The Guinness World of Records contains the most bizarre human achievements imaginable. But who are the crazy people behind the feats? From the grape catchers, to the hula hoopers and the ‘jogglers’, this humorous, but strikingly insightful documentary introduces us to the colourful characters who devote their lives to the oddest frontiers of human excellence. A delightfully eccentric human odyssey that is not to be missed.
Mighty Uke travels the world to discover why so many people of different nations, cultures, ages and musical tastes are turning to the ukulele to express themselves, connect with the past, and with each other.
Explores the challenges of converting to a vegan diet. It "follows three meat-and-cheese-loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for six weeks.
From civil rights to the anti-war movement to the struggles of workers, folksinger Phil Ochs wrote topical songs that engaged his audiences in the issues of the 1960s and 70s. In this biographical documentary, veteran director Kenneth Bowser shows how Phil's music and his fascinating life story and eventual decline into depression and suicide were intertwined with the history-making events that defined a generation. Even as his contemporaries moved into folk-rock and pop music, Phil followed his own vision, challenging himself and his listeners. Not one to pull punches, Ochs never achieved the commercial success he desperately desired. But his music remains relevant, reaching new audiences in a generation that finds his themes all too familiar.
Banned in Cameroon, The Big Banana illustrates the poor working conditions in banana plantations and exposes the adverse impact on the people of a corporatocracy government that affords super profits for corporations at the expense of the local population. The Big Banana outlines land grabbing tactics by company Plantation du Haut Penja (PHP) and the ensuing devastation for communities: poverty, pollution, and sickness from pesticides. Bieleu, who spent two years filming residents in the remote countryside of Cameroon also features local cooperatives resisting the devastation through business alliances with fair trade organizations.
"Permanent Change" looks at the history and development of plastic within the architectural world. Capturing both a series of lectures and a panel with prominent names such as Steven Holl, Beatriz Colomina and Werner Sobek, this documentation observes detailed examples and lively debates regarding the popularization of plastic as a construction material. Addressing a number of contributing factors including design, engineering and form, the participants of the conference present a wide range of theories, analyses and predictions pertaining to plastics as an architectural material.
Soanin Kilangit is determined to unite the people and attract international tourism through the revival of culture on Baluan Island in the South Pacific. He organizes the largest cultural festival ever held on the island, but some traditional leaders argue that Baluan never had culture and that culture comes from the white man and is now destroying their old tradition. Others, however, take the festival as a welcome opportunity to revolt against '70 years of cultural oppression' by Christianity. A struggle to define the past, present and future of Baluan culture erupts to the sound of thundering log drum rhythms.
Seen through the eyes of activist, farmers and journalists, Waking the Green Tiger follows an extraordinary campaign to stop a huge dam project on the Upper Yangtze river in southwestern China. Featuring astonishing archival footage never seen outside China, and interviews with a government insider and witnesses, the documentary also tell the history of Chairman Mao's campaigns to conquer nature in the name of progress. An environmental movement takes root when a new environmental law is passed, and for the first time in China's history, ordinary citizens have the democratic right to speak out and take part in government decisions. Activist test this new freedom and save a river. The movement they trigger has the potential to transform China.
Behind The Wall documents what life was like on both sides of The Berlin Wall through the eyes of ordinary citizens from East and West Germany. They give an in-depth and overlooked perspective of life before, during and after The Wall fell. Beginning with the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the 'Fall of the Wall' then through the voices of the people, weaves a true history of what life was like living on both sides of The Wall.
In a case of indigenism verses corporate greed, this compelling documentary chronicles the ongoing battle between the locals of Panama's Bocas del Toro and the commercial developers and migrating Americans who have seized upon the tropical paradise.
URBAN ROOTS is a documentary that tells the story of the spontaneous emergence of urban farming in the city of Detroit. Detroit, once an industrial powerhouse of a lost American era, is a city devastated by the loss of half its population due to the collapse of manufacturing. By the looks of it, the city has died. But now, against all odds, in the empty lots, in the old factory yards, and in-between the sad, sagging blocks of company housing, seeds of change are taking root.
"My land" gives voice to old Palestinian refugees who fled in 1948 without ever returning to their land, and who have been living in camps in Lebanon for more than 60 years.
A cross-generational story of how the gold star children of Vietnam are mentoring the gold star children from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a one hour film of resilience, hope and the power of sharing.
Doctors of the Dark Side is the first feature length documentary about the pivotal role of physicians and psychologists in detainee torture. The stories of four detainees and the doctors involved in their abuse demonstrate how US Army and CIA doctors implemented the Enhanced Interrogation Techniques and covered up signs of torture at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Interviews with medical, legal and intelligence experts and evidence from declassified government memos document what has been called the greatest scandal in American medical ethics. Based on four years of research by Producer/Director Martha Davis, written by Oscar winning Mark Jonathan Harris, and filmed in HD by Emmy winning DP Lisa Rinzler, the film shows how the torture of detainees could not continue without the assistance of the doctors.
'The Economics of Happiness' features a chorus of voices from six continents calling for systemic economic change. The documentary describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world people are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance - and, far from the old institutions of power, they're starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm - an economics of localization.
It's been nine years since Liz Alderman's son Peter was murdered by terrorists. Every day since then she's faced the same two options; succumbing to the depths of despair or finding a way to survive. Esther Hyman knows about this choice. Her sister was killed when her bus was blown up, she too has had to continuously keep from being immobilized by sadness. And Ben Tullipan now lives minus two legs because of his encounter with a car bomb. Their lives, shattered by terrorists, are now on a new path and they're taking thousands of people along for the ride. 'Love Hate Love' follows these survivors as they search for honor, meaning and a new life's path.
Michele Gitlin has 700 sweaters. In touch with the pain as well as the pleasure of over-collecting, she calls Ron “Disaster Master” Alford for help. Ron, a de-cluttering expert who believes that “clutter begins in the head, and ends up on the floor,” determines that Michele is a hoarder with a rating of 8 (out of ten) on his “clutter index.” Ron also visits a retired Marine with 7,800 Beanie Babies and a home shopping addict whose purchases are literally burying him. Never Enough is a meditation on materialism, consumerism, mental illness and the social fabric of our lives.