International Zone

The highlight of this memorable musical program is a rehearsal and performance by these two famous musicians of a new "raga" specially composed by Shankar.

The film consists of children's art from all over the world, art which broadens and deepens what is heard on the soundtrack.

In Senegal, "rural animators" - youthful villagers - are sent off to learn simple new things in a government course (sanitation, how to grow vegetable) and then returned to their own towns to teach their skills to the rest of the people. In Indonesia, French agronomists teach the "Green Revolution" to a whole region and set up a co-op to purchase machinery and guarantee a market for rice. And in Peru, the Government begins a land reform program in spite of the suspicions of those it's designed to help.

This film examines the population policies of five developing countries: Haiti, the Central African Republic, Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. Haiti, a crowded island with few resources, is contrasted with nations in Africa, which have relatively small numbers of people but are rich in agricultural potential. Population planning for these countries begins with a census and education; family planning is accepted only after infant mortality has been sharply reduced. Cultural traditions are honored through music and song -- a voodoo ritual in Haiti, "naming" and funeral ceremonies in the Central African Republic, and the Homowo Festival in Ghana. Africa seeks to promote life rather than control life in its plans for the future.

Urban centers throughout Latin America overflow with new migrants, many of whom are undernourished and homeless, while, in other areas, vast stretches of empty land await settlers. Each country faces different questions and must find its own answers. This film shows how Colombia, Argentina, Peru and Mexico are implementing their own population policies -- redistributing people, producing more food, developing rural areas, providing family planning services and improved child care -- all aimed at improving the quality of people’s lives.

The women of Ghana have a reputation for independence. They, rather than the men, sit enthroned at the market stalls and run a large proportion of the nation's retail trade. But Ghanaian women are now thrusting even more vigorously into the arena of power and influence.

The film follows a Turkish doctor on assignment for the United Nations from his suburban home in Minneapolis, U.S.A., to the village in Turkey where he was born. We see him teaching and setting up research in a Turkish medical school and, accompanied by his teenage American daughter, visiting the scenes of his childhood. The doctor donated his time and expertise to his native country as part of a United Nations programme called TOKTEN, which co-ordinates the return home of eminent expatriate scientists and engineers for short-term consultancies.

This documentary highlights the issues surrounding population growth, family planning, poverty, employment, economic development and industry in India, Japan, and China.

The film highlights the efforts of the people of Namibia and the international community to put an end to a century of broken promises and trust betrayed.

In tracing the impact of the World Food Programme on six individuals in different parts of the developing world, this film illustrates the bold concept that has been the aim of the Programme during its first ten years; that as long as anyone on this planet is in need of food, no nation should destroy its agricultural surpluses. In the Philippines the Programme enables a coal mine to get started; a university to grant more scholarships and an entire farming community to subsist while it is moved out of the way of a vast new dam and irrigation project. In Colombia, the Programme supplies feed grains for a farmer to raise livestock and provide protein for his family; and supplemental feeding for nursing mothers. In Sri Lanka (Ceylon) the Programme is the entire backing for the ambitious government self-help project.