Rooting for Roona
Channel: Netflix South Africa
TX Time: 10h00
Genre: Documentary
In rural India, a child with hydrocephalus gets a chance at life-changing surgery after her photos go viral. This documentary charts her journey.
Rooting for Roona is a documentary that fights for the health of the Indian child and captures the incredible story of baby Roona Begum.
Tucked away in a neglected corner of the North East of India, Roona suffered from hydrocephalus, a birth defect caused by build-up of fluid in the brain leading to massive swelling of the head.
Her parents Abdul and Fatema, who lead a hand-to-mouth existence, struggled to cope and understand what ailed their daughter.
Their trips to state level government hospitals were in vain because these hospitals were poorly equipped to treat her.
With no means to travel beyond their home state of Tripura, Abdul and Fatema were resigned to their daughter's tragic fate.
Her fate changed when a photo-journalist in Roona's hometown took a photo of her. Overnight, this powerful photograph went viral globally.
It triggered an amazing chain of events that eventually resulted in Roona being admitted to one of India's premier private hospitals in the nation's capital New Delhi.
Headlines across the world celebrated her journey to, hopefully, a more healthy life. Then the media frenzy settled down and the world moved on.
In spite of the care and intervention she received, Roona lost her battle for a healthy life on Sunday, 18th June 2017.
She developed unexpected breathing issues and passed away at home just a month before she was scheduled to have the final surgery that might have enabled her to walk.
This film gives voice to the fight for the health of the Indian child.
Rooting for Roona is a story of struggle, survival and hope that urges audiences to invest in the most important part of our world – the child.
Ghosts of Morgan City
Channel: Travel Channel (DStv 179)
TX Time: 22h05
Genre: Paranormal, Docu-Reality
Morgan City, Louisiana, is experiencing an especially troubling spike of unusual emergency calls - unexplained encounters with the ghosts of the bayou city's turbulent past that are frightening its citizens.
In Ghosts of Morgan City, Police Chief James "Bo" Blair is now looking to his colleague from another jurisdiction for assistance.
Chief Blair learns that paranormal activity in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, has quieted down since that town's police chief, Mike King, worked with a specialty team to solve a rash of hauntings last year.
In search of advice, Chief Blair contacts Chief King, eventually following his lead and recruiting local paranormal investigator Jereme Leonard, who teams up with former FBI agent Ben Hansen and "psychic medium" Sarah Lemos to look into the incidents.
In each of the eight one-hour episodes, the paranormal team attempts to figure out what's causing the recent uptick of bizarre activity by looking for patterns and clues in the new cases they investigate.
With help from local historian Diane Wiltz, the team digs up the disturbing history associated with the area and begins crossing-over some of the restless spirits wreaking havoc on the small community.
When they learn from Morgan City Mayor Frank "Boo" Grizzaffi that the hauntings have spread throughout the parish, the team begins working with the police departments of Patterson, Berwick and Franklin to uncover the truth behind the ghostly infestation of St. Mary Parish.
In the series premiere, "The Mist": Paranormal investigators are called by the Morgan City, Louisiana, police department to the site of a shapeshifting mist near the town's lake.
Alarm is raised when the mayor reports the hauntings have spread throughout St. Mary Parish.
Utatakho 7
Channel: Mzansi Wethu (DStv 163)
TX Time: 19h00
Genre: Reality, Docu-Reality
In Season 7, Nimrod Nkosi is once again helping people track down their fathers and reuniting long-lost family members.
In the season premiere, we meet Mabuyi Ntuli.
Mabuyi grew up knowing her mother could have cheated with a man from the Ntuli family - a man who happens to share the same surname as the father of her children.
Will she finally know where she belongs?
TVSA Show Page: Utatakho 7
Mountain Men 9
Channel: HISTORY (DStv 186)
TX Time: 20h15
Genre: Docu-Reality
Winter in the North American wilderness cannot be conquered. At best, it is endured. And only by those who will fight tooth and nail for the privilege of survival.
Winter after bone-chilling winter, the Mountain Men have relied on ingenuity, tenacity and determination to weather the worst that the elements could bring to bear.
But this season, that cold-forged mettle will be tested like never before.
As early winter sweeps the continent, pockets of unseasonable and record low temperatures descend on regions from Alaska to North Carolina.
For most, these arctic outbreaks mean slower morning commutes and snow days.
But for the men who carve their livelihood from the mountains, it means seized engines, frostbitten fingers and a day to day battle that won't let up until the thaw.
Freedom always comes at a price, and once a man chooses this life, there's no going back.
This winter, the young bloods and old hands alike must earn their wild existence against the worst odds that nature can stack against them.
May the best men live.
In the Season 9 premiere, "Freedom": As winter descends in the mountains, Jake's first lion hunt ends in a near-deadly dust up.
Also, Tom and Nancy face a surge in the local coyote population, Jason comes face to face with a marauding black bear and Mike fights predators on land and sea to secure some fish for the winter.
Meanwhile, Josh Kirk hunts down a deer for the larder.
Social Distance
Channel: Netflix South Africa
TX Time: 10h00 (all episodes)
Genre: Drama, Comedy-Drama
Filmed in isolation, this narrative anthology series features both dark and funny takes on how people strive to stay connected while staying apart.
Set in the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Social Distance is an eight-part anthology series that showcases the power of the human spirit in the face of uncertainty and isolation.
Each standalone episode is told through a virtual lens and captures the unique emotional experience of being forced apart by circumstance and having no choice but to communicate remotely and rely on technology to maintain any sense of connection.
Through these varied and deeply human stories, Social Distance aims to provide some much-needed catharsis during a tumultuous time while also capturing a snapshot of this singular moment in history.
Featuring appearances from Danielle Brooks (Orange Is the New Black), Oscar Nuñez (The Office) and Mike Colter (Luke Cage).
Living the Dream with Somizi 4
Channel: Mzansi Wethu (DStv 163)
TX Time: 21h30
Genre: Docu-Reality
This season, Somizi has now settled into life as an engaged man. Juggling his busy life with a dash of humour, Somizi also prepares for his epic wedding with his fiancé, Mohale.
The planning stage for the wedding is in full swing and Somizi needs to figure out the right way to go about it traditionally, incorporating both cultures.
Also revealed is the level of compassion Somizi has for Palesa, the mother of his daughter, as well as his amusing antics with his friend TT.
This season also features celebrities such as Boity Thulo and Bonang Matheba.
TVSA Show Page: Living the Dream with Somizi 4