this is al jazeera america. i'm in new york with a look at today's top stories. traffic banned in new york city. severe flooding in new jersey, all of it caused by a crippling blizzard. we are still looking at the storm. even tomorrow we are looking at a lot of clean up happening. i will bring you more details of that copping up after this

plus lessons learned from the water crisis in flint, michigan. we will take a deeper look at government and american responsibility to keep american's drinking water safe. just over a week before the iowa caucuses, donald trump says not only committing a violent crime will turn away his supporters. we will tell you what crime he is talking about the blizzard of 2016 continues to hammer the east coast of the u.s. close to 80 million people are in the path of the storm that has dumped over 30 implyges of snow in some places. at least 17 people have died, mostly due to traffic-related accidents. over six thousand flights have been to and from and within the

u.s. the snow is not the only danger. in new jersey, high tides are causing major flooding and other traffic jams that have gone on for hour and hours in kentucky. john terrett is in washington dc. first we will go to our correspondent in manhattan where a travel ban is in effect and the snow continues to fall. >> reporter: people are out on the streets tonight. cars are not allowed. people would be facing arrest. the city is getting pummelled. as you can see, like other major cities, washington dc, baltimore and fill delicatessen fee aincluded and it doesn't look like it will let up any time soon - philadelphia. >> reporter: the smart thing to do is to get away from any place that you're at. >> reporter: in the new york

area the message was clear. go home. >> no-one wants to have to arrest people, but we will take any measures necessary to keep our roads clear in the middle of this emergency. >> reporter: commuter rail rhodes and subways are not running. many people showed up at new york station with nowhere to go >> i foolishly did not check the internet beforehand. i'm standing here figuring out what i'm going to do. >> reporter: hundreds of people lined up to see broadway shows only to find out later that all performances were cancelled. local and city officials up and down the eastern seaboard urged residents to stay home and stay safe as heavy snow and winds pummelled the region.

there is already major flooding along the new jersey and dellaware coasts. the flood warnings remain in effect until noon, but chris christie says the worst may be over. >> the information from the national weather service as of now is that the high tide tonight will be less significant thankers and tomorrow's will be less than today. >> reporter: hundreds of thousands of people lost power. heavy snow brought traffic in kentucky to a standstill trapping hundreds of drivers for hours >> it is very windy. you never imagine yourself being out here for five hours. >> reporter: people came to their aid with supplies while the drivers waited to be dug out. here in new york city with the full travel ban in effect since the afternoon, many headed to the hills and central park for

shredding and the streets for cross country skiing. >> reporter: it is fun for some people who don't have to go to work, who still have electricity and are safe at home or in new york city here with some of the streets ploughed already. it is still pum peling the city and it will for hours. it's the third largest snow storm in the city's history we see that folks appear to be owe baying the travel ban, at least for the most part. what is next for new york? when do you think things might return to some semblance of nor normalacy? >> reporter: it is unclear. everything is not rung. you're not allowed to-- running. you're not allowed to be driving on the streets. the streets belong to e mfs and snow ploughs.

they're not saying when it will be lifted. we won't know until the early morning hours at least you for that. now to washington dc. >> reporter: hello. you know that it has been snowing here since about 1.15 eastern time yesterday, friday, and it's still snowing. i'm just checking to see. i think it is beginning to slowdown a little bit here in washington dc, but remember while we're talking about-- why we're talking about this is not just because it's so big, but it affects the greatest number of people in the whole of the u.s. more of us live between washington dc and boston than anywhere else. we have pictures to show you about what has been happening here today. people out and about, some of them being very brave and enjoying the cold and the very, very stiff winds that we've had, and a lot of people have been

coming to the areas that you're all very familiar with in washington dc, and to be honest with you, the mayor has not welcomed their presence terribly much because the mayor gave a press conference a short time ago and said you've got to remember this might look very well beautiful, particularly around places like the white house and the capital, but it is still a very, very dangerous storm. here is more of how she put it. >> the visibility is poor and you cannot be seen. there are too many people on the streets, both driving and walking. we need you to stay home. this is an emergency event and we are very much still in our emergency response phase. please stay home. >> reporter: now, that being said, of course, there are far, far fewer people on the streets than there would be on any other

saturday night at any other pint in the year-- point in the year. the question is how are they going to get rid of all this snow because there is an awful lot of it. at least two feet on the ground here in the down town district. the head of homeland security for the district also spoke at that same news conference and he said we're got going to begin assessing how to do to the clean up until it stops >> the storm is still happening. we are still in that timeframe when real bad things can happen. once we get past this phase, once the storm stops and the winds calm, that's when we will look at how we will clean the city up, do our damage assessment, do the things that we need to do to get to the recovery phase to get all the snow out of the district. >> reporter: there is no

municipal bus service, the rail has closed down and it is unlikely to start until tomorrow morning. they're keeping the trains warm in the tunnels where it is about 30 degrees warmer than it is above ground. the hope is that when they can bring them back out, presumably late tomorrow night, late sunday or early monday hour, ready for the rush hour, they will be ready to go. that's the theory at least it will be warm inside at least for the passengers. to kevin corvo with the forecast. >> reporter: in the last hour you mentioned how central park hit 21 inches. we have seen probably more snow than anybody ever expected with this particular storm. i want to show you the satellite image. the snow that was down to the south is beginning to pull up here towards the north, as well as the line here coming through

and new england is pulling south. we are seeing the storm system make it's way to the atlantic. notice these dark blue areas. that's where the heaviyest snow is. central park 21.1 inches. ken deairport-- kennedy airport, 7.7. 25.7 and 24 inchs. some locations, we're talking about 40 inches of snow. the warnings are still in place. we're talking really the blizzard warnings still in place. at least through the evening time and the overnight hours, we do think that they will be lifted a little bit earlier than what they are suggesting because the winds are calming down. i want to show you more of what that means. winds have to be over 35 miles per hour. we have seen that, visibility less than a quarter of a mile. look at what is outside of here of new york city, it has to last

more than three hours. we have hit that criteria. this is the satellite radar imagery. the warnings are in place in this area and the other big factor is a lot of flooding in the coastal regions, high tides come down and once the winds come down then the flood problems will be diminished as well thank you for that. a 17-year-old has been charged of a mass shooting that took place in canada on friday. the teen gunmen killed two brothers at a home before heading to lal - lal loche house. he went to a school and killed two people there. turning to the fight against i.s.i.l., vice president joe biden is busy shoring up the

u.s. alliance with turkey. the two countries are prepared with the military strategy to defeat i.s.i.l. if a political solution fails. syrian peace talks resume on monday in geneva. b ifshgs den condemned the kurdish workers party, a separatist group at work in turkey. he called the group a terror group, plain and simple, a threat to turkey like i.s.i.l. elections in haiti have been postponed after protesters calling the system rigged took to the streets once again. >> reporter: one opposition leader called it a victory for democracy, but on the streets here protesters were in no mood to celebrate. once again thousands marched to voice their anger. burning campaign posters, tours,

and-- tires and throwing rocks. they fear haiti is heading to a deepening political crisis. this protester told us it is time to form a transitional government and organise a fresh election. he said the people need to be part of that decision and in the end be victorious. this remains an extremely volatile situation. the protesters are turning up here. there are rocks being thrown, cs gas in the air. today was a victory for those protesters but clearly there is still a great unhappiness about this process. despite the protests and the delays, this man is confident he will be the man's president >> in two months i will win. >> reporter: a relative unknown, the 47-year-old was hand picked by the current president and he refers to himself as banana man because of his agricultural background. he topped the polls during the last vote and said he is the face of haiti's future

>> translation: it is true that six months ago nobody knew my name, but today the entire knows who the banana man is. they know me because my campaign team has done excellent work. >> reporter: opposition candidate called the first round of fighting a farce and refused to campaign in the run-off. there's now pressure from the international community for haiti to restore confidence in its electoral process, but time is running out. the president is supposed to step down in just over two weeks. what comes next remains unaccelerate. -- uncertain up next, lessons learned from the water crisis in flint, michigan. we take a look at government possibility. later, the crime donald trump says he could commit and still keep his loyal followers.

a major endorsement in the state for both hillary clinton and marco rubio.

the water crisis in flint michigan has raised questions about government responsibility and possible misconduct, but at its core is a bigger question concerning every community in america, how do you keep drinking water safe. tonight, we take a deeper look at flint and the warnings it holds for other communities around the country. emails released this week suggest that the situation there is the result of a delayed response to complaints of

led-contaminated water going back two years. in 2014 residents were without drinking water for ten days after a chemical spill in the river. many u.s. cities rely on water treatment systems that are decades old and are prone to issues. our correspondent looks at keeping america's drinking water safe. >> reporter: there really is no easy fix to improving flint's water crisis. poor state monitoring plays a huge part in this, but the city's infrastructure is also to blame. many of the pipes in town are more than 100 years old near the brink of bankruptcy. several years ago funding for maintenance and improechlt has not been-- improvement has not been easy to come by. newly elected mayor estimates that it would cost 1.35 billion dollars to fix it

>> we can't handle this. the states doesn't have the resources. we need federal assistance >> reporter: help is coming in the form of federal and state funds, but more funding will be needed. this isn't just a flint problem. other cities across the country have similar issues as it pertains to ageing infrastructure. flint, the fallout continues. the environmental protection agency regional administrator offered her resignation. two other officers were suspended in relation to the city's water switch. there have also been connections made to the water and an increase in the number of cases of legionnaires disease. this week the u.s. epa criticized the city's and state's handling over this crisis. chris snyder may go before members of congress to answer

questions about what is going on joining me now from detroit is the investigative reporter with the american civil liberties union and in washington dc eric olsson, director of health and environmental programs of the defense council. you broke the story about flint's dangerous drinking water. beyond flint, what does your reporting reveal about the infrastructure problems of america's water supply across the country? >> throughout america there is ageing water and suage infrastructure which consistently gets very low grades in terms of its condition-- sewage-- from the engineering groups, national engineering groups. basically it's failing, but because it is underground and people can't see it, it's somewhat of an out of sight out

of mind situation, but it's a growing issue. the bill to repair and replace all this ageing piping symptoms could be a trillion dollars or more according to some of the estimates i've seen it's sort of puzzling, but maybe it isn't, but you tell me: when you hear citizens complain about problems with their drinking water and they have scientific tests to prove something is wrong with the drinking water, why would officials, why would regulatory officials charged with keeping the water safe, why would they neglect something as critical appeared crucial as drinking-- and crucial as drinking water? >> there's a couple of different reasons. one is specific to flint and a group of other cities that were under the control of the financial manager.

they were put there because these cities and school districts are in bad financial shape and given complete control. in flint in order to save money, the decision was made to switch to the flint river when it became apparent that that decision was leading to these severe problems. the problem was that the michigan department of the environmental quality is also an extension of the same governor that had appointed the manager that was over flint. there was a conflict of interest going on there. there was no independent actorss. it was all the state essentially, but that was unique to flint. another issue is that there is very high motivation for municipalitys not to incur the expense of replacing these led service lines. a service line is what goes to

the water main running down the center of the street to the property bringing water inside the house. these service lines i've heard estimates that there may be 10 million of these service lines in america that should be replaced and the cost of doing that is immense. in a city is viewed to be out of alliance in terms of regulations on led levels, they have to start replacing these service lines that's a good place for us to take a pause with you. let's go to our guest mr olsson in washington. one of your previouslies jobs was an attorney with the environme environmental agency w what is the role of the authorities to protect the water supplies? >> they over see the states and the governments who are supposed to be responsible for making

sure that our water is safe, but what has happened is the epa has become afraid of its own shadow. it has been beaten up for being too aggressive in many cases, the budget has been slashed. so i think that they're somewhat reticent sometimes to take action, which is really unfortunate, and we see this constant pillaring of the epa starting to have effect. we would like to see them much stronger and aggressive. we think they dropped the ball here and we need to see more action of the federal epa overlooking the situation there were supposed to be chemicals used to keep water safe. >> cities are supposed to add a chemical to their water that coats the inside of the pipes

with a thin film. it's called a corrosion inhibitor. it doesn't eliminate the problem of eliminate the led service lines. we need to take care of those pipes, but in the meantime it's really important to use the corrosion control to coat the inside of the pipes to reduce the led leaching into the water as we have mentioned, one of the biggest obstacles of updating infrastructure is cost. a look at how much money it will take to make upgrades. >> reporter: in this restaurant nothing seems as unreliable these days as the water >> it has been happening lately. >> reporter: twice recently two of the city's water pumps suddenly shut down causing a drob in pressure making it easier for bacteria to seep into

cracked pipes. he has had to spend hundreds of dollars in water. >> something has to be done about it because it's a headache. >> reporter: this problem is not new. there have been at least 10 boiled water advisories in the last 10 years. nits >> if you've got a hundred year old infrastructure. >> reporter: the resources is the century old infrastructure. >> that's what we're seeing is the fraying of that session. when you don't invest and maintain it, at some point it comes back and bites you. >> reporter: the problem got worse after hurricane ka treen a-- katrina. >> all that water added weight and that breaks pipes.

that is tough on the infrastructure that you have. >> reporter: after the storm crews plugged some of the biggest leaks, but officially say the city still loses 40% of its drinking water each day. that can amount to 80 million gallons a day, enough to fill more than 100 olympic sized swimming pools. we asked an official why it is a mess >> we're at the end to survive on the infrastructure. it hasn't been touched in 60 years. we're touching it in sequence. >> reporter: along with turbines, the city plans to add water towers to keep the system pressurized in case of another outage. one company said it recommended upgrades years ago but nothing was done >> i think in the next two/two

and a half years it will be rebuilt. >> reporter: the improvements will come at a huge cost. three billion dollars. while the bulk of the money is coming from the federal government, more than 700 million is being passed on to customers. bills will increase 10% each year for the next six years. for this man it is a price he says he is willing to pay if the long-term fix means safer water and fewer interruptions back to our guests. what do you think it will take for cities to upgrade? >> it is important. it is like having a car that's 75 years old and never changing the oil or tours, never-- tires and doing maintenance.

you have to pay money in order to maintain something like your water infrastructure, the pipes underground, and if you don't pay for it now, you will pay a lot more later as we're seeing in flint with health problems, with contamination with bacteria and led, breaking water mains. we have a quarter of a million broken water mains in the u.s. every year now. we have to invest in the ongoing maintenance or we're going to have more problems just a couple of days ago the president spoke to the conference of mayors in washington dc promising them that federal money will be made available for municipal water agreements. >> we have secured funding which will be available at the end of next week.

that includes more than 80 million dollars for the state of michigan. our children should not have to be worried about the water they're drinking you heard the president promising 85 million dollars. the people weren't jumping up and down about that, were they? >> no. i think you said in your introduction how much that the mayor estimates it is going to cost to replace the damaged infrastructure there. 85 million, while it is appreciated, it is far short, terribly inadequate for what is needed. in terms of overall, my understanding is that since the 1970s the federal government has cut by about 75% the amount of money it gives to the states and through the states to the cities to pay for water infrastructure,

and you were talking about new orleans, they're will be going up 10% for the next six years. that's huge for a city that is poor. you cannot just expect to pay for the cost of these improvements, as the other guests said, these very necessary improvements. the money is not there to just fund it. totally on the backs of rate pairs. it's not there - rate payers, especially in poor communities i would be remiss if i did not give you an opportunity, based on your reporting who did you find to have responsibility if not blame for what happened in flint? >> ultimately it rests with the governor. the governor is the person who

pushed through this extreme emergency law which led to a position being put in place, democracy taken away, and as a result of that this short sighted decision to try to save a relatively small amount of money by switching to this river water which was not suitable to be used and then not used the necessary corrosion control, all of that was an australia territory-- austerity program. he is responsible for this we understand one official in epa, the director, resigned, praum bli because of-- presumably because of lack of action on this issue. >> yes, absolutely. there was an epa employee who had been writing memos and blowing the whistle on this

problem back earlier last year. that was really swept under the rug. so i think that there is some responsibilities at the federal epa. there should have been much more aggressive adds over seeing it. we petitioned the epa at the beginning of october to issue this emergency order that they finally issued at the end of last week. the federal epa is remiss here, but i think fundamentally the state government needs to bear the line share of the responsibilities thank you very much to my guests, talking to us about the nation's water system and what needs to be done to fix it >> >> thank you. >> thank you coming up we're nine days away from the first votes in this year's presidential election, and donald trump says there is nothing he can do to lose support from his loyal followers, even if he commits a violent crime.

the story next. >> reporter: coming up next a look at the blizzard of 2016. millions are affected and the storm continues to pum el the east coast. >> reporter: i'm in washington dc where the snow is still coming down after 30 hours after it first started. that and more coming up next.

it's the blizzard of a generation and it does not appear to be letting up. three feet of snow has dropped on the east coast so far. 80 million people affected by the se vary weather. at least 18 deaths have been reported. travellers are stranded from highways in kentucky and . our coverage continues tonight. live in washington dc standing with more than two feet of snow around him. first going to new york city and our correspondent where the snow does not appear to be letting up, but maybe your light is - there we go. we see you now. go ahead. how is new york dealing with this travel ban? >> reporter: well, some people are outside. now, if you walk out just for a little while, it's okay, but

within five minutes you get pummelled by the storm. there are emergency vehicles out on the street. the station is completely closed. no trains to any of the major cities. also being pummelled by the storm. we're hearing from the mayor that the travel ban will be lifted tomorrow at 7 a m. the regular cars will be able to go back on the streets without arrest. the only way to go around the city is on foot. there are no bus services, no train service. there's no over head subway. there are some ways to get through on bridges, but you can't drive. subways aren't above ground. mayor has told people to stay home and that's what many people are doing. a lot of people are the street kind of enjoying the weather

of course no taxis and uber either. we're looking at more snow as we can see right now. when do forecasters say it will be letting up? >> reporter: it's interesting because weather forecasters said that the storm just took a little bit of a turn towards new york and then it just hit us really hard. it doubled already what they originally for cast for new york. it seems like it will clear up over night. you have high tides and you've got a full moon. you've got coastal areas, all of new jersey, there are flood warnings there. this morning's high tide put the towns understand icy water. it has been high tide for the last hour. we will see what's happening in the next few hours going to the national's

capital now. >> reporter: thank you. 31 is the key number. i know that's not my age, but i can see why you might make that mistake. 31 is the number of hours it has been snowing in this city. no sign of it slowing down. i'm lying slightly. it is showing signs of slowing down. it's not half as heavy as it was earlier today and late last night, but it is still snowing and that's the point. we have pictures to show you. we will roll the slow motion time laps of the white house. it is beautiful when you look at it and it's never more beautiful than when it is surrounded by snow. you can see the snow gradually developing around this beautiful building. then apart from the white house, at washington dc we have had lots of people out on the streets today. we have pictures of people who

came out to enjoy this snow event, and why wouldn't they because it's a beautiful city. we've had a lot of snow which has made it look radically different to the way it does on any other given day of the year. they incurred the wrath of the mayor. she gave a news conference this afternoon and said to please go indoors and stay indoors because it is a very dangerous storm. it is because 12 people have lost their lives over the whole stretch of this storm. the department of home security is saying you should stay indoors because we're not thinking about how we clear this snow up until it stops. it is still snowing at the moment. i think we have other pictures as well of people enjoying themselves in the snow. you can see what it has been like here in washington dc. the weirdest thing of all, the

take away from this situation, is how this city is. some people out and about but nothing like on a normal saturday thank you for that. now to our meterologist who tells us about the look ahead. >> reporter: we still have an evening to go through for this area. it's still going to bring, depending where you are, it could bring another two inches or six inches. we do have some pictures that have come from from our viewers. here in central park they took advantage of this. a picture on the upper west side. people got their sleds. you will notice that down here towards this area, especially virginia, it is clearing out. john was right where my finger is and snow is ending just to

the south. it is starting to push towards the south. the reinbeing is the area of low pressure where the storm is located is right here. it is making its way to the north and it's going to be pulling away from the coastline. until it is far enough away, a problem is going to be tomorrow by the time we get to 9 o'clock in the morning, most of the city's in the area are going to be not seeing any more snow. most of the warnings will have been dropped in this particular region. i want to show you the temperatures. this is one thing that has been good with this storm. we haven't seen the extremely cold temperatures. new york right now is 25, washington 27, but when the winds pick up, in some area boston feels more like minus 4. we are dealing with those winds and that is a problem with the

flooding along the coastal regions. over the next couple of hours those winds, as we go through the morning timeframe, really begin to drop down. that means the flooding situation will drop as well. the blizzard conditions will also drop. looking at the forecast from pliladelphia more snow. it will be 22 degrees here in the morning and the high will be about 24 the iowa caucus just nine days away, the voluntariesers will be the first in the country to show their presidential preference. hillary clinton got a boost today. she was endorsed by the demoine register. on the republican side the newspaper gave the nod to marco rubio. former new york city mayor michael bloomburg may have

presidential ambitions. the new york times has asked his advisers to draw up plans for an independent candidacy. sources close to the former mayor say he is most likely to run if donald trump and bernie sanders are nominated by their parties. bloomberg apparently will make his decision by march. donald trump known for his over the top statements made another one today. here is donald trump at a rally in soux city iowa talking about the loyalty of his followers even if he were to commit a violent crime. >> they say i have the most loyal people. did you ever see that? i could stands in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody and i wouldn't lose anyone. that's incredible he is heading the run against ted cruz. they are running for the top office of two countries.

they have very different rhetoric and visions of where the country is and where it needs to go. al jazeera's correspondent spoke with a political expert who says that indicates the parties may be more partisan than ever >> i believe we can stand up and restore our promise. >> reporter: it's a given in any presidential campaign, losty ads with pretty pictures of america evoking patriotism. but what america are we talking about? the democratic america? >> i'm going to build on the progress we've made >> reporter: or the republican america? >> our freedom is under attack, our economy is under water >> reporter: it sounds like they're running for president of two different countries. >> in some sense i think the republicans and the democrats are running for presidents in two different countries. the country is very polarized

politically, not just in terms of part sonship but in other things. there are things that bring the country together >> reporter: the u.s. is the on the ropes listening to the republicans. >> the country is going to hell >> reporter: it is a roser for democrats >> i believe we are standing on the thresh hold of a new era of american progress >> reporter: part of this has to do with which party is in the white house. with obama in the office the democrats have to convince americans that the country is on the right track and they should stay in power. it's the opposite for the republicans. that's not the only reason for these sharply different messages. >> the parties have become more idea logically key he sieve-- cohesive. >> reporter: at one time there were moderate republican leaders and conservative democrats. now they're nearly extinct.

fewer americans see themselves in the middle politically. according to the review, it is consistently liberal or consistently conservative has grown to 21%, more than double what it was two decades ago. the split isn't just idea logical. republicans are rural; democrat s are urban and that tract the bulk of minority voters. this divide is reflected in a host of issues from immigration, to health care to climate change >> the debate is over. climate change is real. imprisonment climate change is the perfect pseudo scientific theory >> reporter: even organizations that once had bipartisan support such a planned parenthood are caught >> that organization should be funded, supported and appreciated. >> i vetoed funding for planned

parenthood and if i was president i would do the same thing >> reporter: in the primary season with candidates appealing to their voters. the nominees may try to move to the middle ground, but that is increasingly shrinking political real estate, especially when it comes to consistent voters bill snyder, a professor at george mason university. we asked if there was a solution to the current political split. >> the solution would be compromised deal making. bill clinton was asked why the government doesn't work. he said make deals. if you can't make deals how else could you do it? first of all that's why donald trump has a certain appeal because he is a master deal maker, but also another way of trying to get around that is to elect a charismatic national

he hero. that's one reason why they're attacked to non-politicians. if they're a business person or a military hero maybe they won't become entrapped in the political warfare in this country bill snyder. now a look at the upcoming caucus and primary schedule. the caucus is a week away, thee weeks from today on saturday, february 20, two more caucuses will be held. coming up, organisers determined to prevent the same type of attacks that happened in paris. that's up next

while most people chose to stay indoors during the snow storm in the north-east, one of the occupants of a very famous zoo made the most of the situation. the 18-year-old panda spent the day rolling around making snow angels and just enjoying the snow. meanwhile in ven ice celebrations over the water karen carnival.

it is an 18-day festival with concerts and parades. participants is expected to operate with security measures across the city. sun da sundance film festival is happening now. >> reporter: one of those parts of us that are so deep that no storm can take them away. how to let go of the world and love all the things climate can't change is one of dozens of documentaries premiering at the festival. josh fox spent six years on the project. he says it is meant to encourage action to slow climate change >> when i say we have to let go of the world, i mean this world that is based on greed and

competition and violence. what we have to do when we face climate change is base society on things that are much more sustainable. >> i think document reaps are not only great forms of entertainment but they're a force for good in a democracy because they make us ask questions of ourselves >> reporter: jim tells the story of james folley who was kidnapped and killed by i.s.i.l. in syria in 2014. the director was a close friend of his since their childhood. >> he was not there to be the story. he was trying to tell these stories of the syrians. i wanted this film to help jim bring those stories back to the surface and show people what he was doing over there. >> reporter: sonita is a story of a teenage girl from

afghanistan growing up as an illegal immigrant in iran. when the director learned the girl's family planned to sell her as a child bride, she stepped in. >> when her mom came to take her back to afghanistan, my film marker half was very excited and happy, but my human side was, okay, i'm not going to see her any more and her life will be ruined so i entered the movies myself >> reporter: she now attendes school in the u.s. and campaigns against child marriage >> the movie has changed my life and i'm now able to change the life of other girls >> reporter: it is a good time to be a document refilm maker thanks to new platforms for distribution. channels like home box office and internet streaming services are buying up document trees and putting them in front of a wider audience than ever before >> >> with netflix and all these

big new companies, it adds so many more options. >> reporter: challenging themes and bigger audiences part a new golden age for films thank you for joining us. i will be back with another hour of news at 11 p.m. eastern, 8 prime minister pacific. please stay tuned for america tonight next. tonight next. >> on hard earned, inspiring new beginnings... >> these workers got the fight in them, they just don't know it. >> facing up to old demons... >> i am really, really nervous... >> lives hanging in the balance... >> it's make or break... i got past the class... >> hard earned pride... hard earned respect... hard earned future... a real look at the american dream hard earned only on al jazeera america

>> welcome to "america tonight." i'm sheila macvicar. joie chen is on assignment. it is the faces of refugees fleeing violence in syria or the butchering of the islamic state group in iraq that has captured much of the world's attention this year. but there are others fleeing poverty or lesser known wars