New Videos - June 2006
On DVD:
Straight Out of Brooklyn - DVD TAC-602
The story of a young man desperate to get out of the Brooklyn projects where he, his family and his friends live. He feels trapped there, surrounded by drugs and danger, so he and his friends pull a robbery to obtain the funds to take them out of Brooklyn forever.
Style Wars - DVD TAC-620
A documentary exploration of the subculture of New York 's young graffiti writers and breakdancers, showing their activities and aspirations and the social and aesthetic controversies surrounding New York graffiti. Dramatizes conflicts between graffitists and the city, as well as among the graffitists themselves.
Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives - DVD TAC-621
When the Civil War ended in 1865, more than 4 million slaves were set free. By the late 1930's, 100,000 former slaves were still alive. In the midst of the Great Depression, journalists and writers traveled the country to record the memories of the last generation of African-Americans born into bondage. Over 2,000 interviews were transcribed as spoken, in the vernacular of the time, to form a unique historical record.
The House on 92 nd Street - DVD TAC-631
When a young German American is solicited as a Nazi spy during WWII, he accepts the job after agreeing to go undercover for the FBI. Once he learns that his mission is to send atomic bomb secrets to the German government, the FBI chief works relentlessly to prevent this while not giving his agent's identity away.
Short Cut to Nirvana: Kumbha Mela - DVD TAC-632
Documents the Kumbha Mela festival, attended by 70 million people, in Allahabad , India , during January, 2001.
Trembling Before G-d - DVD TAC-633
A documentary built around personal stories of gay and lesbian Hasidic and Orthodox Jews. Portrays people who face a profound dilemma - how to reconcile their passion for Judaism with the biblical prohibitions against homosexuality. Includes interviews with closeted and out gay Orthodox and Hasidic Jews, including the first openly gay Orthodox rabbis, Steven Greenberg.
Edison : the Invention of the Movies - DVD TAC-634 v. 1-4
Commercial motion pictures were invented at the Edison Laboratory between 1888 and 1893. Perhaps none of the component parts were strictly new, but the ability of Edison and his staff to reorganize them for a specific purpose was an extraordinary cultural achievement. In 1894, Edison was the sole producer of motion pictures in the world. Many Edison films continue to be impressive as the company employed such accomplished early directors as John Collins and Alan Crosland.
Glory - DVD TAC-635
Two idealistic young Bostonians lead the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, America 's first Black regiment in the Civil War.
The French Connection - DVD TAC-637
Two New York City narcotics detectives learn of a scheme to smuggle a large quantity of heroin inside an automobile being shipped from France .
Jailhouse Rock - DVD TAC-638
A young man is sent to prison when he accidentally kills a man in a barroom brawl. While behind bars he takes up singing and is helped in the record business by a beautiful young woman.
Brother Outsider: the Life of Bayard Rustin - DVD TAC-639
A documentary examining the life of Bayard Rustin, one of the first "freedom riders," an adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and A. Philip Randolph, and an organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. However, Rustin was forced to play a background role in landmark civil rights events because he was homosexual. This feature-length portrait unfolds both chronologically and thematically, using interviews with others, and Rustin's own voice, taken from his writings, papers, correspondence, and recorded interviews.
The Medici: Godfathers of Renaissance - DVD TAC-640
A tale of one family's ambition and of Europe 's struggle to emerge from the ravages of the Dark Ages. The Medici used charm, skill, and ruthlessness to garner unparalleled wealth and power, ruling Europe for more than 300 years.
The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization - DVD TAC-641
Views rise and fall of ancient Greece through the eyes of prominent figures of the times, including Cleisthenes, Themistocles, Pericles, and Socrates.
Winsor McCay: the Master Edition - DVD TAC-642
Contains new digital transfers of the complete collection of the pioneering animator's existing films plus the documentary Remembering Winsor McCay by film historian John Canemaker as well as commentary by John Canemaker and a stills gallery from the Canemaker Collection.
Orphans of the Storm - DVD TAC-643
Two girls, raised as sisters, arrive in Paris on the eve of the French revolution only to be cruelly and tragically separated.
The Birth of a Nation and the Civil War Films of D.W. Griffith - DVD TAC-644
A Civil War spectacular. Portrays life in the South during and after the Civil War as revealed in a story depicting the war itself, the conflict between the defeated Southerners and emancipated renegade Negroes, the despoiling of the South during the carpetbagger period, and the revival of the Southern white man's honor through the efforts of the Ku Klux Klan.
Be Good, Smile Pretty - DVD TAC-645
Chronicles the heart-wrenching journey to understand and cope with the loss shared by the estimated 20,000 American children whose fathers were killed in Vietnam . Weaving emotionally compelling interviews with home movies, stock footage, and family photos. Along her journey, Tragos uncovers a 30-year-old mystery, as she comes to know her father as a man. Untangled from the memory of a war that wounded a nation. Some discoveries are almost too difficult to bear, it is ultimately the truth that allows her, and her entire family, to understand and move forward.
The Roman Empire in the First Century - DVD TAC-646
Tells the story of the emperors, slaves, poets, and peasants who wrested order from chaos, built the most cosmopolitan society the world had ever seen, and shaped the Roman Empire in the First Century.
Waging a Living - DVD TAC-647
More than 30 million Americans are stuck in jobs that pay less than the federal poverty level for a family of four. Shot over a 3 year period, this documentary chronicles the day-to-day struggles of four low-wage earners to support their families. Jean Reynolds (nursing assistant) and Mary Venittelli (waitress) of New Jersey , Jerry Longoria (security guard) of San Francisco , and Barbara Brooks (student and single mother) of Freeport , N.Y. relate their dreams, frustrations, and accomplishments.
No Secret Anymore: the Times of Del Martin & Phyllis Lyon - DVD TAC-648
Chronicles the lives of two women who have been partners in love and political struggle for half a century. San Francisco icons, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon are known as the founders of the modern lesbian civil rights movement. No Secret Anymore follows them through six decades, tracing the emergence of lesbians from the fear of discovery to the expectation of equality.
Murderball - DVD TAC-649
A film about tough, highly competitive quadriplegic rugby players. These men have been forced to live life sitting down, but in their own version of the full-contact sport, they smash each other in custom-made gladiator-like wheelchairs. Tells the story of a group of world-class athletes unlike any ever shown on screen. In addition to smashing chairs, it will smash every stereotype you ever had about the disabled.
Egypt 's Golden Empire - DVD TAC-650
Examines the rise and fall of Egypt 's New Kingdom , 1560 B.C. to 1080 B.C.
A State of Mind - DVD TAC-651
Following a strict routine, which involved several hours of daily workouts and gymnastic instruction, two young girls practice through exhaustion for the 2003 Mass Games, the world's largest choreographed performance. This spectacle, which takes place twice a day for 20 days, is a mass celebration of nationalism, athleticism and ideological unity.
Born Into Brothels - DVD TAC-652
While living in the red light district of Calcutta, documenting life in the brothels, New York-based photographer Zana Briski embarked on a project by which she gave cameras to the children of prostitutes and taught them photography, awakening within them hidden talent and creativity and giving them a means to transform their lives.
Le mépris - DVD TAC-653
On Capri , an Italian crew makes a German film of Homer's Odyssey; Fritz Lang directs with American money. Prokosch, the producer, with his sneer and red Alfa, holds art films in contempt and hires writer Javal to help Lang commercialize the picture. Against this backdrop, Javal's marriage to Camille, a young former typist, disintegrates. It opens with the couple talking in bed, she asking assurance that he finds her attractive. Later that day he introduces her to Prokosch, and, unaware, blunders unforgivably. The rest of the film portrays her, in their apartment and in public, expressing her hurt and change of heart and his slow grasp of the source of her contempt.
Islam: Facing East, Facing West - DVD TAC-655 v. 1-4
As the faithful of Islam face the east in prayer, some Muslims also face the West with a growing sense of confusion, alarm, and anger. This timely four-part series brings Bill Moyers together with several of today's leading experts on Islam, John Esposito, Zaid Shakir, Azizah al-Hibri and Karen Armstrong to grapple with some of the issues on everyone's mind since September 11, 2001 .
A Place Called Chiapas : a Film - DVD TAC-659
In 1994 the Zapatista National Liberation Army, made up of impoverished Maya Indians, took over five towns and 500 ranches in southern Mexico . Fighting for indigenous Mexicans to regain control over their lives and the land, the Zapatista Army, led by Subcommandante Marcos, started sending their message to the world via the Internet. The result was what the New York Times called "the world's first post-modern revolution." Here the filmmaker, who traveled to the jungle canyons of Southern Mexico to cover the uprising, effectively captures the human dimensions behind the war.
Sacrifice - DVD TAC-661
Each year thousands of girls are recruited from rural Burmese villages to work in brothels in Thailand where they are held for years in debt bondage. The trafficking of Burmese girls is a direct result of political repression in Burma . Human rights abuses, war, and ethnic discrimination have displaced thousands of families leaving them with no means of livelihood. This film, through interviews with the girls, examines the social, cultural and economic forces at work in the trafficking of these Burmese girls.
Leper - DVD TAC-662
Provides a rare and intimate glimpse into a contemporary society of lepers in a remote village in Nepal . Villagers speak openly and emotionally about their relationship to their sickness, to the "healthy" community outside the village boundaries, and the myriad stigmas and misunderstandings which surround a disease that has marked their bodies and their lives. The villagers speak eloquently of how, after much struggle and hardship, they build new lives for themselves, recreating family and community in the context of this disease. Their poignant and revealing stories offer heartfelt reflections on societal fears and aversions to sickness, bodily differences, and death.
Sky Burial - DVD TAC-663
Follows the ritual of 'jha-tor,' the giving of alms to birds in a northern Tibetan monastery, where the bodies of the dead are offered to the vultures as a final act of kindness to living beings...The sky, or the universe, is where the sacred world lies. To merge with the sky after death is a holy event, one that replaces the sufferings of this world with peace.
Satya: a Prayer for the Enemy - DVD TAC-664
Since the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950, more than one million people have been tortured, executed or starved to death for their role in demonstrations against the Chinese occupation. This film focuses on personal testimonies of Tibetan Buddhist nuns who have taken the lead in this resistance by fearlessly staging courageous demonstrations for religious freedom and independence.
The Road to Brown - DVD TAC-665
Presents the role of Charles Hamilton Houston in the cases which led to the landmark Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education. Gives a history of segregation, Jim Crow Laws, the NAACP and biographical information on persons influential in the desegregation movement.
Black Is-Black Ain't: a Personal Journey Through Black Identity - DVD TAC-667
American culture has stereotyped black Americans for centuries. Equally devastating, the late Marlon Riggs argued, have been the definitions of "blackness" African Americans impose upon one another which contain and reduce the black experience. In this film, Riggs meets a cross-section of African Americans grappling with the paradox of numerous, often contradictory definitions of blackness. He shows many who have felt uncomfortable and even silenced within the race because their complexion, class, sexuality, gender or speech has rendered them "not black enough," or conversely, "too black."
The Language You Cry In - DVD TAC-668
Traces the history of a burial song of the Mende people brought by slaves to the rice plantations of the Southeast coast of the United States over two hundred years ago, and preserved among the Gullah people there. In the 1930s a pioneering Black linguist, Lorenzo Turner, recognized its origin, and in the 1990s scholars Joe Opala and Cynthia Schmidt discovered that the song was still remembered in a remote village in Sierra Leone . Dramatically demonstrates how African Americans retained links with their African past, and concludes with the visit of the Gullah family which had preserved the song to the Mende village, where villagers re-enact the ancient burial rites for them.
Freedom On My Mind - DVD TAC-669
Revisits the Mississippi freedom movement in the early 1960s when a handful of idealistic young activists believed they could change history -- and did. In 1964, organizers of the voter registration drive, fearing for their lives and hoping to attract the nation and federal government to their plight, recruited 1,000 mostly white college students from around the country to join them for Freedom Summer. Three students were murdered but the drive succeeded in signing up 80,000 members, mostly poverty-stricken sharecroppers, maids and day-laborers who confronted jail, beatings and even murder for the right to vote.
Color Adjustment - DVD TAC-670
This study of prejudice and perception traces over forty years of race relations in America through the lens of prime time TV entertainment. Revisiting such popular hits as Amos and Andy, Beulah, The Nat King Cole Show, Julia, I Spy, Good Times and Roots, viewers see how bitter racial conflict was absorbed into the non-controversial formats of the prime time series.
Ryan - DVD TAC-671
Ryan: Creating a hand-animated three-dimensional world, Chris Landreth explores the life of Ryan Larkin, a pioneer in Canadian animation who now lives on welfare and panhandles for spare change. Alter egos: Incorporating the animated documentary Ryan, Laurence Green's film explores the paths of animators Ryan Larkin and Chris Landreth and the relationship that developed between the two men. Syrinx: Using animated charcoal sketches, the Greek legend of how Pan made his pipes is brought to life. Walking: The way people walk is observed. Street musique: A visual improvisation is created from the music performed by sidewalk entertainers. The end: An animator discovers he's a character in his own work. Bingo: Answers the question, What if a lie is told long enough and loud enough?
Iron Jawed Angels - DVD TAC-672
Alice Paul and Lucy Burns were two defiant suffragist women who fought for the passage of the 19th Amendment. The two activists broke from the mainstream women's rights movement and created a more radical wing, daring to push the boundaries to secure women's voting rights in 1920. In a country dominated by chauvinism, this is no easy fight. Along the way, sacrifices are made: Alice gives up a chance for love, and colleague Inez Mulholland gives up her life.
Breakdown: America 's Health Insurance Crisis - DVD TAC-674
ABC primetime special edition of the last edition of Peter Jennings reporting. This special report examines the issues and problems surrounding health insurance and health care in America , including cost and accessibility of medical services.
On VHS:
Uprooted: Refugees of the Global Economy - Videorecord TAC-1889
Describes how the global economy has forced people to leave their home countries, focusing on three stories of immigrants from the Philippines , Bolivia and Haiti .
Collaborative Research With Communities - Videorecord TAC-1890
Minkler gives the keynote lecture at the 27th Annual Minority Health Concference. Her lecture uses case studies to illustrate the value added for communities and health researchers by community-based participatory research approaches. Core principles of such collaborative research are illustrated, as are ways in which this approach builds community capacity, focuses research questions on health issues that matter to minority communities, improves cultural sensitivity in all phases of the research process, and helps translate findings into action to help eliminate health disparities. Ethical and methodological challenges of collaborative community-based research are also discussed and illustrated, and a is case made for grappling with these dilemmas as work is done to foster true community-health researcher partnerships to improve minority health. Includes a call in question and answer period following the live lecture.
