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The US filmmaker Nathan Truesdell specialises in deploying archival footage to shine a light on local government incompetence and malfeasance – often to droll, tragicomic effect. For his most recent film, When the LAPD Blows Up Your Neighborhood, he trains his pointed editing skills on an incident from 30 June 2021 in which the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad detonated some 42 pounds of confiscated fireworks in a residential, working-class neighbourhood. The resulting explosion destroyed the armoured vehicle intended to contain it, injuring 17 and badly damaging many nearby homes. Weaving together local news reports and footage from press conferences, Truesdell untangles the web of carelessness and incompetence that led to the explosion, as well as the lack of accountability and inadequate response that followed.
Director: Nathan Truesdell
Producers: Will Lennon, Kat Nguyen
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Ecology and environmental sciences
GPS tracking reveals stunning insights into the patterns of migratory birds
6 minutes
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Human rights and justice
Can providing humanitarian aid be illegal? A troubling case from the US-Mexico border
17 minutes
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Space exploration
The rarely told story of the fruit flies, primates and canines that preceded us in space
12 minutes
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Film and visual culture
A lush animated opus evokes the frenzied pace of modern life
4 minutes
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Family life
The precious family keepsakes that hold meaning for generations
10 minutes
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Archaeology
What did the first people who entered Tutankhamun’s tomb see?
5 minutes
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Information and communication
Coverage of the ‘balloon boy’ hoax forms a withering indictment of for-profit news
17 minutes
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Childhood and adolescence
Marmar is living through a devastating war – but she’d rather tell you about her new dress
8 minutes
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Computing and artificial intelligence
The ‘cloud’ requires heaps of energy to stay aloft. Could synthetic DNA be the answer?
12 minutes