The reconstruction of Afghanistan, the pacification of Rio de Janeiro, the melting of Greenland, and modern day slavery — these are just few of the stories being told in the second season of HBO’s “Vice.”
The immersive documentary filmmaking, produced by Bill Maher, was created and is hosted by Shane Smith of the Brooklyn-based company Vice Media.
“The headlines aren’t just headlines, the news is not just a moment in time — these stories are real. The world is changing,” said producer and Vice Media chief creative officer Eddy Moretti at the season two premiere and party at L.A.’s El Rey Thursday.
Newly-minted Oscar winner Spike Jonze, the creative director of VBS.tv, an online television network owned by Vice, and later absorbed into VICE.com, told Variety: “These first two episodes, they are stories that I want to know about. I’m curious, and proud of Eddy, Shane, and Brendan and everybody that have made it. They’ve only got better with season two.”
“I think they are getting better at pre-production, they are getting better at research, getting more patient with finding the people to tell these stories before they go there — therefore (the stories) are just getting richer,” Jonze said.
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“Vice” welcomes new correspondents to the season, including Fazeelat Aslam, Gelareh Kiazand and Ben Anderson to allow for a greater breadth of subject matter, and a chance for new stories to be told.
The goal of “Vice” is not to educate, but it’s to make people care.
“It’s happening. These stories are real, they’re alive, they’re not just some report. This is about trying to bring these stories to life, so you feel emotionally involved,” Moretti said.
Season two of “Vice” premieres March 14th at 11 p.m. on HBO.
