Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream. But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge...
A documentary series about the life of wild animals.
Many geneticists and archaeologists have long surmised that human life began in Africa. Dr. Spencer Wells, one of a group of scientists studying the origin of human life, offers evidence and theories to support such a thesis in this PBS special. He claims that Africa was populated by only a few thousand people that some deserted their homeland in a conquest that has resulted in global domination.
Armed with realistic bird puppets, trickster environmental activists pretend to be oil company Total—staging a satirical press conference to introduce “RéHabitat,” a program to rescue animals from the East African Oil Pipeline by relocating them to “more sustainable” habitats. Using humor and mischief, they expose a deadly ecological disaster in a zany effort to help #StopEACOP.
Shot with stunning elegance and clarity, NAKED SPACES explores the rhythm and ritual of life in the rural environments of six West African countries (Mauritania, Mali, Burkino Faso, Togo, Benin and Senegal). The nonlinear structure of NAKED SPACES challenges the traditions of ethnographic filmmaking, while sensuous sights and sounds lead the viewer on a poetic journey to the most inaccessible parts of the African continent: the private interaction of people in their living spaces.
Without a Fight is a feature length documentary film that explores how soccer can facilitate social change in Kibera, one of Africa's largest slums. Footage of violent clashes fueled by polarizing national presidential elections is intertwined with profiles of youth from different religious and ethnic backgrounds as they navigate daily life and prepare for the final championship soccer game of the season. The film provides a glimpse-often a very positive one-into an Africa few have seen. It attempts to break stereotypes associated with people who live in extreme poverty while depicting sports as a tool that could be used to prevent violence among at-risk youth. The film made its World Premiere at the 11 MM Festival in Berlin, Germany in March 2012 and its North American Premiere at the Full Frame Documentary Festival in Durham, NC in April 2012. - Written by Beth-Ann Kutchma
Africa, that huge drop of strange land that hangs from Europe, resembles in many ways that road that only takes the railway route teaching you the back room of factories and cities. Here you can see the planet from behind the scenes. In the African situation, imposed by the rich countries of the north, all the defects of capitalism are condensed and the true nature of the world order is in this disaster.
A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.
Maura is a black woman, mother of 7 children and recyclable material collector in one of the largest cities in Latin America. While she works hard to maintain herself, she has to deal with prejudice, invisibility and the ignorance of those who do not recognize the value and important role of the recyclable material collector bring to the city, as an environmental agent.
A Luta Continua explains the military struggle of the Liberation Front of Mozambique (FRELIMO) against the Portuguese. Produced and narrated by American activists Robert Van Lierop, it details the relationship of the liberation to the wider regional and continental demands for self-determination against minority rule. It notes the complicit roles of foreign governments and companies in supporting Portugal against the African nationalists. Footage from the front lines of the struggle helps contextualize FRELIMO's African socialist ideology, specifically the role of the military in building the new nation, a commitment to education, demands for sexual equality, the introduction of medical aid into the countryside, and the role of culture in creating a single national identity.
An Austrian director followed five successful African music and dance artists with his camera and followed their lives for a year. The artists, from villages in Ghana, Gambia and Congo, were the subjects of Africa! Africa! touring across Europe, but they have unbreakable roots to their homeland and their families. Schmiderer lovingly portrays his heroes, who tell their stories about themselves, their art and what it means to them to be African with captivating honesty. The interviews are interwoven with dance scenes and colourful vignettes set to authentic music.
Five years ago Kisilu, a Kenyan farmer, started to use his camera to capture the life of his family, his village and the damages of climate change. When a violent storm throws him and a Norwegian filmmaker together we see him transform from a father, to a community leader and activist on the global stage.
Working as a designer for a clothing company, Song-mi, feeling skeptical about her heavy workload and repetitive daily life, decides to quit her job and become a freediving underwater performer. As she went deeper into her sea, Songmi felt that her body and mind, which had been weary of her, were healed. In order to return this 'gift of healing' she received from her sea, she challenges a special underwater performance with installation artist Boseong and aqua aerobics instructor Doui. Youth campaigns in Jeju, Palau and Cebu. The silent cry of a mermaid trapped in a plastic forest in the middle of the Pacific Ocean now throws a strong warning to our oceans.
Directed by François Woukoache.
A race is on to save Gabon’s Moukalaba-Doudou National Park and the silverback gorillas that call it home. Once, this area was protected by a thriving oil industry, but now, big companies are moving out and the logging industry is poised to move in. Ecotourism could be the only way to prevent the trees of this rainforest from coming down, but a team of conservationists needs to make the gorillas of Gabon tolerant of humans first. Follow them as they get up-close with the gorillas, study their moves, and journey to war-torn Central African Republic to learn the secrets of successful gorilla habituation.
Hans Schomburgk reflects on his life as a researcher. He recounts experiences, adventures, and insights he has gathered over the course of 60 years between Cape Town and Congo. The film shows the changes that Africa has undergone in terms of nature and culture during this period, comparing yesterday and today.
“Harry & Meghan: An African Journey" features unprecedented access and exclusive interview with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex about the challenges they face living in the public eye.
In this comedic travelogue movie, filmmaker Alex Suszko ventures to the country of Mauritius where he attempts to understand the cultural differences as a lower-middle class American abroad.
Les Libeterres
Few can resist Venice's magical allure, but with more than 14 million visitors a year, Italy's glorious city of canals faces a number of threats. This documentary examines issues at the heart of Venice's precarious future. Interviews reveal a city in crisis -- politician Roberto plans to modernize Venice, while environmentalist Paolo wages a battle against tourist power-boat shuttles and Michela tries to maintain Venice's residential population.