This documentary on facial kinetics begins with a brief history of the field and then reports on current research.  more »

This film transforms the media images of starving masses into indentifiable individuals, humanizing them.  more »

For more than twenty years, Lars Westman filmed his mother. The result is a unique record of life's inevitable passage, as well as a tender portrait of an aging mother.  more »

A charismatic but troubled youth strives for success at a strict new inner city charter school. His school has high expectations, but can it overcome the negativity of the community?  more »

This film seeks out traces of the once thriving world of the Jewish community in western Ukraine. Before WW II a rich culture with Jewish music abounding and a thriving Yiddish threater existed there. The film weaves the words of writers such as Isaak Babel, Martin Buber and others, with the experiences of those still living.  more »

Haiti is a nation caught in a tragic, downward spiral. Its economy is broken, its land denuded, and its children hungry. Combining vivid footage with interviews of those in the throes of events, the film documents the US and UN's failure to help a country in crisis.  more »

This landmark documentary is the first to depict contemporary U.S. nuns in "action", living out a mission of social justice, even when it brings them into conflict with the established church.  more »

This film makes an impassioned plea for the return of the land that was taken from the Wanatchi Indians of Washington State  more »

This CBC program is an engaging study of how we chose our mates and for what reason. Dr. John Money discusses the "love map", or blueprint of the ideal relationship we carry within us.  more »

A wholesome young couple bringing up children in a farming community discovers they are both HIV positive. This inspiring film shows the ground swell of support they got from their neighbors.  more »

This is a portrait of a country family in the Auvergne province who typify how the traditions are slowly fading away in the face of modern life. We see the disintegration of rural areas in industrialized nations.  more »

This film documents the studies of Dr. Frans de Waal, the internationally known ethologist who based his spectacular book "Chimpanzee Politics" on his unique study at the Arnhem Zoo in Holland.  more »

This intensely personal film documents lesbian videomaker Pam Walton's attempt to reconcile with her long estranged homophobic father, and discover what "family" means to her.  more »

Explores the "hunger for a perfect body" which sometimes leads women to starve themselves.  more »

Fear is the most primal and powerful emotion, from its evolutionary origins in the involuntary fight-or-flight survival instinct, to its essential function as a learning tool today. Part of a four-part series, Passion & Fury: The Emotional Brain.  more »

Portraits of three Asian women fighting for social justice. Each is from a different culture (Bangladesh, India, Vietnam) but are united by their refusal to remain silent and accepting.  more »

Fathima Burnad is fighting to change the caste system that has existed for 3,000 years.  more »

Hien Tran, a former Vietnamese refugee turned union representative in Austalia, is speaking up for her fellow workers, trapped by their circumstances and financial need.  more »

In 1994 a young poet from rural Bangladesh plunged the country into a wave of mass protest. Her crime: to write her thoughts about how religious fundamentalism has consigned women to a secondary role in modern society.  more »

When an international company causes pollution in an African American neighborhood, who pays?  more »

After ruling Cuba for almost fifty years, Castro has stepped down. From his childhood in rural Cuba through his fight in the Sierra Maestra to winning the revolution and transforming the country, this film presents a unique account of his life and times, taken largely from private letters, correspondence, speeches and interviews.  more »

Gay people are beginning to lead integrated lives in small towns throughout rural America. This film is a portrait of Danny Cooper, a mailman, who has always been upfront about his homosexuality and now lives openly with his lover in a small Louisiana town.  more »

Great News! Now you can search, find, click, and watch our videos on your computer screen, iPad, or smart phone. Filmakers Library is proud to announce the April 2011 launch of Filmakers Library Online. As an imprint of award-winning electronic publisher Alexander Street Press, we are pleased to make available this new online collection, which gathers together for the first time all of the superb documentary films in the Filmakers catalog on a single cross-searchable streaming platform. Encompassing more than 1,000 films at launch and with new titles being added all the time, this multidisciplinary collection includes documentaries that present points of view and historical and current experiences from diverse cultures and traditions worldwide.  more »

Many of the active, healthy elderly people in this film are organizing for the right to end their lives before they are overtaken by frailty, illness or dependence.  more »

In this profoundly touching, intergenerational documentary, a charismatic Holocaust survivor inspires her family to connect to relatives they could never meet. Focusing on her brother Kalman, Anna recounts tales of a mischievous boy who tried to escape the Warsaw ghetto with her.  more »

A Somali woman filmmaker who was subject to circumcision explores the issue of female genital mutilation in her culture.  more »

Academy Award Nominee, 1984. This is the classic film of cultural confrontation that is as compelling today as when it was first released over ten years ago.  more »

Today Native Americans stand stronger than they have done for the past 150 years. They now play a whole new role in American society, both economically and culturally.  more »

Violent interactive video games make up a 20 billion dollar industry. These games may have an addictive quality, especially to teenage boys, whose lives often become dominated by them. What effect does brutality in virtual reality have on the minds and psyches of the young?  more »

This engaging film shows how a dedicated teacher and community organizer in New Mexico brought a colorful, passionate Hispanic dance to America.  more »

This profound documentary investigates the relationship of human violence to fear of mortality. Experts describe death anxiety as a possible root cause of many human behaviors on psychological, spiritual, and cultural levels.  more »

This unique documentary traces the fantastic journey of Africa¹s most popular shoes: the flip-flop. Beginning life in the factories of Mombasa, they are a staple of dress all over Africa. Cobblers specialize in rejuvenating them, but when at last they are beyond repair, their colorful remains are recycled into fanciful toys and mobiles and sold in boutiques back in Mombasa.  more »

This film explores the importance of the Virgin of Guadalupe as a liberating symbol for Mexican women today  more »

Each year the wheelchair-bound 76-year-old Dr. Dicksheet, travels from New York to India to perform free reconstructive facial surgery on hundreds of children. Without the operations, these children would be not be able to develop normally and would be treated as outcasts.The film shows how this quirky, funny, and sometimes difficult character overcomes his own ailments by curing others. His stamina and commitment are truly staggering.  more »

Introducing himself as a middle aged, middle income man, Timo Harakka is a Finnish Michael Moore, though less abrasive. He sets out to track a small investment he made in a Far East Fund.He learns he is invested in 55 companies in the 'digital universe’ and decides to discover where his money has gone and what effect it has made in different areas of the world.  more »

Fond Memories of Cuba is an affectionate and thoughtful portrait of Cuba, some forty years after Castro took power. Academy Award-nominated David Bradbury (Frontline, Chile Hasta Cuando?) documents the erosion of the revolution in Cuba and sadly acknowledges that the socialist dreams of earlier decades have evaporated in the face of harsh circumstances.  more »

This film from the Nature of Things series shows that the challenge of feeding billions of more people will effect soil erosion, salinization, and chemical pollution. Two-part series.  more »

Fascinating portraits of three gifted autistic individuals: one who is gifted musically; one who is a mathematical genius; and one who is an artist.  more »

Seven-year-old Jackson has light skin and curly hair ­ and a remarkable heritage from both sides of his family. In this inspiring film, his two grandmothers from different racial, cultural and religious backgrounds, look back over lives to pass along to him their acquired wisdom.  more »

Although hemp is used to make rope, paper and even food and oils, a war has been waged against the plant because of its drug properties. Yet there are thirty five maladies and symptoms on which marijuana has a beneficial effect.  more »

A Brazilian paraplegic wanted to marry the love of his life. The Roman Catholic Church of Brazil would not give him permission on the grounds that he could not copulate. People all over Brazil rallied in support of the couple.  more »

Diana McGowin, an articulate, high-spirited woman is the first person to chronicle the onset of Alzheimer's. In her book, Living in the Labyrinth, she writes about her good and bad days and the effect of her illness on her children and her husband.  more »

While many have characterized WikiLeaks boss Julian Assange as a heroic champion of free speech, his ongoing exposé of US foreign policy would not have been possible without the work of Private Bradley Manning. Reporter Quentin McDermott tells the inside story of Bradley Manning and his daring intelligence heist.  more »

This riveting film recounts the true story of a young Hungarian Jew and her sisters interned in Auschwitz, their struggle to survive and their daring escape from a death march. Based on a Pulitzer Prize-nominated book by Isabella Leitner.  more »

This film follows the migration of the aging hippies from the mountains of Kathmandu to the beaches of Goa in South India. It captures their lifestyle with all its ironies.  more »

Exciting news! For all of 2012, most DVD titles purchased from Filmakers Library will include one free year of streaming access (from date of purchase) to the film for your entire institution. See for yourself how easy to use streaming video can be! When ordering, please mention you want your free streaming subscription. Questions? Call 703-212-8520 or email orders@alexanderstreet.com.  more »

Freedom explores the use of ethanol and other green solutions to America’s oil fix. Ethanol, the most accessible alternative biofuel, is a lightning rod of controversy. An anti-ethanol coalition made up of both big oil and hard line environmentalists stokes the fire of that controversy.  more »

This is the story of African American women who migrated from the rural South during the first three decades of the 20th century and worked as domestic workers to support their families. We meet women of spirit and humor who tell how they survived difficult times  more »

In Russia, the freedom unleashed by Glasnost, Gorbachev and Yeltsin has included the freedom to hate. This film looks at this new form of anti-Semitism and includes secretly shot footage of the nationalist movement "Pamyat" and other hate groups against their traditional Jewish scapegoats.  more »

In this film, the surviving members of the National Negro Labor Council, formed in 1951, recall their first convention and their notable goals. The Council was a forerunner of the civil rights movement.  more »

Two African-American journalists who covered the events of the civil rights movement in the fifties and sixties return to the deep South where it all took place.Their journey brings back memories of those turbulent times.  more »

Told through manuscripts, letters, and dramatic reconstructions, this is the story of the incredible exodus of thousands of African Americans to Canada in the 1850s.  more »

A riveting history of colonialism and its legacy after Patrice Lumumba and then General Mobutu took control  more »

This is a colorful, ironic look at Chinese society as it is being transformed by burgeoning capitalism. Untold wealth has accrued to those who once followed Mao's dictates.  more »

This film focuses on three survivors of sexual assaults, two women and a man, who poignantly and openly share their experience and its aftermath.  more »

Formerly a thriving, prosperous French possession inhabited by descendants of African slaves, Haiti is now one of the poorest countries in the world, while an economic boom linked to tourism has occurred in the Dominican Republic. Their border is plagued by daily violence and tension.  more »

This Academy Award-nominee is a must for all courses dealing with the Vietnam War and its divisive effect on the American people. Its focus is Neil Davis, a news cameraman whose famous combat footage was shown all over the world.  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 »

A provocative film based on the work of economist Jeremy Rifkin who foresees a calamity of global proportions as our workforce is marginalized by new technology.  more »