James Franco's pre production test reel for Blood Meridian. Originally selected to direct a feature length adaptation, James Franco filmed a 32 minute test scene of Tobin telling The Kid about how the Glanton Gang first met Judge Holden in the desert.
A former actor-turned-self-help guru holds a motivational workshop in a skating rink, lives in a mansion and rides BMX bikes with his girlfriend.
The critically acclaimed feature-length documentary ‘Israelism’ investigates a movement of young American Jews who are campaigning to redefine Judaism’s relationship with Israel. At the heart of the documentary are Simone Zimmerman, who grew up in Los Angeles and visited Israel on an exchange programme; and fellow American Eitan, who joins the Israeli military after graduating high school. Simone and Eitan are raised to defend the state of Israel at all costs but their lives are changed when they witness the mistreatment of Palestinians with their own eyes.
"There is an Amazonian frog called Phyllomedusa Bicolor or the Sapo which I have been reading about for years. It is totally different from the psychedelic toads found in North America. The Sapo's venom produces an effect much closer to morphine than LSD, but really it's not like either of those things. It's a distinctly vomitous dissociative experience unlike anything else I've ever encountered. I had to find out what this frog really does, but supposedly it cannot produce its venom in captivity. The only way to experience its unique trip is to travel down the Amazon River and catch one yourself, which is exactly what I did." - Hamilton Morris, Vice correspondent
An investigative deep dive into the corporate news media’s coverage of Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign that asks: who actually gets a say in American politics?
"Arkansas is one of the worst places to be a renter in America. It is the only state in the US where tenants are treated as criminals for paying rent late and landlords are not required by law to maintain their properties. "Its failure-to-vacate law lets landlords give tenants a 10-day eviction notice if they are even one day overdue. Tenants who can't or won't leave within that span face fines for every day they remain on the property and up to 90 days in jail. "This makes things difficult for the third of Arkansas's residents who are renters and have legitimate concerns about the properties they are occupying. The combination of failure-to-vacate and the lack of warranty of habitability make it almost impossible for tenants to challenge their landlords for legitimate reasons. It's estimated that criminal evictions occur everyday in Arkansas, resulting in over 2000 failure-to-vacate cases being filed each year."
Getting in and out of the porn industry.
"Director Martin Scorsese looks at the importance of three films by Italian director Roberto Rossellini, all starring Rossellini's then-wife Ingrid Bergman. "In the late 40s, Ingrid Bergman was the coolest, hottest, and most talented lady around Hollywood. She saw some Italian neo-realist films by Roberto Rossellini, wrote him a letter, starred in a number of his movies, and proceeded to have a scandalous affair and marriage with him. In each film, Bergman experiences some sort of deep existential crises in the midst of political and social upheaval. Since every major player who worked on those films is dead, Martin Scorsese (who was heavily influenced by the films) gives us the 4-1-1 on the three movies in this short doc and it’s fucking fascinating" (Vice).
In the lead up to the next great Kiddy Smile concert, diverse and passionate members of Paris’ glamorous ballroom community break down issues of race, immigrant culture, queer visibility, and free expression in a diverse but also deeply divided contemporary France.
Vice travels to West Africa to rummage through the messy remains of a country ravaged by 14 years of civil war. Despite the United Nation’s eventual intervention, most of Liberia’s young people continue to live in abject poverty, surrounded by filth, drug addiction, and teenage prostitution. The former child soldiers who were forced into war have been left to fend for themselves, the murderous warlords who once led them in cannibalistic rampages have taken up as so-called community leaders, and new militias are lying in wait for the opportunity to reclaim their country from a government they rightly mistrust. America’s one and only foray into African colonialism is keeping a very uneasy peace indeed.
"On this episode of 'MINORITY REPORTS,' we met up with Tiago, a white freshman at Morehouse College, an HBCU in Atlanta that counts Martin Luther King, Jr. and Spike Lee as alumni. "We sat down with him to hear why he decided to enroll in the school, asked his peers for their thoughts on having white students on campus, and followed along as he showed us what it’s like to be one of very few non-black students at school."
For decades, NFL owners marginalize Black quarterbacks; however, the success of Black quarterbacks and calls for racial equality, led by Colin Kaepernick, lead to positive changes.
Vice explores an ancient practice of child prostitutes in India.
"The dry and arid Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region – home to the mighty black scorpion – has emerged as the epicentre of a rare drug culture. People in Pakistan’s borderlands are no strangers to narcotics; the Soviet-Afghan war in the ‘80s made sure of that. But scorpion venom is a wildcard drug ripping through communities that no one knows what to do with. People who have smoked it say the high is powerful and can last for days. Its side effects, however, seem too heavy a cost to bear. VICE travelled across Peshawar, Mattani and Dir to speak to users, researchers, a former narcotics-control officer and a journalist to understand why people smoke scorpion venom and how it’s changed their lives."
"Louisville Kentucky has seen sustained and continued demonstrations in the wake of Breonna Taylor’s death and when the protests were at their most volatile one church in Louisville opened its doors as a sanctuary for protestors. The controversial Pastor, Timothy Findley Jr. of The Kingdom Fellowship Church has been the tip of the spear in these grassroots movements fighting for racial justice in Louisville, even being arrested himself while leading marches through the streets of the city. He has penned open letters criticizing evangelical leaders in Louisville for not joining him in his efforts and criticized Trump openly. Vice joins Pastor Tim before the election for a weekend of events designed to inspire and galvanize black voters to take their protest to the polls - but will it make a difference?" (Vice).
"A former employee for one of the biggest betting companies reveals the major flaws in the industry, from gambling addictions to money laundering. With over ten years of experience in betting, he has seen just how much the algorithms and systems are designed to encourage losers to lose more, and winners to stop winning. He describes how management has little care for customers, particularly when it comes to losing it all."
"This treatment of the insurrection recreates the attack moment by moment, tracking the protesters mounting agitation and rage, and some rioters breaking into various fronts of the U.S. Capitol, eventually marching the Confederate flag into the building and occupying the halls of Congress. It also reveals the diverse and competing ideologies that coalesced on Jan. 6: angry Trump voters marched alongside sovereign citizens, Three Percenters, Proud Boys, and Christian Nationalists. Some rioters demonstrated solidarity with the police as others brutally assaulted officers."
"Throughout June and July of 2020 large displays of fireworks were illegally being set off daily around many US cities. New York City specifically saw large scale nightly displays. "Each night residents of New York City would be jolted by the booming sounds of firework explosions, for hours at a time. Record breaking numbers of complaints were received for nights on end. "Many were unsure of the inspiration and motivation behind the displays, sparking conspiracy theories to circulate online regarding the supply of these fireworks and the reasons behind it. "We went out to Canarsie, Brooklyn to join members of the community and attend a display while attempting to understand the supposed mystery behind it all."
"A few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic hit India, VICE travelled to Jammu and Kashmir to report on the mental health in the region. Years of inhumane lockdowns, military presence, and gross human rights violations continue to impact women in the state, making them an unequal target of the region's instability. "On August 5, 2020 Kashmir completes a year of losing its special status since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution by the majoritarian BJP government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In this documentary, we interview women with husbands in jail because of unlawful arrests, daughters with fathers subject to enforced disappearances and those blinded by pellet guns."
"Despite the spooky overtones, modern Satanism actually has a lot in common with self-help, the green movement, and spunky American individualism. We traveled to Cleveland with Thomas Morton to meet Eric Freeman, authority on the duality of evil, to learn about altering reality through the power of the mind."
