In his first feature film, director Bob Bowdon takes aim at America's public school system, revealing a self-serving network of wasteful cartels that squander funding and fail to deliver when it comes to academic testing and basic skills. Both parents and teachers want change, but reform is an uphill battle in the face of heel-digging bureaucrats and so-called "dropout factories." It's a bona fide crisis that's burgeoning out of control.
In the mid-1960s, Australia was gripped by a fever. The Easybeats became Australia's first international rock stars. Over four tumultuous years 'Easy Fever' spread around the world. But then, just as suddenly, they split. This is the story of five musicians who brought the world to Australia, then took Australian music to the world.
Mister Jim' is how the employees respectfully addressed their boss Jim Hardy, the last Hardy to work in the family business and now retired. It was Jim's Grandfather and Greatuncle, who in 1873 opened a small shop in the far north of England. Both passionate fisherman, they invented fishing tackle and began to sell it. Their skill, devotion, and innovative marketing strategies allowed them to conquer the world. The name Hardy's has now been synonymous with fishing for 130 years. Vintage Hardy's handmade tackle stirs the heart of many a fisherman with Prince Charles amongst the enthusiasts, these are now prized collectors items. Today the skills involved in hand made fishing tackle are dying although the company does survive.
For over 60 years, Studs Terkel elevated the voices and experiences of everyday Americans through his skillful interviews on radio, in books and on TV. This documentary takes a fond and illuminating look back at one of America's most influential authors and media personalities whose curiosity about people never dimmed over the course of a long and brilliant career.
Extraordinary behind-the-scenes access reveals a drug company's fevered race to develop the first FDA-approved Viagra for women - and offers a humorous but sobering look inside the cash-fueled pharmaceutical industry.
Noted celebrity photographer, Michael Grecco, sets out to capture the essence of the AVN Awards and Convention where the best in American Pornography is displayed, celebrated and honored.
Is it possible to look into the future? Does mind over matter really exist? What is true about psychic healing? Is remote viewing real? Where is the boundary between real magical powers and fraud? Find out what scientists have to say.
The compelling feature-length documentary film, by director Barry Ptolemy, chronicles the life and controversial ideas of luminary Ray Kurzweil. For more than three decades, inventor, futures, and New York Times best-selling author Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future.
The troubled fraternal relationship between songwriters Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, the Oscar and Grammy-winning Sherman Brothers, famous for the iconic hits they wrote for Disney.
On a cold night in Milwaukee high art meets pop culture as award winning choreographer Margo Sappington (OH! CALCUTTA!, BILLBOARDS) premieres her latest ballet, "Common People", set to the music of William Shatner and Ben Folds from their album, Has Been. GONZO BALLET explores the genesis of this unique artistic collaboration by fusing the music, poetry, and dance of "Common People" with interviews of the creators, dancers, and audience members.
In America, size matters. The bigger you are, the more power you have, especially in the business world. Anat Baron takes you on a no holds barred exploration of the U.S. beer industry that ultimately reveals the truth behind the label of your favorite beer. Told from an insider’s perspective, the film goes behind the scenes of the daily battles and all out wars that dominate the industry.
'Race Across The Sky' - the story of the 2009 Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race will inspire you to 'Dig Deep'. At 10,000+ feet, against the misty backdrop of a former mining town, Leadville, Colorado, 1228 cyclists start the grueling 100 mile race. This epic mountain bike race was captured with 10 HD cameras throughout the course including a helicopter and an off-road motocam. Racers include seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, six-time defending champion Dave Wiens and three-time World 24 hr Champion Rebecca Rusch. It's not only about getting up close and personal with the top racers but about all the racers and their inspirational stories. You'll laugh, you'll cry and if you don't get on a bike you'll do something amazing after watching this film!
Four college Christians look at their faith in Jesus and realize that it's based on routine rather than a genuine relationship. They decide that to fully understand their faith, they need to test it against others' beliefs. Michael B Allen, Will Bakke, Lawson Hopkins, and Austin Meek set out on a journey around the United States beginning in Dallas. They travel west to the Los Angeles, north to Seattle, east to Boston, and finally, South to New Orleans before heading home. Along the way, they meet several different characters including a policeman, a hippie clown, a Scientology ex, a congresswoman, a homeless man, and many more. As they guys near home and the journey's completion, they come to realize the importance of always questioning beliefs, no matter how sure you are of them. They see that questions are vital, because the answers to those questions allow us to really live for something.
On October 12th, 1978, New York Police discovered the lifeless body of a young woman, slumped under the bathroom sink in a hotel room. She was Nancy Spungen, an ex-prostitute, sometimes stripper, heroin addict, and girlfriend of Sex Pistols' bassist Sid Vicious.
Millions of readers have been captivated by C. S. Lewis’s famed Chronicles of Narnia, but why? What is it about these seven books that makes them so appealing? For more than half a century, scholars have attempted to find the organizing key—the “secret code”—to the beloved series, but it has remained a mystery. Until now.
The poet and painter, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, is among the world's living monuments to arts and letters. For well over a half century, Ferlinghetti helped shape the currents of poetry and literature with his forceful engagement with society and an ideological position that often found him at odds with the political currents of his day. Ferlinghetti's quiet, behind the scenes demeanor and disarming mien may have assuaged, or even fooled, certain opponents, while in reality he was a literary mercenary, a rebel at the forefront of our own cultural revolution.
Produced by Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine for MTV and Dickhouse Productions, The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia is a documentary about the renowned West Virginia outlaw Jesco White and his eccentric backwoods family. In addition to getting in trouble with the law, the Whites, who live deep within Appalachia, uphold a time-honored dancing style, even as they contend with poverty, drugs and other issues. Alternately humorous and sad, the movie is an unflinching look at life on the criminal margins of rural mountain culture.