The BEST episodes directed by Jezza Neumann
#1 - Poor Kids
BBC Documentaries - Season 2011 - Episode 104
Documentary telling the stories of some of the 3.5 million children living in poverty in the UK. It is one of the worst child poverty rates in the industrialised world, and successive governments continue to struggle to bring it into line. So who are these children, and where are they living? Under-represented, under-nourished and often under the radar, 3.5 million children should be given a voice. And this powerful film does just that. Eight-year-old Courtney, 10-year-old Paige and 11-year-old Sam live in different parts of the UK. Breathtakingly honest and eloquent, they give testament to how having no money affects their lives: lack of food, being bullied and having nowhere to play. The children might be indignant about their situation now, but this may not be enough to help them. Their thoughts on their futures are sobering. Sam's 16-year-old sister Kayleigh puts it all into context, as she tells how the effects of poverty led her to take extreme measures to try and escape it all. Poor Kids puts the children on centre stage, and they command it with honesty and directness. It's time for everyone to listen.
#2 - Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children
BBC Documentaries - Season 2010 - Episode 181
Shot entirely undercover over the course of nine months, a beautiful and moving documentary which tells the stories of three children growing up in today's Zimbabwe. 12-year-old Grace rummages through rubbish dumps in Harare to find bones to sell for school fees; nine-year-old Esther has to care for her baby sister and her mother who is dying of HIV/AIDS; and 13-year-old Obert pans for gold to make enough money to buy food for himself and his gran, while dreaming of somehow getting the education he craves. From BAFTA-winning director Jezza Neumann and BAFTA-winning producer, Xoliswa Sithole, a powerful tale unfolds of the gaping chasm between what these children hope for and what their country can currently provide.
#3 - TB: Return of the Plague
BBC Documentaries - Season 2014 - Episode 59
In the southern African nation of Swaziland, around a quarter of all adults are now HIV positive. With so many now living with compromised immune systems, tuberculosis, which had been in decline for decades, has made a dramatic comeback. Now it has a foothold once more, new mutations are evolving fast, meaning the disease threatens the lives of the healthy as well as those with HIV. There are over eight million new infections every year worldwide, but Swaziland is the epicentre of the disease, with the highest rate of TB infection in the world. With the infection spreading with a cough or sneeze, international travel means these lethal new infections are already starting to appear in Europe - last year alone 3,500 Londoners were diagnosed with the disease. Multi-BAFTA winning film-maker Jezza Neumann travelled to Swaziland to make this very intimate account of the crippling effects of MDR-TB. We witness victims from two families battle with the disease over the course of a year. Deep in rural Swaziland near the border of South Africa lives Bheki, a builder who is fanatical about football, who recently learnt that both he and his sister have multi drug resistant TB. As time passes, his sister's condition deteriorates and Bheki starts to become increasingly anxious about his future. In the capital, Mbabane, lives 12-year-old Nokubegha, a TB orphan, who is cared for by her 17-year-old brother, Melusi. When Nokubegha is diagnosed with the MDR strain of the disease she has to be admitted into the national TB hospital so she can receive her daily pills and injections. A tragic yet heart-warming story about the value of human life, love and family.
#4 - No Place to Call Home
BBC Documentaries - Season 2015 - Episode 61
What's it like to be homeless in Britain today - when you are ten years old? BAFTA-winning film-maker Jezza Neumann follows two families for 18 months, from before they are evicted by their private landlords, through over a year in a homeless hostel and months of sofa-surfing with friends and family. Throughout this ordeal 11-year-old Ellie and 10-year-old JJ remain cheerful and resilient, trying to see what they are going through as an adventure that they will one day look back on and laugh about, once they finally have a home they can call their own once again. But we also see the destructive impact that living with such uncertainty has on young lives, as this film brings to life before our eyes the dry statistics about how children's education, their physical and mental health, and their future chances in life all suffer as a result of homelessness and eviction. Record numbers of low-income tenants are being evicted by private landlords. As a result over 80,000 children are now living in temporary housing in the UK, three quarters of them in London. This sensitive film brings home just how destructive that experience can be.
#5 - Undercover in Tibet
Dispatches - Season 2008 - Episode 12
Tibetan exile Tash Despa returns to the homeland he risked his life escaping from to carry out secret filming with the award-winning, Bafta-nominated director Jezza Neumann.
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