Daring Documentaries
Truth can be stranger - and more entertaining - than fiction.
To borrow DVDs find the case on the shelf in the 2nd floor A/V section and take it to the circ desk. To find VHS videotapes, take the title and call number to the circulation desk.
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Trembling Before G_d (DVD)
A fearless, unprecedented documentary that shatters
assumptions about faith, sexuality, and religious
fundamentalism. Intimately told stories of Hasidic and
Orthodox Jews who are gay or lesbian, the film portrays
people who face a profound dilemma.
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Super Size Me (DVD)
Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock embarks on a journey to find
out if fast food is making Americans fat. For 30 days
he can't eat or drink anything that isn't on McDonald's
menu; he must eat three square meals a day, he must eat
everything on the menu at least once and supersize his
meal if asked. He treks across the country interviewing
a host of experts on fast food and a number of regular
folk while downing McDonald's to try and find out why
37% of American are now overweight.
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Capturing the Friedmans (DVD)
The Friedman's seem to be a typical family from
affluent Great Neck, Long Island. One Thanksgiving, as
the family gathers for a quiet holiday dinner, a police
battering ram splinters the front door and officers
rush inside. The police charge Arnold and his son Jesse
with hundreds of shocking crimes. As police
investigate, and the community reacts, the fabric of
the family begins to disintegrate, revealing questions
about justice, family and finally the truth. Sundance
Film Festival, 2003: Grand Jury Prize - Documentary
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Live Nude Girls Unite! (DVD)
Follows Julia Query-- performance artist & comic,
video producer & sometime peepshow stripper-- on
her journey to help organize the only strippers union
in the United States. When invited to speak at the
First International Conference on Prostitution, she
discovers that her mother, Dr. Joyce Wallace,
well-known for her pioneering work with prostitutes and
AIDS, is also scheduled to present at the conference.
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OutFoxed (DVD)
Documentary on the reported conservative bias of Rupert
Murdoch-owned Fox News Channel (FNC), which promotes
itself as "Fair and Balanced." Material includes
interviews with former FNC employees and the
inter-office memos they provided.
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The Atomic Cafe (DVD)
A compilation of archival film clips beginning with the
first atomic bomb detonation in the New Mexico desert.
The footage, much of it produced as government
propaganda, follows the story of the bomb through the
two atomic attacks on Japan that ended World War II to
the bomb's central role in the cold war. Shown along
with the famous 'duck and cover' Civil Defense films
are lesser-known clips, many of which possess a bizarre
black humor when seen today.
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Roger & Me
(DVD)
A documentary about Flint, Michigan native Michael
Moore and his efforts to meet with General Motors'
president Roger Smith in order to persuade the
executive to visit Flint, a city which is economically
depressed due to the closure of a General Motors plant.
Also available in
VHS
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Bowling for Columbine (DVD)
The United States of America is notorious for its
astronomical number of people killed by firearms for a
developed nation without a civil war. With his
signature sense of angry humor, activist filmmaker
Michael Moore sets out to explore the roots of this
bloodshed. Also available in
VHS
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Fahrenheit 9/11 (DVD)
Through actual footage, interviews, and declassified
documents, Michael Moore illustrates the connections
President Bush has to the royal house of Saud of Saudia
Arabia and the bin Laden's, questions how the president
got elected and takes a critical look at the motivation
and conduct of the war with Iraq.
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Hearts and Minds (DVD)
Examines the American involvement in Vietnam, and is a
chronicle of the war from a psychological perspective.
Includes interviews with General William Westmoreland,
former Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford, Senator
William Fulbright, Walt Rostow, and Daniel Ellsberg, as
well as American Vietnam veterans and Vietnamese
leaders. Presidents Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon
are shown in rare footage.
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Lessons of Darkness (DVD)
Lessons of darkness: A stirring documentary of 1992
post-Gulf War Kuwait, focusing on the oil well fires
ignited by retreating Iraqi soldiers. What resulted is
less a simple documentary about an environmental
catastrophe than an apocalyptic vision of hell, a
strangely beautiful portrait of a world on fire. Fata
Morgana: Herzog brings his cameras to the Sahara desert
in order to film mirages. He combines the apocalyptic,
often hallucinatory images of the desert with passages
from the Mayan creation myth, the Popol Vuh, set to
songs of Leonard Cohen.
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The War Room (DVD)
Documentary about the Clinton presidential campaign,
from the New Hampshire primary to the victory party 10
months later. At the center are the two men most
responsible for Clinton's victory- James Carville, the
campaign manager, and George Stephanopoulos, the
communications director. This is a compelling portrait
of the two men and the skill and determination required
to bring about a victory.
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Shoah (DVD)
The Nazi extermination of Jews is examined through
interviews of survivors, witnesses and perpetrators and
through footage of the sites of the death camps and
environs as they appear today. Those interviewed
include Jewish survivors of the death camps and the
Warsaw ghetto uprising, Polish farmers and villagers
who lived near the camps and Nazis who worked in the
camps and the ghettos.
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The Sorrow and the Pity (DVD)
Through interviews with participants and newsreel
footage, examines the occupation of France by the
Germans during World War II as it occurred in the
French city of Clermont-Ferrand. Concentrates on the
themes of collaboration and resistance.
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Battle of Algiers (DVD)
Focuses on the harrowing events of 1957, a key year in
Algeria's struggle for independence from France.
Recreates the tumultuous Algerian uprising against the
occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on
both sides, the French torture prisoners for
information and the Algerians resort to terrorism in
their quest for independence.
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Brother's Keeper (DVD)
Brother's Keeper tells the story of the "Ward Boys,"
four eccentric brothers who shared the same dilapidated
two-room shack for over 60 years. Living in isolation,
without heat or running water, these elderly bachelors
had virtually no contact with the outside world--until
one was found dead in the bed he shared with his
brother.
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Touching the Void (DVD)
In 1985, two young British friends travelled to a
remote corner of Peru. Ambitious mountaineers, their
aim was to conquer the unclimbed west face of a
notorious 21,000 ft. peak "Siula Grande". Their story
has become part of mountaineering legend.
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Winged Migration (DVD)
Follows bird migrations flying over the seven
continents: from one pole to the other, from the seas
to snowcapped mountains, from the canopy of heaven to
mangroves and swamps.
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Baraka (DVD)
A world wide odyssey to capture the images which
transcend language to tell the story of the earth's
evolution and of human diversity, interconnectedness
between humans and nature, and man's impact on the
surrounding world. Shot in 24 countries on six
continents.
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Koyaanisqatsi (DVD)
Koyaanisqatsi is a Hopi Indian word meaning
variously: crazy life, life in turmoil, life
disintegrating, life out of balance (the subtitle for
this film), and a state of life that calls for another
way of life. Presented by Francis Ford Coppola, this
creation of director Godfrey Reggio, cinematographer
Ron Fricke, and composer Philip Glass seems to flash by
your eyes but lingers in your mind.
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Powaqqatsi (DVD)
Another hypnotic collection of images from the makers
of Koyaanisqatsi. This film calls into
question everything we think we know about contemporary
society. By juxtaposing images of ancient cultures with
those of modern life, Powaqqatsi masterfully portrays
the human cost of progress.
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Keep the River on Your Right
(DVD)
Discusses the life of anthropologist and gay activist,
Tobias Schneebaum, and the time he spent among
cannibalistic tribes in the 1960s. Won Los Angeles
Independent Film Festival special critics award and the
Independent Spirt Award.
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The Eyes of Tammy Faye (DVD)
Focuses on Christian broadcasting personality Tammy
Faye Messner's life from the time she met Jim Bakker
until the scandal ridden fall of their PTL ministry.
Includes interviews.
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Crumb (DVD)
A hilarious and mysterious journey through artistic
genius and sexual obsession, Crumb is a wild ride
through the mind of R. Crumb--creator of Zap Comix, Mr.
Natural and Fritz the Cat.
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American Movie (DVD)
Documentary of the two-year effort by Mark Borchardt to
finish his "no-budget horror film, Coven." Sundance
Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary,
1999.
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Stanley Kubrick (DVD)
Documentary about the career of director Stanley
Kubrick, drawing on Kubrick archives and offering an
intimate portrait of his life among family and friends.
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BaadAssss Cinema (DVD)
Filmmaker Isaac Julien takes us back to the early 70s
and the explosion of blaxploitation films, today one of
American cinema's most beloved cult genres. The
original guilty pleasure, these fun and energetic films
had all the action, comedy, sex and groovy music you
could want in two hours worth of entertainment.
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The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story
(DVD)
The amazing story of Al Hirschfeld, creator of
thousands of famous drawings of celebrities for more
that sixty years and celebrates his many years of work
for The New York Times, where his drawings were a
centerpiece of the Sunday Arts section.
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Dogtown and Z-boys
The story of a gang of discarded kids who virtually
revolutionized skateboarding with an aggressive style,
awe-inspiring moves and street smarts, and in the
process, transforming youth culture forever. Captures
the rise of the Zephyr skateboarding team from Venice's
Dogtown, a tough "locals only" beach with a legacy of
outlaw surfing, who used abandoned swimming pools to
sharpen their skills.
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Lightning Over Water (DVD)
In 1979, Wim Wenders traveled to New York City to make
a film with legendary director Nicholas Ray. As Ray
lays dying of cancer, he reflects on his life and
career. The resulting film tells a moving story both
about friendship and a life in cinema.
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Don't Look Back (DVD)
Documentary filmed during Bob Dylan's 1965 English
concert tour. Includes portions of performances.
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Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould
(DVD)
Thirty-two vignettes, spanning pianist Glenn Gould's
life from age four until his death at fifty, give an
impressionistic depiction of his life.
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Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (DVD)
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was the most dazzling star of
Qawwali music, the religious chanting song form
emanating from the spiritual beliefs of the Sufis. In
this portrait, we are treated to concert performances
in Paris, Chicago and Pakistan, and intimate Qawwali
singing at home with members of Nusrat's talented
musical family.
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Best Boy: Best Man (DVD)
Best Boy follows Philly Wohl, a cheerful and
lovable 52 year old who's been mentally handicapped
since birth and still lives with his parents. When his
cousin, filmmaker Ira Wohl, questions what will happen
to Philly once his elderly parents can no longer care
for him, the family embarks on a mission to help Philly
become more independent. Best Man: follow-up
to Best boy which revisits Philly 20 years later.
Academy Award winner: Best Documentary Feature.
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Inside Tolkien's Lord of the Rings
(DVD)
Discover the secrets of Middle-earth on a unique
journey into the heart of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord
of the Rings. Includes: Inside The Hobbit
(v. 1), Inside The Fellowship of the Ring (v.
2), Inside The Two Towers (v. 3), and Inside
The Return of the King (v. 4).
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Making The Mahabharata (DVD)
Director Peter Brook, playwright and screenwriter
Jean-Claude Carrière and the international cast comment
on the making of the film and discuss the cultural and
historical contexts of the poem.
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Faith and Doubt at Ground
Zero
(DVD)
A film that illuminates the myriad spiritual questions
that have come out of the terror, pain, and destruction
of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in
New York, and explores how the spiritual lives of both
believers and non-believers have been challenged in the
aftermath of September 11 by questions of good and
evil, God's culpability, and the potential for darkness
within religion itself..
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Muslims (DVD)
Looks at what it means to be a Muslim in the 21st
century. Filmed in Egypt, Malaysia, Iran, Turkey,
Nigeria and the United States, this program explores
the influence of culture and politics on religion,
looks at the political forces at work among Muslims
around the world, emphasizes Islam's kinship with
Christianity and Judaism, and examines the diverse
interpretations of Islam among the Muslim people.
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4 Little Girls (DVD)
When a bomb tears through the basement of a black
Baptist church on a peaceful fall morning, it takes the
lives of four young girls; Denise McNair, Carole
Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Addie Mae Collins. This
racially motivated crime, taking place at a time when
the civil rights movement is burning with a new flame,
could have doused that flame forever. Instead it fuels
a nation's outrage and brings Birmingham, Alabama to
the forefront of America's concern.
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Waco: The Rules of
Engagement
(DVD)
A documentary film about the series of events that
occurred outside Waco, Texas in April 1993 in which 4
federal agents were killed along with 86 men, women and
children of the Branch Davidian compound.
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Manufacturing Consent (DVD)
Explores the political life and times of the
controversial author, linguist, and radical philosopher
Noam Chomsky. Focuses on Chomsky's analysis of the
hidden use of ideological manipulation in democratic
societies.
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No Logo (DVD)
Using hundreds of media examples, No Logo
shows how the commercial takeover of public space,
destruction of consumer choice, and replacement of real
jobs with temporary work (the dynamics of corporate
globalization) impact everyone, everywhere. It also
draws attention to the democratic resistance arising
globally to challenge the hegemony of brands.
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War Spin (DVD)
In his report, John Kampfner skeptically analyzes the
heroic reports of the ambush, capture, and rescue of
Private Jessica Lynch, calling them misrepresentations
designed to bolster weak support for the Iraq war
effort.
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The Homosexuals (DVD)
Mike Wallace hosts a 1967 social documentary on
homosexuality in the United States. The program
investigates some of the medical, legal, and social
aspects of homosexuality in the 1960s. Includes
interviews with several homosexual men who describe
their experiences as well as interviews with people in
Boise, Idaho where a newspaper editorial sparked a
one-year investigation, ruining many lives in the
process.
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Essay on Women (DVD)
Harry Reasoner hosts a 1967 cinematic essay "prepared
by men and makes no claim to being fair." He speaks on
behalf of men, offering a reassessment of the way they
regard women and women regard themselves. Provides
insight into commonly held attitudes in a pre-E.R.A.
America. Contains a segment on Helen Gurley Brown,
editor of Cosmopolitan.
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