Migingo: The Iron-clad Island

Prisoners of a psychiatric ward. They are criminal offenders suffering from mental disorders. Can art therapy relieve their troubled souls and minds? Artist Alexandr Semyonov gives them a chance to change and get better. 

As a transsexual, Yury Ovodov or "Julia" believes that he is actually a woman, and his decision to act the part has alienated his family and stunted his career prospects. However, he claims that he wouldn't be able to live with himself as a male. RTd follows a person trapped between two identities as he seeks acceptance, both from his community and from himself.

At the age of 15, Oleg and Polina have to get used to the adult responsibilities of parenthood. To help them adapt to their new life, Yulia steps in, a foster mother who has brought up 7 children and now hopes to make a difference for these young people and their baby daughter. She soon learns though that old habits die hard, and working through what they learned at the orphanage is a challenge.

In Russian prison colonies inmates often receive an education, sometimes specializing in a completely new profession. For a few, their talents manifest i n ways they would never have realized in the days before they wore prison clothing. 

Recently, the German city of Cologne made the news for a string of attacks against women that many blamed on migrants. The deepening refugee crisis is polarising German society. Still, no social tensions can stop the sweet celebration of Cologne’s famous Carnival, even if this year’s also came with a bitter pill. 

Guns have historically been a distinct feature of American life, but school shootings that have become more frequent recently have raised a question whether the US government should ban people from keeping guns at home.

These women are not ashamed of their appearance – on the contrary, they live happy lives and are proud of what they have achieved. They are called little ladies, but the life they lead is full of big accomplishments and great events. We meet two little ladies to hear their stories.

When people are released from jail they have nowhere to live, no jobs and no opportunities to start over, so they are in danger of ending up behind bars again. Having been in their shoes once, Yury Potapenko knows just how much they need another chance and gives them one.

They joined the army driven by a desire to serve their country and its people. However, the wars they were sent to made them re-evaluate everything they believed in. Now, US veterans are trying to come to terms with their past and learn how to live among civilians again.  It turns out, they’ve no one to rely on but each other.

For some people, the so-called ‘Tower of David’ is just an unfinished skyscraper. For others, it’s an asylum for robbers and murderers. About 800 families call this place home. RTD presents a film about people that live in this tower.

Alyona felt unfulfilled with her respectable city job, so she dropped everything to live in a rural village community which had been established for abandoned children. How does the village purport to save children's souls? Can it save hers?

Kosovo, with NATO’s help, won independence from Serbia in 1999. In 2014 Serbia opened its borders with the young republic allowing tens of thousands of migrants to leave Kosovo for Europe. Disenchanted Kosovars hoped to escape poverty and unemployment  by seeking better lives abroad for themselves and their children. The massed departure has come to be known as “the Exodus”.

Cossack troops return to France 200 years after the Napoleonic wars were over. They'll show traditional riding tricks, wield swords while on horseback and perform other spectacular stunts, but no bloodshed or wounded people this time, just fun and games. 

Karina, who calls herself a living Barbie doll, enjoys a glamorous, carefree lifestyle. She believes she is envied and looked up to by most young women. And her whole life is coloured pink.

Two decades since collapse of the Soviet Union many former republics are still in many ways parts of Russia. Uzbekistan and Tajikistan's economic situations are so troubled that their residents are forced to flock to Russia to earn some money. 

The shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, unleashed a wave of mass protests that shook the whole of the United States. His death was the catalyst that set off an already highly explosive atmosphere in the town. RTD visits Ferguson to hear what its residents have to say about the issues in their community.

An estimated 290,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide in 20 years. Small farms used to be the country’s economic backbone but now, owners struggle to make even a meagre profit and drown in debt. For some, the pressure is too much. Many blame GMO cotton for the failing farms, having cornered the market and replaced organic crops; they have failed to live up to expectations.

A Tokal is an additional wife in a polygamous Kazakh marriage. Only a decade ago, to have a tokal in Kazakhstan was considered shameful. Nowadays though, polygamy is gaining popularity throughout the country, becoming a more common-place and accepted practice.

When the local men prove to be too unreliable in a small Russian village, it's up to the women to take control, doing everything from administrating the community to running one of the local dairy farms. 

Never has homelessness in America's biggest city been more of a problem, and yet more than ever, the homeless are being treated like criminals. Hear from New Yorkers who have no place to call home.