New Videos - May 2008
On DVD:
Spectrum Connections: Connecting Through Music – Connecting Emotions – DVD TAC-1772 v.1
Music therapist Elizabeth Balzano and computer animated Balloo use songs and activites to help children identify and coordinate basic emotions and to help explore body movements.
Luis Buñuel – DVD TAC-1773
“The Young One”: the game warden of a Carolina preserve and the teenage girl who lives on the island are isolated until jazz musician Traver arrives, on the run from a lynch mob. “Gran Casino”: In Tampico, two jail escapees start working for an oilman who is fighting a local casino owner. When the oilman disappears, his sister comes to take over the business, and finds it being run by one of the men. Believing that he has killed her brother to keep the wells for himself, she starts working as a singer in the same casino where her brother disappeared.
Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible – DVD TAC-1775
Features the up close and personal stories of white activists and their ongoing journeys of transformation. Participants will talk about being unconscious about their learned and internalized sense of white supremacy. They will share what was required and what actions they took to move through the common first stages of denial, defensiveness, guilt, fear and shame into making solid commitments towards ending racism. The video uses art, theatre, movement, photographs and music to amplify stories that share richly varied experiences and life processes informed by deep reflection and social justice action. The individuals' interviews will also be enhanced by historical sources, spoken word, photographs and video archives which will serve to address systemic racist oppression.
Twin Peaks – DVD TAC-1776 pt. 1-10
Follow FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper and Sheriff Harry S. Truman as they try to hunt down just who killed Laura Palmer in the sleepy town of Twin Peaks, Washington.
Matewan – DVD TAC-1778
A labor leader seeking to organize the workers of a company town sets off a powderkeg of racial hostility, corruption and betrayal in this tale of the bitter clash between unionist miners and the tyrannical coal company owners in West Virginia in the 1920's.
La Vie en Rose – DVD TAC-1779
A dramatic retelling of the life of Edith Piaf, considered one of the great performers of France. Raised in a brothel, taken to work in a circus by her father, and eventually abandoned by her parents, she spent her teen years on the streets. Eventually "rescued" by a crime figure who gives her career a start, she makes her way to international success, despite recurring frailty, illness, wild moods, drug and alcohol problems.
In the Valley of Elah – DVD TAC-1780
Hank, a retired Sergeant with the Military Police, receives a call informing him that his youngest son, Mike, has gone AWOL. He thought his son was in Iraq, but is informed that Mike returned stateside four days ago with his platoon. When he calls his son's cell phone and gets voice mail, he drives to Fort Rudd and begins to make inquiries, but with each inquiry he comes to a dead end. Then a body is found, dismembered and burned beyond recognition and is identified as Mike. Hank tries to find out what happened, but continues to encounter hurdles. Yet he is persistent, uncovering things no one wants to hear, including himself.
Michael Clayton – DVD TAC-1781
Michael Clayton is an in-house fixer at one of the largest corporate law firms in New York. A former criminal prosecutor, Clayton takes care of the law firm Kenner, Bach, & Ledeen's dirtiest work at the behest of the firm's co-founder, Marty Bach. Burned out with his job as a fixer, his divorce, a failed business venture, and mounting debt have left Clayton inextricably tied to the firm. At U/North, meanwhile, the career of litigator Karen Crowder rests on the multi-million dollar settlement of a class-action suit that Clayton's firm is leading to a seemingly successful conclusion. But when Kenner Bach's brilliant and guilt-ridden attorney Arthur Edens sabotages the U/North case, Clayton faces the biggest challenge of his career and his life.
Nirvana, Unplugged in New York – DVD TAC-1782
Performed in NYC in November 1993, and features never-before-seen songs from the soundcheck and unreleased behind the scene footage. Songs include About a Girl; The Man Who sold the World; Something in the Way; Oh Me; and more.
Atonement – DVD TAC-1783
In 1935, 13-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis and her family live a life of wealth and privilege in their enormous mansion. On the warmest day of the year, the country estate takes on an unsettling hothouse atmosphere, stoking Briony's vivid imagination. Robbie Turner, the educated son of the family's housekeeper, carries a torch for Briony's headstrong older sister Cecilia. He hopes that Cecilia has comparable feelings. All it will take is one spark for this relationship to combust. When it does, Briony - who has a crush on Robbie - is compelled to interfere. She goes so far as to accuse Robbie of a crime he did not commit. Cecilia and Robbie declare their love for each other, but, ultimately, he is arrested. Briony bears false witness and the course of three lives is changed forever. As Briony grow older, she continues to seek forgiveness for her childhood misdeed. Through a terrible and courageous act of imagination, she finds the path to her uncertain atonement, and to an understanding of the power of enduring love.
Gone Baby Gone – DVD TAC-1784
Amanda McCready is a 4-year-old who has disappeared from her Boston home. The police make little headway in solving the case, so the girl's aunt hires Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, private detectives. They freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons: they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live. As the case progresses, Patrick and Angie must face area drug dealers, gangs and pedophiles. When they finally solve the case, they are faced with a moral dilemma that tears them apart.
Pinochet’s Last Stand – DVD TAC-1785
In 1973, Gen. Pinochet overtook Chile in a violent coup. In 1998 came the surprise arrest of the former Chilean dictator for crimes against humanity. Armed with a diplomatic passport and apparent immunity, the retired general visited Great Britain for a vacation that was to forever change his life -- and the prospects for dictators across the globe. Amnesty International spearheaded the long-awaited arrest with help from the Spanish and British governments, but faced a pro-Pinochet publicity campaign masterminded by one of the dictator's few allies, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. As the dissenting faction pushed for an extradition trail, 500 days passed with Pinochet held under house arrest in an exclusive suburban London community.
Antonio Gaudí – DVD TAC-1786
Antonio Gaudí designed some of the world's most astonishing buildings, interiors, and parks. Takes viewers on a tour of Gaudí's truly spectacular architecture, including his massive, still-unfinished masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia cathedral.
Goya’s Ghosts – DVD TAC-1787
Told through the eyes of celebrated Spanish painter Francisco Goya. Set against political turmoil at the end of the Spanish Inquisition and start of the invasion of Spain by Napoleon's army. Captures the essence and beauty of Goya's work which is best known for both the colorful depictions of the royal court and its people, and his grim depictions of the brutality of war and life in 18th century Spain. When Goya's beautiful muse is accused of being a heretic, the renowned painter must convince his old friend Lorenzo, a power-hungry monk and leader of the Spanish Inquisition, to spare her life.
Love in the Time of Cholera – DVD TAC-1788
Florentino is a poetry-writing telegraph operator who lives in a Central American city. He spots the graceful Fermina while making his rounds, and finds himself in love. While Florentino's mother encourages the courtship, Fermina's father absolutely forbids it. Years pass, and the well-born Dr. Urbino treats Fermina for a case of cholera. When Urbino proposes, Fermina accepts. A distraught Florentino decides to wait. With the help of his uncle, he amasses wealth of his own. All the while, he drifts from woman to woman, never really finding what he is looking for in a woman. After five decades of waiting, he gets a second chance to win Fermina's heart.
Kite Runner – DVD TAC-1789
In a divided country on the verge of war, two childhood friends, Amir and Hassan, are about to be torn apart forever. It's a glorious afternoon in Kabul and the skies are bursting with the exhilarating joy of a kite-fighting tournament. But in the aftermath of the day's victory, one boy's fearful act of betrayal will mark their lives forever and set in motion an epic quest for redemption. Now, after twenty years of living in America, Amir returns to a perilous Afghanistan under the Taliban's iron-fisted rule to face the secrets that still haunt him and take one last daring chance to set things right.
No Country for Old Men – DVD TAC-1790
Llewelyn Moss is a Vietnam vet who could use a break. One morning while hunting antelope, he spies several trucks surrounded by dead bodies. He decides to examine the site. He finds a case filled with $2 million and a truck loaded with heroin. Moss takes it with him, tells his wife he's going away for awhile, and hits the road until he can determine his next move. On his the way from El Paso to the Mexican border, he discovers he's being followed by ex-special ops agent Chigurh. Chigurh's weapon of choice is a cattle gun, and he uses it on everyone who gets in his way. Just as Sheriff Bell, a World War II vet, is on Moss's trail, Chigurh's former colleague, Wells, is on his.
Moolaadé – DVD TAC-1791
Set in a small village, four young girls face ritual "purification" decide to flee to the household of Collé Ardo Gallo Sy, a strong-willed woman who has managed to shield her own teenage daughter from the mutilation. Collé invokes the time-honored custom of moolaadé (sanctuary) to protect the fugitives, and tension mounts as the ensuing stand-off pits Collé against village traditionalists. This endangers the prospective marriage of her daughter to the heir-apparent to the tribal throne.
Walker – DVD TAC-1792
The life of William Walker, a 19th century adventurer who abandoned his career in law and politics to become a soldier of fortune and dictator of Nicaragua.
The Ice Storm – DVD TAC-1793
Thanksgiving 1973. The climate is changing, both politically and physically. As the Watergate scandal unfolds in the background, the inhabitants of a small Conneticut town begin to slip into an existentialist void. Social taboos are shattered on whims and the line between adult authority and juvenile irresponsibility is practically nonexistant. Focuses on the Hood and Carver families. Chronicles a brief period of rapid moral deterioration. Their actions - including adultery, sexual experimentation, drug use and petty crimes - become increasingly unpredictable and impulsive. Once the 'ice storm' hits, though, reality sinks in, and the severity of their situation becomes all too apparent.
Trade – DVD TAC-1794
When 13-year-old Adriana is kidnapped by sex traffickers in Mexico, her 17-year-old brother, Jorge, sets off on a desperate mission to save her. As Jorge dodges overwhelming obstacles to track the girl's abductors, he meets Ray, a Texas cop whose own family loss leads him to become an ally.
Lake of Fire – DVD TAC-1795
A look at the subject of abortion where there can be no absolutes, no 'right' or 'wrong.' Equal time is given to both sides, covering arguments from either extreme of the spectrum, as well as those at the center, who acknowledge that, in the end, everyone is 'right' or 'wrong.'
Rendition – DVD TAC-1796
The policy of "extraordinary rendition" began under the Clinton administration and accelerated after September 11, 2001. The policy allows for the handing over of suspected terrorists to countries that use torture as an interrogation tool. Anwar El-Ibrahimi is an Egyptian-born man who disappears on a flight from Africa to Washington, DC. He is sent to a North African country where torture is practiced and the CIA gives approval. Anwar's pregnant American-born wife wants to know what happened to her husband. A reluctant CIA agent begins to question his assignment after witnessing an unorthodox interrogation. A severe interrogator plies his trade on Anwar while a U.S. terrorism honcho is willing to turn a blind eye to the unpleasantness, especially if it stops a terrorist attack.
Yihe yuan (Summer Palace) – DVD TAC-1797
Yu Hong is a rebellious young woman from a small Chinese town transplanted to a politically charge Beijing University in the late 1980s. The country's social turmoil is witnessed through its disaffected youth, whose newfound sexuality and activism culminated in violent suppression. Spanning nearly 20 years of Chinese history, projects the country's struggle for definition through the eyes and heart of a young woman ill-equipped to handle it. While drifting between the arms of two different men, her love fervent for both, Yu Hong's existential crisis mirrors that of her nation.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee – DVD TAC-1798
Begins powerfully with the Sioux triumph over General Custer at Little Big Horn and goes on to center around three powerful men. Charles Eastman is a young, Dartmouth-educated Sioux doctor. Sitting Bull is the proud Lakota chief who refuses to submit to U.S. government policies designed to strip his people of their identity, dignity and sacred land. Senator Henry Dawes is one of the men responsible for the government policy on Indian affairs. While Eastman and schoolteacher Elaine Goodale work to improve the lives of the Sioux on the reservation, Senator Dawes lobbies President Grant for kinder Indian treatment.
Wag the Dog – DVD TAC-1799
When the President is caught in a sex scandal less than 2 weeks before the election, "Mr. Fix-it" decides they need a war to distract the public's attention and he calls on Hollywood's top producer to create it.
L’armée des ombres (Army of Shadows) – DVD TAC-1800
A civil engineer who is one of the French Resistance's chiefs is given away by a traitor and interned in a camp.
Das Boot – DVD TAC-1801
Follows the daring patrol of the U-96, one of the famed German U-boats known as the "gray wolves." The crew is graphically portrayed in a life-and-death struggle, challenging the British Navy at every turn.
Full Metal Jacket – DVD TAC-1802
Vietnam War drama which begins with a depiction of the brutality of Marine Corps training and then shifts to Vietnam, focusing mainly on a group of Marines responding to the Tet Offensive of 1968.
Juno – DVD TAC-1803
Juno MacGuff is sixteen years-old who after a one-time sexual encounter with her best friend Paulie, learns that she's pregnant. Juno and Paulie like each other, but not enough to start a family, complete with a child. Paulie leaves all the decisions about the baby to Juno. Initially she decides to have an abortion, but can't go through with it. So she decides to have the baby and give it up for adoption. The next step is to find prospective parents for the yet unborn child. In the Pennysaver ad section, Juno finds Mark and Vanessa Loring, a yuppie couple living in the suburbs. Juno likes the Lorings and of her own choosing, she enters into a closed adoption contract with the Lorings. During the second and third trimesters of Juno's pregnancy, which she treats with care but detachment, her relationships with her family, with Paulie, and with the Lorings develop.
Remaking American Medicine – DVD TAC-1804
Examines critical health care issues facing America today, including patient safety, medical and medication errors, hospital-acquired infections, family-centered care and the effective management of chronic disease. The program focuses on the advances being made in improving the quality of patient care and features profiles of providers and patients who are working together to change the way health care is provided in the United States.
Back to the Future – DVD TAC-1805
It's the mid-80's, and Marty McFly is your average 17-year-old slacker who happens to be friends with an inventor, Doc Brown. Doc's latest invention is a time machine that ends up transporting Marty back to 1955 where he must bring his parents together so that he will exist when he gets back to his own time.
Back to the Future, Part II – DVD TAC-1806
Marty visits 2015 to straighten out the future of the McFly family, but Biff Tannen steals the time machine, and with it a book that allows his young self to amass a gambling fortune, which has significant consequences to the present. To correct the problems, Marty and Doc must return to 1955 to retrieve the book.
Back to the Future, Part III – DVD TAC-1807
Doc Brown has decided to live in the Old West of the 1880's. But when he's in danger of meeting an untimely end, Marty travels back into the past to rescue him. There's just one problem: Doc is so smitten by a schoolteacher that he's become distracted. Now, it's up to Marty to keep Doc out of trouble, get the DeLorean running, and put the past, present and future on track so they can all get back to where and when they belong.
My Kid Could Paint That – DVD TAC-1808
Tracks the overnight celebrity of Marla Olmstead, a toddler who creates gallery-worthy paintings on the dining room table of her family home. Sales of her paintings reach $300,000. Then the bubble burst. When a 2005 profile by '60 minutes' suggests that Marla had help making her paintings, the finger is pointed at her father, an amateur artist and night manager at Frito Lay. Almost overnight, her family is ensnared in a web of accusation and denial - the burden of proof placed squarely in their lap. Is Marla a child prodigy or an innocent victim of a hoax?
The Castle on the Hill – DVD TAC-1809
In the spring of 1890, construction began on the Northern Pacific-owned Olympian, a grand hotel on a bluff overlooking Commencement Bay. The hotel was never completed due to an economic "bust," and on Oct. 11, 1898, fire gutted the interior of hotel. In 1904, work began to convert the remnants of the hotel into Tacoma's new high school, and on September 10, 1906, Stadium High School officially opened.
Sand and Sorrow: a New Documentary about Darfur – DVD TAC-1810
Details the historical events that have given rise to the Arab-dominated Darfur government's willingness to kill and displace its own indigenous African people, and examines the international community's failure to respond to such profound crimes against humanity in the past. Offers unparalleled access to a contingent of African Union peacekeeping forces.
Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq – DVD TAC-1811
A look at the physical and emotional cost of war through soldiers' memories of their "alive day," the day they narrowly escaped death in Iraq. Actor James Gandolfini interviews ten soldiers about their memories, their feelings on their future, and more.
Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? – DVD TAC-1812
“Unnatural Causes” sounds the alarm about the extent of our alarming socio-economic and racial inequities in health-and searches for their root causes. But those causes are not what we might expect ... It turns out there's much more to our health than bad habits, health care or unlucky genes. The social conditions in which we are born, live and work profoundly affect our well-being and longevity.
The Year of Paper – DVD TAC-1813
Chronicles the newlywed year of three couples--lesbian, heterosexual and gay--exploring why they got married and how saying "I do" has changed their relationships. While the film focuses on these three relationships, it also follows the firestorm of debate that surrounds the very idea of marriage for same-sex couples.
Using What We Know: Applying Piaget’s Developmental Theory in Primary Classrooms – DVD TAC-1814
Filmed in three disparate but remarkable classrooms, it illustrates how effective learning takes place when teachers combine their knowledge of child development, subject matter and cognitive psychology.
Scaffolding: Self-Regulated Learning in Primary Classrooms – DVD TAC-1815
Demonstrates methods for teaching young children to self-regulate their learning and how to develop learning skills. Based on the teachings of Lev Vygotsky.
Play, a Vygotskian Approach – DVD TAC-1816
Program based in part on a paper written by Lev Vygotsky ("Play and its role in the mental development of the child") in 1933. Assimilating ideas from other thinkers, insights on the role of play in the cognitive development of young children. Discusses the affective/emotional, cognitive and social benefits of play. Examines how Vygotsky traced the development of play in children from infancy through later childhood. Offers strategies for fostering quality play.
B.F. Skinner: a Fresh Appraisal – DVD TAC-1817
Presents a respectful introduction to the man and his ideas, dispelling some common myths and illustrating his concepts with clever animations and telling current applications of his work.
Piaget’s Developmental Theory: an Overview – DVD TAC-1818
Combines archival footage of Dr. Jean Piaget with newly shot footage of Dr. Elkind conducting interviews with children of various ages. The film serves as an introduction to Piaget's work while presenting his current theories on developmental psychology.
John Dewey: His Life and Work – DVD TAC-1819
Overview of the life and work of the philosopher John Dewey, with emphasis on his analysis of human learning and writings on democracy.
Fistful of Dollars – DVD TAC-1820
The first of the well-known "spaghetti westerns", this film, with its unremitting violence, gritty realism, tongue-in-cheek humour and striking visuals making full use of the widescreen format, launched the careers of director Sergio Leone and a little-known actor called Clint Eastwood. Borrowing the plot of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, Eastwood plays a gunfighter who comes to a small border town and offers his services to two rival gangs.
For a Few Dollars More – DVD TAC-1821
Western drama in which two bounty hunters join forces to capture an outlaw gang leader.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – DVD TAC-1822
A restored version (2003) of the spaghetti western tale of greed, revenge and epic warfare. Three ruthless outlaws avidly search for a treasure chest containing $200,000 in Confederate gold. This cut restores some 18 minutes of footage (redubbed by the original actors when possible), bringing it close to the original Italian version.
Duck You Sucker – DVD TAC-1823
An Irish explosives expert on the run in Mexico teams up with a Mexican bandit as they both get drawn into the Mexican Revolution.
Bandit Queen – DVD TAC-1824
A dramatization of the life story of the female dacoit, Phoolan Devi. "Born of low caste in the Chambal River Valley of India, 11 year-old Phoolan is sold into marriage with a man 20 years her senior. She escapes and falls in with a pack of ruthless bandits but the male-dominated gang comes with its own set of brutal humiliations, and Phoolan must struggle to rise above a culture determined to bring her down, in a bloody coup that electrified a nation.
Charlie Wilson’s War – DVD TAC-1825
In the early 1980s, Charlie Wilson is best known as a womanizing US congressional representative from Texas. He seemed to be in the minor leagues, except for the fact that he is a member of two major foreign policy and covert-ops committees. However, once Charlie is prodded by his major conservative supporter, Joanne Herring, Wilson learns about the plight of the people who are suffering from the effects of the brutal Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. With the help of the maverick CIA agent, Gust Avrakotos, Wilson dedicates his canny political efforts to supply the Afghan mujahideen with the weapons and support needed to defeat the Soviet Union. Ultimately, Charlie learns that while military victory can be obtained, there are other consequences and prices to that fight that are ignored to everyone's sorrow. Based on a true story.
Forbidden Hollywood Collection. Vol. 2 – DVD TAC-1826 pt. 1-3
Five classic films that offer a rare glimpse at a lost era of provocative filmmaking.
Blade Runner – DVD TAC-1827
In a futuristic Los Angeles of 2019, detective Rick Deckard is a highly rated "Blade Runner" assigned to find and kill illegal cybernetic "replicants", genetic creations with superhuman abilities. Pulled unwillingly out of retirement, Deckard is forced into one last case, six exceptionally dangerous replicants who have escaped from slave labor and made their way into the city, apparently with plans to gain vengeance on the corporate masters who created them. In the course of investigation, Deckard falls in love with a beautiful woman who holds a disturbing secret, creating additional doubt and confusion in Deckard's mind. This 2007 "final cut" was remastered with improved visual and sound effects, and made some revisions to the 1992 "director's cut" revision.
Secrets of the Samurai Sword – DVD TAC-1828
Nova travels deep into Japan's ancient foundries, follows the craft of the traditional sword-smiths and attends Samurai fighting school to reveal the art and science behind making what many call the perfect sword.
On CD:
The King’s Singers Madrigal History Tour (The King’s Singers) – Compact disc TAC-203
An Invitation to Korean Music – Compact disc TAC-206
Produced by the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts.
Shaw ‘Nuff (Dizzy Gillespie) – Compact disc TAC-208
Classic Southern Gospel from Smithsonian Folkways – Compact disc TAC-209
Classic Bluegrass from Smithsonian Folkways – Compact disc TAC-210
There is Nothing Left to Lose (Foo Fighters) – Compact disc TAC-211
The Colour and the Shape (Foo Fighters) – Compact disc TAC-212
The 5 Piano Concertos (Beethoven, Ludwig van) – Compact disc TAC-213
