Alanis Obomsawin tells the story of Shannen’s Dream, a national campaign to provide equitable access to education for First Nations children, in safe and suitable schools. She brings together the voices of those who have successfully brought the Dream all the way to the United Nations in Geneva.
Singer, songwriter, business man, family man, civil rights activist: Sam Cooke transcends all barriers of race, faith and talent. This first-ever biography of the definitive soul singer looks at his extraordinary career and personal life - from his gospel-singing roots through his R&B and pop music career.
This documentary tells the story of an unsung hero and self-made man, David Abbott Jenkins, who, with almost superhuman stamina and boyish charm, set out to single-handedly break every existing land speed record on his beloved Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah. More than a century later, many of "Ab's" records remain unbroken and the legacy lives on in his custom car. Looking like something Batman would have owned, the story comes full circle when Ab's son Marv, restores the 12-cyclinder, 4800-pound "Mormon Meteor" to its glory days for a ceremonial lap on the salt.
During WWII, Darrel was stationed in Europe. Andrew was fighting in the Philippines. In the chaos of combat, each stole valuable treasures and hid them overseas before returning to civilian life in America. Sixty years later, back in America, neither man seems remorseful about their war crimes. Both want to recover the treasures they perceive as their own. They don't know each other but they both happen to know Lance, an inventor, used-car salesman, and amateur treasure-hunter, who, against all odds and better judgment, attempts to help them find their lost looted goods.
Californian ecologist David Ainley has been traveling to the Ross Sea to study this unique ecosystem for more than thirty years. He has written scientific papers describing it as a ‘living laboratory’. Largely untouched by humans, it is one of the last places where the delicate balance of nature prevails. But an international fishing fleet has recently found its way to the Ross Sea. It is targeting Antarctic toothfish, sold as Chilean sea bass in up-market restaurants around the world. The catch is so lucrative it is known as white gold. Ainley knows that unless fishing is stopped the natural balance of the Ross Sea will be lost forever. Together they form ‘the Last Ocean’ and begin a campaign taking on the commercial fishers and governments in a race to protect Earth’s last untouched ocean from our insatiable appetite for fish.
If you want to impress your dining companions in Cyprus, it's not caviar that you order, but ambelopoulia: a tiny songbird. But as this gripping doc reveals, the cost to bring such delicacies to the table is enormous. Bestselling novelist Jonathan Franzen takes a break from the world of fiction to guide us through an all too horrifying reality: tens of millions of protected migratory songbirds are illegally killed every year. Franzen, a longtime bird lover, accompanies young staffers of the Committee Against Bird Slaughter on their expeditions. With police enforcement in Southern Europe practically non-existent, they risk their lives to rescue trapped birds, and confront hostile poachers. It's a topic that proves a cultural flashpoint -- the Cypriot landowners cannot understand why a bunch of Italians can tell them what to do on their land.
This documentary follows painter and musician Lyn Foulkes from age 70 to 77 as he labors to complete two astonishing tableaux that demonstrate his outsider's perspective and eye for evocative imagery. As his reworking of one piece stretches into its second decade, we watch Foulkes' righteous contempt for the establishment erode, replaced by a yearning for the recognition he's due.
The documentary explores how African-based spirituality has informed Americas popular culture. The old African gods have taken on new forms since their arrival on North America's shores. Their spirit now manifests in turntable wizardry, improvisational skills and mind-blowing collages, performances and rituals. The film shakes up traditional and stereotypical ways of thinking about race, religion, rationality. Through meetings with musicians, writers and artists, healers, gumbo cooks and Mississippi Blues men, the documentary draws a picture of a culture which has always drawn on a unique mix of different ethnic influences to produce its cultural diversity, allure, and vitality
A nostalgic, informative history of drive-in movie theaters, featuring extensive archival photographs and interviews with Leonard Maltin, John Bloom, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Barry Corbin and many others... Drive-In Movie Memories is a film celebration of America's greatest icon of youth, freedom and the automobile. What began as an auto parts owner's business venture to make some easy money accidentally became a magical place where romance, fun and a sense of community flourished. This film chronicles the drive-in's birth and development, its phenomenal popularity with audiences of all ages, its tragic decline, and its inevitable comeback as a classic form of Americana.
Cape Spin! An American Power Struggle tells the surreal, fascinating, tragicomic story of the battle over America's most scandalous clean energy project. Cape Wind would be the U.S.'s first offshore windfarm...But strange alliances formed for and against: Kennedys, Kochs, and everyday folks do battle with the developer and green groups over the future of American power. With full access to both sides, a commitment to impartial storytelling and fueled by a satiric 'revolutionary' soundtrack, Cape Spin! is "a gripping and entertaining study of eco-capitalism and grassroots democracy".
In the course of living long months with a group of Iranian illegals in Athens, the director examines this radical choice of pursuing a better life through the most perilous of possibilities: clandestinity.
OCCUPY LOVE captures the heart of the movement of movements that is sweeping the planet in response to today's economic and environmental crises. 'Philosopher-filmmaker' Velcrow Ripper travels to history-making hot spots, asking the question, 'How can crisis create a love story?' Scenes include the Egyptian revolution in Tahrir Square, Spain's Indignado movement, Occupy Wall Street NYC, The Maple Spring in Quebec, and indigenous activists at the Alberta Tar Sands. The film explores the aspects of this arising that take the form of what Martin Luther King Jr. called 'Love in action.' Woven throughout is a deep exploration on the meaning and importance of 'public love' - the love of humanity, the love of the planet.
In the space between war and a new battle, NOT YET BEGUN TO FIGHT unfolds, offering an intimate look at the human cost of combat. A retired Marine Colonel reaches out to five men, a new generation returning from the battlefield. He brings them to the river. He puts a fly rod into their hand, teaches them to cast, and shares his secret: there are places where you can still be consumed by a simple act, find joy in a fight, and be redeemed as you gently release another creature, unharmed, into quiet waters.
An uncensored look into the lives of the female stand-up comedian. Featuring interviews and live performance footage from some of today's most prominent female voices in stand-up comedy and entertainment, this revealing documentary sheds light on the legacy of the female comedian and the dedication, courage and passion that is required to be successful in the male dominated stand-up comedy business.
Director Nicole Torre directed this documentary about the America´s oil industry. The Oil Barons, Wildcatters, and roughnecks and their long struggle to feed America's ferocious oil appetite. Step inside the oil culture to understand just how the USA became so addicted and why Houston believes we must go "Green" for a secure domestic energy future. .
BEFORE AND AFTER DINNER is an exploration of the life and work of Andre Gregory, groundbreaking director, actor, artist, and raconteur, filmed by prize-winning documentarian Cindy Kleine, his wife. Through her close-up lens, Cindy introduces us to this cultural icon and master storyteller, and tells the unusual story of a good marriage that thrives in collaboration, art, and humor, celebrating the great vitality of the later years in life. The film touches on universal questions. Where does art come from? What experiences shape the life, the preoccupations, and the work of an artist? Drawing on the work Andre has created over a lifetime, and exploring the nature of the life that underlies the work, BEFORE AND AFTER DINNER is about how and why artists create.
Unordained evangelical minister Justin Fatica and his Hard As Nails Ministry promote the gospel to all Christian faiths and reach out to the MTV generation.
Combining rare and often hilarious archival footage with engaging interviews, this groovy documentary chronicles the evolution of the titular postwar rock ’n' roll dance craze that took America by storm. Featuring singers and musicians who helped define the phenomenon like Hank Ballard, Chubby Checker, and Joey Dee, as well as clips from TV shows like “American Bandstand,” TWIST tells the overlooked story of how shaking your hips went from being a sign of social degeneracy to the dance form that rocked the world.
A wall can be a barrier. It can be a structure of limitation or a source of repression. For the Inside Out Project, a wall is a canvas, and so are sides of trains, the arches of bridges and the steps leading to Brooklyn brownstones. This fascinating documentary tracks the evolution of the world’s largest participatory art project, the wildly popular Inside Out. From Haiti to Tunisia, South Dakota to the streets of Paris, French artist JR motivates communities to define their most important causes by pasting giant portraits in the street, testing the limits of what they thought possible. The power of paper turns people who feel without voice into unlikely activists by empowering them with their own images.