Current Projects

Return to Documentaries & Films

For more information on these projects, please contact Sudhir Venkatesh (sv185@columbia.edu) or Andrew Beck (iserpassistant@gmail.com).

Extinct!

The world is quickly becoming a global village. Not only are people connected to each other across vast seas and continents, but they are often affecting each other in new and unpredictable ways. Extinct! is a television series that explores the high-risk nature of an interconnected world. The series looks at people, places and ways of life that are on the verge of disappearing. The show is rooted in characters and stories of individuals who are struggling to maintain their culture and lifestyle in the face of outside threat.

The Mandeans: This episode of EXTINCT! takes an unblinking look at the surviving members of the Mandaeans, a Gnostic tribe in Iraq that is over 2000 years old. With the destabilization of Iraq in 2003, the Mandaeans were attacked and persecuted by Islamic extremists.  Their mass migration scattered them across the world and into Jordan, Syria, Canada, Sweden, Australia, and the United States. This episode chronicles the struggles of Dr. Wisam Breegi, the charismatic figure who fled Iraq and resettled in Boston, MA. We watch as Wisam fights to resettle Mandean families around the world into a new community in Worcester, Massachusetts.  With his courageous help, more than 100 families have made the long and arduous journey from war-torn Iraq to Worcester.

Dot

Dorothy "Dot" Battie was born and raised in Chicago's public housing projects. When the infamous Robert Taylor Homes high rises were demolished in 2003, she was evicted along with hundreds of other low income families. This documentary follows Dot's family as they make ends meet, struggling to pay rent and bills, and to keep their family together.