CNN International has teamed up with London-based independent documentary distributor Journeyman Pictures to launch a new weekly half-hour documentary strand.
Launching on Friday 16 February at 7pm, World’s Untold Stories aims to take viewers to places rarely caught on camera and showcases filmmaking that seeks to tell intimate stories of the world’s unheard voices.
Nick Wrenn, CNN managing editor Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: ‘The idea is that CNN often gets accused of going where the bombs and bullets are flying, but we actually do a lot to scratch behind the scenes and really tell the big issues behind the stories that we cover. ‘We make a lot of documentaries so it’s great to be able to add to the stable of films that we are doing.’The films go beyond the mainstream, illuminating issues and stories that, although important, don’t make the front page.
The first programme to be aired is ‘The Very Thin Blue Line”, which takes viewers inside an Iraqi police training camp in Jordan, where the main skill recruits need to learn is survival.
Every six months the equivalent of an entire training class of 1,500 Iraqis is wiped out, yet recruits continue to sign up, many of them desperate for the money. The film reveals concerns ranging from the levels of literacy among recruits to the possible infiltration of insurgents, and follows one group of enlistees through their training in these unstable circumstances.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog