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.
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.
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.
A forbidden love story played out in a decade that would soon spawn the sexual revolution. Part historical documentary and part experimental narrative the film reconstructs a mesmerizing and erotic narrative from 60 hours of reel-to-reel audiotape discovered in a suitcase. Recorded in the 1960's by a Mid-western woman and her lover they chronicle the details of their adulterous love affair. Reliant on recording devises to document and memorialize their affair the tape recorder evolves as a confidant, witness and participant, always omnipresent creating a welcomed threesome. Mirroring the compulsion to confess ones indiscretions in today's Internet world these captivating recordings speak to an audience that can remember Bert Parks as well as one who has never set finger to a rotary phone.
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.
Four college Christians look at their faith in Jesus and realize that it's based on routine rather than a genuine relationship. They decide that to fully understand their faith, they need to test it against others' beliefs. Michael B Allen, Will Bakke, Lawson Hopkins, and Austin Meek set out on a journey around the United States beginning in Dallas. They travel west to the Los Angeles, north to Seattle, east to Boston, and finally, South to New Orleans before heading home. Along the way, they meet several different characters including a policeman, a hippie clown, a Scientology ex, a congresswoman, a homeless man, and many more. As they guys near home and the journey's completion, they come to realize the importance of always questioning beliefs, no matter how sure you are of them. They see that questions are vital, because the answers to those questions allow us to really live for something.
The Daniel Project puts ancient predictions under a journalistic microscope and examinates of Biblical prophecies attempts to determine how accurately they've predicted modern events such as terrorism, climate change and armed conflict in the Middle East. If false, the Bible is discredited. If true, there are rough times ahead.
An MTV producer's life is transformed when he meets the recently retired host of 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood,' Fred Rogers. Friendship with the PBS icon sets the young producer on a hero's quest to find depth and simplicity amidst a shallow and complex world through conversations with Susan Stamberg (NPR), Tim Russert ('Meet The Press'), Marc Brown ('Arthur') and more.
The poet and painter, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, is among the world's living monuments to arts and letters. For well over a half century, Ferlinghetti helped shape the currents of poetry and literature with his forceful engagement with society and an ideological position that often found him at odds with the political currents of his day. Ferlinghetti's quiet, behind the scenes demeanor and disarming mien may have assuaged, or even fooled, certain opponents, while in reality he was a literary mercenary, a rebel at the forefront of our own cultural revolution.
A documentary that explores the world of children who reside in discounted motels within walking distance of Disneyland, living in limbo as their families struggle to survive in one of the wealthiest regions of America. The parents of motel kids are often hard workers who don't earn enough to own or rent homes. As a result, they continue to live week-to-week in motels, hoping against hope for an opportunity that might allow them to move up in the O.C.