Cooked: Survival by Zip Code

This 1978 documentary classic is an inside look at the old-style Chicago Machine politics of the Richard J. Daley era, where Alderman Vito Marzullo ran his West Side 25th Ward virtually unchallenged from 1953-1985.

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.

Summaries "The John Wayne Gacy Murders: Life and Death in Chicago", Focuses on serial killer John Wayne Gacy's time in Chicago and includes information about Gacy's childhood, his career of crime in Waterloo, Iowa, and Gacy's becoming a celebrity in prison. Containing interviews with Chicago attorneys, news reporters, law enforcement officers, and history experts, the film illustrates what the atmosphere was like in Chicago when Gacy was murdering and ultimately apprehended. Gacy's time in prison as a celebrity serial killer is also explored in this groundbreaking film by Chicago native filmmaker John Borowski. —John Borowski

While gun violence was on the decline in most major US cities, why did it continue to increase in Chicago's segregated communities? What is known about the systems that created the problem, the laws that isolated it, and the policies that abandoned it? Using dramatic footage, including interviews with residents on the front lines over the last 15 years, this documentary opens a rare historical window into the systematic creation of poverty stricken communities plagued by gun violence. 

Global warming in context. What the climate of the past tells us about the climate of the future.

Gátak és emberek

Through never-been-seen-before footage and fascinating interviews with key members of the 1985 Chicago Bears -- Mike Ditka, Jim McMahon, Mike Singletary, and others -- you will hear the inside story of their historic season.

1960s Chicago, a baby is kidnapped from a hospital. Fifteen months later, a toddler is abandoned. Could he be the same baby? In a tale of breathtaking twists and turns, two mysteries begin to unravel and dark family secrets are revealed.

This video presents a look at the forces of nature in their most devastating mode: lightning storms, tornadoes, flash floods, tidal waves, and hurricanes. The film, made for The Discovery Channel, accompanies professional storm chasers as they ride into the eye of a category five hurricane to gather data and get a close-up view. There is footage of a tornado with 300-mile-per-hour winds, as well as 100-foot tidal waves hurtling towards shore at 500 miles per hour. The viewer witnesses a flash flood and hears an interview with a lightning strike survivor.

TMB (The Merry Band of time travelers) made their first appearance in the 2019 book The Mystery of The Patch. In the book, they assisted Captain John White, solve the mystery of the mysterious patch, on his map, which was discovered in 2012 by The First Colony Foundation and The British Museum. This short, animated, stop motion film tells the 5-year history of this charming group of characters. It contains scenes of their first public appearance, at the 2021 Kansas City Renaissance festival, through a combination of live action and animation.

"Trouble the Water" takes you inside Hurricane Katrina in a way never before seen on screen. The film opens the day before the storm makes landfall--just blocks away from the French Quarter but far from the New Orleans that most tourists knew. Kimberly Rivers Roberts, an aspiring rap artist, is turning her new video camera on herself and her Ninth Ward neighbors trapped in the city. Weaving an insider's view of Katrina with a mix of verité and in-your-face filmmaking, it is a redemptive tale of self-described street hustlers who become heroes--two unforgettable people who survive the storm and then seize a chance for a new beginning.

In this special documentary that inspired a two-season television series, scientists and other experts speculate about what the Earth, animal life, and plant life might be like if, suddenly, humanity no longer existed, as well as the effect humanity's disappearance might have on the artificial aspects of civilization.

Jim Geiger, a retired forest ranger and amateur mountaineer, attempts to become the oldest American and first great grandfather to summit Mt. Everest, aged 68. His transformation from a weekend hiker to attempting one of the most extreme and physically demanding feats known to man is driven by a desire to prove that age is just a number. What ensued, however, forever changed Jim's life.

Tito del Amo, a passionate 72-year-old researcher, takes the final step to unravel the enigma about the alleged Spanish origin of the American cartoonist Walt Disney, making the same journey that his supposed mother made to give him up for adoption in Chicago. A journey that begins in Mojácar, Almería, Spain, and ends in New York. An exciting adventure, like Alicia's through the looking glass, to discover what is truth and what is not, with an unexpected result.

Documentary film exploring the lives of the people at the flashpoint of the LA riots, 25 years after the uprising made national headlines and highlighted the racial divide in America.

When a devastating famine descended on Soviet Russia in 1921, it was the worst natural disaster in Europe since the Black Plague in the Middle Ages. Examine Herbert Hoover’s American Relief Administration—an operation hailed for its efficiency, grit and generosity. By the summer of 1922, American kitchens were feeding nearly 11 million Soviet citizens a day.

On December 9, 2019, New Zealand's most active volcano erupted, engulfing 47 day trippers in a toxic ash cloud. 21 lost their lives that day and in the following weeks. Whakaari: A Heroes' Story paints a picture of the chaos and the bravery, and the complex rescue mission to save those stranded on the island.

As Cyclone Remal approached, we arrived in Debpur village of Dhankhali Upazila, Bangladesh. What struck us immediately was the stark contrast between the official warnings of impending devastation and the villagers' apparent lack of preparedness. Over the following days, amidst the unfolding chaos, we documented the lives of individuals as they grappled with the imminent threat of destruction. The film captures the overbearing anxiety that grips entire communities in the face of an approaching cyclone. Through intimate encounters, and candid interviews, we witness firsthand the resilience and fear of those directly in Remal's path. Their voices echo the overwhelming power of nature and the human spirit in adversity.

An investigation into our landscape's hidden fire stories and on-the-ground experiences of firefighters and residents struggling through deadly fires.

A compilation of various accidents, disasters, executions, and other acts of mayhem and human feats caught on film.