Called a maverick, a miracle-worker, and a quack, Dr. Marty Goldstein is a pioneer of integrative veterinary medicine. By holistically treating animals after other vets have given up, Goldstein provides a last hope for pet owners with nothing left to lose.
To A More Perfect Union: U.S. v Windsor chronicles unlikely heroes -- octogenarian Edie Windsor and her attorney, Roberta Kaplan, on their quest for justice: Edie had been forced to pay a huge estate tax bill upon the death of her spouse because the federal government denied federal benefits to same-sex couples – and Edie’s spouse was a woman. Deeply offended by this lack of recognition of her more than forty-year relationship with the love of her life, Edie decided to sue the United States government – and won. Windsor and Kaplan’s legal and personal journeys are told in their own words, and through interviews with others of the legal team, movement activists, legal analysts, well-known supporters and opponents. Beyond the story of this pivotal case in the marriage equality movement and the stories behind it, the film also tells the story of our journey as a people, as a culture, and as citizens with equal rights.
In 1832 the government of Van Diemen’s Land sent the last Aboriginal resistance fighters into exile at Wybalenna on Flinders Island, bringing an end to the Black War and opening a new chapter in the struggle for justice and survival by Tasmanian Aboriginal people. Black Man’s Houses tells a dramatic story of the quest by Aboriginal people to reclaim the graves of their ancestors against a background of racism and denial. Documenting a moving memorial re-enactment of the funeral of the great chief Manalargenna, the film also charts the cultural strength and resilience of his descendants as they are forced to fight for recognition in a society that is not ready to remember the terrible events of the past.
Cobby's Hobbies was a 1960's children's TV program featuring a chimpanzee getting hmself into all sorts of mischief. For filmmaker Donna McRae, the show was a crucial part of getting through a lonely childhood. McRae seeks people that made the show, Cobby's zoo friends, zoo keepers and the animal rights activists that help her piece together the story of an animal stolen from his natural habitat to work on TV before, being retired into the San Francisco Zoo at age 7. Most primates chimps in entertainment suffered horrifically, becoming research animals or caged in roadside zoos. This documentary examines how we perceive animals in entertainment and how we address their plight now.
Maria Luiza da Silva is the first transgender in the history of the Brazilian Armed Forces. After 22 years of work in the military, she retired due to disability. The film explores the complex barriers she faced and her path of affirmation as a trans, military and Catholic woman.
An entrepreneur sets out to reinvent school food — to challenge the way Boston's public school students eat lunch. Over a yearlong journey, she wrangles with bureaucracy, unwieldy regulations and a team of stalwart lunch ladies, to navigate a path to replace plastic-wrapped vended meals with fresh, healthy food cooked from scratch that changes the way kids both eat and learn.
The murder of French au-pair Sophie Lionnet by her employers made headlines all over the world. From the horrible circumstances of her death, to the obsession of her killer with a pop-star ex-boyfriend and their crazy delusions of celebrity paedophile rings, it was a case that seemed too unbelievable to be true.
Reinhold Niebuhr's Serenity Prayer remains one of the most quoted writings in American literature. Yet Niebuhr's impact was far greater, as presidents and civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. often turned to Niebuhr's writings for guidance and inspiration on the most volatile political and social issues of the 20th century. Niebuhr rose from a small Midwest church pulpit to become the nation's moral voice - an American conscience -during some of the most defining moments in American history.
Sister filmmakers Julie Simone and Vicki Vlasic return to their Appalachian roots to film at the world's oldest Fiddler's Convention. With multiple generations jamming together, Fiddlin' is a love-letter to American roots and the uplifting power of music.
Deepa Kumar, a leading scholar on Islamophobia, argues that U.S. media have turned Arabs and Muslims into the new face of terror, even though only a tiny fraction of Muslims and Arabs have ever committed a terror attack, and terror attacks by homegrown right-wing violent extremist groups have far outnumbered attacks by Muslims and Arabs since Sept. 12, 2001.
An examination of shamanism in the Yanomamo society. Dedehiewa, a shaman of the Mishimishi-mabowei-teri village, summons spirits called hekura to "cure or kill".
MOMA & Tate Modern's landmark show explores the final chapter of Matisse's career when he began 'carving into colour,' creating his signature cut-outs. Audiences are invited to enjoy an intimate, behind-the-scenes documentary about this blockbuster exhibition with contributions from curators, historians and those who knew Matisse personally. Beautifully filmed footage of the exhibition featuring works including The Snail, Memory of Oceania, Large Composition with Masks and Blue Nudes is interwoven with Matisse's biography and behind-the-scenes material. Featuring special guests including Tate director Nicholas Serota; MoMA director Glenn Lowry; jazz musician Courtney Pine and Royal Ballet principal dancer Zenaida Yanowsky.
1.5 Stay Alive is part music video and part factual. In it, popular Caribbean musicians express their experiences with hurricanes, tropical storms and rising seas by composing and performing songs about climate change. Intertwined are insights by experts about effects of a 1.5 degree temperature increase . The film visits Belize, Costa Rica, Trinidad Tobago, Haiti, Honduras, Miami and Louisiana
The greatest athletes in the world today are neither the Olympic champions nor the stars of professional sports, but the "Marathon Monks" of Japan's sacred Mount Hiei. Over a seven year training period, these "running Buddha" figuratively circle the globe on foot. During one incredible 100-day stretch, they cover 52.5 miles daily - twice the length of an Olympic marathon. The prize they seek is not a pot of gold, but enlightenment in the here and now. This documentary program is about one of these amazing men - Tanno Kakudo and the magic mountain where he trains. It is the philosophy of Tendai Buddhism, which inspires him in his quest for the supreme. The viewer will learn about the monk's death-defying fast, his vegetarian training diet, his handmade straw running shoes, and other feats of endurance such as the mummifying fire ceremony. Based on the book "Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei" by John Stevens, published by Shambala Press.
We Are Not Princesses is a documentary film about the incredible strength and spirit of four Syrian women living as refugees in Beirut as they come together to tell their stories of love, loss, pain and hope through the ancient Greek play, Antigone.
"The Atheist Experience," produced in Austin, Texas, is the only atheist TV show in the United States. Every Sunday afternoon, two atheists debate callers for one hour, on camera. ATHEIST AMERICA portrays the show, its protagonists, and the discussions between the hosts and callers. The debates between believers and skeptics are funny, touching and shocking in turn, and they're interspersed with footage of the very public religious displays common in the state of Texas. The film is an intimate, concentrated, and entertaining insight into the culture wars, and is sure to provoke inspiration as well as frustration, no matter which side of the divide you fall on.