Documentary Movies

Influential documentary masterpiece about imprisoned cinema-genius Sergei Parajanov, persecuted by KGB, during the height of his artistic power, for creating non-conformist films "Color of Pomegranate" and "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" - regarded as one the greatest films of the 20th century. A film by his close friend, Russian Academy Award-winning filmmaker Mikhail Vartanov , includes the complete surviving camera negative of Parajanov's unfinished final picture "The Confession"; unique 1968 behind the scenes sequences of Parajanov on the shooting of the "Color of Pomegranates"; breathtaking coverage of Parajanov's last working day in cinema in 1990 and frightening letters from Ukrainian GULAG (hard labor prison camps) with a shocking secret request that Parajanov sent to Vardanov. Mikhail Vartanov made the film in a blockaded Soviet Armenia during the hour daily limits of electricity and water, no heat, no gas, food, transport and communication shortages. He wrote: Parajanov's dreams, the farewell to the characters of his films, which, along with thousands of fans, see him off to the last journey. The Last Spring... A dove emerges from within the grave and flies off towards the immortality. Life is gone... Life is still there, imprinted on celluloid of the Altar of Joy, Beauty and Sadness that Parajanov has created.

Concentric Beats is a documentary film about the US drum'n'bass music experience, focusing mainly on three cities: Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. Besides featuring club and rave footage, the narrative of the film is carried through by over 70 interviews with some of the main protagonists of the drum'n'bass scene in the US as well as abroad. We listen as DJs, producers, club promoters, record label executives, dub-plate manufacturers, music journalists, and fans all speak on the history of the US drum'n'bass movement.

In their first live concert film, the Kinsey Sicks -- America's Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet -- reveal the shocking news: they have gone Republican. In this mock GOP fund-raiser, Rachel, Winnie, Trixie and Trampolina, the four gifted singers and comedians who comprise the quartet, defend their conversion to conservatism. They sing -- literally! -- the praises of corruption, tokenism, greed and all things nuclear (both families and bombs). The Kinsey Sicks have been a cult phenomenon for over a decade. From Off-Broadway to Vegas and beyond, the larger-than-life Kinsey Sicks have developed a loyal following among comedy fans, music aficionados and lovers of biting political satire. Their hilarious, intelligent writing and their finely spiced menu of thought-provoking original songs and wicked parodies have won them a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Best Musical and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Best Lyrics. They have won numerous a cappella awards and the New York Times has praised their 'voices sweet as birdsong.'

Sub-titled "The Birth of Extreme", this documetary takes a look at the transformation of skateboarding from its former image as a land-bound pastime for surfers to its status today as an extreme and acrobatic sport in its own right. Starting from the California surf community of Dogtown, the film follows the evolution of modern skateboarding through it's 70's heyday, its decline during the 80's, and its eventual (and highly lucrative) return in the 90's.

Peter Gimbel and a team of photographers set out on an expedition to find and Film, for the very first time, Carcharodon carcharias....The Great White Shark. The Expedition took over nine months and traveled from Durban, South Africa, across the Indian Ocean and finally to South Australia.

In 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. gathered the best musicians from Detroit's thriving jazz and blues scene to begin cutting songs for his new record company. Over a fourteen year period they were the heartbeat on every hit from Motown's Detroit era. By the end of their phenomenal run, this unheralded group of musicians had played on more number ones hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined - which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music. They called themselves the Funk Brothers. Forty-one years after they played their first note on a Motown record and three decades since they were all together, the Funk Brothers reunited back in Detroit to play their music and tell their unforgettable story, with the help of archival footage, still photos, narration, interviews, re-creation scenes, 20 Motown master tracks, and twelve new live performances of Motown classics with the Brothers backing up contemporary performers.

From outside the familiar political narratives of contemporary Tibet comes the story of Kala Rongo, a rare and exceptional Buddhist Monastery for nuns situated in Nangchen, on the Northeastern plateau. For centuries, monasteries have served as spiritual and educational centers for the people of remote and rural areas like Nangchen. When they were destroyed by the Communist Chinese Army between 1958 and 1979, Buddhism was banned, and Tibet's cultural foundations were severely weakened. Since the 1980s, restrictions have eased and monasteries are being rebuilt, particularly in rural areas. Still, monastic life is mostly available only to men as it has long been believed that educating a woman is a waste of valuable resources. But in Nangchen, all that is changing. Founded in 1990, Kala Rongo Monastery is granting women choices they've never had before, offering them unprecedented educational and religious training, and enabling them to help preserve their rich cultural heritage even as they slowly reshape it. DAUGHTERS OF WISDOM is an intimate portrait of these women, and the story of their spiritual community, one that couldn't have existed 20 years ago but is thriving today.

In the year 480 B.C., the Greeks and the Persians fight one of the most famous battles in history at a place called Thermopylae. Here, the mighty Persian war machine, which has conquered most of the known world, will attempt an expansion into Europe. The only thing standing in their way will be an army led by 300 Spartans, the greatest soldiers the world has ever known. They will fight to the very last man, and in doing so will protect the cradle of democracy during its infancy, and the battle will go down in history as the greatest military stand of all time.

Since the late 18th century American legal decision that the business corporation organizational model is legally a person, it has become a dominant economic, political and social force around the globe. This film takes an in-depth psychological examination of the organization model through various case studies. What the study illustrates is that in the its behaviour, this type of "person" typically acts like a dangerously destructive psychopath without conscience. Furthermore, we see the profound threat this psychopath has for our world and our future, but also how the people with courage, intelligence and determination can do to stop it.

Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, natural catastrophe is reported on the nightly news as isolated incidents. But are these incidents isolated, or pieces of a larger global puzzle that could unlock humanity¡¯s future? In the history of the planet, humanity¡¯s time on earth has been short--but powerful.

The 1982 peace agreement with Egypt obliged thousands of people to leave their homes in the Sinai desert. From the options they were given by the Israeli government, many chose 'Gush Katif' in the Gaza Strip as their new home. To progress the peace process, the Israeli government ordered the evacuation of the Gaza Strip on August 2005. This decision created political and social turmoil. The evacuation was to be the most complex and sensitive mission ever to be undertaken by the police forces. This movie is about emotions, beliefs, conscience and true brotherly love, It is a story of humanity in its finest hour This is the story of brothers in heart

This film documents the coal miners' strike against the Brookside Mine of the Eastover Mining Company in Harlan County, Kentucky in June, 1973. Eastovers refusal to sign a contract (when the miners joined with the United Mine Workers of America) led to the strike, which lasted more than a year and included violent battles between gun-toting company thugs/scabs and the picketing miners and their supportive women-folk. Director Barbara Kopple puts the strike into perspective by giving us some background on the historical plight of the miners and some history of the UMWA.

"Chicago Filmmakers on the Chicago River" is an independent documentary film that reviews the careers of movie makers indigenous to Chicago. The filmmakers are interviewed aboard an amusing variety of watercraft (speedboat, fireboat, tugboat, houseboat, fishing boat, rowboat, pontoon, canoe, etc.) while cruising along the branches of the Chicago River. In the program, the Chicago River comes to life as the filmmakers float along this famous waterway, which is often photographed, but rarely featured as a continuous backdrop in films. The audience learns about each artist's creative process as they navigate their boats and reflect on the various influences that guided their careers, and how they expose their hometown on the silver screen. "Chicago Filmmakers on the Chicago River" is the first documentary to bring together a wide variety of filmic talents from any one city.

Each winter, alone in the pitiless ice deserts of Antarctica, deep in the most inhospitable terrain on Earth, a truly remarkable journey takes place as it has done for millennia. Emperor penguins in their thousands abandon the deep blue security of their ocean home and clamber onto the frozen ice to begin their long journey into a region so bleak, so extreme, it supports no other wildlife at this time of year. In single file, the penguins march blinded by blizzards, buffeted by gale force winds. Guided by instinct, by the otherworldly radiance of the Southern Cross, they head unerringly for their traditional breeding ground where--after a ritual courtship of intricate dances and delicate maneuvering, accompanied by a cacophony of ecstatic song--they will pair off into monogamous couples and mate. The females remain long enough only to lay a single egg. Once this is accomplished, exhausted by weeks without nourishment, they begin their return journey across the ice-field to the fish-filled seas. The male emperors are left behind to guard and hatch the precious eggs, which they cradle at all times on top of their feet. After two long months during which the males eat nothing, the eggs begin to hatch. Once they have emerged into their ghostly white new world, the chicks can not survive for long on their fathers' limited food reserves. If their mothers are late returning from the ocean with food, the newly-hatched young will die. Once the families are reunited, the roles reverse, the mothers remaining with their new young while their mates head, exhausted and starved, for the sea, and food. While the adults fish, the chicks face the ever-present threat of attack by prowling giant petrels. As the weather grows warmer and the ice floes finally begin to crack and melt, the adults will repeat their arduous journey countless times, marching many hundreds of miles over some of the most treacherous territory on Earth, until the chicks are ready to take their first faltering dive into the deep blue waters of the Antarctic.

Traudl Junge was Adolf Hitler's private secretary, from Autumn 1942 until the collapse of the Nazi regime. She worked for him at the Wolfsschanze in Obersalzberg, on his private train and, finally, in his bunker in the besieged capital. It was Traudl Junge to whom Hitler dictated his final testament. In her first ever on-camera interview, 81-year-old Junge talks about her unique life. In the spring of 2001, Andre Heller succeeded in convincing Traudl Junge how valuable it is to record her unique memories. Fifty-six years after the end of the Second World War, an important eyewitness reveals her experiences to us. What she saw and heard turned her into an furious opponent of National Socialism; an opponent, moreover, who is still painfully aware and seems incapable of forgiving the young girl she once was--for her naivete, ignorance, and her liking for Hitler.

Five Jewish Hungarians, now U.S. citizens, tell their stories: before March, 1944, when Nazis began to exterminate Hungarian Jews, months in concentration camps, and visiting childhood homes more than 50 years later. An historian, a Sonderkommando, a doctor who experimented on Auschwitz prisoners, and US soldiers who were part of the liberation in April, 1945, also comment. Most telling are details: Renée packing her bathing suit, Irene swallowing the diamonds her mother gave her to buy bread, Alice's memorial for her sister Klara, Bill escaping police by jumping into a line of Jews going to Buchenwald, and Tom told by a US soldier to have "all the damn bananas and oranges you can eat."

The uncensored investigation into disappearances of the three film-makers in 1994. See interviews with friends and family of the three film-makers, and learn the entire mythology of the Blair Witch, including a news reel interview with Rustin Parr!

A film documenting the dramatic 2003 season of the Boston Red Sox, following that tragic season from spring training to the American League championship series, in which the Sox were five outs away from beating the rival New York Yankees in Game 7. Instead of having a shot at winning their first World Series since 1918, they ended up losing 6-5 in 11 innings.

This film discusses the effect on how major American films in Hollywood were influenced by the Eastern European Jewish culture that most of the major movie moguls who controlled the studios shared. Through clips of various films, the filmmakers illustrate the dominant themes like that of the outsider, the outspoken American patriotism, and rooting for the underdog in society.

This documentary covers the concert at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri, to celebrate Chuck Berry's sixtieth birthday, and also discusses his life and career.

Donald Pleasance and Nancy Allen share narration duties on this anthology that looks at all of the gory sequences from major films, such as the shower scene from "Psycho" and the midnight swim from "Jaws". Blood and gore abound making the film definitely not for the squeamish.

Since the renewed Intifada began in 2000, there have been over 75 Palestinian suicide bombings. This is the story of 0ne-the bombing of bus 32 in Jerusalem in June 2002. The film connects the stories of a group of ordinary Israelis-Jews and Arabs. Each of them holds a clue to someone who died that day.

The 1972 Munich Olympics were interrupted by Palestinian terrorists taking Israeli athletes hostage. Besides footage taken at the time, we see interviews with the surviving terrorist, Jamal Al Gashey, and various officials detailing exactly how the police, lacking an anti-terrorist squad and turning down help from the Israelis, botched the operation.

An intimate look at hip-hop artist Shawn Carter, Jay-Z, revealing the multiple Grammy Award winning artist as never before, from his background and rise to fame to the recording of his last album. The film chronicles the legendary concert of Jay-Z's performance at Madison Square Garden in November 2003. In an unprecedented event, a hip-hop artist sold out an arena in only two hours. Nearly one year later, fans and artists alike still reflect on this monumental musical night. The event was a spectacular culmination of Jay-Z's recording career prior to his self-proclaimed retirement from solo performing. Yet this one night also defined a musical generation, showcasing the evolution and reach of the world's most popular music genre. Guest performers included Jay-Z's closest friends and music industry colleagues: Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott, R. Kelly, Foxy Brown, Pharrell, and Questlove and The Illadelphonics along with appearances by hip hop icons Damon Dash, Rick Rubin, Slick Rick, P. Diddy and many others. Viewers get the rare glimpse of Jay-Z's creative process as he searches for inspiration, poetry, and perfection in his songs. Narrated by Jay-Z, his account of the night takes on reflections of his entire musical career and his journey that led to this one astounding, fabled evening--rightfully called "Fade To Black."

This documentary follows two inner-city Chicago residents, Arthur Agee and William Gates, as they follow their dreams of becoming basketball superstars. Beginning at the start of their high school years, and ending almost 5 years later, as they start college, we watch the boys mature into men, still retaining their "Hoop Dreams". Both are recruited into the same elite high school as their idol, former Detroit Piston superstar Isaiah Thomas. Only one survives the first year; the other must return to a high school closer to his home. Along the way, there is much tragedy, some joy, a great wealth of information about inner city life, and the suspense of not knowing what will occur next. This is not a "by-the-numbers" film.

The extraordinary odyssey of a U.S. musician of Cape Verdean ancestry to Tannu Tuva, in central Asia, where nomadic people throat sing more than one note simultaneously, using vocal harmonics. A bluesman, Paul Pena, blind and recently widowed, taught himself throat singing and was by chance invited to the 1995 throat-singing symposium in Kyzyl. Helped by the "Friends of Tuva," Pena makes the arduous journey. Singing in the deep, rumbling kargyraa style, Pena gives inspired performances at the festival, composes songs in Tuvan, washes his face in sacred rivers, expresses the disorientation of blindness in foreign surroundings, and makes a human connection with everyone he meets.

Art Kane, now deceased, coordinated a group photograph of all the top jazz musicians in NYC in the year 1958, for a piece in Esquire magazine. Just about every jazz musician at the time showed up for the photo shoot which took place in front of a brownstone near the 125th street station. The documentary compiles interviews of many of the musicians in the photograph to talk about the day of the photograph, and it shows film footage taken that day by Milt Hinton and his wife.

Director Al Pacino juxtaposes scene's from Richard III, scenes of rehearsals for Richard III, and sessions where parties involved discuss the play, the times that shaped the play and the events that happened at the time the play is set. Interviews with mostly British actors are also included, attempting to explain why American actors have more problems performing Shakespearean plays than they do.

Quad rugby as played by the US team, between 2002 games in Sweden and the 2004 Paralympics in Athens. Young men, most with spinal injuries, play this rough and tumble sport in special chairs, seated gladiators. We get to know several and their families. They talk frankly about their injuries, feelings in public, sex lives, competitiveness, and love of the game. There's also an angry former team member gone north to coach the Canadian team, tough on everyone, including his viola-playing son. We meet a recently injured man, in rehab, at times close to despair, finding possible joy in quad rugby. After Athens, the team meets young men injured in war: the future stars of Team USA.

Tracing the historical arc of the professional bowling tour, the film includes archival footage from the sport's glory days in the 1950s and '60s, through its near extinction in 1997. The story takes a twist when newly installed CEO Steve Miller sets about modernizing the PBA. In addition to Miller, the chronicle focuses on four pro bowlers: Pete Weber, bowling bad-boy and son of legendary bowler Dick Weber whose conservative style doesn't jibe with the direction Miller is taking the new PBA. Pete's nemesis is Walter Ray Williams Jr., a straight-laced six-time world horseshoe-pitching champion and, with 36 PBA titles to his name, the dominant player on the tour. Also, there's Chris Barnes, a young father of newborn twins, who must leave his wife and sons at home and hit the road to compete for the winnings that his young family is depending upon. Finally there's Wayne Webb, a 20-time PBA champion who has fallen on hard times and hopes to squeeze one more good season out of his career to stave off bankruptcy.

Documentary about writer and performance artist Bob Flanagan who died at 43 of cystic fibrosis. His life was indicated by pain from the beginning and he started to develop sadomasochistic practices, which he developed finally into performances.

An action-adventure documentary chronicling the most notorious and dangerous race in the world--the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. Rivaling the Indy 500 and 25 Hours of Daytona, the race across Baja's peninsula is unpredictable, grueling and raw--just like the uncharted American West of yesteryear. To capture the vast desert panoramas and intense action of the race, the film team utilized, fifty-five cameras, four helicopters, a four-passenger buggy camera car and a crew of over eighty people. Thousands of participants, generations of families and racing icons such as Robby Gordon, Mario Andretti, Jimmy Vasser and Motorcycle Supercross legend Mike Mouse McCoy joined together to experience the thrill and glory of the infamous race--an event of sheer human determination.

Reveals a groundbreaking dance phenomenon that's exploding on the streets of South Central, Los Angeles. Taking advantage of unprecedented access, this documentary film bring to first light a revolutionary form of artistic expression borne from oppression. The aggressive and visually stunning dance modernizes moves indigenous to African tribal rituals and features mind-blowing, athletic movement sped up to impossible speeds. We meet Tommy Johnson (Tommy the Clown), who first created the style as a response to the 1992 Rodney King riots and named it Clowning, as well as the kids who developed the movement into what they now call Krumping. The kids use dance as an alternative to gangs and hustling: they form their own troupe and paint their faces like warriors, meeting to outperform rival gangs of dancers or just to hone their skills. For the dancers, Krumping becomes a way of life--and, because it's authentic expression (in complete opposition to the bling-bling hip-hop culture), the dance becomes a vital part of who they are.

A man living in the USA is nauseated by the media power and Consumerism, decides to go to Cuba with the intention of meeting Fidel Castro. The man is looking for revolution and socialism for a better future for everybody... But he finds a different Cuba from what he thought. Nostalgic, sad, tired of a strong prohibitionist, and of a shortage of speaking and thinking freedom, for a difficult human situation (before a politic idea).

In 1972, a seemingly typical shoestring budget pornographic film was made in a Florida hotel, "Deep Throat," starring Linda Lovelace. This film would surpass the wildest expectation of everyone involved to become one of the most successful independent films of all time. It caught the public imagination which met the spirit of the times, even as the self appointed guardians of public morality struggled to suppress it, and created, for a brief moment, a possible future where sexuality in film had a bold artistic potential. This film covers the story of the making of this controversial film, its stunning success, its hysterical opposition along with its dark side of mob influence and allegations of the on set mistreatment of the film's star. In short, the combined events would redefine the popular appeal of pornography, even as more cynical developments would lead it down other paths.

A documentary of the true story of two American adventurers who follow mysterious clues to find the true Mt. Sinai. The discoveries made by Bob Cornuke and Larry Williams will shock the world and rewrite history. Centuries of tradition place this holy mountain in the Sinai peninsula of Egypt, but compelling evidence will show that this hallowed ground, where Moses was told to take the shoes of his feet before the burning bush, may actually be in the barren deserts of northwestern Saudi Arabia. Epic myth becomes burning truth on the Mountain of Fire.

From a driver's point of view, we come to know the streets and avenues of Los Angeles. Through the film's music, both the bright side and the dark side of the city become one and we learn that above luxery, povertry money...we are all connected.

'This is real. It's blood, sweat, tears, mud, dirt, beer.' -- Travis Pace, #17. DIRT, a documentary by Jeff Bowden, follows a season inside the soul of American auto racing-the World Class Street Stocks-at the legendary Devil's Bowl Speedway, in Mesquite, Texas, as the racers careen on and off the track toward the season championship. 'That's the original class at Devil's Bowl. That's where it all began, in a stock car. You took an old car, beat the windows out of it, and said, 'Okay, you sons-of-bitches, let's have us a race.'' -- Thomas Weeks, #5x. The title captures the heart of the film--DIRT is about primal forces: horsepower and ego, passion, fuel and fire. The racecars are usually held together with duct tape. There's nothing fancy about these cars: 'No power steering. These guys never heard of driving with power steering. I'm telling you. These were stock car drivers! Hairy-chested racecar drivers! I mean men. I mean, they'd get in them racecars and beat it up.' -- Thomas Weeks, #5x. Shot in mixed formats, DIRT is a film about racing, but it's also a film about relationships: 'In a marriage with a racecar driver there are three people involved. Always. And if that third person was another woman you could compete . . . But you can't compete with a racecar.' -- Missi Smith, wife of racer Doug Smith. This season, one woman dares to ask the question: But can you compete against the men?

America is a vast country--three thousand miles from end to end. But it's not the land that makes America so special--it's the people. Filmmaker Louis Schwartzberg packed-up his camera and hit the road, with a goal of capturing both the unparalleled beauty of the land and the incomparable spirit of the people. He connects with people, capturing their values, dreams, and passion in a journey that reveals the stories--unusual, captivating, inspiring and emotional--that make Americans into something more than a collection of individuals. It's a celebration of a nation told through the voices of its people.

While residents along the Southeastern United States boarded their homes and evacuated for Hurricane Katrina, one Mississippi resident saw an opportunity to use his recently purchased video production equipment. Unaware that Katrina would soon demolish his home, a historical art gallery operated by his family, Justin and a few friends filmed a sarcastic prediction of the destruction the storm would cause. Although Justin evacuated just before Katrina hit, he knew there were people trapped on the Coast, including his family. In efforts to find his grandmother, he learned the plight of many others. He quickly focused all his efforts on providing relief to residents in South Mississippi. Armed with nothing more than a trailer laden with donated supplies and names of people's loved ones to search for on the Coast, Justin and his father spearheaded a project that fed, clothed and provided relief to hundreds. Journey into the Katrina Diary of J. Justin Pearce, and see footage of Biloxi from just before Katrina, never before seen compiled storm footage, before and after montages of Biloxi's historical homes, and testimonies from Katrina victims interlaced with Justin's compelling first-hand account of the changes people must undergo when everything they've ever known is stripped away.

This IMAX film shows exotic places that still exist and gives new insights into the Earth's diverse landscapes, peoples and animals. From the last remaining old growth forests of British Columbia, the snowy peaks and glaciers of Alaska, the red rock canyons of Utah and Arizona, the tropical jungles and underwater mysteries of Borneo, the ancient ruins of Thailand and remote deserts of Namibia to the white sand beaches of New Zealand.

David Byrne walks onto the stage and does a solo "Psycho Killer." Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz join him for two more songs. The crew is busy, still setting up. Then, three more musicians and two back-up singers join the band. Everybody sings, plays, harmonizes, dances, and runs. They change instruments and clothes. Bryne appears in the Big Suit. The backdrop is often black, but sometimes it displays words, images, or children's drawings. The band cooks for 18 songs, the lyrics are clear, the house rocks. In this concert film, the Talking Heads hardly talk, don't stop, and always make sense.

People suffer largely unnoticed while the rest of the world goes about its business. This is a documentary exploration of the mythic beauty of the Golden Gate Bridge, the most popular suicide destination in the world, and those drawn by its call. Steel and his crew filmed the bridge during daylight hours from two separate locations for all of 2004, recording most of the two dozen deaths in that year (and preventing several others). They also taped interviews with friends, families and witnesses, who recount in sorrowful detail stories of struggles with depression, substance abuse and mental illness. Raises questions about suicide, mental illness and civic responsibility as well as the filmmaker's relationship to his fraught and complicated material.

An appreciative, uncritical look at silent film comedies and thrillers from early in the century through the 1920s. It starts with a 1905 look at French comedy, goes through the 1910s with Sennett, Chaplin, and Fairbanks, and into the 1920s with Max Roach, Snub Pollard, Harry Langdon, Al St. John, Charlie Chase, and the teaming of Laurel and Hardy. Thrillers feature Houdini and serials, with special attention to Pearl White, Ruth Roland, and Monty Banks. The film often lets the silent pictures speak for themselves, running entire one-reelers or significant chunks of an old movie.

A film about the art of screaming. Meet the screaming choir that travels from Finland to Tokyo with the goal of getting good photographs of their Japanese audience while performing Japanese national anthem. Meet the choir that screams La Marseillaise at the museum of modern art in Paris even though the museum and the embassy of Finland try to prevent them. Meet the choir that makes parody of nationalism and fascism # and can only be led by a total dictator. The Finnish Screaming Male Choir, Mieskuoro Huutajat, dressed in black suits, white shirts, and rubber ties is a unique choir which performs its repertoire by shouting and screaming. Led by the conductor Petri Sirviö, the choir has traveled during 15 years of existence from an idea in a bar table all the way to the front line of modern European performing arts, receiving the same strong reaction everywhere: the audience has been mostly exalted, and sometimes also shocked and bewildered. The appeal of the performance of Huutajat is based on combinations of strong contrasts. The disciplined and smartly dressed male choir shouts patriotic songs and marches as well as children's songs in original languages. Exact articulation mixes with howling and comical turns into serious without a warning. What makes Huutajat internationally significant is how the choir treats nationalism. Their versions of national anthems of different countries do not always make everybody happy. When Huutajat was performing at the museum of modern art in Paris, both the museum and the Finnish embassy tried to prevent them from performing the French national anthem. When Huutajat was performing in Iceland, where it is prohibited by the law to perform the national anthem in any other version than the original, they had to find another solution # and the audience was amazed. SCREAMING MEN is a film about intransigence and firm belief in your own art. The creative process of conductor Sirviö often leads to conflicts between the choir and the outside world - sometimes also within the choir. The film follows the choir both in Finland and on international concert trips (France, Japan, and Iceland) during a time span of five years. Similarly to the choir, the documentary walks the thin line between the dead serious and the absurd.

Details the deeply rooted musical friendship between Jerry Garcia and David Grisman. Includes live Garcia/Grisman performances as well as rare and unique personal moments from the studio, backstage and home-style jam sessions. Interviews with friends and family are intertwined with live and archival elements, creating an intimate portrait of Jerry and David's relationship. Traces the Garcia/Grisman connection from their earliest days as budding bluegrassers, through the creation of the legendary Old & In the Way in the mid '70s, to the Garcia/Grisman Band that highlighted their love of traditional acoustic music in the '90s.

Concert performance of Eddie Griffin that includes behind-the-scenes documentary footage detailing the stand-up comedian's personal life and family as he travels to a family reunion to reunite with the cast of characters who are the root of his comedy: his mother, an uncle who was an ex-pimp, and his Uncle Curtis, who pontificates on his career as a porno director.

Hosted by noted reporters Tom Brokaw and Jane Pauley, this program presents in-depth coverage of news stories in the tradition of 60 Minutes and 20/20. Rather than just reading news reports, as most news shows do, the reporters for this show research their subjects and interview the people closely involved to create an informative work of investigative journalism.

A series of interviews are conducted concerning people's beliefs towards the possibility of an afterlife. The interviews are filmed against a set of strange backdrops, and are intercut with clips from classic films and a variety of stock footage.

Through a chronological history of the South African liberation struggle, this documentary cites examples of the way that music was used in the fight for freedom. Songs united those who were being oppressed and gave those fighting a way to express their plight. The music consoled those incarcerated, and created an effective underground form of communication inside the prisons.

Hijos de la Guerra ("Children of the War") is a feature-length documentary film about the world's largest and most violent street gang: the Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13. The MS-13 gang spans the Americas with an estimated membership of 100,000 people across the United States and Central America. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has declared the MS-13 the fastest growing and most violent street gang in the United States. The Mara Salvatrucha was formed in Los Angeles in the late 1980s by Salvadoran Civil War refugees as a means to protect themselves from rival ethnic gangs. The newly formed gang channeled the widespread trauma of a genocidal civil war on entire generations of orphaned and abandoned children into fanatical violence. This formed the basis for MS's explosive growth. MS-13 has since become a growing threat throughout 33 states in the U.S. and in every country in Central America. The institution of systematic and increasingly stern U.S. deportation policies, along with forceful Salvadoran armed repression of the members, has radicalized the group. Instead of tempering the gang's influence, these policies have propelled the gang into a powerful, aggressive and multiplying force that seems increasingly difficult to control. Through a series of over 80 interviews (including gang members across several countries, the gang's founders, experts and academics) and powerful footage inside jails in El Salvador, gang-infested neighborhoods of Los Angeles, and Salvadoran communities across the East Coast of the United States, the film sheds light on the root personal reasons for gang membership, the ensuing explosion of fratricidal violence as well as the complex role of social and government policy in both containing and aggravating gang proliferation. Hijos de la Guerra ("Children of the War") is the first feature-length documentary film to tell the story of the MS-13. It addresses the causes and circumstances that have fueled this gang's ominous rise to power.

Twenty-four contestants compete in an endurance/sleep deprivation contest in order to win a brand new Nissan Hardbody truck. The last person to remain standing with his or her hand on the truck wins. An absurd marketing gimmick at first glance, the contest proves to be much more...

Ten women, most of them in Vancouver or Toronto, talk about being lesbian in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s: discovering the pulp fiction of the day about women in love, their own first affairs, the pain of breaking up, frequenting gay bars, facing police raids, men's responses, and the etiquette of butch and femme roles. Interspersed among the interviews and archival footage are four dramatized chapters from a pulp novel, "Forbidden Love": Laura leaves her hick town and heads for the city, where she meets Mitch in a bar. Sparks fly, and so do laughter and joy. Ann Bannon, one of the writers of those paperback novels about forbidden love, talks about the genre.