American Masters Pictures

Documentary on Marian Anderson an African American woman, an international singing star in the twentieth century, who succeeded over racial prejudice and became an inspiration for America's civil rights movement.

A documentary about an important American still photographer who captured New York City in the 1960s (his work there is said to have influenced the TV show Mad Men) and later the West in Texas and Los Angeles.

Helen Keller, who was deaf and blind since early childhood, was a passionate advocate for change, using her celebrity and wit to champion rights for women, people with disabilities, and people living in poverty. Becoming Helen Keller examines the complex legacy of this author, advocate, lecturer, and human rights pioneer.

Itzhak Perlman's violin playing transcends mere performance to evoke the celebrations and struggles of real life. Alison Chernick's film looks beyond the sublime musician, to see the polio survivor whose parents emigrated from Poland to Israel, the young man who struggled to be taken seriously as a music student when schools saw only his disability. As charming and entrancing as the famous violinist himself, it is a portrait of musical virtuosity...

Mae West achieved great acclaim in every entertainment medium that existed during her lifetime, spanning eight decades of the twentieth century. This is the first major documentary film to explore West₂s life and career, as she 'climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong' to become a writer, performer, and subversive agitator for social change.