Public schools don’t have to be a minefield of metal detectors, minimal expectations, and mind-numbing routine. An alternative exists right here in Chicago, at the Dixon Elementary Public School in the Chatham neighborhood, where former principal Joan Crisler and her successor Sharon Dale have implemented the idea that art should be an integral part of the learning environment, with museum-quality works openly adorning the halls. The results, in terms of student performance and morale, have been spectacular, but, as this inspiring but pragmatic documentary demonstrates, there are no miracle solutions: Crisler’s protégé Carol Briggs has an uphill battle applying the same approach at another school, and recent budget cuts have left even the most successful programs vulnerable to the axe.
Holy Man is the story of Douglas White, an 88 year old Lakota Sioux medicine man from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, who spent 17 years in federal prison for a crime he did not commit. During the making of this film, filmmakers uncovered new evidence of White's innocence and brought the case back to Federal Court. Holy Man offers a rare glimpse into the mysterious world of Lakota religion, their intimate connection to the land, and a provocative expose of the systemic injustice that Native Americans face in the criminal justice system.
'He who wants water must be prepared to kill for it' an old Arab saying goes. At the beginning of the 21st century water, the ancient source of life, already is in short supply all over the world. From the heart of Africa to the Aral Sea in the Kazakh steppe the film portrays different people's lives and their struggle for water and survival.
The Nigerian film industry, known as Nollywood, has exploded in the last ten years. Now the most popular cinema in all of west Africa--even more popular than imports of Hollywood or Bollywood films--the Nigerian film industry has distinguished itself by shooting all films (called video films) on digital video. This has allowed production schedules to be compressed (films are shot in several days) and immediately brought to market (distribution consists of bringing films to Idumota electronics market in Lagos and selling them for home viewing). The sheer volume of Nigerian video films is staggering: one estimate has a film being produced for each day of the year. Nollywood is now the third-largest film industry in the world, generating US$286 million a year for the Nigerian economy. And yet this vibrant, profitable industry is virtually unknown outside of Africa.
Ordinary Miracles: The Photo League's New York, narrated by Campbell Scott, chronicles the life and times of the Photo League, a legendary organization of amateur and professional photographers that flourished in New York between 1936 and 1951.
Rarely has an architect caused as much sensation outside of the architecture community as Rem Koolhaas. His outstanding creations such as the Dutch Embassy in Berlin, the Seattle Library, the Casa da Musica concert hall in Porto, and the Guggenheim Heritage Museum in Las Vegas are working examples of the Dutchman's visionary theories about architecture and urban society. "Rem Koolhaas: A Kind of Architect" is an engaging portrait of a visionary man, which takes us to the heart of his ideas. The filmmakers have made a visually inventive thought provoking portrait of the architect, prompting Rem Koolhaas to state "it's the only film about me that I have liked."
Executive Producer Ricki Lake and Filmmaker Abby Epstein follow their landmark documentary,'The Business of Being Born', with an all-new, four part DVD series that continues their provocative and entertaining exploration of the modern maternity care system. Exploration of the maternity care system, including birthing options and celebrity birth stories.
Follow the lives of eight California surfers in the newly released film, "One California Day." Produced by Builde Worldwide, and Co-Directed by Mark Jeremias (maker of DRIVE) and Jason Baffa (maker of Singlefin:Yellow), this super 16mm film stars Joel Tudor, Chris Malloy, Alex Knost, Tyler Warren, Jimmy Gamboa, Joe Curren, Dane Perlee, and Tyler Hatzikian, with special appearances by Skip Frye, Dan and Keith Malloy, Tom Curren, Gerg Noll, and Lance Carson
This gripping documentary follows the trial of Issa Sesay, a leader in Sierra Leone's civil war who stands accused of crimes against humanity. Can the trial of one man uncover the truth of a traumatic past?
The sequel to What !f, What !s is the next step in off-road moto progression and cinema tography. With a bigger cast, more cameras, and killer locations, Red Tide Pictures takes you on a adrenaline fueled romp of North America, through the swamps and bogs of Georgia to the high mountains in the heart of New Mexico. With some of the most progressive free riding, hill climbing, rock hopping and urban assaulting, no terrain, natural or manned will be left unturned.
In November 2009, Chris Davenport, Stian Hagen, and Andrea Binning ventured to the bottom of the world in search of the ski lines of their dreams. During their journey to the Antarctic Peninsula, the team discovered a new understanding of the beauty of ski mountaineering and of the depths of human connection to nature.... This is their story.
Several children live and study in a small rented house and they have no one to help them accept for Husham, a student. When the landlord demands they leave, the children lose their only sanctuary.
In a small village near Paris, 14-year-old boys and girls enter the training center for future lads and jockeys. For these young pupils, the transition between the family environment and this new world is brutal. Though sharing the world of teenagers -- flirting, cell phones and PlayStation -- they enter a world where the comfort of the horses comes before that of the human.
Betty White travels around the world to national parks, zoos and aquariums; along the way, she shares personal stories of her own pets and gives viewers a look at the organizations that support animals.
Superstar DJs discuss the history, culture, technology, spirituality and the future of electronic dance music - the music that catapulted the Club DJ to "rock star" status and united dance floors across the globe. LIQUID VINYL brings together the DJ's, the people behind the scene, and the dancers from the floor that all ultimately share in the magic of the music
Adam learns that his Yogi guru, Anand, has discovered a prophesy that was printed on his birth chart - he would die in an accident at the age of 27; and when Anand invites Adam to join him on a motorcycle journey through India's Himalayas, to the highest motorable road in the world, he faces the ultimate question: Is truly living worth dying for?
As a celestial phenomenon neighboring the musical big bang of the Sixties, The Soft Machine Legacy echoes the melodious growl of an era when rock'n'roll, blues, jazz, jazz-rock, funk, soul, pop were, as yet, nothing more than a magma of sounds challenging the musicians' ability to shape the course of music to come. In those days, Soft Machine symbolized the uncompromising dialog between those rock and jazz musicians who were determined to create a synthesis of the untamed energy of rock and the improvisational thrust of jazz. Forty years later, The Soft Machine Legacy musicians have not forsaken their dreams. Immune to the leveling pressures of show biz, Hugh Hopper, John Marshall, John Etheridge and Elton Dean -who passed away shortly after this last reunion at the New Morning - still mesmerize their fans. Whether the cheeks be rosy, or the heads speckled with grey freedom is ageless. Recorded live at the New Morning, Paris on December 12th, 2005 by New Morning Vision.
Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo' goes behind prison walls to follow convict cowgirls on their journey to the 2007 Oklahoma State Penitentiary Rodeo. In 2006, female inmates were allowed to participate for the first time. In a state with the highest female incarceration rate in the country, these women share common experiences such as broken homes, drug abuse and alienation from their children. Since 1940, the Oklahoma State Penitentiary has held an annual 'Prison Rodeo'. Part Wild West show and part coliseum-esque spectacle, it's one of the last of its kind - a relic of the American penal system. Prisoners compete on wild-broncs and bucking bulls, risking life-long injuries. For inmates like Danny Liles, a 14-year veteran of the rodeo, the chance to battle livestock offers a brief respite from prison life. Within this strange arena the prisoners become the heroes while the public and guards applaud
"We are the renters of this world, not its masters," reminds Pooshkar, a precocious 13-year-old member of a youth environmental defense group in India. He and his fellow voraciously energetic students actively rally against the use of plastics. In Africa, a renaissance man teaches citizens to harness solar power to cook food. In Papua New Guinea, villagers practice sustainable logging to save their rainforests. A woman in London uses her PR savvy to start a successful environmental communications firm. Self-described "hillbillies" in Appalachia battle the big business behind strip mining. In this rich and inspiring documentary, director Brian Hill takes us around the world to find the ordinary people taking action in the fight to save our environment.