California's Golden Beginning

Designing with Nature provides a vivid account of a pivotal chapter in the architectural history of Northern California. Set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the documentary examines the work of several major architects who were influenced by Arts and Crafts ideals, as well as by the reformist ethos of the Progressive Era. These designers sought to create an architecture suited to the landscape, climate, and emerging culture of the region. Rejecting Victorian excess and the artificial separation of art and craft, they strove to create an organic architecture based on unified design and harmony with nature.

PURSUING BEAUTY: The Architecture of Bernard Maybeck tells the story of a 19th century romantic who used 20th century materials to create buildings that speak across time. The body of work that Maybeck created is remarkably diverse - by turns antique and modern, rustic and refined, theatrical and sublime. His projects reveal an original vision, a reverence for nature, a commitment to community, and a deep and abiding love of beauty. Over twenty of Maybeck's important works are featured in Pursuing Beauty, including his best known project, the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Also seen are Hearst Hall at the University of California; Wyntoon in Siskiyou County: the George Boke, Andrew Lawson, J.H. Senger, and Albert Schneider houses, all in Berkeley; the Samuel Goslinsky and Leon Roos houses in San Francisco; First Church of Christ Scientist in Berkeley; the Guy Hyde Chick House in Oakland; and several buildings at Principia College in Elsah, Illinois.

This moving, family documentary goes behind the scenes at The Big Bear Alpine Zoo, which is only one of two high elevation, Alpine Zoos in the United States.

Produced by the Army Pictorial Service, Signal Corps, with the cooperation of the Army Air Forces and the United States Navy, and released by Warner Bros. for the War Activities Committee shortly after the surrender of Japan. Follow General Douglas MacArthur and his men from their exile from the Philippines in early 1942, through the signing of the instrument of surrender on the USS Missouri on September 1, 1945. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.

A portal, a sorceress, a fictional device to portray existence as a moment encapsulated inside an instantaneous photograph to present fragmented biographical elements —family disintegration, rootlessness, scars, two loyal companions, the promises of a new land—subverting the notion of a home-movie and transform it into a pilgrimage tool of self-discovery, mirroring the fragile nature of memories.

Satyajit Ray's poetic documentary was commissioned by the Chogyal (King) of Sikkim at a time when he felt the sovereignty of Sikkim was under threat from both China and India. Ray's documentary is about the sovereignty of Sikkim. The film was banned by the government of India when Sikkim merged with India in 1975. The ban was finally lifted by the Ministry of External Affairs in September 2010. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2007.

The Beach Boys - California Surfin

Short film about the Manzanar Japanese American internment camp. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2011.

Primary is a documentary film about the primary elections between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in 1960. Primary is the first documentary to use light equipment in order to follow their subjects in a more intimate filmmaking style. This unconventional way of filming created a new look for documentary films where the camera’s lens was right in the middle of what ever drama was occurring. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 1998.

Choppers, let's ride

Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. Gates and Agee dream of NBA stardom, and with the support of their close-knit families, they battle the social and physical obstacles that stand in their way. This acclaimed documentary was shot over the course of five years.

One of Les Blank's industrial films, which follows a Holly Farms "broiler" chicken from factory incubation to the county fair barbecue pit. A hilarious, disturbing and surreal look at a large-scale chicken farm producing 156 million chickens a year! Film includes lots of chicken songs and music recorded live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.

Footage of nude and clothing-optional beaches in California set to a calming soundtrack.

The Town was a short propaganda film produced by the Office of War Information in 1945. It presents an idealized vision of American life, shown in microcosm by Madison, Indiana. It was created primarily for exhibition abroad, to provide international audiences a more well-rounded view of America, and was therefore produced in more than 20 translations. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

Les Blank's poetic documentation of 1967's Los Angeles Easter Sunday Love-In. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2002.

A film's art director is in charge of the set, from conception to construction to furnishing. This short film walks the viewer through art directors' responsibilities and the demands on their talents. They read a script carefully and design a set to capture the time and place, the social strata, and the mood. They must be scholars of the history of architecture, furnishings, and fashion. They choose the colors on a set in anticipation of the lighting and the mood. Their work also sets styles, from Art Deco in the 20's to 30s modernism. Then it's on to the next project. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

Isolated in Mexican South Baja California desert, exciting and fragile, rancher´s life is showed by amazing as unknown characters.

Tells the story of the fierce battle of survival waged by plant life, animals and human beings on the desert. Shows where the desert areas of the world are located and why they are barren wastelands.

Pictures Southern California as the area in America most like the Mediterranean lands in climate. Shows that the two areas produce similar crops.

Home movie collection of the Bohulano Family of Stockton, CA. Footage dates between the 1950s-1970s.