New Videos - April 2006
On DVD:
Voices in Wartime - DVD TAC-563
A documentary that delves into the experience of war through powerful images and the words of poets -- unknown and world famous. Soldiers, journalists, historians and experts on combat interviewed in Voices in Wartime add diverse perspectives on war's effects on soldiers, civilians and society. Also included is Beyond wartime, a documentary short composed of a set of interviews with people who are working to heal the wounds of war, exploring the questions raised, but not answered, by Voices in Wartime.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - DVD TAC-564
When Joel discovers that his girlfriend, Clementine, has had their tumultuous relationship erased from her mind through an experimental scientific procedure, he decides to ease his own pain by getting the same treatment. But, as each memory of Clementine is systematically eliminated, Joel suddenly realizes how much he still loves her and desperately attempts to reverse the process.
M - DVD TAC-565
A psychopathic murderer of young girls terrorizes a German city causing public hysteria and intense police investigations, which in turn disrupts organized crime. The contrasting worlds of the police and the underworld are juxtaposed as they both resolve to hunt, capture, and try the murderer.
This Far by Faith: African-American Spiritual Journeys - DVD TAC-566
Documents the African-American religious experience during the last three centuries from the early African slaves, through the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights Era, and into the 21st century. Explores the struggle of African-Americans in their faith and how it became a force for social, political and cultural change in the United States .
Shake Hands With the Devil: the Journey of Roméo Dallaire - DVD TAC-567
The film captures (Ret'd) Lt. General Roméo Dallaire's return to Rwanda to relive his memories of the 1994 genocide while he was the commander of a U.N. peacekeeping force. It also portrays the West's view of Rwanda and how the international community and media abandoned the Rwandan people in their time of greatest need.
The Big Red One - DVD TAC-568
Named for the insignia of the First Infantry Division, this World War II combat film (based on Fuiller's own war experiences) follows a handful of young GIs and their sergeant as they battle their way from North Africa through Sicily , Omaha Beach and Belgium to the ultimate horror of the concentration camp at Falkenau , Czechoslovakia . This restoration was based on Fuller's shooting script and extensive notes he made during production, and adds back some 47 minutes of footage.
Once Upon a Time in the West - DVD TAC-569
A mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad in this long frontier epic. Mysterious pasts and the strength of loyalties are explored amid lightning fast gun battles and stylish vistas.
Avant-garde: Experimental Cinema of the 1920s and '30s - DVD TAC-570
Twenty-five short films selected from the avant garde movement of the 1920's and 1930's.
Being Gay: Coming Out in the 21 st Century - DVD TAC-571
This program presents the accounts and stories of people who have recently taken the step of coming out. Interviewees and experts discuss the benefits of this important transition by examining the six stages of coming to terms with one's sexual identity.
Storm That Drowned a City - DVD TAC-572
"Storm That Drowned a City" is NOVA's definitive investigation into the science of Hurricane Katrina, combining a penetrating analysis of what went wrong with a dramatic, minute-by-minute unfolding of events told through eyewitness testimony.
The Storm - DVD TAC-573
The Storm examines the first critical hours of local, state, and federal emergency response to Hurricane Katrina.
Zouzou - DVD TAC-574
A star walks out on her sugardaddy producer for true love, and a talented Cinderella takes her place, saves the show and is hailed as a new sensation opening night.
Jules et Jim - DVD TAC-575
Before World War I in Paris , a girl alternates between a French student, Jim, and a German student, Jules; after the war, they meet again and form a constantly shifting triangle.
The Last Seduction - DVD TAC-576
Bridget Gregory makes her husband Clay steal more than half a million dollars, and then steals it from him. Hiding out in a small town, she grabs the first man she sees, Mike, to keep her cover. When Clay tracks her down, she stands to lose everything unless she can use her sexual power over Mike to lead him to murder.
Crime and Punishment - DVD TAC-577
A stunning and emotionally charged adaptation of the classic novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, chronicling the travails of a young man in turn-of-the-century Russia.
Architectures 1-4 - DVD TAC-578 through 581
A privileged, unprecedented inside look at the work of superstar architects and their most brilliant creations. Includes Germany 's Bauhaus, the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris plus the work of Jean Nouvel, Otto Wagner, Walter Gropius and more.
The Court Jester - DVD TAC-582
In 12th century England , the infant king is usurped by the wicked King Roderick. Black Fox and his band attempt to restore the rightful king to the throne by having a member of their group infiltrate the court by posing as the jester.
February One - DVD TAC-583
February One tells the inspiring story of four remarkable young men who initiated the lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro , NC on February 1, 1960 . Based largely on first hand accounts and rare archival footage, the film documents one volatile winter in Greensboro that not only challenged public accommodation customs and law in North Carolina, but served as a blueprint for the wave of non-violent civil rights protests that swept across the South and the nation throughout the 1960's.
Ralph Ellison: an American Journey - DVD TAC-584
First documentary on one of the most gifted and intellectually provocative authors of modern American literature ... presents the first scenes ever filmed from Ellison's landmark novel, Invisible man.
Cool Hand Luke - DVD TAC-585
Set in the southern United States , Luke is caught cutting off parking meters and is sentenced to the "chain gang".
Enter the Dragon - DVD TAC-586
Bruce Lee goes to the island fortress of a criminal warlord, who carries on his opium smuggling and prostitution activities under the disguise of a martial arts academy.
Eraserhead - DVD TAC-587
A nightmarish collage of images which blends the grotesque and the absurd, the deeply disturbing and the darkly humorous. Henry is the nerdish central character who lives in a squalid apartment with a strange girl and their monstrous baby. The extraordinary special effects create an eerie, dream-like world with a logic all its own.
Swing Time - DVD TAC-588
Fred Astaire plays a gambler intent on raising $25,000 in New York in order to marry his fiancé back home. Romantic complications occur when he meets dancing teacher, Ginger Rogers. Memorable songs include "The Way you look tonight".
Top Hat - DVD TAC-589
Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire are caught up in a mistaken identity plot, in which Rogers assumes that Astaire is already married, and is alternatively charmed and repelled by his advances.
Shall We Dance - DVD TAC-590
A ballet star (Astaire) and a musical revue sensation ( Rogers ) decide to wed and publicly divorce to quash persistent rumors of a secret marriage. Once tied, however, perhaps they shouldn't call the whole thing off.
The Barkleys of Broadway - DVD TAC-591
In their first film together in a decade, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers play a bickering show biz couple. Songs include "You'd be hard to replace" and "They can't take that away from me."
Follow the Fleet - DVD TAC-592
All hands on deck! In the fifth of 10 Astaire/Rogers pairings, Fred trades his top hat for a sailor's cap, Randolph Scott gets the girl, Ginger gets a tap solo and viewers get the unending delight of seven sparkling Irving Berlin numbers...Astaire is a hoofer-turned-swabbie. Rogers is his ex-partner Sherry now convoying the Navy around the ballroom for 10 cents a dance.
Liberia : an Uncivil War - DVD TAC-593
In Liberia , the summer of 2003 was pure insanity: two armies are in the final battle of a decade-long civil war, holding the capital under siege while thousands die from mortar shells launched from afar. As the soldiers, mostly teenagers, fight a bloody urban battle, the nation prays that American forces show up to put an end to the violence. Liberia , a country founded by freed American slaves, has a long intertwined history with America . While the rebel army, the LURD, attempts to overthrow the Liberian government, President Charles Taylor and his army maintain a strong grip on the city.
The Blue Bird - DVD TAC-594
Based upon Nobel Prize-winner Maurice Maeterlinck's play, two young children go on an allegorical voyage that bridges the chasm between the conscious and the unconscious as they search for the Blue Bird of Happiness.
Crash - DVD TAC-595
A car accident brings together a group of strangers in Los Angeles . Crash takes a provocative, unflinching look at the complexities of racial tolerance in contemporary America .
Once Were Warriors - DVD TAC-596
A family descended from Maori warriors is bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts.
Affluenza - DVD TAC-597
Affluenza is a fascinating look at one of the greatest social maladies of our time: overconsumption and materialism. Hosted by National Public Radio's Scott Simon, the program explores both the comical and sobering aspects of our consumerism and its enormous impact on families, communities and the environment. With the help of historians and archival film, Affluenza reveals the forces that have dramatically transformed us from a nation that prizes thriftiness - with strong beliefs in "plain living and high thinking" - into the ultimate consumer society.
Black Panther: San Francisco State : On Strike - DVD TAC-605
San Francisco State : on strike: Recounts how students of color led a six month long strike in the fall of 1968 at San Francisco State to make their university's curriculum and admission policies more relevant and succeeded in creating the establishment of the first Ethnic Studies department in America .
Blackmail - DVD TAC-606
Rebelling against the possessiveness of her police boyfriend, a young woman agrees to pose for an artist. Resisting his advances, she ends up murdering him in self-defense. Her boyfriend is assigned to the case, and soon learns the killer's identity, but so has someone else... winding up in a dramatic chase around the British Museum . Originally begun as a silent film, it was decided mid-production to make both a silent and a sound version; in the sound version, Ondra's accented voice was dubbed over by English actress Joan Barry.
On VHS:
Taken For a Ride - Videorecord TAC-1885
Following a long buried trail of auto/oil industry schemes, Taken For A Ride exposes the dummy companies, secret stock transactions and propaganda compaigns that motorized one third of the nation's streetcars. Tracks were torn up overnight, and ear splitting, bone jarring buses took the trolley's place. Scores of American cities lost their streetcars, including five of the nation's ten largest. The same players, organized as "the highway lobby," then campaigned for a network of urban freeways that would destroy America 's downtowns and turn the dream into a nightmare.
Excellent Cadavers - Videorecord TAC-1886
Based on the book by Italian-American author Alexander Stille and featuring the photos of Sicilian photojournalist Letizia Battaglia, it chronicles the recent history of the Mafia and its integral -- and seemingly ineradicable -- relationship to postwar Italian politics. The film focuses on the events leading up to the historic anti-Mafia trials in Palermo mounted by Italian prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in the mid 1980s and 1990s, and questions why so much of anti-Mafia legislation they fought and died for has since been undone by the Italian government.
