Program Category: People & Places

This is a documentary on Chen Xihuang, the eldest son of the renowned Budaixi puppet master, Li Tianlu. Budaixi is a traditional art form of Chinese opera using hand puppets. Chen began his training in puppetry with the family troupe at an early age, but for complicated reasons, did not inherit the troupe when his father passed away. Now aged 80, Chen then joined another theatre company as the principal puppeteer. Witness how his efforts to revive a fading traditional art have successfully brought Taiwanese glove puppetry to an international stage.

Many say Singapore has the best education system in the world. So why mess with success?

The Pope who calls himself ‘a sinner’ is, certainly, a man of contradictions. But how did Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who was loved and loathed by his fellow Jesuits back in Argentina, become Pope?

In just two years, Pope Francis has begun to revolutionise a Church that was in crisis and losing its way. Pope Francis’ down to earth style and concern for those on the margins, have roused affection from believers and non-believers alike. But he wasn’t always as popular as he is today.

Hearing from Argentinean Jesuits who lived with him, this programme explores his reputation as a hard-line authoritarian Provincial who divided the Jesuits.

Can Pope Francis do what Bergoglio, the Jesuit Provincial, couldn’t do – unite and reform a fractured Church? Leading Church figures and commentators help to offer a portrait of a Pope who is having impact, not despite his past failings but because of them.

In the country that managed to put a man on the moon, why is it so hard to find a decent cappuccino? In this feature-length personal essay one American woman’s lifelong obsession with finding the perfect cappuccino pushes her to confront her country’s ongoing love affair with national brands and corporate culture.

Two men have been risking their lives for the past 17 years to hunt and capture wild buffaloes in their village at Kampung Lukut Kota Tinggi, Johor, Malaysia. Witness their dangerous hunt for 3 wild buffaloes using the traditional hunting techniques of tajo or lasso technique, stable trap and snare trap for Kampung Lukut’s 120th anniversary celebration.

There are 24,000 North Korean defectors who live in the democratic republic of South Korea. They live like “ghosts” as the South Koreans treat them with coldness and unwelcome attitude. This documentary aims to question civil rights and equality on the uncomfortable truth of South Korea, which prides itself on being a capitalist democracy, through the lives of these North Korean defectors.

An entertaining and insightful look at the spiritual teachings, customs and daily lives of families of different faiths.

Viewers follow Tevya Heller on a delightful journey as he experiences a vast array of traditions and social activities with the help of enthusiastic guides who discuss what it means to have faith – and how to have a little fun along the way!

Nomadism is the oldest way of life. It wasn’t until about 11,000 years ago, with the introduction of farming and the domestication of wild animals, that human beings started to settle. And yet, in spite of this, nomadism still exists today and will certainly continue to exist in future since large parts of the Earth’s surface cannot be used for anything other than nomadic herding.