Half a million people descend upon a tiny Serbian village for the 50th anniversary of the world's largest trumpet festival. Brasslands chronicles the cultural and musical collisions through the personal journeys of 3 musicians - American, Serbian, Roma - whose lives are bound to Balkan brass for very different reasons.
At a time when the world is discussing the impact of human actions on the environment, Amazônia Eterna presents a critical analysis of how the world's largest tropical rainforest is understood and appreciated.
Being human is a fragile and fleeting opportunity to experience life and the universe around us. In the face of overwhelming darkness all we can do is to rely on and find solace in one another. The film is based on authentic emergency calls and radio traffic.
Sewing Woman chronicles the bittersweet journey of one woman's determination to survive: from an arranged marriage in old China to working class comforts in modern America.
German filmmaker Niko von Glasow embarks on a very personal project with this documentary that profiles thalidomiders: people born with malformed or missing limbs because their mothers took thalidomide for morning sickness during pregnancy.
Documentary about the murder of Vincent Chin in 1982 and the aftermath. The documentary also explores the modern Asian-American identity when so few Asian-American youths are aware of who Vincent Chin is.
'Pleasures' profiles legendary jazz critic and civil libertarian Nat Hentoff, whose pioneering career tracks the greatest cultural and political movements of the last 65 years. The film is about an idea as well as a man - the idea of free expression as the defining characteristic of the individual. Hentoff is a pioneering journalist who raised jazz as an art form and was present at the creation of 'alternative' journalism. 'Pleasures' wraps the themes of liberty and identity around a historical narrative that stretches from the Great Depression to the Patriot Act. With a mix of interviews, archival footage and music, it employs a complex non-linear structure to engage the audience in a life of independent ideas and the creation of an enduring voice.
Is sand an infinite resource? Can the existing supply satisfy a gigantic demand fueled by construction booms? What are the consequences of intensive beach sand mining for the environment and the neighboring populations?
This is a David and Goliath story of one veterinarian's battle to protect her patients (tigers, lions and even house cats) from big corporations, with their big corporate money, that will shamelessly do anything to animals to increase their bottom line. She starts a grassroots movement that is fueled by passion, but appears to be losing the battle. Then, unexpectedly, she realizes that the corporations accidentally left her a giant loophole. In a scramble to take advantage of this unforeseen gift, she leads the crusade passing legislation protecting animals from de-clawing in seven cities in just six weeks.
James Baldwin was at once a major 20th century American author, a Civil Rights activist and, for two crucial decades, a prophetic voice calling Americans, black and white, to confront their shared racial tragedy.
Before Marv Albert and Bob Costas, there was Marty Glickman. A gifted Jewish-American athlete who was denied the chance to represent the U.S. at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, he went on to become one of the most revered and influential sportscasters in history, pioneering many of the techniques, phrases and programming innovations that are commonplace in sports reporting today.
EQUALITY U is a feature-length documentary following 34 young activists on the Soulforce Equality Ride. At some stops they're welcomed with open arms, at others they're arrested for trespassing or for simply attempting to open up a dialog. At every stop though, they're connecting with young people who've often never met an openly gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person who is comfortable with who they are. Written by Dave O'Brien
An Inconvenient Tax is a 2010 documentary film produced by Life Is My Movie Entertainment. The film explores the history of the income tax in the United States and the causes of its many complexities.
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.
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".
Narrated by Oprah Winfrey, this is the moving and inspiring story of a disabled orphan who overcame poverty and prejudice to become a world hero after he rode a bicycle with one leg across the nation of Ghana.
This illuminating documentary explores the unity of humanity, featuring mystics from around the world, whose lives have been dedicated to answering the mysteries of existence.