Independent Television Service.
Language
English
Description
A frank and honest look at black identity in America. Uses incisive storytelling and commentary from prominent black intellectuals, including Angela Davis, Bell Hooks, and Cornel West. Meant to stir provocative debate and add reinforcement to a bold vision for a humanity that embraces all people. Explodes the myth that black America is monolithic.
Language
English
Description
Frederick Wiseman's film, Ex Libris- the New York Public Library, goes behind the scenes of one of the greatest knowledge institutions in the world and reveals it as a place of welcome, cultural exchange and learning. With 92 locations throughout Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, the library is committed to being a resource for all the inhabitants of this diverse and cosmopolitan city, and beyond. The New York Public Library exemplifies the...
Language
English
Description
On November 20, 2013, Bayard Rustin was posthumously awarded the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Who was this man? He was there at most of the important events of the Civil Rights Movement - but always in the background. Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin asks "Why?" It presents a vivid drama, intermingling the personal and the political, about one of the most enigmatic figures in 20th-century American...
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English
Description
The powerful documentary examines the life of Muhammad Ali beyond the boxing ring to offer a personal perspective on the American sporting legend. Investigating Ali's spiritual transformation includes his conversion to Islam, resistance to the Vietnam War draft, and humanitarian work. The documentary connects Ali's transcendent life story to America' struggles with race, religion, and war in the twentieth century.
"When Cassius Clay becomes Muhammad...
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English
Description
Methamphetamine, also called "crank" counts more users than cocaine and heroin combined. Meth leaves in its wake: addiction, crime, burn victims, neglected children and toxic properties. This program measures meth's shocking impact on one Tennessee town, examining the deadly drug phenomenon, the legislation aimed at controlling the sale of meth-precursor cold medicines and the hard lessons families learn about addiction.
Language
English
Description
Nearly 60 years following the use of Agent Orange in the Vietnam War, the deadliest use of chemical warfare in history, the devastating aftereffects of the toxin remain lethal, demanding attention both in Vietnam and at home in America. This documentary closely follows two activists as they take on the chemical industry, and demand accountability for the pernicious legacy caused by the use of this poisonous herbicide. French-Vietnamese activist Tran...
10) La ciudad
Language
English
Description
An unforgettable portrait of immigrant life in a collection of four stories about love, hope, and loss: a day laborer paid to gather bricks from an abandoned lot meets a tragic end; a young man newly arrived from Mexico falls in love with a girl from his home village; a homeless puppeteer dreams of a better life for his daughter; and a seamstress is in desperate need of money to send home for her daughter's medical treatment.
Language
English
Description
Words from a Bear gives a thorough survey of Momaday's most prolific years as a doctorate fellow at Stanford University, his achievement of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1969, and his later works that solidified his place as the founding member of the 'Native American Renaissance' in art and literature, influencing a generation of Native American artists, scholars, and political activists.
12) Meet the Patels
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English
Description
A laugh-out-loud real-life romantic comedy about Ravi Patel, an almost-30-year-old Indian American who enters a love triangle between the woman of his dreams and...his parents.
Language
English
Description
Filmmaker Byron Hurt looks at the past and future of soul food, covering its roots in Western Africa, its incarnation in the American South, and the role it plays in the health crisis in the African American community. Examines the socioeconomics of the modern American diet, and how the food industry profits from producing cheap calories while healthy options remain expensive and hard to find.
14) Revolution '67
Language
English
Description
"Focuses on the explosive urban rebellion which erupted in Newark, New Jersey, in July 1967; a tragedy caused by similar problems that sparked race riots across America. The film takes viewers on a daily chronicle of events, including the calling in of the State Police and National Guard, their occupation of the city and use of unnecessary firepower. Final toll: 26 dead"--Container.
15) Deaf jam
Language
English
Description
Aneta Brodski, a deaf teen living in New York City, discovers the power of American Sign Language poetry. As she prepares to be one of the first deaf poets to compete in a spoken-word slam, her journey leads to an unexpected collaboration. [From discussion guide.]
16) 1971
Language
English
Description
On March 8, 1971, eight ordinary citizens broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, a town just outside of Philadelphia, took hundreds of secret files, and shared them with the public. In doing so, they uncovered the FBI's vast and illegal regime of spying and intimidation of Americans excercising their First Amendment rights. Despite conducting one of the most thorough investigations in its history, the FBI never solved the mystery of the...
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English
Description
New York City, including its outer boroughs, during August 2017: it's a month heavy with the tension of a new President, growing anxiety over everything from rising rents to marching white nationalists, and unrelenting news of either wildfires or hurricanes on every coast. The film pivots on the question of futurity: what does the future look like from where we are standing? And what if we are not all standing in the same place? The Hottest Society...
Language
Español
Description
On October 13, 1972, a young rugby team from Montevideo, Uruguay, boarded a plane for a match in Chile, then vanished into thin air. Sixteen of the 45 passenger resurfaced, 72 days after their plane crashed. Thirty-five years later, the survivors returned to tell their story in their own words.
Language
English
Description
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.