Karen O'Connor

Joan Baez: I Am a Noise

Since her debut at the age of 18, musician, civil rights campaigner and activist Joan Baez has been on stage for over 60 years. For the now 82-year-old, the personal has always been political, and her friendship with Martin Luther King and her pacifism have shaped her commitment. In this biography that opens with her farewell tour, Baez takes stock in an unsparing fashion and confronts sometimes painful memories.

Growing Up Trans

Just a generation ago, it was adults, not kids, who changed genders. But today, many children are transitioning, too—with new medical options, and at younger and younger ages. Told from the perspective of parents, doctors, and, most revealing of all, the kids themselves, the documentary takes a powerful look at this new generation, exploring the medical possibilities, struggles and choices transgender kids and their families face today.

The Released

Frontline examines the lives of mentally ill repeat offender who are struggling to make a life for themselves outside of prison.

The Boys from Baghdad High

During 2006-07, four students keep a video diary of their final year at Tariq bin Ziad High School in Baghdad. As violence escalates, the four prepare to take the National Exams they must pass in June to secure their diploma. They are Ali, a Kurd, Anmar, a Christian who starts the school year not having heard from his girlfriend for a few days, and a Shia and a Sunni - Hayder, a rap poet and songwriter, and Mohammad, fatherless, living with his mother and extended family. Amid explosions, gunfire, and power outages, they study, wrestle, play games, listen to music, dance, and talk boy talk. Mid-year, one moves north, safe but bored. Will they pass their exams? Will they live?

Death Metal Murders

Murder, rape, satanism and necrophilia is the staple diet of millions of teenagers who listen to the lyrics of extreme heavy metal music. This World investigates the potential links between "death metal" and a series of gruesome crimes around the world. In Italy a group of young death metal fans formed a satanic cult called the Beasts of Satan. At least four gruesome killings resulted. But death metal musicians deny that they have any responsibility for the actions of people who profess to be their fans. With exclusive access to the families, one of the killers and graphic police footage, the film tells the inside story for the first time. We hear from the musicians, the children and the parents from Oslo to California and ask just how far can music go in its ability to shock, and just how damaging might it be?

The New Asylums

There are nearly half a million mentally ill people serving time in America's prisons and jails.

The Killer at Thurston High

In May 1998, a year before the massacre at Columbine High, 15-year-old Kip Kinkel murdered his mother and father, and then opened fire at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, killing two fellow students and wounding 25 others. In this first in-depth television examination of a school shooter, FRONTLINE reveals the intimate inside story of how the “shy and likeable” Kip Kinkel from a solid middle-class family became the boy police call “a cold-hearted killer.”