Above and Below is a rough and rhythmic roller coaster ride seating five survivors in their daily hustle through an apocalyptic world. A journey of challenges and beauty in uncomfortable places: Rick & Cindy, Godfather Lalo in the flood channels deep down under the shiny strip of Sin City. Dave in the dry and lonesome Californian desert and April in simulation for a Mars mission in the Utah desert. Through the hustle, the pain and the laughs, we are whisked away to an unfamiliar world, yet quickly discover the souls we encounter are perhaps not that different from our own.
The village of Tamaquito lies deep in the forests of Colombia. Here, nature provides the people with everything they need. But the Wayúu community's way of life is being destroyed by the vast and rapidly growing El Cerrejón coal mine. Determined to save his community from forced resettlement, the leader Jairo Fuentes negotiates with the mine's operators, which soon becomes a fight to survive.
By the time he died in 1931, Thomas Alva Edison was one of the most famous men in the world. The holder of more patents than any other inventor in history, Edison had achieved glory as the genius behind such revolutionary inventions as sound recording, motion pictures, and electric light. Born on the threshold of America's burgeoning industrial empire, Edison's curiosity led him to its cutting edge. With just three months of formal schooling, he took on one seemingly impossible technical challenge after another, and through intuition, persistence, and a unique team approach to innovation, invariably solved it. Driven and intensely competitive, Edison was often neglectful in his private life and could be ruthless in business. Challenged by competition in the industry he'd founded, Edison launched an ugly propaganda campaign against his rivals, and used his credibility as an electrical expert to help ensure that high-voltage electrocution became a form of capital punishment.
FRONTLINE investigates how the NRA uses its unrivaled political power to stop gun regulation in America. With first-hand accounts of school killings in Newtown and Columbine, and the shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, "Gunned Down" examines why, despite the national trauma over gun violence, Washington hasn't acted.
Compared to girls, research shows that boys in the United States are more likely to be diagnosed with a behaviour disorder, prescribed stimulant medications, fail out of school, binge drink, commit a violent crime, and/or take their own lives. The Mask You Live In asks: as a society, how are we failing our boys?
Autism in America: Putting the puzzle together, one beautiful piece at a time, is a genuine and straightforward look into the Autism Spectrum Disorder as told by the families and individuals living with Autism daily. Many parents are interviewed including Ruth Sullivan, Ph.D., the mother of a man named Joe who was the inspiration for Dustin Hoffman’s autistic character in the movie “Rain Man.” We also hear from a young woman named Alexis, the first autistic person to run for the title of Miss America.
In the Dominican Republic, as early as 1512, African slaves escaped from Spanish plantations and lived with the island’s Taíno Indians or on their own in mountainous jungles in the remote frontier land of Hispaniola. These people who were known as “cimarrones,” meaning “maroons,” created their own independent communities that have survived for centuries and until recently remained isolated from mainstream Dominican society. These resilient and resourceful “outlaws” have long developed their own celebrations, many of which mock a society that enslaved and branded them. Cimarrón Spirit explores carnival traditions such as the ritualistic fire burning of the masks and costumes of “Judas,” “Cocorícamo,” and “Tifúas,” as figures important to the cimarrón culture of Elias Piña.
In Fokwele, Liberia, a town in transition to modern ways, conflicts arise because of differing life styles. Many old customs of the Kpelle tribe are still alive, but are complicated by new economic practices and social structures. Cattle divide the town into two classes: the rich cattle owners, and the poorer rice farmers, whose crops areoften marauded by the cattle and who in turn attack the cows. In this film, such an incident is followed through the proceedings of justice in the community.
An examination of the Olivetti store in Venice, Piazza San Marco -- a true icon of Italian architecture of the twentieth century restored in the 1950s by Carlo Scarpa.
Blending drama with the explanations of passionate historians and specialists, this enriched historical reconstruction traces 60 years in the life a man who transformed the Middle Ages and laid the foundation of modern Europe, William The Conqueror.
EL CACAO exposes the dark side of chocolate production in Latin America by examining the economics of Fair Trade from the point of view of the indigenous farmers as they attempt to sustain their community through the growth, harvest, and trade of cacao beans in the global market. This 20-minute documentary film highlights the life of an indigenous Ngabe farmer in Panama and his unconditional devotion to this so-called "superfood." The film threads together the themes of neoliberal ideology, human rights, and the economics of the chocolate industry. While the demand for chocolate in developed nations continues to raise, the farmers in developing countries, like Panama, are rarely awarded the economic incentive promised to them. The film utilizes cinema verite techniques with candid interviews. Most of the film hinges on intimate shots in personal working and living space within a small Ngabe community in the Bocas del Toro region of Panama.
The best way to discover a city is through its people. 'Show Me Lisbon' reveals the city as seen by thirteen locals, or lisboetas - who were either born there or moved there by choice and who are of different generations, areas and backgrounds. The result is a dynamic, relaxed and realistic portrait of Lisbon that looks at themes such as what it means "to be a lisboeta", the light, the river, the food, the sounds, the history, the ethnic mixes, fado and the city's facades. The artist Joana Vasconcelos, the musician Rodrigo Leao, the writer Richard Zenith, the fado singer Carminho, the street artist Vhils and the historian Jose Sarmento Matos, alongside the knife sharpeners, fishwives, old ladies of Alfama and the festival singers who show the city as it is lived in its traditional quarters. Show me Lisbon is the follow-up to Show me Rio and the second film in the Show me Cities series.
Coal, Corruption and community resistance of one of Australias most controversial mining projects Whitehavens Maules Creek Coal Mine in the Leard State Forest. The stage has been set for one of the most intriguing David and Goliath battles in this countrys history. Black Hole is the story of the fight to save the Leard State Forest from one of the most controversial coal mining projects in Australia Whitehavens Maules Creek Coal Mine. Set against the backdrop of the mining industrys ever-increasing thirst for fossil fuels, Black Hole is an intense and riveting exposé of the tensions between large corporations, the Australian government and the community. In this revealing world premiere, Director João Dujon Pereira asks us to examine the future of coal, corporate responsibility and the rights governments afford to people vs polluters.
1.5 Stay Alive is part music video and part factual. In it, popular Caribbean musicians express their experiences with hurricanes, tropical storms and rising seas by composing and performing songs about climate change. Intertwined are insights by experts about effects of a 1.5 degree temperature increase . The film visits Belize, Costa Rica, Trinidad Tobago, Haiti, Honduras, Miami and Louisiana
The feature-length documentary, 'In Full Bloom... transcending gender,' follows the courageous journey of thirteen transgender and two gay actors as they transform their lives through the use of monologue, dialogue and performance art while preparing for the world premiere of the stage play, 'Lovely Bouquet of Flowers: An Exploration of Non-Traditional Gender Voices.' Behind-the-scenes, rehearsal and performance footage are interwoven with compelling personal interviews from the cast, dealing with family, inner conflicts, discrimination, coming out, surgery, hormones and the complexities of sexual identity and orientation. By sharing their own journeys, the actors transcend transgender by speaking to issues, such as relationships, careers and spirituality. 'In Full Bloom... transcending gender,' challenges the viewer to move past stereotypes and to see the commonalities we all share as human beings.
The environmental problems caused by fracking in America have been well publicized but what's less known are the gas industry's plans for expansion in other countries. This investigation, filmed in Botswana, South Africa and North America, reveals how gas companies are quietly invading some of the most protected places on the planet.
From Paris to Beijing, atmospheric pollution is already killing millions every year. A major documentary, which charts its greatest harmful effects across the world.