Horace Bristol shot some of the most significant photographs of the 20th century, compelling images that have become icons of our past. However, his photographs were lost for forty years.  more »

Filmmaker Marc Radomsky is third generation South African. His grandfather emigrated from Lithuania to escape pogroms. The family established their roots in Johannesburg and prospered. However Marc and his wife see that growing lawlessness and crime in post-Apartheid South Africa has driven the white community into gated communities where armed guards, attack dogs and barbed wire are the brutal signs of the need for increased security.  more »

What has become of the Sunni tribes a year after the end of Saddam's dictatorship? This film examines the attempts by Americans to understand Sunni mentality and gain control of what has actually become a civil war between Sunni and Shia muslims. American officers, former CIA agents and Shia and Sunni leaders discuss Saddam's legacy which threatens the stability and future of Iraq.  more »

Kiran Bedi is small woman with a huge mission. A police woman and a social reformer, she has been compared to Mother Theresa and Mahatma Gandhi.  more »

With a sense of humor and curiosity, the filmmaker explores the shocking connections between the mad cow crisis, the farm crisis, and the global food crisis.  more »

For more than six decades, portrait photographer Yousef Karsh captured many of the world's most famous, powerful, and influential people. In this definitive biography, Karsh speaks of his work ethic and philosophy.  more »

The love affairs of the young men and women of Jaranwala - a village just a few hours out of Lahore - keeps entire families entertained with gossip and sexual intrigue. Through the eyes of a Western woman who has lived in the Punjab for decades, we gain extraordinary access to the private lives and thoughts of her young chef Nawaz and her maid, Mehnaz.  more »

In the last decades, colleges around the country have faced student protests over the wages paid maintenance employees. Harvard, the richest university in the world, is no exception. Students launched a peaceful protest and then a sit-in to win concessions.  more »

A fascinating look at the Sambia people of the mountains of New Guinea, whose society is shaped by the ritualized distinction between male and female roles.  more »

This fascinating biography relates the life and times of Irène Joliot-Curie, the eldest daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie. Although less well known than her parents, Irene and her husband, Frédéric, made a contribution to nuclear physics that was of equally ground-breaking significance.  more »

Meitner was a brilliant Jewish physicist from Vienna who had to flee Berlin in 1938 after working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. Together with her close friend and colleague, Otto Hahn, they developed the theory of nuclear fission. Yet after the war she was overlooked by the Nobel Prize Committee who awarded the prize to Hahn alone.  more »

Where Birds Don’t Sing chronicles the horrifying stories of two concentration camps in the Third Reich, Ravensbruck and Sachsenhausen, and ends with a moving reunion of the survivors.  more »

The turbulent life of Anna Larina, wife of Nikolai Bukharin, is entwined with 20th century Russian history.  more »

Gives a clear explanation of what happens to us during the unconscious hours of sleep, and how our sleep patterns affect productiveness.  more »

In 1940, General DeGaulle escaped to London determined to save France after its surrender to Germany. Archival films together with commentary by journalists and colleagues bring the career of this remarkable leader alive.  more »

This biography of the "Little Tramp" traces his life from his impoverished childhood in London, his meteoric rise to fame, his bitter exile in Switzerland, and to the belated tributes in Hollywood in the seventies. Clips from his films are intercut with the commentary of authors and critics.  more »

This film, based on newsreel footage and interviews with contemporaries, traces the story of Ho Chi Minh's life, the Vietnamese leader who against seemingly insurmountable odds humiliated two of the world's strongest armies, the American and the French.  more »

This film examines the complex world of international commerce by looking at the major players in the sugar industry -- European and African farmers, major sugar production companies on both continents, experts and officials. The report shows how decisions made at distant international meetings affect the lives of individuals.  more »

This powerful film was photographed in the Sovereign Dineh Indian Reservation where the Navajo people happen to live on vast deposits of oil, coal and uranium. But outside forces are at work, exploiting the mineral wealth and polluting the water.  more »

Combining footage taken by Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson over 50 years ago with footage shot today, this delightful video shows how the tradition of teaching Balinese children to dance is being passed on.  more »

This film shows the roots and beliefs of Afrospirit religions as practiced by the privileged rich as well as the illiterate poor, shot primarily in Rio de Janeiro.  more »

This powerful documentary travels into the hidden world of voodoo practitioners and offers unique insight into a frequently misunderstood religion.  more »

With stunning imagery, The Venetian Dilemma portrays the fragile urban ecology of Venice besieged by 14 million tourists who far outnumber the local residents. By tracking four Venetians who are trying to make a life in this unique historic place, the themes of urban gentrification and tourist impact are raised--a problem not only for Venice but for many other urban areas.  more »

Four deaf performers, an actress, a dancer, a percussionist and a mime explain how their art transcends the spoken word  more »

Jewish feminists are creating new rituals to celebrate Jewish holidays like Passover, demonstrating how traditions can be updated to make women full participants.  more »

The pain of severe burns is said to be greater than that of any other injury. Burn survivors tell about their recovery, both from the physical and psychological effects of trauma.  more »

Only 20% of girls ever enter a schoolhouse in Africa as cultural attitudes, more than economics undermine their future‹and the future of Africa.  more »

This starkly beautiful film exemplifies the burden borne by African women to survive and support their families. The Ghanaian women who live on a lagoon in Ada, mine for salt with their bare hands during the three month-long dry season.  more »

Bruno Manser, a Swiss citizen, lived among the Penan of Malaysian Borneo, and devoted himself to saving the forests  more »

Dying is a profound and poignant portrait of three people dying at home with their loved ones. Their last days are shaped by who they are as human beings.  more »

This film looks at the efforts to alleviate suffering and spread the message of HIV/AIDS prevention to the young  more »

This film describes the remarkable partnership between black South African grandmothers who are raising their grandchildren, orphaned by AIDS, and a group of grandmothers from North America who are being supportive of them.  more »

This documentary follows the journey of a doctor trying to balance his own enthusiasm for medical technology with an acceptance that, after a long and healthy life, it may be time to go.  more »

This documentary provides the rare opportunity of following a family with an Alzheimer's victim for two years. As Anna declines, her husband Jack and daughter Zena are faced with the agonizing task of putting Anna into a nursing home.  more »

Three people who suffer from psychotic disorders describe it from the inside out.  more »

This engaging film vividly evokes the rich past of the dance craze of the early 30's known variously as the Jitterbug, the Lindy Hop and Swing dancing.  more »

The story of a Jewish African American gospel singer who chants Torah, bridging races and traditions.  more »

This engaging film follows an intensive film camp for children eleven to nineteen who have autism spectrum disorders, and shows how developing their creative abilities significantly improves their social interaction skills.  more »

Almost half a million children in the United States are in foster care. They were taken from their parents who were deemed unfit to care for them. This is a sensitive exploration of the long term emotional and psychological costs of this policy.  more »

This landmark film is the first film to show the revolutionary social experiment, the attempt to create sexual equality between men and women on the Israeli kibbutz. Through archival footage and interviews with several generations, the film follows the evolution of family life and work roles from pioneering days to the present.  more »

An African drummer in Burkina Faso maintains the musical tradition of his ancestors and passes it on to his son.  more »

This fascinating documentary filmed in Mosuo Province near the Tibetan border shares the story of a matriarchal society where there are no fathers, husbands, or marriages.  more »

This unusually sensitive film is a powerful reminder that adults must take children seriously if they hint that something is amiss at home. The sisters in this film found the strength as grown women to come forward and prosecute their father in a court of law for his sexual molestation of them.  more »

A first hand account of how the Gypsies suffered during the Holocaust.  more »

Twenty-two year old Miguel Martinez has been languishing on death row in Huntsville, Texas, for five years, while his co-defendant, the son of a judge, was let off for giving state’s evidence.  more »

Tran Van Lam was foreign minister of South Vietnam during the devastating war with the North. During the war he dispersed his nine children to Australia, France, the US, and Scotland with the hope that they would return to Vietnam after the war. The film captures their challenges to make new lives in the countries to which they immigrated.  more »