This short travelogue depicts snippets of locations in Hollywood, California, most of them as seen from the streets. Considerable time is taken showing the kinds of architecture of private homes. There are images of various important buildings, and a depiction of the Hollywood Bowl. Finally, there is a sequence revolving around the premiere of the film “Dirigible” (1931) at the famed Chinese Theatre.
Ridley Scott's cult film Blade Runner, based on a novel by Philip K. Dick and released in 1982, is one of the most influential science fiction films ever made. Its depiction of Los Angeles in the year 2019 is oppressively prophetic: climate catastrophe, increasing public surveillance, powerful monopolistic corporations, highly evolved artificial intelligence; a fantastic vision of the future world that has become a frightening reality.
Many consider the 1971-72 World Champion Los Angeles Lakers one of the greatest teams in the history of the NBA. But despite a remarkable run to the title that included a record 33-game winning streak, this group was the unlikeliest of champions.
A documentary film about the Afro-American Woodstock concert held in Los Angeles seven years after the Watts riots. Director Mel Stuart mixes footage from the concert with footage of the living conditions in the current-day Watts neighborhood.
A documentary film that highlights two street derived dance styles, Clowning and Krumping, that came out of the low income neighborhoods of L.A.. Director David LaChapelle interviews each dance crew about how their unique dances evolved. A new and positive activity away from the drugs, guns, and gangs that ruled their neighborhood. A raw film about a growing sub-culture movements in America.
Mitrice Richardson, a lovely 24 year old African-American woman, was released late at night from the Malibu, California Sheriffs jail after having been detained for not paying her bill at an upscale restaurant. She was described as 'acting crazy' and, in fact, was having a mental crisis. She was released into the mountainous region with no cell, no purse, no ID, no car, no way home and vanished. Eleven months later her remains were found in a desolate Malibu canyon. 'Lost Compassion,' shot from ten days after Mitrice went missing, tells the complex, emotional inside story of the search for Mitrice and struggles with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, whose deputies lied about her arrest and likely were involved with her disappearance and murder.
While the world around it has changed dramatically, The Rainbow Bar and Grill has remianed as one of the last bastions of true Rock n' Roll on Hollywood's famed Sunset Strip. Legendary musicians recount their stories from the iconic venue.
Keith Hetherington and Dorothy Gardiner travel to a different and unannounced location of interest every week, the program here presents a "live," behind-the-scenes look at the shooting of the 1950 George Pal film "Destination Moon".
Bling Bling
The history and enduring legacy of one of the world's biggest and most influential radio stations.
Twenty-five years after the verdict in the Rodney King trial sparked several days of protests, violence and looting in Los Angeles, LA 92 immerses viewers in that tumultuous period through stunning and rarely seen archival footage.
Rate It X is a bitingly funny and disarming journey through the landscape of American sexism. Men only are interviewed by the two filmmakers in a witty montage of free-wheeling encounters. Pornographers, corporate executives, a funeral parlor director and Santa Claus are among those who reveal more than they intended. A surprisingly candid view of men's feelings towards women 15 years after the birth of the women's movement.
“Set against the rattle of shopping carts and the white noise of L.A. traffic... “Disco’d” is an unvarnished, moving look at the lives affected by the rising crisis of homelessness.” —Los Angeles Times
In 2012 Dalya and her mother Rudayna fled Aleppo for Los Angeles as war took over. Months before, Rudayna learns a secret that destroys her marriage, leaving her single at midlife. Arriving in LA, Dalya enrolls as the only Muslim at Holy Family Catholic High School. Can mother and daughter remake themselves while holding on to their Islamic traditions?
An in-depth look at the culture of Los Angeles in the ten years leading up to the 1992 uprising that erupted after the verdict of police officers cleared of beating Rodney King.
HISTORY brings you an all-encompassing documentary event cantered around the 25th anniversary of the LA Riots, the most destructive riot in American history that left 53 people dead and caused over a billion dollars in damage.
Film archivist and former director of the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival Jenni Olson created this fast-paced and often funny, campy 75-minute film comprised entirely of spliced together movie trailers. Some of the segments have themes such as a breezy look back at John Travolta's career that includes trailers from such films as Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive, Grease, Perfect, and Moment by Moment. Other trailers include Mae West in Sextette, the disco camper Thank God It's Friday, Raquel Welch in Kansas City Bomber, Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew and the rarely seen Chastity, the serious acting debut of Cher.
To popularize the idea of automobile travel, Ford Motor Company produced Ford Educational Weekly, a film magazine distributed free to theaters. One 1916 series featured "Visits to American Cities." In this episode, Los Angeles is featured at the very beginning of the boom created by oil, movies and aircraft. On the occasion of its centennial in 1953, Ford donated its film to the National Archives and Records Service; this copy derives from a fine grain master printed from the Archive's preservation negative. Music by Frederick Hodges.
Mixing archival footage with interviews, this film celebrates one of Los Angeles's most influential painters and Chicano art activists from the 1970s.
The Los Angeles punk music scene circa 1980 is the focus of this film. With Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X.