CHICANA traces the history of Chicana and Mexican women from pre-Columbian times to the present. It covers women's role in Aztec society, their participation in the 1810 struggle for Mexican independence, their involvement in the US labor strikes in 1872, their contributions to the 1910 Mexican revolution and their leadership in contemporary civil rights causes. Using murals, engravings and historical footage, CHICANA shows how women, despite their poverty, have become an active and vocal part of the political and work life in both Mexico and the United States.
I'm with Phil is a feature length documentary concerning a series of events that transpire in a small Alabama town with a very unique name, Phil Campbell.
The life stories of Juan Francisco's grandparents and parents, who arrived in Mexico in 1939 as refugees at the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). A family saga, from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day.
Four Ikpeng children introduce us to life in their village. They show their families, their toys, and their celebrations with grace and lightheartedness. We meet the characters that make up their everyday world - from baby chickens to the village chief - and we see the children helping with chores, learning to hunt, going to school and playing games. Often comparing and contrasting themselves to earlier generations, they are aware of their cultural heritage and how it has changed since their grandparents' time. Engaging and candid, the Ikpeng children are full of curiosity and ask that people of other cultures send their own video-letters.
Skydancers explores the developing world of women in Aerobatics. It presents some of the world's best female pilots during The 27th World Aerobatics Championships (WAC), Texas.
The Family Farm explores the farm to table process through the lens of Canadian small farmers and identifies the systematic barriers they face in running a profitable farm. In its journey across the country, the film blends extraordinary shots of the Canadian farm landscape with discussions of the challenges and setbacks small farmers endure, as well as the turning points and breakthroughs that have allowed them to achieve success. As these intimate accounts are shared, traditional images of family farmers are redefined as we grow to see these individuals not only as farmers, but as teachers, botanists, and mechanics who open our eyes to the issues that continue to threaten small farmers as well as the importance of buying local and organic foods.
Walrus as well as whales are hunted by the Eskimos of Gambell on St. Lawrence Island. As the film opens, an old man tells of the dangers of moving ice, how people used to drift on such ice and never return. A cluster of men stand on a snowy rooftop, scanning the sea ice for walrus, when one spots a skin boat in distress far out on the ice. The crew had not come home the night before, and now were drifting toward Siberia. Long ago, there was nothing that could have been done to save them. Today, the men call the Coast Guard. The next day, preparations for another walrus hunt are made. The hunters load the boat and travel fifty miles out to sea, where they spot two walrus sunning themselves on an ice floe. "Don't move," one hunter tells the camera. The walrus are shot, admired, butchered on the ice, and loaded onto the boat. Back in the village, the meat is cut again and hung to dry.
Documentary - America's most popular and iconic seafood is really a cheap foreign import. Raising Shrimp paints the economic and medical perils of an outsourced food supply,and follows Ted, an engineer, and Andy, an ecologist, on a quest for a better shrimp. In Texas, they find fishermen pushed from riches to rags by imports. In Belize, they find shrimp farmers striving for a natural balance with jungles and lagoons, but again globalization takes its toll, and the best farm collapses. Back home in the U.S. pioneering farmers harness the power of bacteria to grow shrimp inside a darkened warehouse without any waste. Encouraged, Andy and Ted see that raising shrimp this way offers hope for all. - Andy Danylchuk, Ted Caplow
To commemorate the life and time of Australia's twenty-first prime minister, Gough Whitlam, SBS will pay tribute by airing his final ever TV interview. In this documentary, at 86 years of age, Gough shares his revelatory views on 50 years of public life in an in-depth conversation with John Faulkner. Looks at Whitlam's early parliamentary life and his role in the 1960s and the 1970s as Labor's Deputy Leader and then Leader, taking the ALP to power after a record 23 years of Liberal government.
In 1945, when the Allies liberated the concentration camps, they discovered thousands of secretly created artworks. With unprecedented access to paintings, drawings, etchings and sculptures held in collections around the world, BECAUSE I WAS A PAINTER conducts a gripping and fascinating investigation into art that captures, reflects and inspires in difficult times.
Discover northern Italy's rich wine country with this in-depth tour. Viewers will visit wineries and vineyards throughout the region to explore the history, culture, methods and popular labels found in each. The journey begins in Trentino, home to Spumante, followed by Friuli, Piedmont, Lombardy and Emilia Romagna. The program also includes a stop in Veneto, one of the country's most vital winemaking areas.
Ella es el Matador (She is the Matador) is a character driven documentary about two women who choose the profession of bullfighting. Eva Florencia is a novice originally from Italy and Maripaz Vega is the only active professional female matador in the world. Following these women over the span of seven years, the viewer gains rare insights into their world. While these women pursue the same dream as their male counterparts - the glory of dominating the beast - they are forced to fight not only against the bull but also against decades of legal prohibition and prejudice. The historical struggle, from the beginning of the 20th century to the present, is shown through archival footage and brief interviews with historians and background female matadors.
Artist Emile Norman is the subject of this compelling documentary profile, which chronicles the 88-year-old's personal life as an "out" gay man long before it was the norm, as well as his lifelong dedication to his art. Norman, whose mixed-media works include the grand marble relief and ornate mosaic window of San Francisco's Masonic Auditorium, found success in New York but retreated to Big Sur, Calif., where he founded an artists' haven.
Can a mission to save a mob of brumbies in an inaccessible wilderness bring fiercely independent horseman and feral control National Parks Ranger to see the world through each other's eyes?
Combining archival photographs, interviews with historians and dramatic reenactments starring Blair Underwood and Ed Asner, this documentary recounts the gripping story of the Civil War-era Underground Railroad that shepherded slaves to freedom. Harriet Tubman, Thomas Garrett and William Still, whose tireless public efforts and clandestine activities kept the Railroad running, are among the abolitionist personalities highlighted.
Miss Hill: Making Dance Matter tells the inspiring and largely unknown story of a woman whose life was defined by her love for dance. Martha Hill emerges as dance's secret weapon, someone who fought against great odds to establish dance as a legitimate art form in America. Through archival footage, lively interviews with friends and intimates, and rare footage of the spirited subject, the film explores Hills's arduous path from a Bible Belt childhood in Ohio to the halls of academe at NYU and Bennington College to a position of power and influence as Juilliard's founding director of dance (1952-1985). Peppered with anecdotal material delivered by dance notables who knew her, this revelatory story depicts her struggles and successes, including the battle royal that accompanied her move to the Lincoln Center campus.