GSE Film List - 2014
As of today, these are films GSE staff plans to use. A few films are required for all students, while most will be
used only in particular Area I classes or in optional electives (such as a foreign film series). Any updates to this
list will be posted on the GSE website (www.ncgse.org). A marking of (NR) signifies that the film has not been
rated. An asterisk (*) before the name of the film signifies that it is required viewing for everyone. Many of the
following synopses are copied or adapted from online reviews.
30 Days- Features a diverse group of participants, each given the opportunity to experience first-hand a world antithetical
to their own comfortable existence. Each installment examines a different subject, explores topical issues and conducts
fascinating social experiments. As each 30 DAYS participant learns about the lives and beliefs of others, viewers learn
more about themselves. (NR)
Afropunk - Afro-Punk explores race identity within the punk scene. More than your everyday "Behind the Music" or typical
"black history month" documentary, this film tackles hard questions, covering issues such as exile, loneliness, inter-racial
dating and black power. We follow the lives of four people who have dedicated themselves to the punk rock lifestyle. They
find themselves in conflicting situations, living the dual life of a person of color in a mostly white community. Featuring
exclusive interviews with members of Dead Kennedys, Fishbone, TV on the Radio, Orange 9mm, The Eternals, Canedria,
24-7 Spys and 80 more. (Not Rated - NR)
Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (1990) - How do you define beauty? This film features eight short stories and parables that
explore that idea in the eyes of filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. (Rated PG)
America and the Holocaust - In 1937, a 17-year-old German Jew named Kurt Klein emigrated to the US to escape the
growing discrimination against Jews that had become a terrible fact of life following Hitler's rise in 1933. Together with his
brother and sister, who had emigrated previously, Klein worked to establish himself so that he could obtain safe passage
for his parents out of Germany. America and the Holocaust uses the moving tale of Klein's struggles against a wall of
bureaucracy to free his parents to explore the complex social and political factors that led the American government to
turn its back on the plight of the Jews. (NR)
Anvil: The Story of Anvil - At 14, best friends Robb Reiner and Lips made a pact to rock together forever. Their band,
Anvil, hailed as the "demi-gods of Canadian metal, " influenced a musical generation that includes Metallica, Slayer, and
Anthrax, despite never hitting the big time. Following a calamitous European tour, Lips and Robb, now in their fifties, set
off to record their 13th album in one last attempt to fulfill their boyhood dreams. This film contains coarse language and
some mature themes. (NR)
Art: 21 – Art in the 21st Century - Art: 21 profiles a wide range of emerging and established artists currently working in the
United States. A variety of cultural, religious, and geographic backgrounds are represented as artists are filmed in their
studios and galleries while discussing their work and creative process. This film was broadcast on public television in
2003 and nominated for an Emmy award. Short clips of the film may be viewed in Art and Area II classes and discussed
in relation to contemporary art and aesthetics. (NR)
The Bang Bang Club- This South African movie is part of the optional Foreign Film Series. Four photographers become
friends and record the volatile transition in South Africa’s history from apartheid to democracy. Two of these
photographers won Pulitzer Prizes for their work. (R for language and violence)
Barry Lyndon – This is a 1975 British-American film. It recounts the exploits of a fictional 18th century Irish adventurer.
This rogue wins the heart of a rich widow. He later assumes her dead husband's position in 18th Century aristocracy.
(Rated PG)
*Beasts of the Southern Wild – This is a 2012 American fantasy drama film. Six-year old Hushpuppy lives with her
father, Wink who has a hot temper. They live off the coast of Louisiana on an island called the “Bathtub” which isolated
from the rest of civilization by a levee. The traditional way of life of the people on this island is threatened by a major
storm. At the same time, Hushpuppy has to deal with her father’s failing health. (Rated PG-13)
Before the Music Dies - Before the Music Dies takes a critical look at the homogenization of popular music with
commentary by some of the industry's biggest talents like Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews, Elvis Costello, Erykah Badu,
Branford Marsalis, Bonnie Raitt and more. Using historic footage the film looks at the evolution of American music and the
artists who created it and pulls back the curtain (in a very creative way) to expose the sad truth behind today's "artificial"
music stars. (NR)
Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004) & Before Midnight (2013) – This trilogy follows young American Jesse
(Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy), a French student, who meet on a train to Vienna. The three films follow their
complicated but committed relationship at 9-year intervals. (R, Nudity, Strong Language).
Being There (1979) - A simple-minded gardener named Chance has spent all his life in the Washington D.C. house of an
old man. When the man dies, Chance is put out on the street with no knowledge of the world except what he has learned
from television. After a run in with a limousine, he ends up a guest of a woman (Eve) and her husband Ben, an influential
but sickly businessman. Now called Chauncey Gardner, Chance becomes friend and confidante to Ben, and an unlikely
political insider. (PG)
The Big Bang Theory – TV Show. Various episodes will be shown pertaining to philosophical and social issues. (NR)
The Bicycle Thief (1948) - This Italian film, directed by the acclaimed Vittorio Di Sica, is lauded by many as a landmark
moment in cinematic history and one of the most highly-praised foreign movies of all time. Most critics regard The Bicycle
Thief as the seminal film of the Neo-Realist movement. A simple yet powerful story, the movie follows the journey of an
unemployed man in postwar Rome who finds a coveted job that requires a bicycle. This film will be used as an
examination of ethics and the difficulties of moral theory turned into practice. (Unrated)
Big Wrench - The artist sits holding a giant wrench and tells the story of a commercial truck that he purchased as an art
project and the curse that he purchased with it. (Unrated)
Bioterror (Nova): Three New York Times reporters studying biological weapons before, during and after 9/11, end up
being the target of an actual anthrax attack. (NR)
Black Girl - Working as a governess for a wealthy French family, a young Senegalese woman accompanies her charges
on a vacation to the French Riviera, where her white mistress suddenly expects her to do the work of a common maid.
This racially charged drama from Senegalese writer-director Ousmane Sembene is often recognized as one of the
seminal works of African cinema. (NR – a couple of violent images)
Blood and Oil - The notion that oil motivates America's military engagements in the Middle East has long been dismissed
as nonsense or mere conspiracy theory. Blood and Oil, a new documentary based on the critically-acclaimed work of
Nation magazine defense correspondent Michael T. Klare, challenges this conventional wisdom to correct the historical
record. The film unearths declassified documents and highlights forgotten passages in prominent presidential doctrines to
show how concerns about oil have been at the core of American foreign policy for more than 60 years -- rendering our
contemporary energy and military policies virtually indistinguishable. In the end, Blood and Oil calls for a radical rethinking of US energy policy. (NR)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s - A romantic comedy: Holly Golightly lived an unstructured partying lifestyle until she met a writer
with whom she falls madly in love. Breakfast at Tiffany's is a 1961 American romantic comedy film starring Audrey
Hepburn and George Peppard, and featuring Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, and Mickey Rooney. It is
loosely based on the novella of the same name by Truman Capote. Hepburn's portrayal of Holly Golightly as the naïve,
eccentric café society girl is generally considered to be the actress' most memorable and identifiable role. She herself
regarded it as one of her most challenging roles, since she was an introvert required to play an extrovert. (NR)
Bully (2011) - From Sundance Award-winning filmmaker, Lee Hirsch, comes a beautifully cinematic, character-driven
documentary following five kids and families over the course of a school year. Offering insight into different facets of
America’s bullying crisis, the stories include two families who have lost children to suicide and a mother awaiting the fate
of her 14-year-old daughter, who has been incarcerated after bringing a gun on her school bus. With an intimate and often
shocking glimpse into homes, classrooms, cafeterias and principals' offices, this is a powerful and inspiring film that every
educator, parent and teenager should see. (PG-13 for language and some violence)
Burning Car - A car is set on fire and slowly burns out. (Unrated)
Catfish (2010) - This documentary film reveals the slipperiness of truth in the digital age, as a New York photographer
forms a relationship with a woman in the Midwest through Facebook. As he learns more about her and becomes more
intrigued and deeply involved, her stories begin to unravel, so he decides to drive to her home to uncover the mystery of
her true identity. (PG-13)
Central Station- This Brazilian movie is part of the optional Foreign Film Series elective. A boy is orphaned and is taken
in by a lonely, retired school teacher. The two take a journey to find his father. Along the way, the two develop a bond. (R
for language and some violence)
Civilization: The West and the Rest with Niall Ferguson Niall Ferguson, a British historian, explains Europeans used
“six killer apps” to dominate the rest of the world over the past 500 years. This is an ongoing elective. (NR)
A Class Divided - William Peters follows up on the 1970 TV documentary Eye of the Storm about Jane Elliott's
experiment of dividing an otherwise homogenous group of school kids by their eye color. The episode intercuts footage
from Eye of the Storm with new footage of the students, who are now adults. (NR)
CNN Cold War: The Complete Series (individual episodes may be used) - CNN's Cold War is a sweeping look at
nearly five decades of global history - a crystallization of a massive, three-year-long effort helmed by award-winning
documentarian Jeremy Isaacs (The World at War). Isaacs' team shot more than 1,000 hours of original footage and
gathered archival footage from all over the world to include historically important -- and often emotionally stunning -images, many never before seen by an international audience. Honored with the prestigious 1998 George Foster
Peabody Award, CNN's landmark series Cold War is the only major documentary on the subject. (NR)
Comment j’ai marché sur la lune - Everybody in the world celebrated the day where American astronauts walked on the
moon. But the next day, the non-American people became jealous. French people decided to send someone on the moon
too. A young guy named Moussa tells us the story about this unusual journey. (Not Rated)
Contact- Dr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of intelligent aliens, who send plans for a
mysterious machine. (PG)
Contagion – This commercial Hollywood film explores the real science of global viruses and what they mean to the
human race. The world is preparing for the next biological disaster...but is it too late? (PG-13)
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey- A documentary series that explores how we discovered the laws of nature and found
our coordinates in space and time. (TV PG)
Dark Side of Chocolate- A team of journalists investigate how human trafficking and child labor in the Ivory Coast fuels
the worldwide chocolate industry. The crew interview both proponents and opponents of these alleged practices, and use
hidden camera techniques to delve into the gritty world of cocoa plantations. (NR)
Daughters of the Dust (1991) Daughters of the Dust tells the story of the Peazants — a Gullah-Geechee family living on
the Sea Islands of South Carolina--as they prepare to migrate North. Told from the perspective of the Unborn Child and
through use of vivid imagery, the film raises and grapples with many incisive questions. Central among them is the
question: What responsibilities does one have to past and present histories, community, and culture? (NR)
Day Is Done - A smokestack stubbornly pierces the sky. Trains rumble by down below. Lights come on in the buildings as
night falls. There is a man behind the camera, looking for an image -- of himself? Of the world? Of society? By day and
night, in rain and snow, he stands filming at the window of his studio. Periodically we hear people leaving messages on
his answering machine. They talk about the weather while on vacation and congratulate him on his birthday. His father
dies, a child is born, and the young family begins to fall apart. Time passes. Slowly the cityscape morphs into the inner
landscape of the man behind the camera. (Unrated)
The Devil's Playground (2002) - Lucy Walker directed this documentary about a little-known facet of Amish life. Although
the Amish live in traditionally conservative enclaves, shunning modern conveniences and electricity while favoring a strict
code of conduct and dress, they do have a moment in their lives known as "rumspringa." When an Amish child turns 16,
they are allowed to interact with and take part in life away from their upbringing. This film follows a handful of teenagers
during their rumspringa. (Not rated)
*District 9 (2009): Director Neill Blomkamp teams with producer Peter Jackson for this tale of extraterrestrial refugees
stuck in contemporary South Africa. Allmovie.com writes, “Perhaps the most original sci-fi feature to come along since the
turn of the millennium, it's also one of the very best in recent memory.” District 9 will be shown as an Area II film to
provoke discussion of sociopolitical issues. It was nominated for Best Picture and is rated R for violence and adult
language. (R)
Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath - When a turbaned Sikh man is brutally murdered in the aftermath of
September 11, 2001, a college student journeys across America to discover who counts as "one of us" in a world divided
into "us" and "them." Armed with only a camera, Valarie Kaur encounters hundreds of stories never before told - stories of
fear and unspeakable loss, but also of resilience and hope - until she finally finds the heart of America, halfway around the
world, in the words of a widow. Weaving expert analysis into a personal journey and cross-country road trip, the film
confronts the forces dividing a nation. (NR)
Doll Clothes - Doll Clothes comically crosses Duchamp's famous painting Nude Descending a Staircase with animated
paper dolls in a sly, funny and clever precursor to the concerns that became signature elements in Sherman's remarkable
body of photographic work. (Unrated)
Donnie Darko - Donnie Darko explores the nature of time and reality through the journey of a high school student in the
fictional town of Middlesex, Virginia and is a synthesis of teen movie, science fiction, and psychological thriller. The movie
touches upon several relevant and contemporary epistemological and metaphysical ideas, including the nature of
knowledge and reality, empiricism versus rationalism, and existentialism. (Rated R due to adult language)
Do the Right Thing - Deemed "culturally significant" by the U.S. Library Congress and added to the National Film
Registry in 1999, this 1989 Spike Lee joint examines a single day in Bedford-Stuyvesant when racial tension reaches its
boiling point. (R)
The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene, one of the world's leading string theorists, peels away layers of mystery to reveal a
universe that consists of eleven dimensions, where the fabric of space tears and repairs itself, and all matter—from the
smallest quarks to the most gargantuan supernovas—is generated by the vibrations of microscopically tiny loops of
energy. The Elegant Universe makes some of the most sophisticated concepts ever contemplated accessible and
thoroughly entertaining, bringing us closer than ever to understanding how the universe works. (NR)
Emilie Mueller - A young actress goes for an audition. (NR)
End of the Century-The Story of the Ramones- In 1974 the New York City music scene was shocked into
consciousness by a band of misfits from Queens called the Ramones. Playing in seedy Bowery bar to a small group of
fellow struggling musicians, the band struck a chord of disharmony that rocked the foundation of the '70s music scene.
Tracing the history of the band, from its unlikely origins through its star-crossed career, bitter demise and the sad fates of
Joey and Dee Dee, End of the Century is a vibrant, candid document of one of the most influential groups in the history of
rock. (NR)
Episode III: "Enjoy Poverty" (87 min) Amidst ethnic war and relentless economic exploitation, Director Renzo Martens
sets up an emancipation program that aims to teach the poor how to benefit from their biggest resource: poverty. Thus,
Congolese photographers are encouraged to move on from development-hindering activities, such as photographing
weddings and parties, and to start taking images of war and disaster. With a neon sign, packed in metal crates and
carried through the jungle by Martens' porters, the local population is encouraged to capitalize on what the world has
given them as their share. It states 'Enjoy Poverty.' Hapless plantation workers question it, accept it, dance around it, yet
in the end, the whole project seems bound to fail. Martens' film is as much a critique of the aims of Western art as it is a
troubling examination of our own complicity in the world's poverty. (NR)
En Terre Etrangère - The crossed visions of illegal aliens who left everything behind in search of a better life in the West,
and who now almost regret being here, and those who are ready, in Africa, to follow their example and risk their life to
cross the seas. Following the immigrants back and forth from Mali and the coast of Senegal to workers' suburbs around
Paris, the film shows the hidden face of these shadow workers, the neglected dimension of people so close so far, our
brothers beyond borders drawn by men. (NR)
Eraserhead - Filmed intermittently over the course of a five-year period, David Lynch's radical feature debut stars Jack
Nance as Henry Spencer, a man living in an unnamed industrial wasteland. Upon learning that a past romance has
resulted in an impending pregnancy, Henry agrees to wed mother-to-be Mary (Charlotte Stewart) and moves her into his
tiny, squalid flat. Their baby is born hideously mutated, a strange, reptilian creature whose piercing cries never cease.
Mary soon flees in horror and disgust, leaving Henry to fall prey to the seduction of the girl across the hall (Judith Anna
Roberts). An intensely visceral nightmare, Eraserhead marches to the beat of its own slow, surreal rhythm: Henry's world
is a cancerous dreamscape, a place where sins manifest themselves as bizarre creatures and worlds exist within worlds.
(Unrated - some violence)
*Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - This film stars Jim Carrey as a man whose heartbreak deepens when he
discovers his former girlfriend (played by Kate Winslet) has had all memories of their relationship erased from her mind
through an experimental procedure. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind explores the impermanence of memory and
the nature of our modern fractured consciousness through a postmodern non-linear narrative in which the conventions of
time and space are continually flouted. (R due to adult humor, drug use, and adult situations)
Et maintenant on va où - directed by Nadine Labaki (2011, Lebanon). This film deals with humor, indignation and new
cinema. In this film, a group of Lebanese women try to ease religious tensions between Christians and Muslims in their
village. How does Labaki use humor to promote peace? (PG-13)
Examined Life - Filmmaker Astra Taylor liberates philosophy from the sterile world of academia through entertaining and
thought-provoking excursions with some of today's most famous and influential thinkers. (NR)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) - This documentary follows the rise of street art in the early 21st century and is
directed by the elusive and anonymous artist Banksy. The film raises issues of authenticity, aesthetic value, and our
definition of art itself. It was nominated for Best Documentary by the Academy of Motion Pictures. (R for adult language)
Fog Of War - Errol Morris' award-winning 2003 documentary, Fog of War, is a masterful project that is primarily based on
many hours of interviews with Robert McNamara, former Ford executive, Secretary of Defense, and head of the World
Bank. The film asks McNamara, a very controversial figure in U.S. history, a series of powerful question that help get at
his involvement and opinions on a bevy of world events of the last half of the twentieth century, particularly the Vietnam
War. The film will be used to help students not only understand the history of that time period, but also the importance an
individual can have in crafting U.S. foreign policy and history itself. (Rated PG-13 for images and thematic issues of war
and destruction)
The Fountain - The film consists of three story lines, in which Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz play different sets of
characters: a modern-day scientist and his cancer-stricken wife, a conquistador and his queen, and a space traveler in the
future who hallucinates his lost love. The story lines—interwoven with use of match cuts and recurring visual motifs—
reflect the themes of love and mortality. (PG-13)
Freestyle-The Art of Rhyme - A 2000 documentary film directed by Kevin Fitzgerald. The film follows the art of freestyle,
improvisational hip-hop. This independent release includes extemporaneous performances by artists such as
Supernatural, Mos Def, The Roots, Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, Cut Chemist, Jurassic 5, and many others. (NR)
Frontline: Nuclear Aftershocks - On March 11, 2011, a devastating earthquake and tsunami crippled Japan's
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, leaving the country's once-popular energy program in shambles. In response,
Germany decided to abandon nuclear energy entirely. Should the U.S. follow suit? FRONTLINE correspondent Miles
O'Brien examines the implications of the Fukushima accident for U.S. nuclear safety, and asks how this disaster will affect
the future of nuclear energy around the world. In particular, he visits one emerging battleground: the controversial
relicensing of the Indian Point nuclear plant, located only 38 miles from Manhattan. What lessons can be learned from the
disaster in Japan? (Not Rated)
Frontline: Tank Man (2006) - On June 5, 1989, one day after Chinese troops expelled thousands of demonstrators from
Tiananmen Square, a solitary, unarmed protester stood his ground before a column of tanks advancing down the Avenue
of Eternal Peace. Captured by Western photographers, this extraordinary confrontation became an icon of the fight for
freedom around the world. Filmmaker Antony Thomas investigates the identity, fate, and significance of the tank man.
(NR)
Fruitvale Station - Award-winning 2013 film based on the final day in the life of Oscar Grant, a young black man who was
killed by Bay Area Rapid Transit officers on January 1, 2009. (R)
The Future of Food - An investigative documentary focused on the grassroots and large-scale commercial effects of
genetically modified foods in the American food system. It attempts to examine the issue through the science, policy,
health concerns, and ethical dilemmas surrounding the debate. We will view this film as a means of introducing the many
facets of the GMO conversation. (NR)
Gattaca - In an all-too-possible future, genetic engineering has divided the world into lab-created perfect humans and
naturally-born "invalids," who are doomed to menial tasks and an early death. Ethan Hawke is a young "invalid" who
resorts to deceit in order to fulfill his dream of taking part in a manned space mission, but is soon caught up in a murder
mystery that could rock the foundations of his repressive society. (PG-13)
Grizzly Man - Acclaimed director Werner Herzog explores the life and death of amateur grizzly bear expert and wildlife
preservationist Timothy Treadwell. In Grizzly Man, Herzog plumbs not only the mystery of wild nature, but also the
mystery of human nature as he chronicles Treadwell's final years in the wilderness. Herzog uses Treadwell's own startling
documentary footage to paint a nuanced portrait of a complex and compelling figure while exploring larger questions
about the uneasy relationship between man and nature. (R due to adult language)
Half the Sky - Inspired by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's groundbreaking book, HALF THE SKY: TURNING
OPPRESSION INTO OPPORTUNITY FOR WOMEN WORLDWIDE takes on the central moral challenge of the 21st
century: the oppression of women and girls worldwide. Take an unforgettable journey with six actress/advocates and New
York Times journalist Kristof to meet some of the most courageous individuals of our time, who are doing extraordinary
work to empower women and girls everywhere. (NR)
The Harvest/La Cosecha – This documentary follows the lives of three young people and their families as they support
themselves, following the harvest and picking the fruits and vegetables that populate our breakfast, lunch and dinner
plates. (NR)
Harvest of Dignity- features stories about farmworker families and their struggles. Independent producer Donna
Campbell interviewed farmworkers, attorneys, health workers, ministers and advocates who explained the conditions in
farmworker housing and working conditions in NC. (NR)
Le Havre- released in 2011 and directed by Aki Kaurismäki, this film tells the story of a young boy “without papers”,
Idrissa, trying to reunite with is mother in England. He arrives in a cargo ship from Africa in the port city of Le Havre. This
film is a commentary on the loss of human dignity immigrants must often go through in order to reach Europe. (NR)
The House I Live In - "From the dealer to the narcotics officer, the inmate to the federal judge, a penetrating look inside
America's criminal justice system, revealing the profound human rights implications of U.S. drug policy.” –IMDB (NR)
Ikiru - Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru details the existential struggle of one ordinary man in his desperate search for purpose.
Upon learning he has terminal stomach cancer, a low-level government bureaucrat leaves his job of thirty years without a
word to find meaning in the year he has left to live. He is completely alone in the world -- his wife is dead, his son is
practically estranged, and his co-workers (the people with whom he has more contact than any others) are little more than
strangers. (NR)
I'll Sing for You - In the 1960s, the people of Mali loved listening to Boubacar "KarKar" Traore's music on the radio. But
KarKar was soon forced to stop playing and find work that would feed his family. After his wife died, KarKar moved to
France and settled in Paris, working in construction and singing on weekends at his immigrant shelter. Years later,
everyone in Mali thought him dead until a music producer discovered an old recording of his. (NR)
The Interrupters -"...tells the story of three violence interrupters who try to protect their Chicago communities from the
violence they once employed. It examines a year in which Chicago drew national headlines for violence and murder that
plagued the city." - HYPERLINK "http://wikipedia.org/"Wikipedia.org (NR)
It's A Girl: Every year in India and China, millions of babies are killed, abandoned or selectively aborted, simply because
they are girls. This devaluation of females has led to rampant violence against women and a growing female
"gendercide." (NR)
J’attendrai le suivant - A man on a crowded metro train announces that he is looking for love, and he makes a good
case for why he should be attached. One woman on the train seems game. (NR)
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011) A documentary on 85-year-old sushi master Jiro Ono, his business in the Ginza Tokio
Subway station, and his relationship with his son and eventual heir, Yoshikazu. For Jiro, the making of great sushi is an
art akin to, say, filmmaking, but even filmmaking requires great discipline in addition to the kind of deep-seated passion
that inspires artists to create in the first place. The film portrays that discipline not only in the sheer detail with which it
observes his processes, but also, to a certain extent, through technique: the repetitive nature of the sushi-making
montages (with camera placements and editing schemes often repeated), and even the prominent use of Philip Glass's
by-now-familiar minimalistic style on the soundtrack. (PG)
Jonestown: The Life and Death of People Temple - A 2006 documentary that incorporates survivor interviews with
original footage to examine the rise of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple leading to the deaths of more than 900
members in the jungle of Guyana. (NR)
Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? - Seminars about ethics by Harvard professor Michael Sandel. (NR)
Kustom Kar Komandos - A 1965 experimental film by Kenneth Anger. The 3-minute short features panning shots of a
young man buffing a customized hot rod. (Unrated)
La Haine - While to most outsiders Paris seems the very picture of beauty and civility, France has had a long and
unfortunate history of intolerance toward outsiders, and this powerful drama from filmmaker Mathieu Kassovitz takes an
unblinking look at a racially diverse group of young people trapped in the Parisian economic and social underclass. Vinz
(Vincent Cassel), who is Jewish, Hubert (Hubert Kounde), who is Black, and Said (Said Taghmaoui), who is Arabic, are
young men from the lower rungs of the French economic ladder; they have no jobs, few prospects, and no productive way
to spend their time. They hang out and wander the streets as a way of filling their days and are sometimes caught up in
frequent skirmishes between the police and other disaffected youth. (Not Rated – violence and profanity)
La Jetée (1967, 26 minutes) - One of the most influential, radical science-fiction films ever made, La Jetée challenges
film viewers with complex queries about time, memory, and the advancement of life. In a post-apocalyptic future, secrets
of time-travel have been discovered, allowing a political prisoner to travel back in time to attempt to prevent the
devastation with which Earth is now faced. (NR)
La Petite Vendeuse de Soleil - La Petite Vendeuse de Soleil is a film exalting the lives and promise found among
ordinary Senegalese. It depicts a young beggar girl Sili who, on crutches, confidently makes her way through a city of
obstacles, becoming the first girl to sell a daily newspaper in the competitive world of young male newspaper vendors.
The scenes are expertly played by non-professional actors and with the participation of the street children. (NR)
The Punk Singer - A documentary about Kathleen Hanna, legendary lead singer of Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, and The Julie
Ruin. It discusses some mature themes and contains adult language.
La Vie en Rose – The life story of the famous French singer Edith Piaf. (PG-13, for substance abuse, sexual content,
brief nudity, and language)
The Laramie Project (2002) - In October 1998, 21 year-old Mathew Shepard was found savagely beaten, tied to a fence
and left to die in Laramie, Wyoming. "The Laramie Project" is the portrait of a town painfully forced to confront itself in the
reflective glare of the national spotlight, responding with love, anger, sympathy, support and defiance. The Laramie
Project was created from over 200 interviews conducted with Laramie residents before, during, and after the trials of the
two boys who killed Shepard; the interviews create a cross-section of American views on hate crimes. (Not rated)
Le Grand Voyage - A coming of age film about a French-Moroccan teenager who travels to Mecca with his father. It is an
excellent portrayal of the influence of culture, religion, and family in modern France. (NR)
L’homme qui plantait des arbres – Animated 30-minute film. It tells the story of one shepherd's long and successful
singlehanded effort to re-forest a desolate valley in the foothills of the Alps in Provence throughout the first half of the 20th
century. (Not Rated)
Life in a Day - This National Geographic / YouTube crowd-sourced documentary depicts the lives of people across the
globe on January 24, 2011. It is comprised entirely of YouTube user submissions. (NR)
The Longoria Affair - A documentary on the Mexican American civil rights movement. The film tells the story of one key
injustice - the refusal, by a small-town funeral home in Texas after World War II, to care for a dead soldier's body
"because the whites wouldn't like it" - and shows how the Incident sparked outrage nationwide, and contributed to the
Voting Rights Act of 1965. (NR)
Lore- This German movie is part of the optional Foreign Film Series. Left to fend for themselves after their SS officer
father and mother are interred by the victorious Allies at the end of World War II, five German children undertake a
harrowing journey that exposes them to the reality and consequences of their parents' actions. Led by the eldest sibling,
14-year-old Lore, they set out across a devastated country to reach their grandmother in the north. After meeting the
charismatic Thomas, a mysterious young refugee, Lore soon finds her world shattered by feelings of both hatred and
desire as she must learn to trust the one person she has always been taught to hate. Lush cinematography and en
evocative, haunting mood infuse this unconventional take on the Holocaust legacy with unforgettable impact. (NR)
Mad Men- A drama about one of New York's most prestigious ad agencies at the beginning of the 1960s, focusing on one
of the firm's most mysterious but extremely talented ad executives, Donald Draper. (TV 14)
*Marwencol (2010) A documentary the follows the story of Mark Hogancamp, a Kingston, NY man who was beaten so
badly one night that he was left in a coma. When Hogancamp regained consciousness, he was diagnosed with brain
damage and struggled to return to a normal life. As he tried to put his life back together, Hogancamp came up with an
unusual hobby -- using G.I. Joe action figures and Barbie dolls, he created an elaborate scale model community in his
backyard that he calls Marwencol (named for three characters he's dubbed Mark, Wendy, and Colleen). Marwencol is
supposed to be a village in Belgium during World War II, and the scene is full of intrigue and military violence; several of
the characters also represent his friends and relatives. Marwencol provides Hogancamp with a fantasy world he can
retreat into as he deals with the realities of his life following the beating, but the parallels into his real life are troubling to
some people he knows, and when a gallery in New York City offers to present his project as an art installation,
Hogancamp has to decide if he's really willing to share Marwencol with the world at large. (NR)
Mindwalk- A conversation among a physicist, a politician and a poet about discovering interconnections. (PG)
Miss Representation - Writer/Director Jennifer Siebel Newsom interwove stories from teenage girls with provocative
interviews from the likes of Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Lisa Ling, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Rosario
Dawson, Dr. Jackson Katz, Dr. Jean Kilbourne, and Gloria Steinem to give us an inside look at the media and its message.
As the most persuasive and pervasive force of communication in our culture, media is educating yet another generation
that a woman's primary value lay in her youth, beauty and sexuality-and not in her capacity as a leader, making it difficult
for women to obtain leadership positions and for girls to reach their full potential. The film accumulates startling facts and
asks the question, "What can we do?" (NR)
Mona Lisa Smile- A free-thinking art professor teaches conservative 1950s Wellesley girls to question their traditional
social roles. (PG-13)
Mooladé - In an African village this is the day when six 4-9-year-old girls are to be circumcised. All children know that the
operation is horrible torture and sometimes lethal, and all adults know that some circumcised women can only give birth
by Caesarean section. Two of the girls have drowned themselves in the well to escape the operation. The four other girls
seek "magical protection" (moolaadé) by a woman who seven years before refused to have her daughter circumcised.
(NR- although some parts are violent)
Moon - An astronaut miner extracting the precious moon gas that promises to reverse the Earth's energy crisis nears the
end of his three-year contract, and makes an ominous discovery in this psychological sci-fi film. For three long years,
Sam Bell has dutifully harvested Helium 3 for Lunar, a company that claims it holds the key to solving humankind's energy
crisis. As Sam's contract comes to an end, the lonely astronaut looks forward to returning to his wife and daughter down
on Earth, where he will retire early and attempt to make up for lost time. (R for adult language)
Music from the Inside Out - An extraordinary documentary, the result of a unique five-year collaboration with between
Oscar-Nominated filmmaker Daniel Anker and the 105 musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra. In an exhilarating 90
minute journey, the film explores the intersection of Art and life through the stories, passions and artistry of some of the
finest musicians in the world. (NR)
The Music Instinct: Science and Song - Featuring music legend Bobby McFerrin and best-selling author and
neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, The Music Instinct provides a groundbreaking exploration of how and why the human
organism—and the whole ebb and flow of the cosmos —is moved by the undeniable effect of music. The Music Instinct
follows visionary researchers and accomplished musicians to the crossroads of science and culture in search of answers
to music’s deep mysteries. (NR)
Naturally Obsessed - A film that reveals a rare and fascinating view of the world of laboratory science. Featuring a group
of eager students, mentored by Dr. Larry Shapiro, the film follows them along a challenging and uncertain journey toward
their PhD degrees. (NR)
Natural Science Documentaries: ‘Life’, ‘Life on Earth’, ‘Insect Wars’, ‘The Life of Birds’, ‘The Life of Mammals’, ‘The
Blue Planet’, ‘The Living Planet’, ‘Planet Earth’. (NR)
Network (1976) Network was director by Sidney Lumet's brilliant, pitch-black criticism of the hollow, lurid wasteland of
television journalism where entertainment value and short-term ratings were more crucial than quality. Network is a
classic film about the media and its influences. Perhaps over the top in 1976 it is highly relevant today. It asks questions
about where we get our knowledge and deals with contemporary issues like corporate corruption, manipulation and
desensitization of our younger generation. (R)
Night On Earth - An anthology of 5 different cab drivers in 5 American and European cities and their remarkable fares on
the same eventful night. (Rated R for strong language.)
NOVA: Power Surge - Can emerging technology defeat global warming? The United States has invested tens of billions
of dollars in clean energy projects as our leaders try to save our crumbling economy and our poisoned planet in one bold,
green stroke. Are we finally on the brink of a green-energy "power surge," or is it all a case of too little, too late? From
solar panel factories in China to a carbon capture-and-storage facility in the Sahara desert to massive wind and solar
installations in the United States, NOVA travels the globe to reveal the surprising technologies that just might turn back
the clock on climate change. NOVA will focus on the latest and greatest innovations, including everything from artificial
trees to green reboots of familiar technologies like coal and nuclear energy. Can our technology, which helped create this
problem, now solve it? (Not Rated)
The Nun’s Story - Based on a true story of a Nun who whose life journey takes her from a mental institute to a surgical
nurse in the Belgian Congo. She returns to Belgium at the beginning of WWII and is torn between the Resistance
movement and the Church’s neutrality. (NR)
*Obedience - Documentary about the famous social psychologist Stanley Milgram’s experiments in the 1950s to
determine how obedient people would be when asked by an authority to inflict pain on another human. (NR)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Classic award-winning film based on Ken Kesey's novel that follows Randall P.
McMurphy when he is transferred from prison to a state mental institution. It raises questions about the nature of mental
illness and to what extent insanity is relative. (R)
The Other Side of Immigration - Based on over 700 interviews in Mexican towns where about half the population has
left to work in the United States, The Other Side of Immigration asks why so many Mexicans come to the U.S. and what
happens to the families and communities they leave behind. Through an approach that is both subtle and thoughtprovoking, filmmaker Roy Germano provides a perspective on undocumented immigration rarely witnessed by American
eyes, challenging audiences to imagine more creative and effective solutions to the problem. (NR)
Painter – Paul McCarthy, decked out in a blonde wig, a bulbous drinker's nose, and giant latex hands, staggers around a
small, wood-paneled studio with an immense paint brush, yammering things like, "I can't do it, I can't do it," and,
"DeKooning, DeKooning, DeKooning." He punctures the sides of gigantesque tubes of paint, mixes the paint, then
slashes and hacks big crude Expressionist swaths onto canvases with crazy electric blue and orange grounds. During the
course of the video, he meanders between adjoining rooms ranting against his dealer, sitting in on an absurd conversation
with pretentious, bulbous-nosed scholars, has a sycophantic collector sniff his behind, and chops off his own fingers with
a cleaver. Painter is a hilarious satire of inflated Abstract Expressionists and the art world in general, but it is not only that.
It is a serious critique of the whole enterprise of making art. (Unrated, violence and strong language)
Paper Moon - During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his
daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership. (Rated PG)
Paradise Now - This movie is about two young Palestinian men grappling with the world around them. Said and Khaled
have, for different reasons, both volunteered to be suicide bombers in an attack on Israeli citizens and military. However,
as the time nears to carry out their plan the two engage in a dialogue about whether or not they should go through with it.
(Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material and brief strong language.)
Paris je t’aime - Twenty acclaimed filmmakers from around the world look at love in the City of Lights in this omnibus
feature. Paris, Je T'Aime features 18 short stories, each set in a different part of Paris and each featuring a different cast
and director (two segments were produced by two filmmakers in collaboration). There is language and brief drug use. (R)
Persepolis - In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Statrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a
long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she
witnesses firsthand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.
With Marji dangerously refusing to remain silent at this injustice, her parents send her abroad to Vienna to study for a
better life. (PG-13)
Pilot episode for CSI – This will be shown in class for Natural Science. (PG-13)
Pina - Director Wim Wenders takes the audience on a sensual, visually stunning journey of discovery into a new
dimension: straight onto the stage with the legendary Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch ensemble. He follows the
dancers out of the theatre into the city and the surrounding areas of Wuppertal - the place, which for 35 years was the
home and center for Pina Bausch's creativity. (NR)
Points of Space - This is the critically acclaimed collaboration for the screen by choreographer Merce Cunningham,
composer John Cage, and filmmaker Elliot Caplan. The first half features BBC's documentary: interviews with
Cunningham, Cage and members of the company, as well as scenes from rehearsals in New York and London take the
viewer through the complexities and exhilaration of bringing new dance to television. The second half features Points in
Space performed by Cunningham and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. (NR)
Prison State- With extraordinary access, FRONTLINE takes you to the epicenter of the raging debate about prison
reform. "Prison State" follows the lives of four individuals in Kentucky's criminal justice system, as the state tries to
interrupt the cycle of mass incarceration. (NR)
The Punk Singer - A documentary about Kathleen Hanna, legendary lead singer of Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, and The Julie
Ruin. It discusses some mature themes and contains adult language. (NR)
Radioactive Wolves: Chernobyl's Nuclear Wilderness - What happens to nature after a nuclear accident? And how
does wildlife deal with the world it inherits after human inhabitants have fled? The historic nuclear accident at Chernobyl is
now 25 years old. Filmmakers and scientists set out to document the lives of the packs of wolves and other wildlife
thriving in the “dead zone” that still surrounds the remains of the reactor. (Not Rated)
Rashomon (1950, Akira Kurosawa) - The story of an assault and a murder in feudal Japan is told from the points of view
of four different persons (and ghosts), with startlingly different results, discussing the unreliability of the meditation of
information and the ethics of justice. (NR)
*Remember My Lai – Frontline documentary about the massacre of Vietnamese villagers by American soldiers in 1968.
The Revisionaries- An urgent expose of the power struggle inside the Texas State Board of Education, the governing
body that determines what students learn in Texas public schools and, due to the buying power of their system, often the
entire country. THE REVISIONARIES showcases how public education has become the latest battleground in a new
wave of cultural, religious and ideological clashes, with local Texas education board members advancing agendas of
Creationism and other religious issues in public schools. This award-winning documentary highlights how their tactics
have had the effect of rewriting key tenets of U.S. democracy and are affecting educational policies at the national level for generations to come. (NR)
Rivers and Tides - Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time - Portrait of Andy Goldsworthy, an artist whose specialty is
ephemeral sculptures made from elements of nature. (G)
Rize - A riveting documentary that explores the physically astounding Los Angeles worlds of clowning and krumping--both
heightened and spectacular styles of hip-hop dance. Rize persuasively portrays these twin dance movements as not only
a personal exorcism, but as the effort of a community to escape the corrosive forces of gangs and drugs. (PG-13)
Rocky - Renowned performance artist Paul McCarthy’s Rocky 1976, where the artist, dressed as a boxer, smears himself
in ketchup and punches himself, senseless, around the head. (Unrated - violence and nudity)
Roman Holiday - A rebellious princess explores Rome on her own. She meets an American newspaperman who is
seeking an exclusive story, but pretends ignorance of her true identity. (NR)
RSA Animate Videos - These short 10-15 minute “scribing” videos transform academic lectures on ethical, philosophical,
and socio-political topics by international scholars into shorter, animated segments for students. The topics here include
educational systems, linguistics, the science of the brain, metaphysics, economics, and empathy. (NR)
“Changing Education Paradigms” (2010) by Sir Ken Robinson
“Language as a Window into Human Nature” (2011) by Steven Pinker
“The Secret Powers of Time” (2010) by Philip Zimbardo
“The Truth About Dishonesty” (2012) by Dan Ariely
“Smile or Die” (2010) by Barbara Ehrenreich
“The Paradox of Choice” (2011) by Renata Salecl
“First as Tragedy, Then as Farce” (2010) by Slavoj Zizek
“The Power of Outrospection” (2012) by Roman Krznaric
“The Divided Brain” (2011) by Iain McGilchrist
“The Power of Networks (2012) by Manuel Lima
Run, Lola, Run - In German with English subtitles. Lola has 20 minutes to save her boyfriend's life. She jumps through
parallel universes and along the way, becomes a moral person. This movies puts together a mish-mash of philosophical
questions of what is moral, what is happiness, what is spirituality, and what is the good life. (Rated R for language and a
robbery scene)
Ryan Trecartin, Selected Works - Ryan Trecartin's video narratives unfold like futuristic fever dreams. Collaborating with
an ensemble cast of family and friends, he merges sophisticated digital manipulations with footage from the Internet and
pop culture, animations, and wildly stylized sets and performances. While the astonishing A Family Finds Entertainment
(2005) has drawn comparisons to Jack Smith, early John Waters, and Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Trecartin crafts startling
visions that are thoroughly unique. (Unrated - strong language and sexual content)
Samb et le Commissaire - It's 1st August - Swiss National Day. Superintendent Knöbel's peace and quiet is suddenly
disturbed by the trifling case of a stolen football. What has 10-year-old Samb from Africa got to do with all this? (Not
Rated)
Scratch-All The Way Live- Shot in high definition, multi-track recorded, and executed for perfection, this DVD is the
greatest live performance DJ film to date. (NR)
Searching for Sugar Man - Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the
mysterious 1970s rock 'n' roller, Rodriguez. Unknown in his own home country, the American Rodriguez was as popular
as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. His music was in the forefront of the anti-Apartheid counterculture in the 1970s.
(Rated PG-13)
Searching for the Roots of 9/11- What drove 19 young, middle-class Muslim men to commit a coordinated suicide attack
against the U.S. on 9/11? In this program, New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman-a three-time Pulitzer Prize
winner and author of Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11-travels the Middle East and
Southeast Asia in search of answers to these troubling questions. A Discovery Channel Production. (NR)
Seconds - Seconds is a 1966 American film starring Rock Hudson. Seconds is characterized as a science fiction thriller
with elements of drama. It was directed by John Frankenheimer. The script was based on a novel by David Ely.
Arthur Hamilton is a middle-aged man whose life has lost purpose. He has achieved success in his career, but he is not
happy. His love for his wife of many years has dwindled. His only child is married and he seldom sees her. Through a
friend (a man he thought was dead), Hamilton is approached by a secret organization, known simply as the "Company."
The Company's business is helping wealthy people who are unhappy with their lives to disappear and create new lives.
(R)
The Seventh Seal - Disillusioned and exhausted after a decade of battling in the Crusades, a knight (Max von Sydow)
encounters Death on a desolate beach and challenges him to a fateful game of chess. Much studied, imitated, even
parodied, but never outdone, Ingmar Bergman’s stunning allegory of man’s search for meaning, The Seventh Seal, was
one of the benchmark foreign imports of America’s 1950s art-house heyday, pushing cinema’s boundaries and ushering in
a new era of movie going. (NR)
Shattered Glass - In the mid-1990s, Stephen Glass became one of the most sought after young journalists in
Washington, D.C. He was the editor of the college newspaper at the University of Pennsylvania and became a
freelance feature writer for ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE, HARPER’S BAZAAR, and GEORGE magazine. He came
to the NEW REPUBLIC at the age of 25 in 1995, the magazine with the reputation as “the in-flight magazine of Air
Force One.” He was staff writer & associate editor for the NEW REPUBLIC, as well as being a member of the FactFinding Committee for this journal. Hayden Christensen plays the lead role in the story of Glass and the dangers of
putting blind trust in the media. (NR)
Shenandoah-This wrenching documentary explores a coal mining town where four white high school football stars were
charged in the murder of a Mexican immigrant. (NR)
Short films by Stan Brakhage - Night Music, Rage Net, Stellar, and Mothlight (all may be shown in their entirety). These
experimental, often bizarre, short films, ranging from 32 seconds long to less than three minutes long, pose important
questions and dilemmas to the consumers and receivers (if not makers) of film art and art in general. Using blank leader
film, acrylic paint, insect portions, pieces of plants, and other common objects, Brakhage creates rapid, kinetic pieces of
visual art with no sound at all, challenging the construction of what makes art and examining the role of time in visual art.
(NR)
Simon Schama's Power of Art - BBC documentary about artists and the circumstances behind their masterpieces.
Bernini, Caravaggio, van Gogh, Ratko, Picasso (NR)
Sita Sings the Blues - An animated re-telling of the Indian epic the Ramayana. It investigates the plight of titular hero
Rama's wife Sita through the music of 1920s blues singer Annette Hanshaw. Intertwined is the story of filmmaker Nina,
who was inspired to create the movie after events in her own life gave her a greater understanding of Sita. The movie
contains cartoon violence. (NR)
Slavery By Another Name - This movie challenges one of America's most cherished assumptions the belief that slavery
in the US ended with Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation by telling the harrowing story of how in the South, a
new system of involuntary servitude took its place with shocking force. (NR)
Slow Pan for Bob - The camera pans across a man’s face in extreme close up. (Unrated)
Songs For Cassavetes - While it may seem like mainstream pop music has eclipsed all other forms, with MTV, Top 40
radio, and corporate record labels so pervasive in American culture, there is still a flourishing underground music scene all
over the country. Songs for Cassavetes showcases an array of talented "indie" bands from the West Coast; bands who
have managed to make music and gain fans without help from the record "industry." (NR)
Soul Food Junkies documentary (2012) - What makes the South “southern”? Is regionalism a useful category for
examining the differences across America? Filmmaker Byron Hurt looks at the past and future of soul food - from its roots
in Western Africa, to its incarnation in the American South, to its contribution to modern health crises in communities of
color. Soul Food Junkies also looks at the socioeconomics of the modern American diet, and how the food industry profits
from making calories cheap, but healthy options expensive and hard to find. (NR)
Soundtrack for a Revolution documentary (2009): What role does music play in moving social change forward?
SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION explores the civil rights struggle through the powerful and stirring songs that
inspired a generation. In this deeply moving documentary, legends of the fight for equal rights such as Congressman John
Lewis, Julian Bond, Ambassador Andrew Young and Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow, Coretta Scott King, testify to the
indispensable role that songs of rebellion and hope played in helping activists fight against brutality and injustice. (NR)
Spider Man 2 - Superhero Peter Parker faces his nemesis Doctor Octopus in an action thriller. (Rated PG 13 for stylized
action violence and terrible movie physics). Portions used in Natural Science class to discuss fictionalized physics. (PG13)
Stephen Hawking's Grand Design: Did God Create the Universe? Professor Stephen Hawking unfolds his personal,
compelling vision of the biggest question of all: Is there a god who created and controls the universe in which we live?
(NR)
Stranger Than Fiction - Everybody knows that your life is a story. But what if a story was your life? Harold Crick is your
average IRS agent: monotonous, boring, and repetitive. One day this all changes when Harold begins to hear an author
inside his head narrating his life. The narrator it is extraordinarily accurate, and Harold recognizes the voice as an
esteemed author he saw on TV. But when the narration reveals that he is going to die, Harold must find the author of the
story, and ultimately his life, to convince her to change the ending of the story before it is too late. (PG-13)
Suicide Bombers: Inside the Minds of Failed Martyrs - In a series of powerful and revealing interviews from inside
Israeli prisons, this Wide Angle documentary examines the motives of Palestinian suicide bombers. A recruiter, a bomb
builder, and three failed suicide bombers captured by Israeli security forces speak openly of their training, motivation,
operational methodology, and profound belief in the idea of entering paradise as a shahid-a martyr for Islam. They discuss
their hatred of Jews and Israel, their determination to die, and the personal motivations that have influenced themincluding a failed love, a sense of personal revenge, the frustration of living under Israeli occupation, and envy for the
prosperous Israeli lifestyle. In addition, Sari Nusseibeh, president of Al-Quds University, speaks with anchor Mishal
Husain. (NR)
Sybille II - The subject of Sybille II by Wim Delvoye is the skin. The magic of the work lies in the use of extreme close-ups.
They cause the pictures to at first look like an imaginary, lifeless landscape. After several minutes worm-like objects on
the surface come to life. Suddenly the true nature of the images is revealed. Delvoye creates a work of art that confounds
our conventional notion of what constitutes the beautiful. The film shows a series of sequences in which various forms,
invariably in tones of white and ivory, seem to emerge from nowhere in a delicately cross-stitched landscape. These
apparent creatures are mesmerizing, as they weave about in a space the viewer can't initially locate. At a certain point (it
took me a number of minutes) you realize that you're not seeing exotic, underwater life, but extreme close-up views of
people squeezing blackheads. The dancing forms are filaments of pus released from under the skin, and their explosive
appearance in the frame suddenly reads as grotesque and not pleasing. "I want to portray human beings as a kind of
organic living being, that's what they are actually, an organism," Delvoye has said, and a number of his pieces use a
scatological frame to articulate that organic nature. (Unrated)
Synecdoche, New York - A theatre director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he creates a life-size
replica of New York City inside a warehouse as part of his new play. (R)
Tanguy - When he was a newborn baby, Edith Guetz thoughtlessly told her son Tanguy: "If you want to, you can stay at
home forever." 28 years later, overgraduated student and efficient teacher in Asian languages at the university, this
womanizer leads his own successful wealthy life... while still living at his folks' bourgeois place. (NR)
Television Spots and Monodramas - In 1989, his first series of short works for television, the twelve Television Spots,
were broadcast in Saskatoon and Ottawa amid regular programming, as if they were commercials. Unidentified, the short
scenes depicting open-ended, banal activities baffled viewers. (Unrated)
The Ten Commandments for Gilbert and George - The artists stand, dressed in suits and recite a list of maxims in a
deadpan tone. Thou shalt fight conformism; Thou shalt be the messenger of freedoms; Thou shalt make use of sex; Thou
shalt reinvent life; Thou shalt create artificial art; Thou shalt have a sense of purpose; Thou shalt not know exactly what
thou dost, but thou shalt do it; Thou shalt give thy love; Thou shalt grab the soul; Thou shalt give something back.
(Unrated)
Terror From Within - Jason Van Vleet's award-winning documentary Terror From Within The Untold Story Behind the
Oklahoma City Bombing tells the story of how extremists came up with a plan to overthrow the United States government,
a plan the culminated in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building. The film includes interviews with people who
investigated the bombing, and the tape of the confession of one of the perpetrators. (NR)
The Times of Harvey Milk - The Times of Harvey Milk documents the political career of Harvey Milk, who was San
Francisco's first openly gay supervisor. The film documents Milk's rise from a neighborhood activist to a symbol of gay
political achievement, through to his assassination in November 1978 at San Francisco's city hall, and the Dan White trial
and aftermath." –Wikipedia.org (NR)
Tough Guise - While the social construction of femininity has been widely examined, the dominant role of masculinity has
until recently remained largely invisible. Tough Guise is the first educational video geared toward college and high school
students to systematically examine the relationship between pop-cultural imagery and the social construction of masculine
identities in the U.S. at the dawn of the 21st century. In this innovative and wide-ranging analysis, Jackson Katz argues
that widespread violence in American society, including the tragic school shootings in Littleton, Colorado, Jonesboro,
Arkansas, and elsewhere, needs to be understood as part of an ongoing crisis in masculinity. This exciting new media
literacy tool-- utilizing racially diverse subject matter and examples-- will enlighten and provoke students (both males and
females) to evaluate their own participation in the culture of contemporary masculinity. (NR)
The Twilight Zone - 1959-1964 Rod Serling's seminal anthology series focused on ordinary folks who suddenly found
themselves in extraordinary, usually supernatural, situations. The stories would typically end with an ironic twist that would
see the guilty punished. (TV Series PG)
Two Lane Black Top - Two-Lane Blacktop is a 1971 road movie directed by Monte Hellman, starring singer-songwriter
James Taylor, the Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, Warren Oates, and Laurie Bird. Two-Lane Blacktop is notable as
a time capsule film of U.S. Route 66 during the pre-Interstate Highway era, and for its stark footage and minimal dialogue.
As such, it has become popular with fans of Route 66. Two-Lane Blacktop has been compared to similar road movies with
an existentialist message from the era, such as Vanishing Point, Easy Rider, and Electra Glide in Blue. (R)
V for Vendetta - Set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain, V For Vendetta tells the story of a mildmannered young woman named Evey who is rescued from a life-and-death situation by a masked man known only as
"V." Incomparably charismatic and ferociously skilled in the art of combat and deception, V ignites a revolution when he
urges his fellow citizens to rise up against tyranny and oppression. As Evey uncovers the truth about V's mysterious
background, she also discovers the truth about herself - and emerges as his unlikely ally in the culmination of his plan to
bring freedom and justice back to a society fraught with cruelty and corruption. (Rated R for strong violence and some
language)
Video Naptime - The main character from Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros sleeps while an abstract digital dream reveals
itself. Naptime marries situation comedy and dance. Acted scenes in a hotel shift to dance in the characters' dream space
as they take short naps. (Unrated)
Waiting for Superman (2010) - This documentary explores the successes and failures of American public education. It
asks questions about whether schools foster or inhibit learning, what kinds of school programs work best for students, and
what role parents and teachers play in educational systems. (Rated PG)
Waking Life (2001) - A visually innovative American film that resembles an impressionist painting brought to life. Using
new animation technology, it follows a young man who arrives in Austin and engages in numerous conversations on art,
philosophy, and society as he drifts around the city. A stunningly beautiful film, portions of it may be shown in Area II in
order to spark discussions of metaphysics, the idea of perception vs. reality, and aesthetics. It is rated R due to adult
language and mild, animated violence. (NR)
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006) - One year after Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans,
director Spike Lee presents an oral history chronicle recounting, through words and images, one of our country’s most
profound natural disasters. In addition to revisiting the hours leading up to the arrival of Katrina, a Category 5 hurricane
before it hit the coast of Louisiana, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts tells the personal stories of those
who lived to tell about it, at the same time exploring the underbelly of a nation where the divide along race and class lines
has never been more pronounced. (Not rated):
When the wind blows - When the wind blows is a 1986 animated movie based on a Raymond Briggs' book. An elder
British couple, Jim and Hilda, who live in the countryside, believe in the fact that the Government will always know what it
is doing. However the world is fast heading for the Third World War between the US and the Soviets. Jim prepares for it
by building a shelter using Government pamphlets however both of them still believe that the war will be fought like the
Second World War and they can't fully understand that the war will be fought with nuclear weapons. All too soon, war
breaks out and Jim and Hilda survive a nuclear blast. They stand back and wait for help from the Government and for
things to get back to normal in a couple of days, little knowing that help isn't on its way, and that, unknown to them, Jim
and Hilda are slowly dying from the "fallout" radiation poisoning and they will probably not survive. (NR)
Whispering Pines - Shana Moulton doesn't seem to be feeling well. Her wrists and neck ache from too much time on the
computer. Her migraines are so painful she vomits on the floor. In fact she feels awful, anxious and depressed, spending
days in bed or on her couch, obsessively kneading a fluorescent stress-pillow. Ultimately, the physical world proves too
much for Moulton, as electric stimuli repeatedly disturb any serenity, her grip on reality slips. Her constructions are so
stimulating, however, that they skillfully and purposefully distract from her darker themes of isolation and uncertainty. But
when therapy and spirituality unmistakably fail to bring lasting peace, Moulton is left to create for herself an elementary
lesson in idealism. In a pivotal departure, through a beautiful animation drawn like an old educational film, the painted
butterfly lifts off her face and floats into a watery field. The butterfly blinks and hovers, leaving behind Moulton's body and
the clutter of the material world. It flutters over starfish, seashells and pine trees, searching for perfection, but settles on
these natural forms of balance and stability. (Unrated)
Who Do U Think U R? This short YouTube clip is a student produced anti-bullying message which examines the ethical
questions of race, class, and privilege in American high schools. (Unrated)
The Woman Who Wasn't There: A look inside the mind of Tania Head, history's most infamous 9/11 survivor. Her jawdropping tale of escape from the south tower was most astounding and she later rose to national prominence amongst
9/11 survivors...until it all turned out to be a lie. (NR)
WWE: Mick Foley's Greatest Hits & Misses - A Life in Wrestling-Call him Cactus Jack, Mankind or Dude Love; by any
name, there's never been anyone in or out of the squared circle quite like Mick Foley. Now the one and only "hardcore
legend" shares his biggest and most brutal matches from WWE, WCW, ECW and SMW--against such foes as the
Undertaker, Sting, Sabu, and others--along with classic promos, salutes to Al Snow and Mr. Socko, and much more. Have
a nice day! (TV 14)
You Africa - The path-breaking 1994 tour of West African nations by legendary Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour. (NR)