The glories of Ancient Rome are explored in ROMAN CITY, based on David Macaulay's acclaimed book. This animated and live-action video recounts life in Verbonia, a fictional city in Gaul. A well-planned town with all modern conveniences, it is threatened by conflict between conquerors and conquered. Macaulay also visits Pompeii, Herculaneum, Ostia, Nimes, Orange, and Rome, to view actual Roman architecture and engineering greatness.
Soar above vast deserts, verdant pine forests, sparkling lakes and rivers, rolling grasslands, glistening snow-capped peaks, gleaming cities and striking land forms. Arizona is home to some of the worlds most interesting natural formations and is best known for its desert landscape, but Over Arizona also takes you on an aerial tour of its snowy mountain ranges and lush forests. Get a new perspective on the states beauty by taking to the skies in Over Arizona, featuring stunning aerial cinematography.
A documentary about actor Michael Caine. Narrated by Caine himself, it includes interviews of his family, friends and colleagues and clips from some of his films.
In the early 1970s, a theatre collective - the Australian Performing Group - based itself in a building called the Pram Factory, now synonymous with the people and events that laid the groundwork for a renaissance in Australian culture. The Pram was a ‘scene’, a 24-hour happening, a radical alternative to the mainstream. Those who lived and worked at the Pram expected the world to come to them - and for a while it did. (The building was eventually demolished to make way for a supermarket.)
In a series of small portraits, Gianfranco Rosi depicts life on and along the banks of the Ganges River. The director’s first film documents the boat trip he took along India’s sacred river with his helmsman, Gopal. They pass tourists and locals, witnessing them bathe, work, or meditate. The film captures the imagination of the endless circle of life and death, which is rooted in the lives of the Indian people, and is convincingly manifested in the way they bid farewell to the dead.
Originally broadcast to critical acclaim on PBS, this documentary traces the story of flight from the famine-swept villages of 19th century Ireland to the industrialized cities of 20th century America. Actual letters chronicle the stories of eight immigrants who made this trans-Atlantic journey. Kelly McGillis narrates.
K'Sai Chivit: Threads of Life documents the ancient art form of Khmer silk weaving and its place in Cambodian society today. For over a thousand years, Cambodian weavers have been producing a variety of elegant silks, however current societal hardships Cambodians face have dramatically hindered this production. Organizations like UNESCO have began to take part in the revitalization of Khmer weaving, and have established training programs across the region to increase job opportunities and economic independence.
This retrospective exhibition gives brilliant insight into the artist’s work of the last 4 decades. Credit for this highly sensitive selection of Morris’ work goes to Rosalind Krauss, who curated the exhibition. We invited artist and curator to come back to the Guggenheim Museum for a second look at the exhibition. The filmed walk-through gives a vivid sense of the artist’s progress and documents the views of the artist and Rosalind Krauss, one of the most significant critics of our time.
For centuries Hmong people have lived in the mountains of China and Southeast Asia. They have in more recent history fled Laos as refugees and resettled in the Americas, Australia, and Europe. This documentary was filmed in Chang Khian, a village in the mountains of Northern Thailand. With the traditional, year-long process of transforming the bark of hemp plants into cloth, the complex relationships of men and women are revealed. Women produce the cloth and clothing as the men perform healing ceremonies, settle marriage agreements, and conduct funeral rights. The ready availability of mass-produced, inexpensive cloth combined with the fact that the cultivation of hemp is now illegal has brought the continuation of this traditional practice into question. This film is of great interest to the study of gender and kinship, textiles, traditional crafts, shamanism, and social change.
A 1994 documentary about reproduction rights in Brazil, highlighting the cases of politicians that trade tubal ligation surgeries for votes and the issue of abortion.
Paul Robeson was a celebrated African-American Actor, Athlete, Singer, Writer, and Civil Rights Activist. Robeson's many achievements are chronicled in this program, ranging from playing with the NFL to graduating from Columbia Law School, performing on Broadway and in Hollywood films to founding the American Crusade against Lynching as well as Council on African Affairs. Robeson was one of the most talented performers of his time and a dedicated humanitarian who ultimately sacrificed fame and fortune for what he believed in. His association with Leftist Politics during the era of the Cold War, and frequent denouncing of American political parties led to his eventual blacklisting with other prominent writers and artists during the McCarthy Era. His talents in all areas are remarkable, and his dedication to attaining a peaceful coexistence between all the people of the world is truly admirable.
The story of the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American pilots who saw combat during the Second World War. The 332nd Fighter Group stands apart from any other air force fighter groups in the Second World War: all personnel, from pilots to ground crew to surgeons, were black. They confounded expectations and prejudices existing in America in the thirties and forties about the abilities of black Americans. They excelled as pilots and became a crack unit, showing great courage and skill and achieving where other fighter groups had failed. Despite this, they were segregated on the ground and in the air from the white flyers whose lives they protected. (Alexander Street)
American composers have long struggled against the momentum of the Western European classical tradition and the prestige it has held in America's cultural life. "I did not want to have any stricture at all, I wanted to be completely free." So spoke Harry Partch, describing not only his own path, but also that of two other influential American composers: Lou Harrison and Terry Riley. They were attracted to musical ideas and sounds outside of the surrounding classical mainstream. Together they offer a deeper understanding of what those alternatives are and how they have affected American culture.
In this illuminating study of cultural contrasts, American filmmaker Lynne Sachs and her sister, Dana, travel north from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, recording conversations with Vietnamese strangers and friends. The sisters' expansive travel diary covers tourism, insights into city life, pervasive culture clashes and a bracing historic inquiry. What begins as a picaresque road trip soon blossoms into a richer social and political discourse.
Over Washington D.C.: Our Nation's Capital, narrated by 2-time Academy Award-winning actor Jason Robards and previously seen on public television, beautifully captures the U.S. capital's grandeur, history and vitality in a way no other film does.
On May 17th. 1943 the Royal Air Force carried out one of the most remarkable bombing raids ever undertaken by a handful of skilled aircrew prepared to risk their lives attacking a seemingly impossible target.
Franklin D. Roosevelt's life and political career are examined in this biography. Using rare historical footage and images, it delves into his early days as he entered politics, his battle with polio, his presidency, up to his death in 1945.