Contemporary Issues

Films

All for the Taking: 21st-Century Urban Renewal This timely and thought-provoking documentary provides an insightful case study of the uses and abuses of the power of eminent domain by the city of Philadelphia as it attempts to redefine itself through "urban renewal" and planned gentrification.

Anonymously Yours This extraordinary documentary on sex-trafficking in Southeast Asia interweaves four young women's stories to reveal an institution that enslaves as many as 40 million women worldwide.

Beyond the Politics of Life and Choice: A New Conversation About Abortion This timely and exceptionally thought-provoking documentary moves the contentious debate over abortion out from behind politicized battle lines and into a compassionate and sensitive space, where people with opposing views can meet to better understand the deep concerns of one another.

Birdsong and Coffee: A Wake Up Call This incisive and multifaceted documentary powerfully demonstrates how coffee drinkers in this and other developed countries hold in their hands the fate of farm families, farming communities, and entire ecosystems in coffee-growing regions worldwide.

Brownsville Black and White This poignant and powerful documentary explores the complex history of interracial cooperation, urban change, and social conflict in Brownsville, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, from the 1930s to the present.

California and the American Dream This incisive, thought-provoking four-part series explores the dynamics of culture, community, and identity in California, one of the most diverse places in the world. Each film provides a trenchant and highly discussible case study of divergent California social trends that are keenly evident all across America.

California's "Lost" Tribes This remarkable documentary explores the conflicts over Indian gaming and places them in the context of both California and Native American history. The film examines the historical underpinnings of tribal sovereignty and the evolution of tribal gaming rights over the last 30 years.

Confederacy Theory This powerful and thought-provoking documentary explores the complexities of a controversy steeped in American history and racial divisiveness: the debate over the Confederate flag in South Carolina, the last state to fly the flag on its capitol.

Cruz Reynoso: Sowing the Seeds of Justice This thought-provoking documentary explores the life and achievements of a man who felt the sting of injustice while growing up and later, as a lawyer, judge, and educator, fought for more than five decades to eradicate discrimination and inequality in American life.

The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and His Legacy This exceptional and compelling documentary, narrated by Alec Baldwin, examines the life and legacy of legendary community organizer Saul Alinsky.

Discovering Dominga This unforgettably dramatic and powerful documentary relates the extraordinary story of a young Iowa housewife who discovers she is a survivor of one of the most horrific massacres in Guatemalan history, committed in 1982 against Maya Indian villagers. The film follows her remarkable journey of transformation and discovery as she returns to Guatemala in search of her heritage and ultimately joins efforts to bring the perpetrators of the massacre to justice.

Displaced in the New South This remarkable documentary explores the cultural collision between Asian and Hispanic immigrants and the suburban communities near Atlanta, Georgia, in which they have settled.

The Doon School Quintet This groundbreaking, five-part study of India's most prestigious boys' boarding school is a contemporary masterwork of renowned ethnographic filmmaker David MacDougall. Sometimes called "the Eton of India," Doon School has developed its own characteristic style and presents a curious mixture of privilege and egalitarianism. Each of the five films can stand on its own but taken together as a series the five films provide a unique and revelatory cultural portrait that will take its place among the classics of ethnographic cinema.

Flag Wars This profoundly compelling and thought-provoking documentary is the best case study available of the social and human consequences of urban gentrification in contemporary America. Filmed over a four-year period in Columbus, Ohio, "Flag Wars" explores with eye-opening candor and unforgettable poignancy the effects on a long-established black neighborhood when gay white professionals move into and begin to transform the area.

Gandhi's Children This unforgettable documentary feature film by renowned ethnographic filmmaker David MacDougall explores the life of children in a shelter for orphans and juvenile detainees in a poor area of New Delhi. Despite the harshness of their lives, many of these boys show remarkable strength of character, knowledge, and resilience. Often left to their own devices, they institute a seemingly arbitrary set of checks and balances to make sense of the chaos around them.

Homeland Shot over the course of several years, this rich and engaging documentary weaves together the stories of four Lakota Indian families from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Laid to Waste This acclaimed documentary is the best case study of environmental injustice and racism available on video. It exposes the ugly underbelly of environmental racism and provides an excellent illustration of grassroots organizing and networking.

The Last Stand: Ancient Redwoods and the Bottom Line This powerful and thought-provoking documentary explores the dramatic history of the 15-year battle to save the last remaining ancient redwoods in northern California's Headwaters Forest. This riveting history is one of junk bonds and endangered salmon, car bombs and clear-cuts, corporate takeovers, collusion, corruption, greed, and murder. It is also one of courage and conviction, vision and values.

Monkey Dance (Director's Version) This extraordinary documentary provides an illuminating and richly discussible case study of immigrant acculturation in contemporary America.

Monkey Dance (PBS Version) This extraordinary documentary provides an illuminating and richly discussible case study of immigrant acculturation in contemporary America.

Monuments Are for Men, Waffles Are for Women: Gender, Permanence and Impermanence The unwritten rules governing the traditional activities of men and women are sharply but subtly defined. Women's work has traditionally been repetitive and ongoing, and its end result short-lived and impermanent. In contrast, the activities of men are traditionally long-lived, durable, or permanent.

The New Los Angeles This engaging documentary explores the complexities of inclusion in Los Angeles -- the nation's largest "majority-minority" city and the city with the nation's largest divide between rich and poor.

No Place Like Home This brilliant documentary explores eight months in the life of a broken family in Seattle and powerfully depicts the cycles that keep families tied to poverty and violence from one generation to the next.

The Price of Renewal What are the challenges in crafting a vibrant urban village from an ethnically, culturally, and economically diverse population? This perceptive documentary examines complex issues of community development, philanthropy, and civic engagement by chronicling the long-term redevelopment of an older, deteriorating neighborhood called City Heights, often referred to as the Ellis Island of San Diego.

Radical Disciple: The Story of Father Pfleger Regarded as a hero by many and a renegade by some in the Catholic Church hierarchy, Michael Pfleger, longtime pastor of Chicago's St. Sabina parish, has consistently used the power of his pulpit to battle social inequity and engage in high profile campaigns to end drug-dealing, prostitution, and the exploitation of the poor by liquor and tobacco companies.

Rancho California (Por Favor) This thought-provoking, widely acclaimed visual essay provides a troubling journey through migrant farmworker camps in suburban southern California.

Ripe for Change This fascinating documentary explores the intersection of food and politics in California over the last 30 years. It illuminates the complex forces struggling for control of the future of California's agriculture, and provides provocative commentary by a wide array of eloquent farmers, prominent chefs, and noted authors and scientists.

Roots of Health This thought-provoking and insightful documentary employs incisive case studies from around the world to explore how people's health and well-being is primarily determined by where they live, their educational, social, and economic status, and the degree of control they have over their lives.

Six Billion and Beyond This thought-provoking documentary is, stated simply, the best and most comprehensive introduction available on video to the interconnected issues of population growth, economic development, equal rights and opportunities for women, and environmental protection around the world.

True-Hearted Vixens This remarkable documentary follows the fortunes of two women during the Women's Professional Football League's inaugural season of six exhibition games. One of the women is a young political consultant-turned linebacker and the other is an elite amateur basketball player and single mother taking a shot at wide receiver. Both traveled from afar, trading security and leaving jobs and loved ones for this long-shot at stardom.

Unfinished Symphony No public topic can ever be more timely than the debate over the nature and limits of liberty and the means by which citizens may oppose the policies of the government. And no documentary in recent memory so clearly and with such heartfelt eloquence poses the key questions and issues of this always-vital debate as does "Unfinished Symphony."

Waiting to Inhale: Marijuana, Medicine and the Law This provocative and powerful documentary explores the conflict over the legalization of medical marijuana in the United States. Ten states have passed legislation permitting the use of medical marijuana. Yet all marijuana use, cultivation, and possession -- for any reason -- remain illegal under federal law.

Woven Ways Filmed amid the dramatic landscapes of the Navajo reservation lands in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, this multifaceted documentary incisively explores the profound relationships between the Navajo people, their land, and their livestock, and examines how environmental issues now threaten the Navajo's health, culture, and well-being.