Al Jazeera World

Against the backdrop of one of Morocco’s most remote areas, hope for the next generation of rural children comes in the shape of three dedicated teachers – dubbed the "women in the wind". Teachers around the world face significant challenges every day, from having to discipline students to dealing with a lack of resources. But the three Moroccan women in this documentary - Maryame, Salma and Bouchra - also have to contend with isolation, physical hardship, sexual harassment and separation from family. They are all primary school teachers who have been posted to cut-off rural villages to address the country's educational needs. Far away from the towns and cities where they grew up, life is lonely as they miss loved ones and have few home comforts. Despite this, the women try to remain positive. The Moroccan government has introduced reforms but school dropout rates remain high, particularly among girls in these isolated areas.

Marriages of convenience, or sham weddings, are an illegal way of obtaining residency and citizenship in Europe countries and elsewhere. This film meets men and women who marry - or plan to marry - people they hardly know, with the sole objective of obtaining European residency for one of them. These deals can sometimes cost one of the "partners" as much as 15,000 euros ($18,100) with no guarantee of citizenship in return. A so-called "white marriage" is where both parties willingly participate in fraud but stay together. But in what are called "grey marriages", the whole venture is a charade in which one party not only plays the system but also deceives the other, often with shattering consequences. Despite the risks, some see sham marriages as a less dangerous form of migration than crossing the sea in a rubber dingy. In this film, we meet six characters who have either been involved in a "grey marriage" already - and suffered the shock and humiliation of being deceived - or who are planning to use marriage as a means to a better future.

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Volcanic eruptions, large-scale destruction, seismic movements and emergency evacuation - are all constant threats to the three million people who live near the world's most dangerous active volcano, Mount Vesuvius, near Naples, Italy. The 800,000 who live in the "red zone" in the immediate vicinity of the volcano are at even greater risk. Mount Vesuvius has not erupted since 1944, but many volcanologists say a new explosion is due. In this documentary, we meet local people who, far from living in fear, embrace life in the red zone and would not live anywhere else. While some are understandably nervous, farmers and gardeners love the rich soil and the quality produce, while winemakers make a good living. Others are so attached to the volcano that they miss it when they go away, and a supportive community has formed in the high-risk area. This film reveals the human side of volcanic seismology and captures the contradictions and complexities of living in the shadow of what some locals call "a monster".

Cafés and thickly brewed Arabic coffee have often been at the heart of literary, artistic and political change in the Arab world practically from the beginning. Arab cafés are meeting places, watering holes, smoking dens, board game venues, hubs of conversation, political chatrooms - or simply somewhere to pass the time. Some attract business people, others attract journalists, traders, actors or artists - but each has its own character and feel. This programme visits iconic cafés in four major Arab cities - Marrakesh, Cairo, Algiers and Hebron - and listens to the stories of the wide array of customers that frequent them.

Ismael El Ouali is a barber and fan of Moroccan film star Rachid El Ouali, no relation. Ismael not only adopted his hero’s name but also made it his mission to go and meet him. Palestinians Mahmoud Afana and Mohammed Qassim are childhood friends who performed in school plays and now run a sweets shop to subsidise their passion for filmmaking. Youssef Benkaddour is a security guard so in love with Bollywood that he watches at least three films a day. Azizz Oubiye was a clerk and actor in 2013 when his young son, Yazid, was diagnosed with leukaemia. The boy suggested his dad should make a film and so My Bird in Heaven is the touching story of the life and death of his young child. These five characters would all like to make it in the filmmaking world - but equally important is their desire to repay the faith others have shown in them. They all share a hope that any modest rewards they gain might be just around the corner, inshallah.

Tribes, wars, colonisation, empire, rebellion, independence and reconstruction - this is the compelling history of the Gulf state of Oman, from the 16th century to the present day. Oman began as a trading nation but was then colonised by the Portuguese. Local Omani leaders later expelled the Europeans and went on to use their own powerful navy to build an empire that, at its peak, stretched from the Arabian Gulf halfway down the coast of East Africa. But the British then arrived in the region and used their own considerable naval power to gain control of the Gulf route to India. The plot then thickened as Britain’s deals with the sheikhs on the northern coast caused them to separate from Oman itself - and ultimately led to these Trucial States forming the UAE a century later. Oman played an important role in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and is sometimes known as "the Switzerland of the Gulf" because of its neutrality. This documentary takes us up to the death of Sultan Qaboos in 2020, his succession by Sultan Haitham and the appointment of the new Crown Prince of Oman in January 2021.

When Spanish director Paula Palacios embarks on a road trip across Spain to uncover her roots, she discovers her own Muslim past and a very different version of history to the one she learned at school. Her journey pieces together a centuries-old jigsaw and the largely untold story of Christian Spaniards of Muslim origin. In 1502, shortly after the fall of the last Muslim state in the Iberian Peninsula, Muslims in Spain faced a stark choice: convert to Christianity or be exiled to northwest Africa. Those who stayed formed a new social class, Christians of Muslim origin, known as the Moriscos. In 1609, however, a royal decree demanded that the Moriscos be expelled completely. Palacios' trip takes her across Spain where she talks to archaeologists, historians, architects and anthropologists, as well as descendants of the Moriscos. She discovers solid clues that suggest that thousands of Moriscos had indeed remained in Spain, backed up by modern historians who contend that many had lived quietly under the radar. She also gathers compelling circumstantial evidence that her own family are direct descendants of the Moriscos. Palacios' story is an informative modern-day odyssey with deep historical roots which casts a surprising light on ancient history.

In mid-2020, a mobile phone belonging to an Al Jazeera Arabic investigative team was hacked. Over the next few months, reporter Tamer Almisshal and the Canadian research group Citizen Lab investigated Pegasus, the sophisticated spyware used. Pegasus is manufactured by an Israeli technology company called the NSO Group and is among the most advanced spyware in the world. It can access and infiltrate a smartphone without the owner clicking a link, opening an email or even answering their phone - meaning it can go undetected. This investigation exposes how Pegasus works, how governments like Saudi Arabia and the UAE have bought the hugely expensive spyware and how it has been used beyond the stated intentions of the NSO Group of “developing technology to prevent and investigate terror and crime” - including to target journalists.

In European cities, young people of Arab descent often see themselves as socially, economically and culturally excluded from their immediate environment. In some cases, they are also vulnerable to radicalisation. In Belgium, the densely populated Brussels suburb of Molenbeek is home to 100,000 residents, many of them first and second-generation immigrants. It gained notoriety in 2015 as the home of some of the Bataclan attackers in Paris. In Sweden, Muslims in the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby say that authorities have abandoned them, leaving them vulnerable to far-right racist attacks, while police dismiss suggestions that they have failed to protect immigrants. And in Denmark, in the Copenhagen suburb of Norrebro, communities speak of a social hierarchy that places Danes at the top of the socioeconomic ladder and Arabs at the bottom. In The Other Face Of Europe, we visit these three cities to get an insight into the issues and to hear directly from those living with it every day: radicalised young people, criminal gang members, fighters returning from Syria and their families, as well as politicians, experts, psychologists, social workers and security officers. What is at the root of youth radicalisation in these communities? And how do significant influences at play - such as right-wing anti-immigrant politics, negative media coverage and social deprivation in the poor suburbs of relatively prosperous cities - deepen these tensions?

This film tells the stories of four songs that date back to early and mid-20th century Palestine and Jordan. They reflect Palestinian cultural heritage and the diaspora’s strong desire to return to a homeland they were forced out of in 1948. They all contain snapshots of the time and place in which they were written – from the British Mandate to 1950s Jordan to Palestinians living abroad today. The song To Ramallah was written and produced for Jordan Radio in the 1950s and has evolved to become a favourite among Palestinians abroad who are yearning to return to the city. To My Mother was a poem written by Mahmoud Darwish while he was incarcerated in prison in Ramla. Sometimes seen as a metaphor for the Palestinian predicament, the words were later put to music by the Lebanese composer Marcel Khalife. Tall Handsome Man is the oldest of the four songs and dates back to the British Mandate in Palestine. The story goes that when villages suffered attacks from local intruders, a tall handsome carpenter used his wages to buy rifles to protect his village. Finally, the song Ghoubaishy is set in British-ruled eastern Jordan in the early 1940s and tells the story of the daring Ghoubaishy, who elopes with Hassna to the disapproval of her family. Ghoubaishy defends his love in a song of bravery and true romance.

Samir Kassir, a Lebanese journalist, academic and political activist, paid the ultimate price for his work when he was killed by a car bomb outside his Beirut home in 2005. While accusations, speculation and denials followed his death, it was clear that Kassir's critical voice had drawn the ire of big power players in Lebanon. This documentary tells the story of the infamous murder while also exposing some of the politics that define Lebanon, both then and now. Lebanon saw a particularly bloody year in 2005. On February 14, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, an opponent of Syria’s 30-year presence in Lebanon, was assassinated in a car bomb in Beirut. His death triggered huge public protest, which led to Syria withdrawing all its troops in April 2005. Among the many who were outraged at the assassination was Kassir. Just months later, after a regular phone call with a French reporter, Kassir got into his car to go about his work. Seconds after he started the engine of his silver Alfa Romeo, explosives detonated. He was killed instantly. Nobody has ever been charged or convicted for Kassir’s murder. Rumours and speculation are plentiful but hard facts are in short supply.

We are what we eat. In this film, we embark on a culinary journey and dig into the hidden history of four favourite foods - from Andalusia to the Levant. Travelling through Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, we seek out their true origins and discover what they tell us about the cultures that created them. Paella dates back to the Umayyad Caliphate in Spain - from 661 to 750 CE - and derives its name from the Arabic word "ba-iya" meaning "leftovers". While the rulers enjoyed the finest seafood banquets, the servants took whatever remained, mixed it with rice in a large metal pan and shared it around the town. Zgougou assidat is a 19th-century Tunisian dessert created during a time of famine. Jordan’s national dish Mansaf, meaning "large platter", has its roots in Bedouin culture. Fattoush is a well-known salad made with toasted Arabic flatbread, tomatoes and radishes, claimed by the Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians. But its likely origins can be traced to a single family in one place: Zahle in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

In October 1973, Israel and Egypt were on the brink of war. Egypt wanted to regain territory in Sinai lost in 1967 and thought that surprise might give them the edge. But somehow, Israel knew an attack was imminent. Egyptian businessman Ashraf Marwan was already feeding Israel valuable intelligence. He told the Israelis when Egypt would attack: at sunset on October 6, the Jewish Day of Atonement. As it happened, he was off by a few hours. Egypt did take Israel by surprise in what became a 19-day war that saw Sinai regained, along with a large amount of national pride. What part did Ashraf Marwan really play in this Arab-Israeli drama? Was he a spy, a double agent - or just an untrustworthy opportunist? And why did he die in mysterious circumstances in London 34 years later? Ashraf Marwan was well connected and married to the daughter of former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. He was reported to have amassed his fortune brokering arms deals and is described as a diplomat, businessman, government minister, adviser and spy. He was thought to have originally offered his services to the Israeli embassy in London in 1970. Then, after a series of secret meetings and phone calls involving pre-arranged code words, came his alleged tip-off to the Israelis before the October War. Double agent or not, Marwan’s complicated life came to an end on a summer afternoon in June 2007 when his body was found in the rose garden of the London apartment block where he lived. His death remains a mystery and his wife and two sons are still seeking answers. This documentary shares his story.