Media Log: World Culture and History
World Culture and History
1913: Seeds of Conflict
Documentary
Breaking new ground and shattering old myths, 1913: Seeds of Conflict, explores the little-known history of Palestine during the latter part of the Ottoman Empire, a time of relative harmony between Arabs and Jews. Living side by side in the multi-lingual, cosmopolitan city of Jerusalem, Jews, Christians, and Muslims intermingled with a cultural fluidity enjoyed by all. How did this land of milk and honey, so diverse and rich in culture, become the site of today’s bitter and seemingly intractable struggle? Was there a turning point, a moment in time when things could have been different? Weaving the raveled threads of Arab and Jewish narratives back together, 1913: Seeds of Conflict provides new and fascinating insights into the dramatic events that took place in Palestine which set the stage for the coming century of unrest. The film examines the divergent social forces growing in Palestine before the outbreak of World War I that caused the simultaneous rise in Jewish and Arab nationalism. Combining the perspectives of a wide range of Arab, Israeli, and American scholars, the film includes information from documents previously unavailable from the Turkish Ottoman archives and largely untouched by historians. Shot on location in Beit Jamal, dramatized scenes bring many of the key figures of the era to life, with dialogue in five languages taken directly from the historical record — personal letters, government documents, and newspaper accounts. 1913: Seeds of Conflict offers a fresh look at the complex circumstances that transformed this once relatively peaceful outpost of the Ottoman Empire into a land perpetually torn by violence.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Ben Loeterman Productions, Inc.
YEAR PRODUCED: 2014
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: Ben Loeterman
INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCER: Itay Ken-Tor
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Itai Neeman
EDITOR: Rachel Clark
NARRATOR: Robin Parmalee
CAST: Arthur Ruppin: Sascha Engel, Najib Nassar: Nazer hamra, Khalil Sakakini: Afif Shlewet, Isa al Isa: Riad Daiz, Ruhi al-Khalidi: Mahmud Abu Jazi, Yusuf al-Khalidi: Osama Massri, Manya Shochat: Tamara Klygton, Levine-Epstein: Valiri Pavlukov, Abu Hataba: Alla Nufel, Nissim Malul: David Bilenca, Albert Antebi: Jeremie Elfassy, Theodore Herzl: Rafi Tabor, Wasif Jawhariyyeh: Jeries Ballan
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: MESA Film Festival, Middle East, Scholars Association, Washington, D.C., Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, Atlanta, GA
FORMAT: DVD 56 mins 41 seconds
DISTRIBUTOR: PBS http://www.pbs.org/
Abode of Illusion
Documentary
The film considers differences between Chinese and Western aesthetics through an examination of the work of Chang Ta-Ch'ien (1899–1983), one of China's foremost modern painters.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Long Bow Group, New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 1992
PRODUCERS: Carma Hinton, Richard Gordon, Kathy Kline, Carl Nagin
DIRECTORS: Carma Hinton, Richard Gordon
WRITER: Carma Hinton
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Richard Gordon
EDITOR: David Carnochan
FORMAT: 16mm, Video (60:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: Direct Cinema Limited
Afropop Worldwide
Documentary Radio
Afropop Worldwide, is a weekly program devoted to the contemporary music of Africa and the African Diaspora. Afropop Worldwide's series-within-a-series called Hip Deep features historical retrospectives that engage authors and scholars as program collaborators.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: World Music Productions, Brooklyn, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 2004 and on
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Sean Barlow
PRODUCERS/WRITERS: Sean Barlow, Banning Eyre
NARRATOR: Georges Collinet
PRINT MATERIAL: Afropop Worldwide's companion web site, http://www.afropop.org/, has fresh content published weekly.
FORMAT: One hour
DISTRIBUTORS: Public Radio International - Afropop Worldwide
All under Heaven: Life in a Chinese Village
Documentary
All under Heaven examines the effect of political change, particularly collectivization and decollectivization, on Long Bow, a village about 400 miles southwest of Beijing, China.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Long Bow Village Film Group, Philadelphia, PA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1985
PRODUCERS: Richard Gordon, Carma Hinton, Kathy Kline, Dan Sipe
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: Tim Callahan, David Carnochan
DIRECTORS: Carma Hinton, Richard Gordon
WRITERS: Carma Hinton, with Laurie Block, John Crowley
EDITOR: David Carnochan
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Richard Gordon
SOUND RECORDIST: Yand Ifang
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Earthwatch Film Award; Margaret Mead Film Festival; Hawaii International Film Festival; San Francisco International Film Festival
FORMAT: 16mm, Video (58:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: New Day Films
The Arab World's Demographic Dilemma Series: Young, Unemployed and Searching for a Voice
Documentary Series Radio
Program 1: Young and Restless: Youth Identity in the Arab World
Program 2: Overlooked and Underpaid: Arab Youth in Today's Economy
Program 3: Words and Deeds: Freedom of Expression and Political Participation of Arab Youth
Arab youth confront daunting challenges, including a lack of economic opportunities, constraints on their freedom of expression, and the complex and shifting nature of their own Arab identity. How the Arab world meets these challenges will have significant ramifications both in the Middle East and throughout the globe. The series explores the identity, forms of expression, and economic hardships facing Arab youth. America Abroad Media travels to six different Arab countries and introduces listeners to young men and women whose challenges demonstrate the demographic, ideological, economic, and cultural shifts that define a generation of critical importance to the region and the world. We follow students seeking difficult-to-find jobs in Amman; single men and women navigating the challenges of dating in Cairo; and entrepreneurial journalists exploring the limits on free speech in Syria. Each hour-long program provides listeners with historical depth, scholarly analysis, and compelling illustrations of the key issues facing youth in the Arab world.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: America Abroad Media, Washington, DC
YEAR PRODUCED: 2010
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Aaron Lobel
PRODUCERS: Monica Bushman, Sean Carberry, Jordana Gustafson, Matt Ozug, Chris Williams
HOSTS: Deborah Amos, Ray Suarez
PRINT MATERIALS: CDs of all radio programs from America Abroad Media
FORMAT: Video 3 hour-long public radio documentaries
DISTRIBUTOR: PRI - America Abroad Media and National Public Radio
Beethoven In Beijing
Documentary
Beethoven in Beijing spotlights the resurgence of classical music in China through the legacy of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the first American orchestra to perform in China in 1973. Following the end of China’s Cultural Revolution, when Western classical music was banned in favor of politically themed works, the onset of “Beethoven fever” began. Narrated by American and Chinese musicians and historians, the film explores the impact of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s historic tour on China both then and now. Renowned musicians, including Academy Award-winning composer Tan Dun, Philadelphia-trained famed classical pianist Lang Lang, Philadelphia Orchestra and Metropolitan Opera music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and more share their stories of how Beethoven’s music shaped their careers as China’s classical music scene boomed. Featuring archival footage and first-person recollections from American and Chinese musicians, the documentary brings the 1973 visit to life alongside behind-the-scenes look at present-day tours capturing the dynamism of China, from its new concert halls to its tens of thousands of young musicians.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: History Making Productions
YEAR PRODUCED: 2020
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Sam Katz
PRODUCERS: Sam Katz, Jennifer Lin
DIRECTORS: Jennifer Lin, Sharon Mullally
WRITER: Jennifer Lin
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Paul Van Haute
EDITOR: Rachel Sophia Stewart
PRINTED MATERIAL: HMP Press kit and PBS press release
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Finalist, 2020 Library of Congress/Lavine Ken Burns prize for film
Honorable mention, Philadelphia Film Festival, best local production Best Historical documentary, San Antonio Film Festival; Heartland Intl. Film Festival; Newport Beach International Film Festival; San Antonio Film Festival; Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival; Berkshires Intl. Film Festival; Chagrin Falls Documentary Film Festival; DocUtah
Classical Arts Film Festival; Big Apple Film Festival; Hamptons Documentary Film Festival
Scottsdale Film Festival; Albuquerque Film & Music Festival; Three Rivers Film Festival
FORMAT: DVD (84 mins)
DISTRIBUTOR: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes
The Burning Wall: Dissent and Revolt Behind and Berlin Wall
Documentary
The Burning Wall highlights the contemporary dilemma of individual resistance within a suppressive totalitarian state. A dozen years after the collapse of East Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall, Hava Beller investigates the Stasi, the East German State security police that employed over 100,000 agents (many of them ordinary citizens), and assembled files on one third of the population. Dissidents tell Kafkaesque stories of psychological warfare they endured, while former Stasi agents candidly detail their techniques for destroying the lives of their opponents. The film investigates the impact of indoctrination on children and the role fear played as a tool of subjugation. It depicts the developing opposition to the GDR regime, from the first stirring of single acts of resistance by individuals, through an emergineg dissident movement, all the way to the astounding ground swell of defiance that brought down the Berlin Wall and resulted in the collapse of the regime, while ushering in the end of the cold war era.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Hava Kohav Theatre Foundation, Inc., New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 2002
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Hava Beller
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: Hava Beller
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Christoph Lerch, Judith Kaufmann, Harald Klix, Martin Kukula, Volker Rodde, Michael Khano, Siegbert Schelke
EDITORS: Lawrence Silk, Markus Peters
NARRATOR: John Dildine
PRINTED MATERIALS: Press reviews and comments available through the website www.Theburningwall.com, Hava Kohave Theatre Foundation, Inc.
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Berlin International Film Festival – International Premier; Hollywood Film Festival – Best Documentary Award 2002; Anchorage International Film Festival – Best Documentary 2003; American Premier – New York Film Forum
FORMAT: DVD 115 mins
DISTRIBUTOR: Hava Kohav Theatre Foundation, Inc. www.Theburningwall.com
BESA: The Promise
Documentary/ Film
BESA: The Promise is the never-before-told story of Albania – a small European country which opened its borders to shelter Jewish refugees, even as it endured a brutal Nazi occupation. It is witnessed through the prism of two men joined together in a remarkable and unexpected quest: Norman H. Gershman, a renowned Jewish-American photographer determined to record the bravery and compassion of the Albanians; and Rexhep Hoxha, a Muslim-Albanian toy shop owner who sets out to return three precious books to the last surviving member of the Jewish family his father sheltered sixty years before. When these two men meet, an extraordinary and utterly unexpected personal drama is set in motion – one that bridges generations and religions...uniting fathers and sons...Muslims and Jews.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: JWM Productions, Takoma Park, MD
YEAR PRODUCED: 2012
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Jason Williams, William Morgan
PRODUCERS: Christine Romero, Rachel Goslins
DIRECTOR: Rachel Goslins
WRITER: Christine Romero
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Neil Barrett
EDITOR: Christine Romero
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Special Jury Award – 13th Festival of Albanian Film; Best Documentary – 2013 Beaufort International Film Festival; Best Director – 2013 Beaufort International Film Festival; Best Documentary – Washington Jewish Film Festival 2013; Best Documentary – 2013 Seattle Jewish Film Festival; Best Documentary – 2013 Jewish Eye Film Festival
FORMAT: DVD (86:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: JWM Productions
Biquefarre
Drama
This film is a sequel to director Georges Rouquier's landmark feature Farrebique, a portrait of rural French society in the Aveyron district of southern France.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: Midas S.A., Paris; Mallia Films, Gentilly, France; and Community Animation, Inc., Ithaca, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 1983
COPRODUCERS: Marie-Francoise Mascaro, Bertrand Van Effenterre, William Gilcher
DIRECTOR: Georges Rouquier
EDITOR: Genevieve Louveau
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Andre Villard, Pierre-Laurent Chenieux
AWARD: Venice International Film Festival, Special Jury Prize
FORMAT: 35mm, 16mm (90:00)
DISTRIBUTORS:
New Yorker Films (U.S.)
Les Films Rene Malo (Canada)
Boswell for The Defence
Drama
This film explores the issues of quality of life and justice in eighteenth-century Scotland through the story of James Reid, a butcher accused of stealing nineteen sheep, who was sentenced to hang. It focuses on Reid's defense by Scottish lawyer and writer James Boswell.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: Yale University Films, New Haven, CT, and BBC, Scotland
YEAR PRODUCED: 1983
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Howard Sayre Weaver
PRODUCER: Roderick Graham
EDITOR: Robert Bathgate
WRITER: Mark Harris
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Stuart Wyld
CAST: David McKail, Alec Heggie, Isobel Black, Andrew Keir
AWARD: Television and Radio Club of Scotland, Best Single Drama on Television
FORMAT: Video (90:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Boswell in London
Drama
Adapted from James Boswell's London Journal, this two-part dramatization portrays Boswell's attempts to seek acceptance in London society, his historic meeting and developing friendship with Samuel Johnson, and his departure for Holland to study law.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: Yale University Films, New Haven, CT and BBC, Scotland
YEAR PRODUCED: 1984
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: William Peters
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Roderick Graham
WRITER: Mark Harris
EDITOR: Brian Ashcroft
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Stuart Wyld
CAST: Ian Sharp, Annette Lynton, Tony Steedman
FORMAT: Video (112:00) Part 1 (60:00), Part 2 (52:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Building Big
Documentary
Think big! Engineers have been doing just that for thousands of years, as renowned author-illustrator David Macaulay proves in this five-part miniseries on spectacular structures. The programs cover bridges, domes, skyscrapers, dams, and tunnels—past and present. Along the way, Macaulay highlights the engineering principles and human stories behind some of the most remarkable achievements in the history of building.
Program 1
Bridges
How does a bridge withstand the forces of nature and traffic? David Macaulay takes viewers from the stone arch bridges of the Roman Empire to Japan's giant, all-steel Akashi Kaikyo suspension bridge, the longest in the world. Through the epic sagas of the Brooklyn, Golden Gate, and other great bridges, Macaulay shows how engineers have conquered ever-wider spans with better construction materials and innovative designs.
Program 2
Domes
How does a dome support itself? Ever since the Roman Emperor Hadrian topped his Pantheon with a dome, this roof-with-class has been the prestige building form. Big domes cover civilization's most revered structures, from great cathedrals to mosques to houses of government. David Macaulay uncovers the tricky technology of domes, from the Pantheon to the geodesic marvels of Buckminster Fuller and beyond.
Program 3
Skyscrapers
What does it take to erect a skyscraper 100 stories tall? From the medieval towers of Italy's San Gimignano to today's race to build the world's tallest skyscraper, David Macaulay chronicles our aptitude for altitude. On the way up, he highlights the remarkable achievements of the Gothic cathedral builders and the almost-disaster of New York's Citigroup (formerly Citicorp) Center.
Program 4
Dams
How does a dam resist the crush of millions of gallons of water? David Macaulay surveys the dam ¾ the biggest, costliest structure of all ¾ from Hoover's concrete arch confronting the Colorado River to the Aswan High Dam, a veritable underwater mountain sitting on the Nile riverbed, holding back a lake the size of England.
Program 5
Tunnels
What keeps a tunnel from collapsing? Tunnels have advanced from dangerous, claustrophobic passages to spacious, safe subterranean networks as roomy as shopping malls. David Macaulay takes viewers underground to explore the history and ingenuity behind some of the world's tunneling marvels.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: WGBH Educational Foundational, Boston, MA and Production Group, Inc., Washington, DC
YEAR PRODUCED: 2000
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Paula S. Apsell, Larry Klein
PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS/WRITERS: Larry Klein, Thomas Levenson, Joseph McMaster, Judith Dwan Hallet, Eugenie Vink
NARRATOR: David Macaulay
AWARDS: Peabody Award
PRINT MATERIALS: Sample print and video materials are available to press on request.
FORMAT: Video, 5 programs 60:00 each
DISTRIBUTOR: WGBH/PBS
Castle
Documentary
Based on a book by David Macaulay, this film explains the architectural design, social organization, and military significance of a thirteenth-century Welsh castle through a blend of animated dramatic sequences and live action. (See also Cathedral and Pyramid.)
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Unicorn Projects, Inc., Washington, DC
YEAR PRODUCED: 1983
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Ray Hubbard
COPRODUCERS: Larry Klein, Mark Olshaker
WRITER: Mark Olshaker
DIRECTOR OF ANIMATION: Jack Stokes
ANIMATION: The Animation Partnership in association with TV Cartoons, Ltd.
HOSTS: David Macaulay, Sarah Bullen
VOICES: Ronald Baddily, Brian Blessed, Ellis Jones, Freddie Jones, Roy Purcell, Marie Sutherland
AWARDS: American Film and Video Festival, Red Ribbon; CINE Golden Eagle
FORMAT: 16mm, Video (two versions, 57:20 and 30:00)
DISTRIBUTORS:
PBS Video (video)
Unicorn Projects, Inc. (16mm)
Cathedral
Documentary
Drawn from the book by architect/illustrator David Macaulay, Cathedral combines animated dramatic episodes with location sequences to tell the story of the planning, construction, and dedication of a fictional cathedral in medieval France. (See also Castle and Pyramid.)
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Unicorn Projects, Inc., Washington, DC
YEAR PRODUCED: 1985
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Ray Hubbard
PRODUCERS/WRITERS: Larry Klein, Mark Olshaker
ANIMATION: The Animation Partnership
ANIMATION CREATED & DIRECTED BY: Tony White
HOSTS: David Macaulay, Caroline Berg
VOICES: Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed, Geoffrey Matthews, Paul Bacon, Sean Barrett, Paul Bacon, Peter Pacey, Ellis Jones
AWARDS: American Film and Video Festival, Blue Ribbon; International Film and Television Festival of New York, Finalist; Chicago International Film Festival, Certificate of Merit; CINE Golden Eagle
FORMAT: Video (two versions, 58:00 and 29:00)
DISTRIBUTORS:
PBS Video (video)
Unicorn Projects, Inc. (16mm)
China's Cosmopolitan Age: The Tang
Documentary
This program examines the legacy of the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618–907) in government, art, religion, and philosophy, and its far-reaching contribution to the humanistic traditions of China, Korea, and Japan.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: George Washington University, Washington, DC
YEAR PRODUCED: 1991
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Joan Chung-wen Shih
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Christopher Li, Haining Wu, Shangyuan Zhao
EDITORS: Penny Trams, Mike Ritter
NARRATORS: Stanley Anderson, Theo Feng
PRINT MATERIAL: Viewer's Guide (55 pages), available through Annenberg/CPB Project (see distributor listing).
FORMAT: Video (58:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: The Annenberg/CPB Project
China in Revolution, 1911–1949
Documentary
China in Revolution, 1911–1949 explores the establishment of the Chinese communist state, from the fall of the boy emperor, Pu Yi, to the birth of the People's Republic of China.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: Film News Now Foundation and Ambrica Productions, New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 1988
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Judith Vecchioni
PRODUCERS: Sue Williams, Kathryn Dietz
DIRECTOR/WRITER: Sue Williams
CODIRECTOR: Kathryn Dietz
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Richard Gordon
EDITOR: Howard Sharp
NARRATOR: Will Lyman
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: National Educational Film and Video Festival, Bronze Apple; American Film and Video Festival, Red Ribbon; International Chinese Film Festival, Montreal
FORMAT: Video (135:00) Part I: Battle for Survival, 1911–36 (58:00); Part II: Fighting for the Future, 1936–49 (58:00)
DISTRIBUTORS:
Coronet/MTI Film and Video, Inc. (U.S.)
Jane Balfour Films, Ltd. (international)
Citizen Kurchatov: Stalin's Bomb Maker
Documentary
The enigmatic world-class physicist, Igor Kurchatov, feared the 1945 American atomic bomb monopoly, "They had used it on Japan, Russia could be next." In four years of intensive work he developed the bomb for Stalin. Was he a crusader for nuclear sanity, like his American counterpart Oppenheimer, or an apparatchik who outlived his bosses, Stalin and KGB director Beria, by being, "A consummate politician who, like a great actor, could play a role while hiding his true feelings?"
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Kaufman Vision Productions, Cambridge, MA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1999
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Brian Kaufman, Martin Shewin
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: Brian Kaufman
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Valeri Shaptonov, Gary Henoch, Glen Percy, Vladimir Meralou
EDITOR: Brian Kaufman
NARRATOR: Ted O'Brien
FORMAT: Video 57 mins
DISTRIBUTOR: Oregon Public Broadcasting / PBS
Colliding Dreams
Documentary
The century-old conflict in the Middle East continues to play a central role in world politics, making Zionism one of the most influential and controversial political ideologies of the modern era. And yet, amidst fierce, often lethal controversy, Zionism remains little understood and its meanings often distorted. Colliding Dreams addresses that void with a gripping exploration of Zionism’s meaning, history, and future. It offers a searching and dramatic exploration of the dream of a Jewish state and its impact on both Jews and Arabs. Told through the remarkable lives and voices of Jews and Palestinians, Colliding Dreams weaves together past and present, ideas and passions, wars and peace talks, brilliant minds with the voices of ordinary citizens to develop a portrait of unprecedented depth and sensitivity.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Riverside Films, LLC and Oren Rudavsky Films, New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 2015
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Stanley Gold, Ilan Kaufthal, Laurie Tisch, Ahavia Scheindlin. For Anthos Media, Andrea Miller and Carla Solomon
PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS/WRITERS: Joseph Dorman, Oren Rudavsky
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Oren Rudavsky, Shahar Reznic, Alex Korin, Itamar Hadar, Itai Raziel, Danae Elon, Devon Pickering, Rani Muncaz
EDITORS: Aaron Kuhn, Nick August Perna
CAST: Hanan Ashrawi, Samih al-Qasim, Yariv Ben Aharon, Meron Benvenisti, Yoel Bin Nun, Geula Cohen, Aryeh Eldad, Jafar Farah, Ruth Gavison, Galia Golan, Moshe Halbertal, Hillel Halkin, Israel Harel, Yoram Kaniuk, Saman Khoury, Yossi Klein Halevi, Moshe Lerner, Israel Lerner, Motti Lerner, Avishai Margalit, Benny Morris, Walid Mula, Sari Nusseibeh, Stav Shafir, Anita Shapira, Kobi Sharrett, Bambi Sheleg, Yehouda Shenhav, Khalil Shikaki, Gideon Shimoni, Yuli Tamir, Gadi Taub, A.B. Yehoshua, Said Zeedani
PRINT MATERIALS: http://collidingdreamsthemovie.com
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: NY Jewish Film Festival; Atlanta Jewish Film Festival; Toronto Jewish Film Festival; Portland Jewish Film Festival; San Francisco Jewish Film Festival; Rutgers Jewish Film Festival (New Brunswick, NJ); Washington Jewish Film Festival (D.C.); UK Jewish Film Festival; Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival; Miami Jewish Film Festival; Berlin Jewish Film Festival; Filmisreal Film Festival (Amsterdam); Boulder Jewish Film Festival (in May 2016)
FORMAT: DVD (134:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: Kino Lorber, Inc., https://www.kinolorber.com and International Film Circuit, Inc. (Theatrical), http://www.internationalfilmcircuit.com
Columbus and the Age of Discovery
Documentary Series
Columbus and the Age of Discovery is a seven-part series on Christopher Columbus, his era, and his legacy.
Program 1
Columbus' World
travels to China, the Spice Islands, Cairo, Genoa, Venice, and Istanbul to explore the world of the fifteenth century and set the stage for Columbus' great seagoing adventure.
PRODUCER/WRITER: Thomas Friedman DIRECTOR: Stephen Segaller
Program 2
An Idea Takes Shape
considers the advances in shipbuilding and navigation that made Columbus' voyages possible, examines his motivations, and chronicles his long and arduous search for patronage to fund his westward route to the Orient.
PRODUCER/WRITER: Thomas Friedman
DIRECTOR: Stephen Segaller
Program 3
The Crossing
recreates Columbus' first transatlantic route with working replicas of the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria as well as with excerpts from his logs and journal.
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: Zvi Dor-Ner
Program 4
Worlds Found and Lost
follows a modern-day crew as they sail the route of Columbus' first voyage, from his landfall at San Salvador, through the Bahamas to Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, searching for the Caribbean that Columbus saw, and the changes left in his wake.
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: Zvi Dor-Ner
Program 5
The Sword and the Cross
shows how the Americas evolved from the new blend of peoples, diseases, motives, and attitudes brought by Columbus and those who followed him. In addition, the impact of the conquistadors and the Catholic church on the indigenous population is explored.
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: Graham Chedd
Program 6
The Columbian Exchange
examines the interchange of horses, cattle, corn, potatoes, and sugar cane between the Old World and the New, and the lasting impact on the people of both worlds.
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: Graham Chedd
Program 7
In Search of Columbus
follows the path of the Admiral's fourth and final voyage and explores perceptions of Columbus by different nations and cultures on the eve of the quincentenary.
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: Graham Chedd
SERIES PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: WGBH, Boston, MA
YEARS PRODUCED: 1985-1991
SERIES EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Zvi Dor-Ner
ORIGINAL MUSIC COMPOSED BY: Sheldon Mirowitz
HOST: Mauricio Obregon
NARRATOR: Will Lyman
PRINT MATERIAL: Companion Volume: Columbus and the Age of Discovery by Zvi Dor-Ner with William Scheller; interactive videodisc; audiocassette; resource guides; Teachers' guides; student newspaper (printed in 1992)
FORMAT: Video 7 (58:00) programs
DISTRIBUTOR: Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Corpus Duende: Echoes of the Spanish Civil War
Radio Documentary
Corpus Duende documents the Spanish Civil War and its international repercussions through the testimony of survivors as well as through period music, poetry, and news reports.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Metropolitan Pittsburgh Public Broadcasting, Inc. (WQED)
YEAR PRODUCED: 1981
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Thomas B. Skinner
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Bill Howell
STORY: Based on a script by Robert E. Lee
NARRATOR: Karl Hardman
CAST: Eli Wallach, Denise Hunt, Pip Theodor, Wilson Hutton, Hugh A. Rose
FORMAT: Audiocassette (59:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: WQED (Metropolitan Pittsburgh Public Broadcasting)
The Crucible of the Millennium
Documentary
The years surrounding 1500 represent a pivotal time in human history, marking the birth of our Modern Age. During that period, the invention of the printing press in Europe, based on a Chinese invention, spurred an information revolution and changed the way people envisioned the world. Different peoples, cultures, and religions came into contact with another, often for the first time, and sometimes violently. The reverberations of these developments are still felt today in the interconnectedness of cultures and economics and in issues related to immigration, the environment, economic inequality, nationalism, and racism. The two-part special examines the technological advances, the wide-ranging exploration and the collision of cultures that characterized the midpoint of the last millennium, revealing why an understanding of that period is critical to an understanding of the world today.
Part I
Through the Looking Glass
tells the story of Calicut, a bustling port city on the coast of southwest India that was the crossroads of many cultures, a place that gave rise to the trade on a global scale. The program captures the experience and adventures of three 15th-century visitors to Calicut—the royal leader of a Chinese maritime expedition as auspicious as any that followed, an ambassador from the Ottoman court and a Portuguese explorer whose visit changed the course of history.
Part II
Echoes and Resonances
chronicles 15th- and 16th-century interactions between Europeans and the peoples of the Americas and Africa. The program follows the exploits of the early European explorers and shows how their explorations, conquests and trade in everything from sugar to human beings ultimately brought the entire world, often reluctantly, into permanent contact, and raised issues of colonial domination that remain unresolved to this day. The program concludes with prominent scholars offering their views on the issues raised by the program and exploring solutions.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Kroyt Brandt Productions, Inc., New York City, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 2001
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Yanna Kroyt Brandt
PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS: Yanna Kroyt Brandt, Cheryl Hill
WRITERS: Yanna Kroyt Brandt, Bernard Weisberger
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Juan Barrera
EDITOR: Gary Princz
HOST: Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe
NARRATOR: Reuben Santiago-Hudson
PRINT MATERIALS: Educational guide available from the American Forum for Global Education, 120 Wall Street, New York City, NY 10005, call at 800-813-5060 or email at @email
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: US International Film and Video Festival; Axiem award for excellence; Aurora (Platinum Best of Show); 2 Chris honorable mention awards for Show 1 and the script for Show 1
FORMAT: Video 2 programs 90:00 each
DISTRIBUTORS: Monarch Films and KCTS-Seattle
De Gaulle and France
Documentary Series
De Gaulle and France is a three-part series on the life, impact, and legacy of the French general and statesman Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970).
Program l
A Vision of France
traces the rise of de Gaulle with the establishment of his French government-in-exile in London and the restructuring of post-war Europe.
PRODUCER/WRITER/DIRECTOR: Sue Williams
EDITOR: Sharon Sachs
Program 2
Return of the General
examines de Gaulle's re-entry into politics during the Algerian crisis, his efforts at revising the French constitution, and his abandonment of the notion of a French empire.
PRODUCER/WRITER: Tom Weidlinger
EDITOR: Constance Ryder
Program 3
Challenging the World
considers de Gaulle's policies and actions as he worked toward insuring France's place as a major international power during the 1960s.
PRODUCER/WRITER/DIRECTOR: Christina von Braun
EDITOR: Claire Painchault
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: WGBH Educational Foundation, Boston, MA, and LMK Images, Paris, France
YEAR PRODUCED: 1991
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Judith Vecchione, Yves Eudes
PRODUCER/WRITERS: Sue Williams, Tom Wiedlinger, Christina von Braun
DIRECTORS: Sue Williams, Christina von Braun
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Georges Diane, Alain Thiollet, Michel Gau, Jean-Claude Barxell
EDITORS: Sharon Sachs, Constance Ryder, Claire Painchault
NARRATOR: Gene Galusha
FORMAT: Video 3 (60:00) programs
DISTRIBUTORS:
WGBH Educational Foundation (U.S.)
Jane Balfour Films, Ltd. (international)
Degenerate Art
Documentary
This film examines the Nazi attacks against avant garde art, music, film, and literature that culminated in the Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) exhibition of 1937.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, and David Grubin Productions, New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 1993
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Stephanie Barron, David Grubin
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: David Grubin
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Allan Palmer
EDITOR: Bob Eisenhardt
NARRATOR: David McCullough
INTERVIEWS: Robert Hughes, Sander Gilman, Peter Guenther, Olda Kokoschka, Ursus Dix, Titus Felixmuller, Josephine Knapp, Bernard Schultze, Peter Setz, Gert Werneberg
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: American Association of Museums, Media and Technology Committee, MUSE Award; The New York Festival, Gold Medal; CINE Golden Eagle; Writers Guild of America Award
PRINT MATERIAL: Teacher's Guide available through L.A. County Museum of Art
FORMAT: Video (60:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: KCET
Free to Rock
Documentary
Rock & roll spread the sound of freedom across the Iron Curtain and throughout Eastern Europe and the USSR despite Communist attempts to outlaw it and to crush what they perceived was a contamination of their youth. Over the next thirty years, thousands of underground bands and millions of young fans who yearned for Western values helped fuel the nonviolent implosion of the Soviet regime. The film Free to Rock features presidents, diplomats, spies, and rock stars from the West, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe who reveal how rock & roll music was a contributing factor in ending the Cold War.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Jim Brown Productions, New York, NewYork Sponsoring Agent: Grammy Museum Foundation, Las Angeles, CA
YEAR PRODUCED: 2016
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Stas Namin, Nick Binkley, Doug Yeager, John Beug, Bill Ivey
PRODUCERS: Nick Binkley, Stas Namin, Jim Brown, Doug Yeager
WRITERS: Original story by Nick Binkley, Valery Saifudinov, Doug Yeager; created by Stas Namin, Nick Binkley, Jim Brown
CINEMATOGRAPHY: John Sharaf, Peter Pilafian Igor Kropotov, Jim Brown, John Chater, Frederic Menou, Lloyd Handwerker, Matt Weddle, Brian Gurley, Rick Malkames, Derek Allen, Stavros Basis, Marthin Torner
EDITORS: Jason L. Pollard, Paul Pettrisans, Pat Murphy
NARRATOR: Kiefer Sutherland
CAST: President Jimmy Carter, President Mikhail Gorbachev, Billy Joel, Mike Love, Bruce Johnston, Elton John, Jeff Hanna, John McEuen, Stas Namin, Herman Rarebell, Andrey Makarevich, Valery Saifudinov, Joanna Stingray, Pete Anderson, Boris Grebenshikov, Vratislav Brabenec, Yuriy Shishkov, Vaire Vike-Freiberga, Oleg Kalugin, Alexander Vershbow, Dean Reed, Ojars Kalnins, Joseph S. Nye, JR, Mark Levine, Andras Simonyi, Dave Hess, Yuri Valov, Grishma Dimant
PRINT MATERIALS: Press kit, pictures, and flyer available through www.freetorockmovie.com and/or Doug Yeager @email and Sara Donnelly @email
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Newport Beach Film Festival; Moscow International Film Festival; Sun Valley Film Festival; Sonoma International Film Festival; Orcas Island Film Festival
EDUCATIONALS SCREENINGS: Council for Foreign Relations—fine cut screening and panel discussion, Johns Hopkins SAIS Alumni Association of Washington DC, Alumni Breakfast, Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Affairs – Gaston Hall Theatre, Congressional Arts and Humanities Caucuses, Embassy of the Republic of Slovakia in collaboration with the Embassy of Latvia Russian Studies Department, George Washington University – at Gelman Library, San Diego Filmmakers, World Affairs Council of Houston, Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the Department of Music, and the CREEES Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies, U.S. Department of State, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland
FORMAT: DVD (60:00 min)
DISTRIBUTOR: Doug Zwick/Pop Twist Entertainment, Inc.+1 310 734 6655 http://www.poptwist.com
The Gate of Heavenly Peace
Documentary
This film revisits the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square in the context of the political habits and attitudes that have informed Chinese public life over the past century.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Long Bow Group, Inc., Brookline, MA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1995
PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS: Richard Gordon, Carma Hinton
WRITERS: Geremie Barmé, John Crowley
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Richard Gordon
EDITORS: David Carnochan, Charles Phred Churchill
NARRATOR: Deborah Amos
INTERVIEWS: Dai Qing, Ding Zilin, Feng Congde, Ge Yang, Han Dongfang, Hou Dejian, Liang Xiaoyan, Liu Xiaobo, Lü Jinghua, Wang Dan, Wu Guoguang, Wuer Kaixi, Xiang Xiaoji, Zhao Hongliang
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: George F. Peabody Award for Television Journalism; New York Film Festival; Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema; Berlin International Film Festival
PRINT MATERIALS: Background information, biographies of filmmakers and of major characters appearing in the film, chronology of events, and press clippings, available from the Long Bow Group.
FORMAT: Video (188:30)
DISTRIBUTORS:
Center for Asian American Media (CAAM)
Jane Balfour Films, Ltd. (European TV only)
Geographies of Kinship
Documentary
In this tale about the rise of Korea’s global adoption program, four adult adoptees return to their country of birth and recover the personal histories that were lost when they were adopted. Raised in foreign families, each sets out on a journey to reconnect with their roots, mapping the geographies of kinship that bind them to a homeland they never knew. Along the way there are discoveries and dead ends, as well as mysteries that will never be unraveled.
Ultimately, what emerges is a deepened sense of self and belonging, as well as a sense of purpose, as Geographies of Kinship’s four protagonists question the policies and practices that led South Korea to become the largest “sending country” in the world—with 200,000 children adopted out to North America, Europe, and Australia. Emboldened by their own experiences and what they have learned, these courageous characters become advocates for birth family and adoptee rights, support for single mothers, and historical reckoning.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Mu Films, www.mufilms.org
YEAR PRODUCED: 2019
PRODUCERS: Deann Borshay Liem, Charlotte Lagarde
DIRECTOR/WRITER: Deann Borshay Liem
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Mike Chin
EDITOR: Vivien Hillgrove, Ken Schneider
NARRATOR:
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Best Feature Documentary, 2020, DisOrient Oregon Asian Film Festival; Best Director Nomination, 2020, Queens World Film Festival; Best Feature Documentary, 2019, Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival; Jury Award, Best Documentary Feature, 2019, Dallas Asian Film Festival; Audience Award, Best Documentary, 2019, Dallas Asian Film Festival; Special Jury Mention, Austin Asian Film Festival
FORMAT: DVD (82 minutes)
DISTRIBUTOR: Mu Films, www.mufilms.org
The Global Assembly Line
Documentary
The Global Assembly Line explores the impact of transnational expansion and relocation in the electronics and garment industries through the experience of women and men working in these industries in developing countries and in North America.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Educational Television and Film Center, Washington, DC
YEAR PRODUCED: 1986
COPRODUCERS: Lorraine Gray, Anne Bohlen, Maria Patricia, Fernandez Kelly
DIRECTOR/WRITER: Lorraine Gray
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Sandi Sissel, Baird Bryant, Lorraine Gray
EDITORS: Mary Lampson, Sarah Fishko
AWARDS: Emmy Award; National Educational Film and Video Festival, Gold Apple; Leipzig International Film Festival, Special Jury Prize; American Film and Video Festival, Blue Ribbon; Museum of Modern Art, New Directors/New Films
FORMAT: 16mm, Video (58:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: New Day Films
The Great Famine
Documentary
Exacerbated by misguided Soviet agricultural policies, the drought that descended on Soviet Russia in 1921 became not only a famine but also the worst natural disaster in Europe since the Black Plague in the Middle Ages. Americans responded with a massive two-year relief campaign championed by Herbert Hoover, who was both chairman of the American Relief Administration, known as the ARA, and the newly appointed Secretary of Commerce. The ARA’s 300 American relief workers, known as “Hoover’s boys,” would be tested by a railroad system in disarray, a forbidding climate, a ruthless government suspicious of their motives and the sheer scale of starvation and death. Among the first outsiders to break through Russia's isolation following the Bolshevik Revolution, by the summer of 1922, they were feeding nearly eleven million Soviet citizens a day in 19,000 kitchens. Tensions with the Bolshevik government foreshadowed the U.S.-Soviet rivalry that would dominate the second half of the twentieth century. Though Hoover had hoped to inspire a regime change, his efforts may have saved the Soviet regime. The Great Famine features two survivors who recall America’s generosity as well as Russian and American historians. It is told with archive film and stills and evocative re-enactments.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: Austin Hoyt Productions, Cambridge, MA
YEAR PRODUCED: 2010
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Mark Samels
PRODUCER/WRITER: Austin Hoyt
CO-PRODUCER: Melissa Martin
LINE PRODUCERS: Jennifer Lee Pearce, Lilya Risvanova
DIRECTORS: Austin Hoyt, Aisiyuak Yumagulov
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Riyas Ishhakov, Stephen McCarthy
EDITOR: Jon Neuburger
PRINT MATERIALS: Promotional material available from CaraMar Publicity 770-623-8190 cara white @email Mary Lugo @email
FORMAT: Video/DVD (60:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: Austin Hoyt Productions/PBS
The Greeks
Documentary
They were an extraordinary people born of white rock and blue sea. They invented democracy, distilled logic and reason, wrote plays to plumb the deepest recesses of the soul and captured the perfection of the human form in athletics and art. Today Greece conjures very different images—civic unrest, financial meltdowns, long ATM lines. But as its ancient history attests, strife and discord are often incubators for greatness. From their beginnings as hunter-gatherers in harsh, unforgiving landscapes, to surviving the worst collapse in human history, to facing off against the greatest empire the world had ever known, the Greeks would have to overcome incredible odds to pave the way for the modern West. In National Geographic’s landmark event series The Greeks, historians and archaeologists, actors and athletes, scientists and artists alike are launching groundbreaking new explorations of their journey across time—not just to better understand the Greeks’ past, but to discover how their legacy illuminates the present and will shape our future. The story of the Greeks is the story of us.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: NG Studios, LLC, Washington, DC
YEAR PRODUCED: 2016
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Jared Lipworth
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Chad Cohen
WRITERS: Matt Hill, Chris Dye, Eleanor Grant
CINEMATOGRAPHY: James Ball, Stefan Wiesen
EDITORS: Salvatore F. Vecchio, Arthur Binkowski
NARRATOR: Toby Leonard Moore
FORMAT: DVD 3x60 mins
DISTRIBUTOR: Domestic-PBS; http://www.pbs.org/program/greeks/
International-FOX Global Sales www.ficcontentsales.com
Harbor from The Holocaust
Documentary
Harbor from The Holocaust is the story of nearly 20,000 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II to the Chinese port city of Shanghai. The documentary explores the extraordinary relationship of these Jews and their adopted city of Shanghai, even through the bitter years of Japanese occupation 1937–45 and the Chinese civil war that followed. It was a relationship that produced some exceptional artists, statesmen, and authors, as well as "ordinary" people who survived to carry on their Jewish religion and traditions that would have otherwise been consigned to oblivion. This documentary takes a captivating look at why Shanghai was uniquely positioned, through geo-political, cultural, and historical influences, to allow this remarkable influx to happen, due to those past relations with Jews predominantly from the Middle East, the Iberian Peninsula, and Russia, and because of its centuries of control by and openness to foreigners as a vigorous center of trade and commerce.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: WQED, Pittsburgh, PA
YEAR PRODUCED: 2020
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Darryl Ford Williams
PRODUCERS: Violet du Feng, Iris Samson
DIRECTOR: Violet du Feng
WRITER: Lynne Squilla
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Frank Caloiero, Jason Wong
EDITORS: Michelle Chang, Frank Caloiero
NARRATOR: Sarah Catherine Hook
FORMAT: DVD 60 min
DISTRIBUTOR: PBS https://www.pbs.org/show/harbor-holocaust/
Have You Heard From Johannesburg
Documentary Series
Have You Heard From Johannesburg is seven documentary stories chronicling the history of the global anti-apartheid movement that took on South Africa’s entrenched apartheid regime and its international supporters who considered South Africa an ally in the Cold War. Almost fifty years ago, South Africans began to realize that their freedom struggle had to be built in four arenas of action: mass action, underground organization, armed struggle, and international mobilization. These documentaries take viewers inside that last arena, the movement to mobilize worldwide citizen action to isolate the apartheid regime. Inspired by the courage and suffering of South Africa’s people as they fought back against the violence and oppression of racism, foreign solidarity groups, in cooperation with exiled South Africans, took up the anti-apartheid cause. Working against heavy odds, in a climate of apathy or even support for the governments of Verwoerd, Vorster and P.W. Botha, campaigners challenged their governments and powerful corporations in the West to face up to the immorality of their collaboration with apartheid. This was not just a political battle; it was economic, cultural, moral, and spiritual. The struggle came to many surprising venues: it was waged in sports arenas and cathedrals, in embassies and corporate boardrooms, at fruit stands and beaches, at rock concerts and gas stations. Thousands died, but in the end, nonviolent pressures played a major part in the collapse of apartheid and thus in the stunning victory of democracy in South Africa. The combined stories have a scope that is epic in both space and time, spanning most of the globe over half a century, beginning with the very first session of the United Nations, and ending in 1990 – when, after 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela, the best known leader of the African National Congress, toured the world a free man.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: Clarity Educational Productions, Inc., DBA Clarity Films Saul Zaentz Media Center, Berkeley, CA
YEAR PRODUCED: 2010
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Connie Field
WRITERS: Jon Else, Connie Field, Gregory Scharpen, Ken Chowder
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Tom Hurwitz, David Forbes, Ian Watts
EDITORS: Series Editor: Gregory Scharpen, Editors: Ken Schneider, Dawn Logdson, Jeff Stevens, Gary Weimberg
NARRATORS: Alfre Woodard, Mmaboshadi M. Chauke
PRINT MATERIALS: Press Release, Post cards, Study Guide available through Clarity Films www.clairtyfilms.org
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Best Limited Series, International Documentary Association; Best Documentary Feature, Vancouver International Film Festival; Best Documentary Feature, Pan African Film Festival; Best Documentary Feature nomination, London Film Festival; Best Documentary of 2010, Village Voice; Best Documentary of 2010, Time Out New York; One of the 10 Best Films of 2010, Slant Magazine
FORMAT: DVD 7 part series, each episode is one hour, 4 of the episodes in addition have feature length versions.
DISTRIBUTOR: Clarity Films, Saul Zaentz Media Center and Steps International
Heritage: Civilization and the Jews
Documentary Series
Heritage is a nine-part documentary series that chronicles the 3,000-year history of the Jewish people.
Program 1
A People Is Born (c. 3500 B.C.E. to sixth century B.C.E.)
recounts the origins of the Jewish people from their exodus out of Egypt to their Babylonian exile.
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Eugene Marner
STORY: Marc Siegel
WRITER: John Sharnik
Program 2
The Power of the Word (sixth century B.C.E. to second century C.E.)
examines how the Jewish people formed an identity based on ideas as opposed to territory during the Babylonian exile.
DIRECTORS: Eugene Marner, Patricia Sides, Julian Krainin, Howard Enders
STORY: Marc Siegel
WRITER: John Lord
POST-PRODUCTION PRODUCER: Len Morris
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: Petra Lent, Rivalyn Zweig
Program 3
The Shaping of Traditions (first to ninth centuries)
describes how different Jewish sects dispersed throughout the Mediterranean region and how this influenced the emergence of Christianity and Islam.
PRODUCERS: John G. Fox, Julian Krainin
DIRECTOR: Julian Krainin
WRITERS: John G. Fox, Marc Siegel
Program 4
The Crucible of Europe (ninth to fifteenth centuries)
explores Jewish life and religion throughout Western Europe during the Middle Ages.
PRODUCER: Michael Joseloff
DIRECTOR: Julian Krainin
WRITERS: John G. Fox, Marc Siegel, Michael Joseloff, Howard Enders
Program 5
The Search for Deliverance (1492–1789)
describes the Jewish-European experience, from the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 to the French Revolution.
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Eugene Marner
WRITER: John G. Fox
Program 6
Roads from the Ghetto (1789-1917)
traces the impact on the Jewish experience of the Industrial and French Revolutions.
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Eugene Marner
WRITERS: Eugene Marner, John G. Fox
Program 7
The Golden Land (1654–1932)
examines the stages of Jewish immigration to America and the convergence of the American ideal of democracy with the ancient Jewish heritage of freedom.
PRODUCER/DIRECTORS: Marc Siegel, Morton Silverstein
WRITER: Marc Montfrey
Program 8
Out of the Ashes (1917–45)
describes the Nazi ideology, Jewish "shetl" life, repression and persecution leading to "The Final Solution," and Jewish resistance.
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Alan Rosenthal
WRITER: Brian Winston
Program 9
Into the Future (1945 to the present)
focuses on events leading up to the creation of Israel, its early history and relationship with Jews worldwide, and the long-range issues of identity and security.
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Alan Rosenthal
WRITER: Aleck Jackson
SERIES PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: WNET/13, New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 1984
SERIES EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Arnold Labaton, Marc Siegel
SERIES PRODUCER: John G. Fox
SENIOR EDITORIAL CONSULTANT: Marc Siegel
HOST: Abba Eban
AWARDS: Emmy Award; Christopher Award; American Film Festival, Red Ribbon
FORMAT: Video 9 (60:00) programs
DISTRIBUTOR: Public Media Inc. / PBS
Hidden Kitchens World Series Radio
Documentary Radio
Story 1: The Pizza Connection—Fighting the Mafia Through Food
In this first installment of the new season of Hidden Kitchens, we explore how Sicilians are reclaiming farmland and providing Mafia-free jobs in a region gripped by corruption. Over recent decades the effort to bring the Mafia under control in Sicily has spilled over into the world of food. Today, small agricultural cooperatives across the island are making organic wine and olive oil on confiscated Mafia land and bringing them to a global market. This story chronicles this new cooperative movement led by Libera Terra, that attempts to make pure, local products and provide Mafia-free employment in a country with staggering unemployment, deep-seated corruption and a rich kitchen tradition. The story also follows the "Addiopizzo" movement, a group of restaurants and agri-tourismos who have banded together to say no to the mafia and refuse to pay "the pizzo," the pinch, that the Mafia extorts from businesses. A look at a vibrant alternative economic food network that is taking hold in Sicily.
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: Nathan Dalton, Brandi Howell
Story 2: Turnspit Dogs: The Rise and Fall of the Vernepator Cur
The turnspit was a breed of dog that was once an essential part of every large kitchen in Britain. The small cooking canine was bred to run in a wheel that turned a roasting spit in cavernous kitchen fireplaces. This story explores little known kitchen culture and history through the saga of this now extinct dog. Turnspit dogs were viewed as kitchen utensils, as pieces of machinery rather than as dogs. The very first mention of the animal is 1576 in the first book on dogs ever written. They were referred to as the Kitchen Dog, the Cooking Dog, or the Vernepator Cur. They are mentioned by Shakespeare. Charles Darwin commented that the turnspit dog was an example of genetic engineering – long bodied, short legged, bred to run in a wheel like a hamster. Before dogs were employed, the fireplace spit was turned by the lowliest person in the kitchen staff, usually a small boy who stood behind a bale of wet hay for protection from the heat, turning the iron spit for hours and hours. Their hands used to blister. During the sixteenth century they made the transition from small boys to dogs. Turnspit dogs were also used in America in large establishments in cities. In the 1850s, the founder of the SPCA was appalled at the way the turnspit dogs were treated in the hotels of Manhattan, which ultimately led to the founding of the SPCA. With time, mechanical spit-turning machines replaced the dogs and the breed has gone extinct. The last remaining turnspit dog, “Whiskey,” sits stuffed in a Museum in Wales.
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: Nathan Dalton
Story 3: Hidden Kitchens Russia (part 1): Communal Kitchens
After the Russian Revolution in 1917, millions of people poured into Moscow from the countryside. Housing was scarce, and food even more so. Stalin’s many plans included the industrialization of food and the re-imagining of the role of the kitchen in Soviet society. The regime started putting several families together into apartments that had once been occupied by the Russian rich or aristocrats who had been driven out by the new regime. Seven or more families crammed together where there had been one, sharing one kitchen and one bathroom. The spaces were crowded, stove space and food were limited. Clotheslines were strewn across the kitchen, the laundry of one family dripping into the omelet of another. The communal apartment was like a microcosm of Soviet society. People from all walks of life, sometimes absolute class enemies, lived next to each other. Kitchens became a source of tension and conflict. When relations between the neighbors were especially fierce, you could see locks on the cabinets. Families cooked in quick, staggered shifts and then ate in their rooms. The Soviet authorities considered kitchens and private apartments dangerous to the regime because they were places people could gather to talk about politics. The communal kitchen was not a place where you would bring your friends together. Often people would report on each other. But there was camaraderie as well. And when they began to disband the communal apartments, the communal kitchen was an institution that many people actually began to miss. “The most important part of kitchen politics in early Soviet time, was they would like to have houses without kitchens,” says Russian writer and Alexander Genis. “Because kitchen is something bourgeois. Every family, as long as they have a kitchen, they have some part of their private life and private property.”
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: Nathan Dalton
Story 4: Hidden Kitchens Russia (part 2): Dissident Kitchens
When Khrushchev emerged as the leader after Stalin’s death in the late 1950s, he began construction of hundreds of huge standardized apartment buildings, called khrushchevkas, five-story high apartment blocks with separate apartments for families, each with its own tiny kitchen. These tiny, individual kitchens became hot spots of the culture. In a country with little-or-no place to gather for the free expression of ideas and no place to talk politics without fear of repression and informers, these new kitchens made it possible to have friends gather privately in one place. Vodka flowed, politics debated, music played, poetry recited. Deep friendships were forged in the only real open place in the culture—the kitchen. These khrushchevka kitchens became a locus of dissident thinking. The kitchen was where samizdat (self-published, forbidden literature) was circulated—books like Boris Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago and Solzhenitsyn’s One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich were hand-typed with carbon paper and passed from person to person. Forbidden music was also shared from kitchen to kitchen, recorded on reel-to-reel tape, and before that on “bone records” (bootlegged recordings copied onto exposed xray film of peoples bones). These "dissident kitchens" took the place of uncensored lecture halls, unofficial art exhibitions, clubs, bars, dating services—a whole range of facilities and institutions available in the West for social interchange but forbidden in the Soviet Union. Dissident Russian composer Yuliy Kim who wrote a cycle of songs called "Moscow Kitchens" explains, “This is how this subversive thought grew and expanded in the Soviet Union, beginning with free discussions at the kitchens."
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: Nathan Dalton
Story 5: Atomic Wine
Before atomic testing and the dropping of the atom bomb in WWII, before the nuclear testing of the 1950s the radioactive isotope, Cesium 137, did not exist. Now there are traces of this isotope in everything on earth—our food, clothing, the cells of our body—and the wine we drink. Scientists can tell if a bottle of wine was bottled before or after the 1940s by the presence or absence of Cesium 137. Deep in a nuclear laboratory under a mile-high stretch of the Alps, physicist Philippe Hubert, Director of Centre d’Etudes Nucleaires, University of Bordeaux, tests such suspect bottles of wine. The unopened bottles are placed into a detector surrounded by ten inches of lead and blasted with low-frequency gamma rays to detect the presence or absence of Cesium 137. This story explores the intriguing world of counterfeit wine tracing the saga of the disputed Thomas Jefferson bottles, the unexpected techniques used to date and authenticate wine.
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: Nathan Dalton
Story 6: Romance and Sex Life of the Date
In 1898, the United States Department of Agriculture, in search of new crops to plant in America, created a program called "Agricultural Explorers." The USDA sent botanists and horticulturalists traveling the globe in search of new exotic foods. Back from these swashbuckling botanical expeditions came the offshoots of ancient date palms from Morocco, Syria, and, Algeria that were transplanted in the hot desert lands of the Coachella Valley. Today, date gardens and date shops still line the fields and roads of the region. And the marketing, growing and pollination of these biblical fruits remains a source of wonder. The Coachella Valley’s entire date industry, the largest in the nation, can be traced back to the original offshoots brought in by the Agricultural explorers and the USDA experiments that were done in Mecca, California. In order to market this new fruit and promote the region, Coachella Valley date growers began capitalizing on the exotic imagery and fantasy many Americans associated with the Middle East. They renamed towns in the Valley—Walters became Mecca, then came Oasis. During the 1950s date shops dotted the highway, attracting tourists. There was Pyramid Date shop where you could purchase your dates in a pyramid. Sniff’s Exotic Date Garden set up a tent like those used by nomadic tribes of the Sahara. This story follows the history of the date palm in Coachella Valley, California, from the first offshoots brought from the desert oasis of the middle east, through the marketing and popularization of the date in the US, to the changing politics, economics, and attitudes of the 1970s and beyond.
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: Nathan Dalton
Story 7: Aunty Beryl's Aboriginal Cooking Academy
Aunty Beryl Van-Oploo, a tribal elder and descendent of the Gamillarou clan, has started Australia’s first Indigenous cooking and hospitality school, Yaama Dhiyaan, with an emphasis on native cuisines and Aboriginal culture. She and her team train at-risk Aboriginal young people in the fields of cooking and hospitality and as barristas. Through a portrait of Aunty Beryl, a cook and community kitchen pioneer, and her students and staff at the Yaama Dhiyaan Hospitality School, we explore the world of "bush tucker," food that has grown wild in the outback for centuries and that has been traditionally harvested by Aboriginals and is now on the rise in Australia, along with a look at the lives of this group of young people at the crossroads. Food has been the glue that has held these tribal communities together for centuries—foraging, hunting, cooking on fire, the gathering of medicinal herbs, the farming and harvesting of vegetables. Through interviews with Aunty Beryl, scholars and experts we are beginning to shape this story to include interpretation and presentation of this deeper aspect of aboriginal culture.
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: Nathan Dalton
Story 8: The Tequila Chamber of Commerce
The Mexican town of Tequila in the western state of Jalisco is the heart of a region that produces the legendary spirit. Any bottle of tequila must be made from the Weber Blue species of agave, grown and distilled in this region. Field after field of agave gives this land a blue hue, defining an economy and its traditions. But using just one species of blue agave to make 100-percent blue agave tequila is done through cloning the plants, without pollination or flowering. After "doing this for so many generations, the agaves are getting weaker, and the only way to protect them is by the increased use of pesticides and herbicides," David Suro of the Tequila Interchange Project tells us.
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: Nathan Dalton
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: The Kitchen Sisters Productions, Nikki Silva & Davis Nelson, San Francisco, CA
YEAR PRODUCED: 2014
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva
SOUND ENGINEER: Jim McKee
PRINTED MATERIALS: Written material about each program is available online at www.kitchensisters.org and npr.org
FORMAT: Radio (7:30 minutes)
DISTRIBUTOR: NPR, www.npr.org
Homes Apart: Korea
Documentary
This film looks at the division of Korea through the eyes of the producer/narrator and a Korean-American who is reunited with his sister in North Korea.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Third World Newsreel, New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 1991
PROJECT DIRECTOR: Orinne J.T. Takagi
PRODUCER/NARRATOR: Christine Choy
DIRECTOR: J.T. Takagi
WRITER: David Henry Hwang
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Christine Choy, Nick Doob
EDITOR: Maro Chermayeff.
PRINT MATERIAL: Study guide available
FORMAT: 16mm, Video (55:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: Third World Newsreel
I Came to Testify
Documentary
When the Balkans exploded into war in the 1990s, reports that tens of thousands of women were being systematically raped as a tactic of ethnic cleansing captured the international spotlight. I Came to Testify is the moving story of how a group of sixteen women who had been imprisoned by Serb-led forces in the Bosnian town of Foca broke history’s great silence – and stepped forward to take the witness stand in an international court of law. Now, as Bosnia is once again in the headlines with the capture of Bosnian Serb wartime general Ratko Mladic, the women agree to speak for the first time since then, on condition that we keep their identities hidden for their protection. “Witness 99,” who was held at gunpoint for a month with dozens of other women in a sports hall in the center of town remembers: “We were treated like animals. But that was the goal: to kill a woman’s dignity.” Their remarkable courage resulted in a triumphant verdict that led to new international laws about sexual violence in war. Returning to Bosnia sixteen years after the end of the conflict, I Came to Testify also explores the chasm between this seismic legal shift and the post-war justice experienced by most of Bosnia’s women war survivors.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: Thirteen, New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 2011
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Abigail E. Disney, Pamela Hogan, Gini Reticker
SENIOR PRODUCER: Nina Chaudry
PRODUCER/WRITER: Pamela Hogan
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Kirsten Johnson
EDITOR: Andrew Fredericks
NARRATOR: Matt Damon
FORMAT: Video/DVD (60:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: Thirteen/PBS and Freemantle
India Speaks
Documentary
This program reveals India's cultural, linguistic, economic, and philosophical diversity through a look at the lives of several of its citizens.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Ganesha Productions, Los Angeles, CA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1986
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Paula Haller
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Rickie Gauld
EDITOR: Jan Roblee
AWARDS: CINE Golden Eagle
FORMAT: 16mm, Video (23:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: Not currently available
Kaddish
Documentary
Kaddish is a film about growing up as the American-born child of a Holocaust survivor in the Orthodox Jewish Community of Boro Park, New York.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Ways & Means Production, New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 1984
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/EDITOR: Steve Brand
NARRATOR: Yossi Klein
FESTIVALS: U.S. Film Festival; Global Village Film Festival; FILMEX (Los Angeles); Museum of Modern Art and Film Society of Lincoln Center, New Directors/New Films
FORMAT: 16mm, Video (92:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: First Run/Icarus Films
Lodz Ghetto
Documentary
This film focuses on Poland's Lodz Ghetto (1941–44), the longest surviving community of Jews trapped in Hitler's Europe, and is drawn entirely from the secret daily journals and photographs which these people left behind.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: The Jewish Heritage Project, New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 1990
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Stephen Samuels
PRODUCER: Alan Adelson
DIRECTORS: Kathryn Taverna, Alan Adelson
SCRIPT COMPILED BY: Kathryn Taverna, Alan Adelson
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Buddy Squires, Jozef Piwkowski
EDITOR: Kathryn Taverna
MUSIC: Wendy Blackstone
VOICES: Jerzy Kosinski, Nicholas Kepros, Barbara Rosenblat, David Warrilow, Gregory Gordon
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Federation of European Film Critics Award; Leipzig International Film Festival, Best Film; U.S. (Sundance) Film and Video Festival; Montreal International Film Festival; San Francisco International Film Festival; Festival dei Popoli, Florence, Italy; Berlin International Film Festival; London International Film Festival: Valladolid International Film Festival; Dallas International Film Festival; Yamagata (Japan) International Film Festival
PRINT MATERIAL: The film is based on The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto, commissioned by the Eldest of the Jews and written for the purpose of historical illumination
FORMAT: 35mm, Video (103:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: The Jewish Heritage Project
Los Corridos
Radio Documentary
This program explores the history and significance of the Mexican ballads or story songs known as corridos and how they pass on traditions, oral history, and cultural values.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Voces Unidas Bilingual Broadcasting Foundation, Salinas, CA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1983
PROGRAM DIRECTOR: C. Beatriz Lopez-Flores
PRODUCER: Chris Strachwitz
FORMAT: Audiocassette (30:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: Currently unavailable
The Mao Years, 1949–1976
Documentary
This program examines the history of China from the Communist takeover in 1949 until the death of Mao Zedong and the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976. (See also China in Revolution.)
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Ambrica Productions, New York, NY, in association with WGBH, Boston, MA, and Channel 4, U.K.
YEAR PRODUCED: 1994
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Judith Vecchione
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: Sue Williams
COORDINATING PRODUCER: Kathryn Dietz
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Bestor Cram, Jean de Segonzac, Joe Vitagliano, Boyd Estus, Chris Burrill
EDITOR: Howard Sharp
NARRATOR: Will Lyman
MUSIC: Tan Dun
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: San Francisco International Film Festival, Best of Category in Television History; Writer's Guild of America, Outstanding Achievement Award nomination
PRINT MATERIALS: Posters with Teaching/Discussion Guide and Bibliography
FORMAT: Video (118:00)
DISTRIBUTORS:
Zeitgeist Films, Ltd. (educational)
Jane Balfour Films, Ltd. (international)
Messengers From Moscow
Documentary Series
Filmed over a two-year period, this series explores the four crucial phases of Cold War confrontation from inside the former Soviet Union, through the eyes and memories of key Soviet and other communist participants. (NEH provided production support for Program 4.)
Program 1
The Struggle for Europe
examines Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's plan to extend communism not just into Eastern Europe but into Western Europe as well.
INTERVIEWS: General Mikhail Burtsev, General Sergei Kondrashev, Auguste Lecoeur, Wolfgang Leonhard, Hans Mahle, Daniel Melnikov, Vyacheslay Molotov, Dr. Klaus-Peter Schultz, Wilhemina Slavutskaya, Pavel Sudoplatov, Leonid Zamyatin
Program 2
The East is Red
tells the story of the alliance between the Soviet Union and China—the main hope of Soviet expansionists in the 1950s.
INTERVIEWS: Alexei Aszubel, Ivan Baibakov, Lev Delyusin, Andrei Dobrovsky, Mikhail Kapitsa, Liu Keming, Colonel Gavril Korotkov, Colonel Aleksander Orlov, Zhu Rhuizhen, Sergei Tikhvinski, Valentin Vdovin, Shi Zhe
Program 3
Fires in the Third World
spotlights the two hot spots of international tension in the 1960s—Cuba and Vietnam—explaining Soviet strategy at the time and challenging many of the myths related to those events.
INTERVIEWS: General Vladimir Abramov, Alexei Adzubel, Aleksander Alekseyev, Yevgeni Bazhanov, Colonel Alexei Belov, Lev Deliusin, Oleg Daroussenkov, Carlos Franqui, Mikhail Kapitsa, Rada Khrushcheva,Yevgeni Kobalev, Nikolai Leonov, Felix Machulsky, Vladimir Semichastny
Program 4
The Center Collapses
relates how and why the ideology and mission that justified the existence of the Soviet Union—to lead the working class to communism all over the world—also destroyed it.
INTERVIEWS: Georgi Arbatov, Elena Bonner, General Makhmud Gareev, Andrei Grachev, KGB General Sergei Kondrashev, Georgi Kornienko, Mikhail Kosarev, Anatoli Kovalev, Marshal Viktor Kullkov, KGB General Nikolai Leonov, Gregory Lokshin, Nikolai Shishlin, Tair Tairov, Valentin Vdovin, General Dmitri Volkogonov, Aleksandr Yakovlev, Valentin Zorin
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: Thirteen/WNET, New York, NY, in coproduction with Barraclough Carey Productions, Ltd. and Pacem Productions, Inc.,and in association with BBC, Bristol, UK
YEAR PRODUCED: 1994
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Arnold Labaton (WNET), Daniel Wolf (Barraclough Carey), Eugene B. Shirley & Herbert Ellison (Pacem)
PRODUCTION/EXECUTIVE: William Murphy
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: Daniel Wolf (Barraclough Carey)
CHIEF CONSULTANT; Herbert Ellison (Pacem)
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Valentin Chernoval (Barraclough Carey)
EDITOR: Christin Pancott (Barraclough Carey)
EDITORIAL CONSULTANT: John Sharnick (WNET)
NARRATOR: E.G. Marshall
FORMAT: Video, 4 (58:00) programs
DISTRIBUTOR: Pacem Distribution International
Morning Sun
Documentary
A two-hour documentary about China's Cultural Revolution (c.1964–76), the film provides a multi-perspective view of this tumultuous period as seen through the eyes—and reflected in the hearts and minds—of members of the generation that came of age in the 1960s. Others join them in creating the film's conversation about the Cultural Revolution and its enduring legacy. Morning Sun is also a film about the cultures and convictions that created the impetus, language, style, and content of the Cultural Revolution—the films and plays, the music and ideas, the rhetoric and ideologies, the education and the aspirations, and the frustrations and fantasies that are at the heart of a story about a new revolution that attempted to remake revolution itself.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Long Bow Group, Brookline, MA
YEAR PRODUCED: 2003
PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS: Carma Hinton, Geremie R. Barmé, Richard Gordon
WRITERS: Geremie R. Barmé, Carma Hinton, John Crowley
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Richard Gordon
EDITOR: David Carnochan
NARRATOR: Margot Adler
AWARDS: American Historical Association, John E. O'Connor Film Award, 2004; National Film Board of Canada: Nominee, Best Documentary Feature 2003; International Documentary Association: Nominee, ABCNEWS VideoSource and Pare Lorentz Awards Banff Television Festival: Finalist; Best Documentary, Cinemasia Film Festival, Amsterdam
FESTIVALS: Berlin International Film Festival (Premiere), San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, É Tudo Verdade/It's All True: International Documentary Film Festival, São Paulo, Brazil, Banff Television Festival, SilverDocs, Seattle International Film Festival, Starz Denver International Film Festival, Cinemasia Film Festival, Amsterdam, Singapore International Film Festival, New Zealand International Film Festivals, Brisbane International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, Haifa International Film Festival, New England Film and Video Festival
FORMAT: Video 117 mins
DISTRIBUTOR: National Asian American Telecommunications Association (NAATA)
The Mystery Play of Elche
Documentary and Drama
As the only play performed continually since the Middle Ages, the Mystery Play of Elche has been declared a National Cultural Monument in Spain, re-enacted every year by the townspeople of Elche.
Program 1
A documentary study of the town of Elche and its people precedes an edited presentation of the play sung in Valenciano.
Program 2
This program features an unedited version of the play, without interpretive material.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC
YEAR PRODUCED: 1979
PRODUCER: O.B. Hardison, Jr.
DIRECTOR: Gudie Lawaetz
CO-DIRECTOR: Michael Dodds
AWARDS: Chicago International Film Festival, Certificate of Merit; Hemisfilm '80 Festival, Special Jury Prize
FORMAT: 16mm, Video Program 1 (120:00); Program 2 (180:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: Folger Shakespeare Library, Museum Shop
Napoleon
Documentary
Napoleon is a four-hour public television series about one of history’s most exciting, complex, and controversial characters. Framed by the grand sweep of world events, the series recalls some of history’s most dramatic moments through the story of one man, whose life mirrored the times in which he lived, and whose extraordinary impact continues to this day. The series presents Napoleon as a man of substance, as well as a man of unchecked ambitions. A chronological account of Napoleon’s life, the series charts his dramatic rise to power as Emperor of France and his bitter final years spent in exile on the tiny, remote island of St. Helena. In examining Napoleon’s intersection with the major events and issues of the age, the series shows how those influences shaped the man, and how, in turn, he shaped the course of world history.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: David Grubin Productions, New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 2000
PRODUCERS: David Grubin, Allyson Luchak
DIRECTOR/WRITER: David Grubin
CINEMATOGRAPHY: James Callanan
EDITORS: Seth Bomse, Susan Fanshel
NARRATOR: David McCullough
AWARDS: George Foster Peabody Award
PRINT MATERIALS: Poster with lesson plan for high schools, available through Thirteen/WNET New York
FORMAT: Video (4 hours)
DISTRIBUTORS: Devillier Donegan Enterprises and PBS Video
The Ornament of the World
Documentary
The Ornament of the World tells the story of a remarkable time in history when Muslims, Christians, and Jews forged a common cultural identity that frequently transcended their religious differences. This film retraces an 800-year period in medieval Spain, from the eighth through the fifteenth centuries, during which the three cultures, though they competed and sometimes fought, managed to sustain relationships that enabled them to coexist, collaborate, and flourish. Blending evocative location cinematography with dramatic and lifelike animation, this is a fascinating journey through the cities at the center of the story: Cordoba, Seville, Toledo, and Granada. Discover what made this rare and fruitful collaboration possible and what ultimately tore it apart.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Kikim Media, Menlo Park, CA
YEAR PRODUCED: 2019
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Kiki Kapany
PRODUCERS: Kiki Kapany, Michael Schwarz
DIRECTOR: Michael Schwarz
WRITERS: Jason Cohn, Michael Schwarz, Gail Huddleson, Rhonda Collins
EDITORS: Gail Huddleson, Rhonda Collins
NARRATOR: Tim Phelan
PRINTED MATERIAL: Discussion Guide and Curriculum (distributed through Kikim Media) created by Harvard University Religious Literacy Project.
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Madrid International Film Festival, London International Motion Pictures Awards (LIMPA), Parliament of World Religions, Barbakow Fund for Innovative Film Programs at Yale University, Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at NYU, Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, University of Notre Dame, and Royce Hall at UCLA.
FORMAT: DVD (2 hours)
DISTRIBUTOR: PBS & PBS International, www.PBS.org
Panama Canal
Documentary
On August 15, 1914, the Panama Canal opened, connecting the world’s two largest oceans and signaling America’s emergence as a global superpower. American ingenuity and innovation had succeeded where, just a few years earlier, the French had failed disastrously. But the U.S. paid a price for victory: more than a decade of ceaseless, grinding toil, an outlay of more than 350 million dollars—the largest single federal expenditure in history to that time – and the loss of more than 5,000 lives. Along the way, Central America witnessed the brazen overthrow of a sovereign government, a revolutionary public health campaign, the backbreaking removal of hundreds of millions of tons of earth, and construction on an unprecedented scale. The story of the canal features a delightful cast of colorful characters ranging from an indomitable President to visionary engineers to tens of thousands of workers from around the world, rigidly segregated by race. Using an extraordinary archive of photographs and footage, some remarkable interviews with canal workers and first hand accounts of life in the Canal zone, the film unravels the remarkable story of one of the world’s most significant technological achievements.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: WGBH, Boston, MA
YEAR PRODUCED: 2010
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Mark Samels
PRODUCER: Amanda Pollak
DIRECTOR: Stephen Ives
WRITER: Michelle Ferrari
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Andrew Young
EDITOR: George O’Donnell
NARRATOR: Michael Murphy
PRINT MATERIALS: Program transcript and teachers guides available on the website.
FORMAT: Video/DVD (90:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: PBS
The Parching Winds of Somalia
Documentary
This film examines the history and contemporary concerns of the Islamic African nation of Somalia.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Metropolitan Pittsburgh Public Broadcasting Inc. (WQED)
YEAR PRODUCED: 1984
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: David Roland
PRODUCER: Charles Geshekter
WRITERS: Charles Geshekter, Mary Rawson
EDITORS: Gary Hines, Frank George
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Andre Gunn
NARRATOR: Mary Rawson
FORMAT: Video (27:48)
DISTRIBUTOR: Indiana University, Audio-Visual Center
Partisans of Vilna
Documentary
Through archival footage and interviews with former partisans, this film explores Jewish resistance in Vilna, Poland, during World War II.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: The Ciesla Foundation, Washington, DC
YEAR PRODUCED: 1986
PRODUCER: Aviva Kempner
DIRECTOR/EDITOR: Josh Waletzky
NARRATOR: Roberta Wallach
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Danny Shneuer
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Anthropos Film Festival, Los Angeles, First Prize Winner; American Film and Video Festival, Honorable Mention; CINE Golden Eagle; Berlin Film Festival; FILMEX (Los Angeles); INPUT Conference; Toronto Film Festival; London Film Festival; Troia-Haifa Film Festival; London Jewish Film Festival; San Francisco Jewish Film Festival; Australian Jewish Film Festivals (Sydney and Melbourne)
PRINT MATERIAL: Viewer's guide and record, with or without booklet, available. Record booklet contains essays on the songs and lyrics in English and in transliterated Yiddish. For these materials contact: Aviva Kempner, Ciesla Foundation, 1707 Lanier Place, NW, Washington, DC 20009. Telephone: 202-462-7528
FORMAT: 35mm, 16mm, Video (133:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: National Center for Jewish Film
Passage to India
Documentary Radio Series
The series presents India on its own terms and in its own words by exploring ten "passages" or keys to understanding modern India. Interviews and other recorded materials were gathered throughout the country, from Punjab to Calcutta, the Himalayas to Kerala, and from all sections of Indian society: Brahmins and Untouchables, Muslims, Sikhs and Tribals, pavement dwellers and Maharajahs. The programs interweave readings of poems and short stories from Classical and Contemporary Indian culture into the documentary fabric.
Program 1
A Kaleidoscope of Cultures
Language, race, religion, geography and climate-India is so diverse that by rights it shouldn't really be a country at all: and yet it is this very diversity that contains within it the secret that somehow binds Indians together.
Program 2
The Presence of the Past
In the West we live almost entirely in the present and the future. But life in India is dominated and shaped by its past and by very different notions of time itself. The program uses the example of the political career of Mahatma Gandhi to show how Gandhi consciously blended past and present to deliberate political ends.
Program 3
Puja: Darsan Dena, Darsan Lena
Hinduism is a bewildering mosaic of mythologies, rituals and gods. This program looks at Hinduism as worship in the daily lives of Indians. Several of the best---known Hindu myths are retold by Indian actors. The programs also features recordings of religious festivals to the gods Siva, Vishnu, and Parvati.
Program 4
Biryani and Plum Pudding
India is the "black hole" of civilizations, with a unique ability to absorb, incorporate and synthesize other cultures into something new and typically Indian. The program focuses on the Muslim and British impact on India and the manner in which they, in their turn, have been Indianised.
Program 5
Vedas, Ragas, and Storytellers
In a country where only 35 percent of the population is formally literate, oral cultures are enormously important even today, although modern education, politics and mass media are rapidly modifying the face-to-face nature of ancient styles of performance and perception. The program looks at the oral tradition in classical, folk, and popular cultures and how these traditions are handed down through the generations.
Program 6
In Search of Filmwallahs
The Indian cinema is the largest in the world; over 800 new films every year and over eleven million film goers every day. It's the dominant cultural form in today's India, retelling the past, interpreting the present, and creating new myths and dreams for millions, many uneducated and uprooted from their past.
Program 7
Praneschacharya's Dilemma
Western individualism is, in many ways, alien to the Indian psyche. Indians operate within circles of dependence and interdependence of family, caste, language and religion. Indians define themselves on a multitude of levels and through a mosaic of identities, justifying behavior through right action or Dharma. The modernization of sections of Indian society therefore creates new tensions and contradictions between individual and community roles and identities.
Program 8
Sita Speak!
In Hindu mythology women are usually all powerful, creative, and endowed with shakti or all-pervading energy. In practice, Indian women have been submissive and self effacing, prisoners of their very virtues. Today, the situation is full of tensions and contradictions as legislation and self-assertiveness on the part of educated and illiterate, affluent and poor women clash with centuries of tradition and immobilism.
Program 9
Swadeshi: The Quest for Self-Reliance
India, more than any other country save China, has pursued a conscious and continuous policy of economic self-reliance and political non-alignment since Independence. The causes for this single-minded policy have roots deep within Indian culture. The results have allowed India to remain independent but at considerable economic and political cost. Recent liberalization, while opening up the economy and accelerating growth, also threatens to widen the gap between urban and rural India, between rich and poor, and to compromise national community.
Program 10
Ram Rajya: In Search of Indian Democracy
At first glance, India would not appear to be fertile soil for democracy. The rigidities and hierarchies inherent in caste, religion and India's multiple societies, combined with a history of despotic rule from several centers, appears to be totally at odds with the vibrancy of Indian democracy. Furthermore, democratic institutions have been under severe abuse in recent years. Communalism, caste warfare, pervasive corruption and the breakdown of democratic civility all threaten the health of Indian democracy. And yet Indian voters may be illiterate, but they are also shrewd and treasure the right to vote as the one safeguard against abuse and tyranny.
PPRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Independent Broadcasting Associates, Inc., Littleton, MA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1990
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Martine Crandall-Hollick PRODUCERS: Julian Crandall-Hollick, Dean Cappello
DIRECTOR/WRITER/ EDITOR/NARRATOR: Julian Crandall-Hollick
CAST: Jonathen Epstein, Dennis Krausnik, George Muellner, Normi Noel and Gless Huggil
PRINT MATERIALS: Independent Broadcasting Associates, Inc. To hear samples, go to http://www.neh.gov/www.baradio.org
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Series award: 1991 Ohio State Award. Individual Program Awards: A Kaleidoscope of Cultures; Gabriel Award 1990; Gold Cindy Award 1990; Corporation for Public Broadcasting Gold Medal 1991; Armstrong Award (Innovation) 1991; New York International Radio Festival 1991; Gold Award Best Sound; New York International Radio Festival 1991; Silver Award Best Scripting; New York International Radio Festival 1991; Gold Award Best Educational Program; New York International Radio Festival; 1991 Grand Award/Best of Festival; informational programs. Puja, Darsan Dena: Darsan Lena: Bronze Cindy Award 1990; International Radio Festival 1990 Finalist Award; Special Cindy Award for Music 1990
FORMAT: Audiocassette 10 (60:00) programs
DISTRIBUTOR: Independent Broadcasting Associates, Inc.
The Prince
Documentary
The Prince focuses on the evolution of a distinct social type—the princes and rulers who governed Europe from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries. (See also The Warrior.)
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: The Medici Foundation, Princeton, NJ
YEAR PRODUCED: 1988
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: William C. Jersey
WRITERS: Lee Bobker, Mark Page, Theodore K. Rabb
CINEMATOGRAPHY: William C. Jersey
EDITOR: Jeffrey Friedman
HOST/NARRATOR: Peter Donat
FORMAT: Video (88:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: New Dimensions Video
Pyramid
Documentary
Based on the book by architect/illustrator David Macaulay, this film combines animation with location photography to tell the story of the planning, construction, and cultural significance of the Great Pyramid at Giza. (See also Castle and Cathedral.)
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Unicorn Projects, Inc., Washington, DC
YEAR PRODUCED: 1988
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Ray Hubbard
PRODUCERS: Larry Klein, Mark Olshaker
DIRECTOR: Larry Klein
WRITER: Mark Olshaker
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Ron Van Nostrand
EDITORS: Michael Ritter, Elsie Hull
ANIMATION: The Animation Partnership
DIRECTORS OF ANIMATION: Tony White, Richard Burdett
HOST/NARRATOR: David Macaulay
VOICES: Derek Jacobi, John Hurt, Brian Blessed, Tim Pigott-Smith, Sian Phillips, Sarah Bullen, Geoffrey Matthews, Timothy Spall, Peter Pacey, Ysanne Churchman
AWARDS: National Educational Film and Video Festival, Gold Apple; CINE Golden Eagle
PRINT MATERIAL: Teacher and Student Guides available
FORMAT: Video (58:00)
DISTRIBUTORS:
PBS Video (video)
Unicorn Projects, Inc. (16mm)
The Restless Conscience
Documentary
The Restless Conscience explores the motivating principles and activities of a small group of individuals within wartime Germany who comprised the anti-Nazi underground.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: Hava Kohav Theatre Foundation, Inc., Riverside, NY and New York Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 1991
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: Hava Kohav Beller
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Volker Rodde, Martin Schaer, Gabor Bagyoni, and others
EDITORS: Tonicka Janek, Juliette Weber, David Rogow
NARRATOR: John Dildine
AWARDS: Academy Award Nominee, Best Documentary Feature
FORMAT: 16mm, Video (113:00)
DISTRIBUTORS: Direct Cinema Limited
Return from Silence: China's Revolutionary Writers
Documentary
This film profiles five leading Chinese writers whose work has had a great impact on the development of modern China: the poet Ai Qing; the dramatist Cao Yu; and writers Mao Dun, Ba Jin, and Ding Ling.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: The George Washington University, Washington, DC
YEAR PRODUCED: 1982
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: Joan Chung-wen Shih
EDITOR: Martha Conboy
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Robert Sullivan
NARRATOR: Joan Chung-wen Shih
PRINT MATERIAL: Bilingual transcript available (103 pages with thirty photographs)
FORMAT: 16mm, Video (58:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: contact Dr. Chung-wen Shih
Roman City
Documentary
Based on the book by David Macaulay, this film combines animated dramatic episodes with location sequences to tell the story of life in and around the fictional but historically accurate Roman city of Verbonia, a well-planned town with such modern conveniences as marketplaces, public baths, running water, and indoor plumbing.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Unicorn Projects, Inc., Washington, DC
YEAR PRODUCED: 1994
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Ray Hubbard
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Larry Klein
WRITER: Mark Olshaker
ANIMATION: Kurtz and Friends
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Mike Fox
EDITOR: Milton Spencer
HOST/NARRATOR: David Macaulay
VOICES: Sir Ian Mckellen, Sir Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed, John Sessions, Sophie Thompson
AWARD: National Emmy Award, Outstanding Animated Program
PRINT MATERIALS: School Kit with Teacher's Guide
FORMAT: Video (55:57)
DISTRIBUTOR: PBS Video
The Roman Empire in the First Century
Documentary
Two thousand years ago, at the dawn of the first century, the world was ruled by Rome. The Roman Empire struggled with problems which are surprisingly familiar: violent coups, assassination, overarching ambition, civil war, clashes between the classes as well as the sexes, and questions of personal freedom versus government control. But from the chaos, the Roman Empire would emerge stronger and more dazzling than ever before. Soon, it would stretch from Britain across Europe to the shores of North Africa and from Spain across Greece and the Middle East to the borders of Asia. It would embrace hundreds of languages and religions and till its many cultures into a rich soil from which Western civilization would grow. Rome would become the world's first and most enduring super power.
Episode I
Order from Chaos
Millions of people-both famous and uncelebrated-played parts in the astonishing rise of Rome, but above them all was Caesar Augustus. Raised amid civil war, Augustus came to personify the people he led. He was contradictory, at once capable of brutal violence and tender compassion. He was influential, forging the image of Roman grandeur that endures to this day. And he was enormously popular. But those that crossed Augustus often faced dire consequences: his rivals Marc Antony and Cleopatra; the poet, Ovid; even his own daughter, Julia. The story of Augustan Rome is the story of greatness at a price.
Episode II
Years of Trial
In the year 14 AD, Augustus died and the Empire stood at a crossroads. Would Rome continue on the course set by its first emperor...or return to chaos? A reluctant new emperor quickly inhabited the imperial palace and quickly confronted mutiny and intrigue. At first, Tiberius struggled to live up to his predecessor, but he soon abandoned the effort. Tiberius' ultimate decline from ascetic ruler to reclusive despot ushered in one of the most notorious rulers of the ancient world-Caligula. As fear and conspiracy descended on Rome, crisis roiled the provinces. In Judaea, a charismatic leader named Jesus challenged the religious and political establishment. The local furor barely touched Rome, but the legacy of Jesus would one day engulf the Empire itself.
Episode III
Winds of Change
Claudius, the most unlikely member of the imperial family, becomes one of the greatest emperors of the Roman Empire-only to fall victim to a brutally ambitious wife. A principled philosopher named Seneca found himself compromised as a tutor to the erratic young Nero. In Britain, a warrior queen named Boudicca battled Roman legions, and in Judaea, the Jewish people revolted. Under Nero's disastrous rule, Rome nearly burned to the ground. The Empire was on the edge of disaster.
Episode IV
Years of Eruption
With Nero's death, the dynasty of Augustus came to an end. And once again, the Empire faced an uncertain future. Rival generals fought for supremacy in the streets of Rome. A new dynasty brought another tyrant to the throne. Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying Pompeii and thousands of people beneath a torrent of ash and mud. But the Empire weathered the crisis. As the first century drew to a close, Rome's legacy was destined to reverberate across the ages.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Goldfarb and Koval Productions, Inc.
YEAR PRODUCED: 2001
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Margaret Koval, Lyn Goldfarb
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Margaret Koval, Lyn Goldfarb
WRITER: Margaret Koval
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Michael Chin
EDITOR: Douglas Cheek, Bill Haugse
NARRATOR: Sigourney Weaver
FORMAT: Video 4 programs 60:00 each
DISTRIBUTOR:PBS Video
Routes of Exile: A Moroccan Jewish Odyssey
Documentary
Routes of Exile examines the 2000-year history of the Moroccan Jews.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Cultural Research and Communication, Inc., Emeryville, CA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1982
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Eugene Rosow
COPRODUCERS: Howard Dratch, Vivian Kleiman
WRITERS: Eugene Rosow, Linda Post
EDITORS: Eugene Rosow, Anne Stein
NARRATOR: Paul Frees
FESTIVALS: FILMEX (Los Angeles); American Film Festival; Toronto Film Festival; Edinburgh Film Festival; Mill Valley (CA) Film Festival
FORMAT: 16mm, Video (90:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: First Run/Icarus Films
Shoulder to Shoulder
Dramatic Series
Shoulder to Shoulder follows the lives of three members of the Pankhurst family and those of other pioneers of women's suffrage in England at the end of the nineteenth century. Originally aired on Masterpiece Theater, the Endowment provided funds to acquire the series for re-broadcast and to support the production of introductory material by actress Jane Alexander.
Program 1
The Pankhurst Family
Emmeline Pankhurst, who shares her recently deceased husband's passion for social reform, emerges as the force behind the new Manchester-based organization, the Women's Social and Political Union, and with daughters Christabel and Sylvia, mobilizes other women in efforts to change British attitudes and laws.
Program 2
Annie Kenney
By age 13, Annie Kenney was working full-time in the Lancaster mills. When the women's movement moves to London, Kenney becomes a suffrage organizer after a chance meeting with Christabel Pankhurst. Her efforts bring the working class into the women's movement.
Program 3
Lady Constance Lytton
A member of the aristocracy, Lady Constance Lytton becomes convinced of the need for confrontational tactics in the struggle for suffrage. She also strikes out against the class system.
Program 4
Christabel Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst's oldest daughter, Christabel, emerges as a youthful militant leader. This program explores her opinions and ideology.
Program 5
Outrage
On Derby Day, June 4, 1913, Emily Wilding Davidson throws herself under the hoofs of the King's horse at the Derby. Her death makes her the first of many martyrs for women's rights. This episode also tells the story of the critical break that develops between sisters Sylvia and Christabel Pankhurst.
Program 6
Sylvia Pankhurst
Women in England win the vote as a direct result of suffragette support for World War I, but for some, like Sylvia Pankhurst, it is a shallow victory. Sylvia, a pacifist who has broken with her mother and sister because she opposes England's entry into the war, becomes a strong supporter of the Russian Revolution, writes a book on Russia, completes a biography of her mother, and campaigns for the greater freedom and independence of all people.
Premiere Presentation
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: BBC Television, England, in association with Warner Brothers Television, New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 1974 (first American broadcast on Masterpiece Theatre, 1975)
PRODUCERS: Midge McKenzie, Georgia Brown, Verity Lambert
WRITERS: Ken Taylor, Douglas Livingstone, Hugh Whittemore, Alan Plater
DIRECTORS: Waris Hussein, Moira Armstrong
CAST: Sian Phillips, Angela Down, Patricia Quinn, Michael Gough, Georgia Brown, Judy Parfitt, Sheila Grant, Pat Beckett, Liz Ashley, Jenny Till, Martin Matthews, Antonia Pemberton
AWARD: British Television Critics, Best Dramatic Series
Encore Presentation
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: WETA, Washington, DC, in association with The Institute for Research in History, New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 1988
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: Midge McKenzie
COORDINATING PRODUCER: Barbara Abrash
EDITOR: Stephen Prockter
HOST: Jane Alexander
PRINT MATERIAL: Shoulder to Shoulder by Midge McKenzie (Alfred A. Knopf, 1975 and Vintage Paperback, 1988)
FORMAT: Video
6 (57:50) programs
DISTRIBUTOR: PBS Video
So Far from India
Documentary
This film examines the cultural transitions experienced by an Indian immigrant in New York.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Film News Now Foundation, New York, NY
YEAR PRODUCED: 1982
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Mira Nair
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Alex Griswold
EDITOR: Ann Schaetzel
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: CINE Golden Eagle; American Anthropology Association; International Conference in Visual Communication; FILMEX (Los Angeles); New York Film Festival; American Film Festival; Cinemadu Reel; Margaret Mead Film Festival
FORMAT: 16mm, Video (52:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: Filmakers Library
Sorceress
Drama
This film examines thirteenth-century French village life and beliefs through the story of the ascetic friar Etienne de Bourbon who condemns a compassionate herbalist to death for heresy.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Lara Classics, Inc., Cambridge, MA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1987
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Vincent Malle, Martine Marignac
PRODUCERS: Pamela Berger, Georges Reinhart, Annie Leibovici
DIRECTOR: Suzanne Schiffman
COWRITERS: Pamela Berger, Suzanne Schiffman
EDITOR: Martine Barraque
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Patrick Blossier
ART DIRECTION: Bernard Vezat
MUSIC: Michel Portal
CAST: Tcheky Karyo, Christine Boisson, Jean Carmet, Raoul Billery, Catherine Frot, Feodor Atkine, Maria de Medeiros
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Nominated for a Ceasar (French Academy Award), Best First Time Director (for Suzanne Schiffman); Toronto International Film Festival; Boston Film Festival
FORMAT: 35mm, Video (90:00) In French (with English subtitles) or in English
DISTRIBUTORS:
Lara Classics (35mm)
Mystic Fire Video (home video)
Survivors
Documentary
Survivors chronicles the remarkable stories of three Sierra Leoneans during what is now widely regarded as the most acute public health crisis of the modern era. Our guide in the film is Arthur Pratt, a Sierra Leonean filmmaker and pastor. Drawing from deeply personal stories at the epicenter of the epidemic, the film shares the individual bravery and humanity of the people caught in an unfolding crisis. Director Arthur Pratt’s unique access, narrative voice, and observational documentary coverage of the outbreak become a prism for understanding both the social and the political significance of the health catastrophe. The film interweaves the stories of Mohamed Bangura, the senior ambulance driver at the country’s main ambulance dispatch location; Foday Koroma, a twelve-year-old boy living on the streets in one of Freetown’s slum neighborhoods; and Margaret Sesay, a nurse at the Emergency Ebola treatment center in Freetown who cares for some of the sickest patients. The film follows the stories of these characters from the earliest days of the epidemic to the end, when the World Health Organization declares that Ebola has been eradicated in Sierra Leone. Through intimate verité footage of these characters’ daily lives, the film not only explores how the epidemic ravaged families and communities, it also reveals the deep misunderstandings that exist between international NGOs and the communities they serve, while also unearthing the simmering political tensions that still linger from the decade-long civil war. In this way, Survivors wrestles with what it means to be Sierra Leonean at this critical juncture in the country’s history.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: WeOwnTV, San Francisco, CA
YEAR PRODUCED: 2018
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS FOR American Documentary/POV: Justine Nagan, Chris White
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER FOR ITVS: Sally Jo Fifer
SUPERVISING PRODUCER FOR ITVS: Shana Swanson
PRODUCERS: Anna Fitch, Arthur Pratt, Banker White, Barmmy Boy, Samantha Grant, Sara Dosa
DIRECTORS: Arthur Pratt, Banker White, Anna Fitch, Barmmy Boy
WRITERS: Banker White, Anna Fitch
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Barmmy Boy, MJ Sessy Kamara
EDITORS: Banker White, Don Bernier
CAST: Arthur Pratt, Mohamed Bangura, Margaret Kabba Sesay, Kadijatu Kanu, Foday Koroma
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Encounters International Film Festival; Copenhagen and Johannesburg, South Africa Shanghai International Film Festival; Shanghai, China Black Star International Film Festival; Accra, Ghana Bud Werner Memorial Library - Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Colorado College - Colorado Springs, CO; San Francisco Film Society - San Francisco, CA; Texas Tech University - Lubbock, TX; Alhambra Civic Center, Alhambra, CA; Camden International Film Festival - Camden, ME; Monroe Library - Monroe Township, NJ; Trevor Day School - New York, NY; New America Foundation - New York, NY; Museum of the Moving Image - New York, NY; United Nations Association Film Festival - Palo Alto, CA; University of California Berkeley - Berkeley, CA; University of California San Francisco - San Francisco, CA; MedShare - San Leandro, CA; Adobe Systems - San Francisco, CA; Osher Lifelong Learning Institute - Berkeley, CA; Galena Public Library - Galena, IL; Adobe - San Francisco, CA; Yale University - New Haven, CT; Vermont International Film Festival - Burlington, VT; Freetown Premiere Co-presented by the British Council & US Embassy - Freetown, Sierra Leone; International Documentary Festival Amsterdam - Netherlands; Nominated: Amsterdam Human Rights Award African Studies Association Conference - Atlanta, GA; Global Health Film Festival - London, England; Nominated: Planetary Health Film Prize
FORMAT: DVD 82:36 minutes
DISTRIBUTORS: American National Television Broadcast: American Documentary / POV on PBS http://www.pbs.org/pov/survivors/ and Educational Distributor: Documentary Educational Resources http://www.der.org/
The Storm that Swept Mexico
Documentary/Drama
The Storm That Swept Mexico tells the gripping story of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, the first major political and social revolution of the twentieth-century. The revolution not only changed the course of Mexican history, transforming economic and political power within the nation, but also profoundly impacted the relationships between Mexico, the U.S., and the rest of the world. Leading the initial wave of twentieth-century worldwide political and social upheavals, the Mexican revolution was the first major revolution to be filmed. The Storm That Swept Mexico incorporates photographs and motion pictures from the earliest days of cinema, much of which has never been seen before by North American and international audiences. Interviewing distinguished scholars from the disciplines of history, economics, literature, political science, women’s studies, and art history, The Storm That Swept Mexico explores the beliefs and conditions that led to the revolution, influenced the course of the conflict, and determined its consequences over the century that followed.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: Independent Television Service, San Francisco, CA
YEAR PRODUCED: 2010
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Raymond Telles
PRODUCERS: Raymond Telles, Kenn Rabin
DIRECTOR: Raymond Telles
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Vicente Franco
EDITOR: Manuel Tsingaris
NARRATOR: Luis Valdez
CAST: Baldomero Blanquet, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, Barry Carr, Romana Falcón, Adolfo Gilly, P. Edward Haley, Friedrich Katz, Maria de Jesus Lopez Davila, Laura Gonzalez Matute, Carlos, Pacheco Valle, Max Parra, Elena Poniatowska, Ramón Ruíz, Benjamín Sánchez, Alex Saragoza, Andrés Soto, Jesus Vargas, Jorge Zapata
PRINT MATERIALS: Classroom materials available at PBS.org.
FORMAT: Video/DVD (120:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: PBS
The Warrior
Documentary
Focusing on the changing role of the warrior, a distinct social figure common in the Renaissance, this film traces important themes and ideas of the period through drama, architecture, literature, philosophy, and art. (See also The Prince.)
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: The Medici Foundation, Princeton, NJ
YEAR PRODUCED: 1985
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: William C. Jersey, Ian Martin
PRODUCERS: Paul Kafno, Alan Horrox
DIRECTOR: Paul Kafno
WRITERS: Paul Kafno, Theodore Rabb
EDITOR: Michael Chandler
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Ray Siemens
NARRATOR/HOST: Theodore Rabb
FORMAT: Video (58:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: contact New Dimensions Video
Westward to China
Documentary
Through eye witness accounts, Westward to China examines the experiences of the diverse groups of Americans who lived and worked in China during the turbulent Nanking Decade, 1927–37: missionaries, entrepreneurs, soldiers, journalists, doctors, and diplomats.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: Film Arts Foundation and James Culp Productions, San Francisco, CA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1990
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: James Culp
WRITERS: James Culp, Yasha Aginsky, Erica Marcus
CINEMATOGRAPHY: James Culp, Richard Gordon, Len McClure
EDITOR: Yasha Aginsky
HOST: Harrison Salisbury
NARRATOR: Peter Thomas
CAST: Ed Asner as the voice of Edgar Snow
FESTIVAL: Hawaii Film Festival
FORMAT: Video (57:40)
DISTRIBUTOR: The Film History Foundation
When Worlds Collide
Documentary
When Worlds Collide presents a vivid exploration of the first century after the Old World encountered the New World. The story begins on the streets of Los Angeles in 2010 and travels to Spain and Latin America, where contact first occurred between Spanish conquistadors and native peoples. By the time the Spanish arrived, indigenous civilization had developed a sophisticated society, including advanced architectural, agricultural, and textile practices that in many ways surpassed those of the invaders. This epic odyssey traces the impact that these and many other New World innovations had on the Old World during an era almost always described as "the conquest." In reality, the most important consequence of the era was the radical change that both worlds experienced, resulting in an entirely new "mestizo" or mixed culture, an important part of the heritage of more than 30 million Latinos in the U.S. today.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: KCET, Los Angeles, CA
YEAR PRODUCED: 2010
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Carl Byker
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Carl Byker
WRITERS: Rubén Martínez, Carl Byker
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Mitch Wilson
EDITOR: John Warren
HOST/NARRATOR (both): Rubén Martínez
Original Music: Christopher Hedge
FORMAT: Video/DVD (90:00)
DISTRIBUTOR: PBS Video (video)
Who Will Write Our History
Documentary
In November 1940, days after the Nazis sealed 450,000 Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, a secret band of journalists, scholars and community leaders decided to fight back. Led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum and known by the code name Oyneg Shabes, this clandestine group vowed to defeat Nazi lies and propaganda not with guns or fists but with pen and paper. Now, for the first time, their story is told as a feature documentary. Written, produced, and directed by Roberta Grossman and executive produced by Nancy Spielberg, Who Will Write Our History mixes the writings of the Oyneg Shabes archive with new interviews, rarely seen footage and stunning dramatizations to transport us inside the Ghetto and the lives of these courageous resistance fighters. They defied their murderous enemy with the ultimate weapon—the truth—and risked everything so that their archive would survive the war, even if they did not.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Katahdin Foundation, dba Katahdin Productions, Los Angeles, CA
YEAR PRODUCED: 2018
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Nancy Spielberg, Ronald Lauder, Ori Eisen
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: Roberta Grossman
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Dyanna Taylor
EDITORS: Chris Calliser, Ondine Rarey
CAST: Rachel Auerback, Joan Allen, Emanuel Ringelblum, Adrian Brody
AWARD/FESTIVALS: Please see a complete list of past screenings: https://whowillwriteourhistory.com/past-screenings/
Please see description of our Global Screening Event for International Holocaust Remembrance Day 1/26/10: https://whowillwriteourhistory.com/1-27-19-global-event/
The film had a theatrical release and was broadcast on Discovery on 1/27/20. It was broadcast on NDR and ARTE in January 2019. The film was part of the Southern Circuit in April 2020.
FORMAT: DVD 94 Minutes
DISTRIBUTOR: Good Docs https://gooddocs.net/
Winnetou & Old Shatterhand
Documentary Radio
For more than five hundred years, European writers have invented an American West as a backdrop for stories that basically reflect Europe's quarrels and fantasies about itself, not about America. The series discusses Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels; Rousseau's "noble savage," free of laws and constraints on his behavior; Atala, written in 1800 by the French catholic writer Chateaubriand; nineteenth-century "boys own" stories by Mayne Reid, Friedrick Gerstaecker, Gabriel Ferry; the series of "Winnetou and Old Shatterhand" novels by the Saxon author Karl May first published in Dresden one hundred years ago, as well as the impact of such cultural icons as Buffalo Bill.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Independent Broadcasting Associates, Inc., Littleton, MA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1992
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Martine Crandall-Hollick
PRODUCERS: Julian Crandall-Hollick, Dean Cappello
DIRECTOR/WRITER: Julian Crandall-Hollick
EDITOR/NARRATOR: Julian Crandall-Hollick
FORMAT: Audio 1 - 90 minute radio documentary
DISTRIBUTOR: Independent Broadcasting Associates, Inc.
The World in Words
Radio Podcast
“The World in Words” podcast is a series of in-depth stories about language in the U.S. and around the world. Among the topics are the contested terms of migration; how gender influences language and vice versa; the high art of dubbing for film and TV in Germany; the compromises that Basque language activists are making to save their language; new research in the hunt for a proto-world “original” language; how gender and language are influencing each other in the age of “Mx,” “Latinx” and calls for a gender-neutral God; how one Texas-based linguist is seeking clues about when people code-switch by studying the bilingual correspondence of Swedish-speaking composer Jean Sibelius and his Finnish-speaking wife.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Public Radio International, Inc.
YEAR PRODUCED: 2018
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Melinda Ward, Andrew Sussman
DIRECTOR: Patrick Cox
CO-REPORTER AND PODCAST CO-HOST: Nina Porzucki
HOST/NARRATORS: Patrick Cox, Nina Porzucki
REPORTERS/CONTRIBUTORS: Ari Daniel, Jennifer Kronovet, Kavita Pillay, Rupa Shenoy, Alina Simone, Veronica Zaragovia
FORMAT: 19 broadcast and podcast segments of varying length. Most broadcast segments are 6-15 minutes. Most podcast episodes are 20-30 minutes.
DISTRIBUTOR: https://www.pri.org/language
The World of Islam
Documentary Radio Series
Recorded on location in fifteen Muslim countries, The World of Islam is a thirteen-part series of radio documentaries exploring Islam as a faith, culture, and political ideology.
Program 1
Islam: A Complete Way of Life
introduces the basic elements of Islam.
Program 2
The Five Pillars of Islam
features individuals from several countries and walks of life discussing what it means personally to be a Muslim.
Program 3
Muhammed and His Heirs
examines the character and influence of Muhammed and the origins of the factional split between Sunni and Shiite Muslims through the observations of Muslim scholars.
Program 4
The Rise and Fall of the Caliphate
describes the ascent and decline of one of the world's most powerful empires.
Program 5
The Magnificent Heritage: The Golden Age of Islamic Civilization
presents Muslim historians and others describing the Islamic Golden Age (800 to 1500 A.D.) and its achievements in art and science—algebra, Arabic numerals, abstract design.
Program 6
Decay or Rebirth? The Plight of Islamic Art Today
features Muslim artists from several countries discussing the pressures on them to conform to Western styles and tastes and their efforts to revive Islamic art forms.
Program 7
Islam and the West
presents Muslims from several countries discussing the often strained relationships with Christians and offering opinions on how to improve them.
Program 8
Resurgent Islam Today
examines Islam's political and cultural revival and its implications for the West from the perspective of Muslim leaders and activists.
Program 9
Voices of the Resurgence
traces the efforts of members of Muslim revivalist groups as they attempt to make Islam relevant to the twenty-first century.
Program 10
Islam in America: The Immigrant Experience
presents Muslim immigrants to the United States speaking of both the problems and advantages of making new lives in this country.
Program 11
Black Islam
chronicles the growth of Islam among African-Americans and considers the two rival African-American Muslim groups, Nation of Islam and the American Muslim Mission.
Program 12
Women and Family in Muslim Societies
considers the views of Muslim women and men about the teaching of Islam concerning women and the influence of traditional patriarchal values on their lives.
Program 13
Whither Islam: The Future of Islam
explores the relevance of Islamic values and institutions for the twenty-first century.
PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Independent Broadcasting Associates, Inc., Littleton, MA
YEAR PRODUCED: 1983
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER/NARRATOR: Julian Crandall Hollick
HOST: Peter Jennings
AWARDS: Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Best Public Affairs Documentary; National Conference of Christians and Jews, Inc., Fellowship Award; National Mass Media Brotherhood Award
FORMAT: Audiocassettes 13 (29:00) programs
DISTRIBUTOR: Independent Broadcasting Associates, Inc.