@9point = Actively Radical TV — Community television's progressive current affairs program tackles the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Friday, 10.30pm.
@9point = Archaeology: the Apaches — Excavations in Texas contradict the racist images of the Apache people as bloodthirsty barbarians. Evidence shows they led a pastoral lifestyle of trading, hunting and gathering and indicates that aggression played little part in their lives prior to white invasion. SBS, Friday, July 28, 7.30pm.
@9point = Culloden — First screened in 1964, Peter Watkins' docu-drama about the bloody defeat of the Scottish clans at Culloden in 1746 made film history. The slaughter of the clans people of the Scottish highlands by redcoats marked the final defeat of the resistance of the Scottish people by the forces of England. Watkins dispensed with professional actors and instead cast local people — many who were descendants of those who fought the battle in 1746. Viewers are taken on a journey through the battlefield with random interviews with members of the rival armies. ABC TV, Sunday, July 30, 9.30pm.
@9point = Defenders of the Wild — The campaign to save the endangered tigers of Thailand and Taiwan.
@9point = In Darkest Hollywood — First of two parts. A documentary that looks at commercial cinema's treatment of black Africans during the years of apartheid. Studios collaborated with apartheid-derived stereotypes. Films like Untamed pitted white heroes against "savage" Zulus. The program also looks at other attempts to produce films with a more critical view of apartheid and a less racist view of Africans. ABC TV, Monday, July 31, 11pm.
@9point = Inside Castro's Cuba — The makers of this program spent a year in Cuba and were given access to the Cuban leader's personal archives. The film examines the effects on Cuba of the US blockade, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US policy that encourages emigration. Those opposed to Castro are also interviewed, but the film makers conclude that Castro remains overwhelmingly popular. SBS, Tuesday, August 1, 8.30pm.
@9point = The Death of Apartheid — The first in a series of documentaries, narrated by respected liberal journalist Allister Sparks, which recounts the demise of apartheid. This episode reveals details of how Nelson Mandela began negotiations with the regime from behind bars. ABC TV, Wednesday, August 2, 9.30pm.