Capitol and the world wondered how this could happen. A team of online researchers, the police and relatives of three police officers that were badly injured set out on a search for clues. One of the police officers took his own life just days after the violent protests. They encounter explosive details and within the footage of thousands of videos, the team finds traces of the specific Trump supporters who attacked the police officers. Finding out what exactly happened that day is a relief for the police officers and their families. But not all scars heal.

Get to know the most famous reservation in South Dakota and their inhabitants. Approximately five million Native Americans live in the United States, with nearly 80% in urban metropolitan areas alongside diverse ethnic groups. However, 20% of Native Americans still live on reservations. South Dakota holds five of these reservations, including the famous “Pine Ridge.”