Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more -- culled from 19 years of his life.
'Don't build prisons, they cost too much!' In this era of Great Recession, the conservative and tough-on-crime State of Texas takes an unprecedented path by becoming a social justice leader with programs that rehabilitate offenders. Looks like rape, abuse and death are no longer parts of the solution for modern-day Bonnie and Clyde...
A behind-the-scenes look inside the case to overturn California's ban on same-sex marriage. Shot over five years, the film follows the unlikely team that took the first federal marriage equality lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court.
When international sport governing bodies rule that 'identified' female athletes must medically alter their healthy bodies under the guise of fair play, four champion runners from the Global South fight back against racism, the policing of women's bodies in sport, and the violation of their human rights.
The Last of the Little Breweries, a student film documenting the history of the Spoetzel Brewery in Lavaca County, Texas, was produced and directed by University of Texas at Austin student Frank Binney (later a professor in the Radio-Television-Film Department) in 1976. Tracing Bavarian-born brewmaster Kosmos Spoetzel's journey through Egypt, Canada, and San Francisco before landing in Shiner, Texas, in 1915, it won an Achievement Award in documentary at the 4th Annual Student Film Awards (now known as the Student Academy Awards) in 1977.
The intimate life of the mythical Candy Dubois, from her childhood in a correctional facility to her success with the "Blue Ballet" in the great "BIM BAM BUM".
On August 1, 1942, a 22-year-old Mexican American man was stabbed to death at a party. To white Los Angelenos, the murder was just more proof that Mexican American crime was spiraling out of control. The police fanned out across LA, netting 600 young Mexican American suspects. Almost all those taken into custody were wearing the distinctive uniform of their generation: Zoot Suits. The tragic murder and the injustice of the trial that followed, coupled with sensational news coverage of both, fanned the flames of the racial hostility that was already running rife in the city. Within months of the verdict, Los Angeles was in the grip of some of the worst violence in its history.
Rosa is a Mexican woman who, at the age of 17, migrated illegally to Austin, Texas. Some years later, she was jailed under suspicion of murder and then taken to trial. This film demonstrates how the judicial process, the verdict, the separation from her family, and the helplessness of being imprisoned in a foreign country make Rosa’s story an example of the hard life of Mexican migrants in the United States.
In American Sign Language (ASL) with subtitles available in English, Spanish and Canadian French. This powerful documentary uses real life experiences from Deaf people of varied social, racial, and educational boundaries showing how this form of oppression does lasting and harmful damage. Bonus materials include directors' comments from Ben Bahan and H-Dirksen Bauman and additional scences. Teachers: This film is a wonderful tool for beginning ASL students, as an introduction to a side of Deaf culture that cannot be found in any textbook.
An atypical portrait of singer, songwriter, poet Georges Brassens.
The only thing colder than a Canadian winter is Canadian bureaucracy (probably). Based on five real life stories, Romy Boutin St-Pierre and Joe Nadeau pay homage to the nation-wide stress headache of phone calls with the government in this surprising short.
Filmmaker S.R. Bindler profiles Texas contestants trying to win a truck by keeping one hand on it longer than everyone else.
The nostalgic retrospective of the time from a very candid perspective, over five chapters.
Narratives of Modern Genocide challenges the audience to experience first-person accounts of survivors of genocide. Sichan Siv and Gilbert Tuhabonye share how they escaped the killing fields of Cambodia, and the massacre of school children in Burundi. Mixing haunting animation, and expert context the film confronts our notion that the holocaust was the last genocide.
Documenta 1955
Women are sexually insulted and threatened by men every day. Experts around the world are registering an anti-feminist backlash that seems to be on the verge of becoming socially acceptable. Particularly affected: women in publicly visible positions – such as politicians, actresses or entrepreneurs. Who is behind the attacks and what are the motives?
Chicano is an exploration between the similarities and differences between Chicano culture in America and Japan, and how the scene is not all about gang culture, but has a deep-seated root in family values.
Denise, Hannah and Leticia are three ordinary women with extraordinary stories to tell. As transgender people, they talk about the challenges of finding their true identities within an intolerant and prejudiced society.
Born Norma Jean Baker, actress Marilyn Monroe would become one of the most iconic and desirable women in the world. From her humble beginnings, to her USO performances, to her now-famous pin-up photographs and award-winning acting roles, Marilyn made her mark as the most beautiful blonde bombshell of her day. However, behind her beauty, Marilyn suffered a tragic private life.
In 1972, Moody Anderson bought a ghost town and brought it back to life. Nearly four decades later, Moody faces the heart-wrenching task of dismantling and selling his collection of Americana artifacts used in hundreds of films, from Lonesome Dove and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to the Coen Brothers' remake of True Grit.