Gerd Ludwig ~Tomorrowland: Astana

In northern Kazakhstan, a futuristic city has risen from the forsaken landscape and post-Soviet rubble. In 1997 President Nazarbayev had declared that the country’s capital would no longer be located in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city. Built with zealous political ambition and oil money, and renamed Astana, it is Kazakhstan’s new capital city.  Soviet-era buildings were demolished and replaced by soaring pinnacles of commerce, entertainment, and culture, designed by international star-architects like Norman Foster and Kisho Kurokawa. Perhaps most notably is the Baiterek, the monumental symbol of Astana. Representing a poplar tree, it is emblematic of Kazakhstan’s self-image: constructed of steel, concrete, and glass, it holds court in the middle of a majestic central avenue lined with futuristic buildings. The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation is a pyramid that spans 62 meters. A 400-million-dollar mall resembles a nomadic tent, and the President’s Palace looks like Washington’s White House. In a stunning contradiction of worlds, today’s Astana looks like a Manhattan-in-the-Steppe. As exotic as Dubai, it is lit at night like Disneyland, but in part displays the vast emptiness of North Korea’s capital city, Pyongyang. The results are eclectic, visually arresting, and not to everyone’s taste. But love it or hate it, Astana is brash and grandiose — and wildly attractive to young strivers seeking success.

Emeli Sandé ♫ Read All About It

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Robin Hammond ~ Condemned

"Condemned" documents the mental health impacts of crisis in Africa - the trauma of mass rape, the grief of death in war, the insecurity of displacement. It illustrates what happens to the most vulnerable when governments implode and health systems collapse.

The mentally disabled in African countries in crisis are denied the opportunity to speak for themselves. CONDEMNED gives them a voice.

Photojournalist Robin Hammond travels to South Sudan, Uganda, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and northern Kenya for this project and appeals in this short film for support to continue the work to West Africa.

The Rippingtons ♫ We Made A new World

SHORT FILM ~ Dame Factory Inc.

Dame Factory Inc. is an award-winning experimental short film about power, sex and cold cuts. This stylish yet grotesque film takes a sexy avant garde look at the roles women play in our culture. 

EL MAC Artwork for new No Doubt album cover

Krisanne Johnson ~ I Love You Real Fast

A tiny African nation of one million, Swaziland is ruled by one of the world’s last remaining absolute monarchies. Its age-old tradition of polygamy and its relaxed attitude toward sexuality have met in a devastating combination for women: Swaziland reports the highest percentage of HIV positive people in the world, with young women being affected most. Half of young Swazi women are HIV positive, and life expectancy has dropped from 61 years to almost 31 years over the past ten years.

SHORT FILM ~ Dulce (Sweet)