Behind the Screens, Hollywood Goes Hypercommercial

Hollywood movies are rapidly becoming vehicles for the ulterior marketing and advertising motives of studios and their owners, rather than entertainment in their own right. Behind the Screens explores this trend toward "hypercommercialism" through phenomena such as product placement, tie-ins, merchandising and cross-promotions. It combines multiple examples taken directly from the movies with incisive interviews provided by film scholars, cultural critics, political economists, and an Oscar-nominated screenwriter. Behind the Screens presents an accessible argument designed for school and college-age audiences-- precisely the demographic most prized by both Hollywood studios and advertisers alike. It features examples drawn from movies such as Wayne's World, Forrest Gump, The Lion King, Summer of Sam, and Toy Story.

2000-01-01 | en

Katharine Hepburn: All About Me

In a rare interview, Katharine Hepburn shares her memories and memorabilia.

1993-01-18 | en

A Documentary on the Making of 'Gore Vidal's Caligula'

A Documentary on the Making of 'Gore Vidal's Caligula'

1981-01-01 | en

Understanding The Georgian Republic

1993-02-08 | fr

Word Wars

The classic board game, Scrabble, has been popular for decades. In addition, there are fanatics who devote heart and soul to this game to the expense of everything else. This film profiles a group of these enthusiasts as they converge for a Scrabble convention where the word game is almost a bloodsport.

2004-05-28 | en

Jimi Hendrix: The Road to Woodstock

The definitive documentary record of one of Jimi Hendrix's most celebrated performances. It includes such signature songs as Purple Haze, Voodoo Child (Slight Return) and his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, as well as interviews with Woodstock promoter Michael Lang and Hendrix band members Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, Larry Lee and Juma Sultan among others.

2014-01-10 | en

Frontrunners

A documentary on the competition for student body president at New York's Stuyvesant High School. As the notoriously competitive school's election draws near, the campaign becomes a microcosm for the nation at large, with race, gender and appearance vying for attention with real issues.

2008-10-15 | en

Facing Ali

Ten of Muhammad Ali's former rivals pay tribute to the three-time world heavyweight champion.

2009-05-29 | en

Earth Under Water

Miami, New Orleans and New York City completely under water it’s a very real possibility if sea levels continue to rise. In Earth Under Water we’ll see these events unfold as leading experts forecast how mankind will be impacted if global warming continues. They’ll break down the science behind these predictions and explore ways humanity could adapt, including engineering vast dams near San Francisco, or building floating cities outside of New York.

2010-12-01 | en

Neither Old Nor Traitors

Pierre Carles and Georges Minangoy go to meet former French and Catalan partisans engaged in the anti-Franco anarchist struggle of the 1970s.

2006-01-01 | fr

J.G. Ballard: The Future Is Now

The Future Is Now was produced for Swedish television and has Ballard as the only protagonist and his house as the main decoration.

1998-01-01 | sv

Memoirs of a Spectrum Addict

Memoirs of a Spectrum Addict is a full length documentary feature film which takes a detailed look at the ZX Spectrum, its history, developers, games and fans. The film is a unique tribute to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Memoirs of a Spectrum Addict has re-enactments, interviews like you’ve never seen before with major Spectrum industry figures, and features real people who grew up influenced by the Sinclair ZX Spectrum!

2017-07-01 | en

Morgan Freeman: Breaking Barriers

Perhaps it is his distinctive velvet smooth voice and calming demeanor that made Morgan Freeman a household name. World-renowned actor, Freeman has starred in over 100 movies in just three decades and continues to break barriers.

2021-01-01 | en

The Farm: 10 Down

One decade after THE FARM: ANGOLA, USA (Oscar nominated 1999; two-time Emmy winner 1999), we go back inside Louisiana's maximum security penitentiary, to catch up with our characters' lives. While the theme of THE FARM was "to err is human, to forgive divine", we now delve more deeply and find hope for "reconciliation and release". Angola is America's oldest and largest prison, with 5,000 inmates, most of whom have received life -, or death-, sentences for violent crimes, and will never leave Angola. THE FARM continues to provide extraordinary opportunities for learning through storytelling.

2009-11-20 | en

After Haiyan

'After Haiyan' is a short film about the challenges faced by the Deaf community in Tacloban, Philippines accessing disaster relief, medical care, and basic services after Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda.

2014-11-17 | en

A Drop of Sunshine

Schizophrenia. It may be one word, but it immediately conjures up multiple connotations. Mad. Incurable. Violent. Suicidal. Chemical imbalances. Crazy. A lifelong condition. Inevitable dependency on Medicines. Dark. Terrible. 'A Drop of Sunshine' challenges these notions. It questions the mainstream view of the condition and seeks alternate ways of recovering from it. Through the powerful story of its young and gutsy protagonist, Reshma Valiappan, it seeks to give viewers a new vocabulary to address the stigmatized mental illness. The film proposes that the only treatment method that can work in Schizophrenia is one where the so-called 'patient' is encouraged and empowered to become an equal partner in the process of healing.

2011-08-04 | en

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait

A documentary about the classic 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' film, including interviews with Gunnar Hansen, Edwin Neal, John Dugan and Jim Siedow.

1988-01-01 | en

Barão Vermelho: Por que a gente é assim?

A documentary about Barão Vermelho, one of Brazil's most famous rock bands during the 1980s, following its steps through archive footage and interviews with all of its remaining members and associated parties.

2017-05-08 | pt

Joseph Cornell: Worlds in a Box

This is a 1991 documentary film about the legendary artist and filmmaker, Joseph Cornell, who made those magnificent and strange collage boxes. He was also one of our great experimental filmmakers and once apparently made Salvador Dali extremely jealous at a screening of his masterpiece, Rose Hobart. In this film we get to hear people like Susan Sontag, Stan Brakhage, and Tony Curtis talk about their friendships with the artist. It turns out that Curtis was quite a collector and he seemed to have a very deep understanding of what Cornell was doing in his work.

1991-11-29 | en

Pierre Bonnard : les couleurs de l'intime

How did Bonnard, one of the great masters of 20th-century painting, a secretive, anxious man with an ordinary everyday life, become this undisputed painter of intimacy, capable of transforming reality into a unique and incandescent world? Through his paintings, but also his private journals, his correspondence with Matisse and Vuillard, the photographs he loved, and the places where he lived, the film immerses us in the world of this master of color.

2015-01-01 | fr