Arguing that advertising not only sells things, but also ideas about the world, media scholar Sut Jhally offers a blistering analysis of commercial culture's inability to let go of reactionary gender representations. Jhally's starting point is the breakthrough work of the late sociologist Erving Goffman, whose 1959 book The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life prefigured the growing field of performance studies. Jhally applies Goffman's analysis of the body in print advertising to hundreds of print ads today, uncovering an astonishing pattern of regressive and destructive gender codes. By looking beyond advertising as a medium that simply sells products, and beyond analyses of gender that tend to focus on either biology or objectification, The Codes of Gender offers important insights into the social construction of masculinity and femininity, the relationship between gender and power, and the everyday performance of cultural norms.
An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.
An intimate look at the human faces of America's current opioid epidemic. Seen through the eyes of a mother and the lens of a small town.
Stalin’s statue in the garden of a nunnery provokes discussion – plenty of it – in a small Georgian village. Some of the locals used to know Stalin personally because he visited the village several times when he was young, and they continue to see him as a benign ruler from the good old days rather than the brutal dictator he was. Whenever an episode of purge shook the Soviet Union’s republics, they hid the statue in the woods. The church also plays an important role in people’s lives. All in all, the film reveals a fundamental conflict in Georgian society.
Seven activists from Hong Kong joint the global fight against the G8 Summit in Hokkaido Japan 2008. Given the fact that global warming, labor and energy issues were discussed and covered by mainstream media, they tried to get their voice heard to the leaders at the Windsor Hotel in Toyako (The Toya Lake), but they experienced hospitality of Japanese police brutality from the city rallies to the protest in the mountains.
Ten years after the film Home (2009), Yann Arthus-Bertrand looks back, with Legacy, on his life and fifty years of commitment. It's his most personal film. The photographer and director tells the story of nature and man. He also reveals a suffering planet and the ecological damage caused by man. He finally invites us to reconcile with nature and proposes several solutions
Card games have been delighting people all over the world for over 800 years. What is the secret of Jack, Queen, King and Ace? Is poker a game of luck or a game of skill? And why has there always been an air of wickedness about it?
A documentary on the late American entertainer Dean Reed, who became a huge star in East Germany after settling there in 1973.
From masterminding Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential win to his insurgent role in the 2024 race, Democratic strategist James Carville has been one of the most influential forces in modern political history. The “Ragin’ Cajun” looks back at his unlikely career and 30-year marriage to Republican consultant Mary Matalin. Featuring interviews with Bill Clinton, George Stephanopoulos and more.
Character assassination. Political assassination. Legal assassination. An actual assassination attempt. They will try anything to stop Trump. We can’t let them!
What would American democracy look like in the hands of teenage girls? In this documentary, young female leaders from wildly different backgrounds in Missouri navigate an immersive experiment to build a government from the ground up.
On September 16, 2022, in Teheran, the murder by police of the young Mahsa Amini, arrested for "wearing a headscarf contrary to the law", sparked off an unprecedented insurrection. Within hours, a spontaneous movement formed around the rallying cry: "Woman, life, freedom". For the first time, women, joined by men and students, took the initiative and removed their veils, the hated symbol of the Islamic Republic. The Iranian population, from all regions and social categories, rose up in protest. Social networks went wild. The diaspora (between 5–8 million Iranians) took up the cause, and the whole world discovered the scale of this mobilization: could the theocratic regime be overthrown this time?
What does the looming A.I. revolution mean for us as individuals and as a society?
Passionate about ocean life, a filmmaker sets out to document the harm that humans do to marine species — and uncovers an alarming global conspiracy.
Un jour, je serai docteur
More faithful than ever to the spirit of the cult series that has been inspiring filmmakers for nearly thirty years, STRIP-TEASE INTEGRAL offers us, this time on the big screen, five sensitive, touching, sometimes absurd, often funny, sometimes dark, sometimes bright - but always the vanities of human society in all their marvelous banality.
A Black American is troubled by the legacy of American slavery and the misuse of Christianity to justify it. He travels throughout Texas discovering how the Juneteenth reveals faith and a fight for freedom in an unjust society.
Xan García, in search of the meaning of things, interviews 13 classmates to discuss and reflect on life. They talk about death, love, happiness, and life itself. Finally, upon finishing high school, the 13 participants say goodbye and embrace the future that awaits them: the adult world. "An exhilarating story" - Ian Porto
Mystifications
They are the secret protagonists of world history: dogs that became famous alongside powerful masters and mistresses. A four-legged friend helps to cultivate an image and can, depending on the calculations, make its owner appear sympathetic or threatening. In England, however, prime ministers have to get used to a cat...