An obsessively-made documentary, filmed over 16 years, exploring the creative life and adventures of the eccentric artist and entrepreneur Harrod Blank. From his youth growing up in the woods with chickens and working as a camera assistant for his father- the venerable film-maker Les Blank- to the creation of his first attention-getting artcar, to his current multi-faceted career as creator and head of a nationwide art car movement, all the while pursuing his visions of non-conformity. Featuring interviews with his girl-friends, his mom, his brother, his raconteur lifelong pal, Kevin, as well as Blank’s own painful yet hilarious self-examinations. With special appearances by Les Blank and many fine art car artists. “The pressure to conform is incredible, ” says Blank, “but I don’t care what other people think. The reason I’m alive is to create.”
Shot over the course of five years, Intimidad is an in-depth portrait of Cecy and Camilo Ramirez, a young couple struggling to make ends meet in Reynosa, Mexico. They have recently left their 2-year old daughter, Loida, with Cecy's mother in Santa Maria in the hopes of building a proper home and after one year, they return to visit her for the Christmas holidays. But their vacation is barely the respite the couple expected, as Loida hardly recognizes her parents, and a sudden tragedy threatens to tear the family apart.
Diane Israel, a former world-class triathlete, becomes a psychotherapist after battling anorexia. She shares her story while interviewing champion athletes, body builders and models about self-image.
Six students from 3 Countries, USA, India and China are moving to College. They soon find themselves in a global competition and it narrows down to: Engineering and Science.
David Asmmann's Football Under Cover documents the hard work involved in setting up an exhibition soccer match, known as a "friendly," between a German girls squad and Iranian women's team. In addition to showing how the two groups come from very different cultures, the documentary showcases what playing the game means to the members of both teams, and displays how passionate the fans of these two squads are.
An intimate and unflinching look at life in Iran, seen through the lens of those living at its fringes, 'Be Like Others' is a provocative look at a generation of young Iranians choosing to undergo gender reassignment surgery.
Abdul Rahman, an African prince who was sold into slavery, spent four decades in servitude before an amazing coincidence took him to the White House to meet President John Quincy Adams, where he was granted his freedom. Mos Def narrates this PBS documentary that includes reenactments of scenes from Rahman's life and interviews with historians who discuss the conditions faced by slaves in early America.
Witnessing the highest rate of HIV infection in the world and the lowest life expectancy on the planet, three grandmothers in Swaziland cope in this critical moment in time.
"Trouble the Water" takes you inside Hurricane Katrina in a way never before seen on screen. The film opens the day before the storm makes landfall--just blocks away from the French Quarter but far from the New Orleans that most tourists knew. Kimberly Rivers Roberts, an aspiring rap artist, is turning her new video camera on herself and her Ninth Ward neighbors trapped in the city. Weaving an insider's view of Katrina with a mix of verité and in-your-face filmmaking, it is a redemptive tale of self-described street hustlers who become heroes--two unforgettable people who survive the storm and then seize a chance for a new beginning.
A descendant of the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history, filmmaker Katrina Browne explores the contemporary legacy of slavery by traveling with fellow descendents from Rhode Island to Ghana and Cuba, retracing the Triangle Trade route. Along the way, Browne and her companions meet with similarly interested travelers and discover the considerable importance slavery once had for Northern commerce.
An in-depth look at the torture practices of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, focusing on an innocent taxi driver in Afghanistan who was tortured and killed in 2002.
The Linguists is a hilarious and poignant chronicle of two scientists—David Harrison and Gregory Anderson—racing to document languages on the verge of extinction. In Siberia, India, and Bolivia, the linguists confront head-on the very forces silencing languages: racism, humiliation, and violent economic unrest. David and Greg's journey takes them deep into the heart of the cultures, knowledge, and communities at risk when a language dies.
At 14, best friends Robb Reiner and Lips made a pact to rock together forever. Their band, Anvil, hailed as the "demi-gods of Canadian metal" influenced a musical generation that includes Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax. Following a calamitous European tour, Lips and Robb, now in their fifties, set off to record their 13th album in one last attempt to fulfill their boyhood dreams.
An exemplary school in England, in which the students, the staff and a few formidable barristers take on OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education) and Tony Blair's Labor Government to fight for its existence and the lifeblood of alternative education throughout the world. It was a fight that not only saved the prestigious institution, but proved the very educational principals on which the school was founded.
Ten years ago, stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall were the drugs of choice to treat behavioral issues in children. Today children as young as four years old are being prescribed more powerful anti-psychotic medications that are much less understood. The drugs can cause serious side effects and virtually nothing is known about their long-term impact. As the debate over medicating children continues to grow, FRONTLINE confronts psychiatrists, researchers, and big pharma about the risks and benefits of prescription drugs for troubled children.
Hard Problems is about the extraordinary gifted students who represented the United States in 2006 at the world's toughest math competition: The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). It is the story of six American high school students who competed with 500 others from 90 countries in Ljublijana, Slovenia. The film shows the dedication and perseverance of these remarkably talented students, the rigorous preparation they undertake, and the joy they get out of solving challenging math problems. It captures the spirit that infuses the mathematical quest at the highest level.
Julia Robinson and Hilbert's Tenth Problem features a heroine driven by the quest to solve one of the central problems of modern mathematics. She rises above formidable obstacles to assume a leading role in her field. Julia Robinson was the first woman elected to the mathematical section of the National Academy of Sciences, and the first woman to become president of the American Mathematical Society. While tracing Robinson's contribution to the solution of Hilbert's tenth problem, the film illuminates how her work led to an unusual friendship between Russian and American colleagues at the height of the Cold War.
What would happen should the United States leave the international scene, and become again a "normal nation", a republic, and not an empire? To find an answer to this question, director and producer Mitch Anderson embarked on an investigative trip on four continents. "The World Without US" is an in-depth investigation of how US foreign policy affects the lives of millions of people around the world.
The documentary Felipe González approaches some of the most important facets and stages of the Andalusian politician's life, before becoming President of the Government of Spain: his early years, his high school studies at the school of the Claretian Fathers in Seville, his years in the Catholic Action University Youth and the Catholic Workers' Youth, his entry into the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).