Planet Pictures (Firm)
Language
English
Description
Set in the Canadian addiction treatment center of Edgewood, this program explores the private world of substance abuse rehabilitation through the eyes of six addicts and their families. Despite varied backgrounds, the goal of these patients is to turn their backs on substance dependence by facing their addiction and to arrive clean and sober to Cake Night, the monthly celebration of recovery. The impact of addiction on the family, the concept of dependency...
2) Film History
Language
English
Description
The Lumiere brothers and Thomas Edison would definitely be impressed if they could see how far the medium created with the invention of the movie camera has evolved. This program examines the history of film, from its beginnings in the late 19th century to the invention of VCRs. Filmmaking's roots as an entertainment and storytelling medium are examined, along with the emergence of Hollywood, the studio star system, and birth of the talkies. Film...
Language
English
Description
When Lu Jingyi found evidence that his city's Communist Party boss, Li Changhe, was guilty of graft, it was Lu himself who wound up in prison. This program examines the problem of corruption among local Communist Party officials through the plight of Lu Jingyi, whose case made headlines around the world. Lu continued his campaign against Li Changhe after being released from prison; Li retaliated by hiring assassins to murder Lu and his wife. Lu alone...
Language
English
Description
In 1964 Mao Zedong's People's Republic became the fifth nation to test a nuclear weapon, changing the balance of power in eastern Asia, and the rest of the world, forever. Set against the backdrop of the developing Cold War, this documentary uses personal interviews and extraordinary archival footage in its dramatic account of the making of China's first atomic bomb. Acclaimed director Peter Du Cane weaves historical data with human logistics as he...
Language
English
Description
Book publishing is both the oldest and the smallest of the mass media industries. With commentary by the president of Allyn & Bacon, a regional manager of Barnes & Noble, and the owner of the large, independent Tattered Cover Book Store, this program provides a detailed look at how trade and educational/reference books are made, sold, and marketed. Also discussed is the perception of book publishing as a glamorous career field, in spite of the hard...
Language
English
Description
This disturbing and controversial documentary presents a raw glimpse into the world of female heroin addicts. Filmed in Vancouver and told through the images of renowned photographer Lincoln Clarkes, the poetry of award-winning writer Susan Musgrave, and the experiences of six "heroines," the program creates a harsh collage of personal stories that share common themes of abuse, rape, and addiction. Like all of Clarkes' powerful photos, Heroines humanizes...
Language
English
Description
How do you juggle journalistic ideals with bottom-line concerns? Each day both local and national TV news operations attempt to report on the day's events in a way that will maximize viewers and advertising dollars. But what is the downside of this tortured calculus? In this program, a wide assortment of news professionals and scholars cast a critical eye on the practices, content, and impact of TV news. Some charge that the race to the ratings jackpot...
Language
English
Description
The Three Gorges Dam will bring huge economic benefits to areas of central China, but Grandma Pang, an 87-year-old villager who is to be relocated to avoid rising waters from the construction project, is not so sure the changes are all for the good. She has lived all her life in one village and will be forced to leave many possessions and special places behind. Filmed over three years, this program chronicles Grandma Pang's traditional lifestyle,...
Language
English
Description
Kai Jia, a young girl living in a small Chinese village, was born HIV positive after her mother contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion while in the hospital. Shunned by neighbors because of her illness, she helps her father fight for justice when they learn that Kai Jia's mother's death could be traced back to the hospital's tainted blood supply. In telling Kai Jia's story, this program explores the cover-ups and corruption in a medical facility...
10) Print news
Language
English
Description
Although advances in telecommunications and computer technology have changed the way news is covered and written, the role of the journalist-to gather the facts and report the news in a way that will engage a mass audience-has remained the same. In this program, staff members of The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, the Rocky Mountain News, and The Denver Post talk about how they decide what to include in each day's newspaper,...
Language
English
Description
This program examines the evolution of the magazine industry over the course of the 20th century. General-interest magazines like Life and Look once provided a national forum that helped Americans explore their common interests. After World War II, the tremendous impact of television on audience-share caused the magazine industry to focus instead on developing niche publications aimed at consumers and businesses. Time, Ebony, Cosmopolitan, Sports...
12) Film Industry
Language
English
Description
In spite of competition by other media, movies have remained a perennial favorite of American viewing audiences. But what is it like to make them? This program analyzes the film industry from a variety of technical, financial, legal, and business perspectives. Topics explored include marketing and merchandising, financial influences on content, special effects and Hollywood action movies, the domestic versus international marketplace, the role of...
Language
English
Description
How does a new artist attract the attention of a recording company? How do recording companies find new talent? Can a big-name label make a run-of-the-mill CD into a platinum seller? In this program, top industry executives and other experts answer these and other questions, such as how much performers can expect to make in royalties, how SoundScan has revealed the true top 100, and how MTV has raised the bar for performer talent. In addition, brief...
Language
English
Description
This program documents a young paraplegic's personal triumph over adversity against the background of the changing face of China. Tian Tian was paralyzed from the neck down after she and her mother were attacked by thugs in the marketplace. Tian Tian's father worries about the girl's future, but the acquisition of a computer provides an unexpected boon. Tian Tian learns to type holding a chopstick in her mouth and ultimately becomes an expert in Flash...
15) Print history
Language
English
Description
A single issue of The New York Times is said to contain more information than could be learned in a lifetime by a person living in the 15th century. This program traces the development of books, newspapers, and magazines in the Western world, from the invention of the printing press, metal type, paper, and oil-based ink to the present day. Experts from the Smithsonian Institution, Harvard University Press, MIT, and The New York Times discuss the effect...
16) Global media
Language
English
Description
Sixties' media philosopher Marshall McLuhan predicted the coming of a Global Village in which telecommunications technology would figuratively shrink the world. Satellites, the Internet, multinational communications giants, and the ubiquity of televisions and computers have more than helped realize his prophecy. Who are the big players and what kind of village have they wrought? As American music, TV, film, sports, fashion, and food spread worldwide...
Language
English
Description
Jews wishing to escape persecution in Nazi Germany had limited choices as to where they might relocate. One city that would accept immigrants without a visa was Shanghai, where nearly 20,000 refugees eventually fled. Arriving there with nothing, most spent a hard, hungry, disease-ridden time in camps acclimating to their new environment, but the Jewish district in Shanghai eventually grew into a cosmopolitan center replete with Western-style bakeries,...
Language
English
Description
Are the increasingly frequent accounts of wanton, often cold-blooded youth violence a reflection of a toxic culture or the problems of troubled, isolated individuals? This program tells the stories of several young offenders from their own perspectives as well as from those of their families and the families whose lives they have irreparably changed. Interviews with social workers, law enforcement and probation officers, psychologists, criminologists,...
19) Images in media
Language
English
Description
The pictures in our heads that define who we are and help us neatly categorize others are increasingly shaped by the newspaper, magazine, film, and TV images that bombard our senses. To convey a message quickly, these images often rely on stereotypes and primal reflexes that can foster in an audience an inordinate fear of violence, racial and ethnic prejudices, diminished self-worth, and even eating disorders as young women attempt to mimic the look...
Language
English
Description
Nightman is one of 187 nightclubs in Dalian, a city of 2.6 million people in northern China. Formerly the number one nightclub in the city, its success determines the fortunes of the dancers who work there. Wen Wen and Jiu Jiu are poorly-educated city girls who have been working the nightclub circuit in China since they were 16, usually in cramped, dark, smoky environments. Their battle with management over the introduction of harsher conditions and...