FILMS & DVDs for GEOGRAPHY COMMUNICATION GEOGRAPHY FIRST RUN/ICARUS FILMS PLAYING THE NEWS profiles Kuma War, a video- game company that uses satellite technology to create an intensely realistic simulation of actual events in the Iraq War. It features interviews with Kuma executives and designers, a media studies professor, a New Technology critic, a war correspondent, and several video gamers. The game’s creators argue that it is designed to convey accurate news and information to young people who do not ordinarily follow current affairs. Although the state-of-the-art technology utilized accurately portrays the geography of the conflict, the film questions whether Kuma War enables players to actually learn about Iraq, its geography and society, or whether it simply exploits the war for entertainment purposes. “An excellent teaching tool… Highly recommended.” —Educational Media Reviews Online 2005 Currie Documentary Prize, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism 22 minutes | color | 2005 Sale/DVD: $225 | Order #GE08-01 cc Playing the News A Film by Jeff Plunkett & Jigar Mehta CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY Produced by Mira Nair (Vanity Fair, Salaam Bombay), STILL, THE CHILDREN ARE HERE is an exquisitely photographed portrait of the Garo people of India, an indigenous society that has maintained its culture in isolation from a rapidly urbanizing and Westernizing country. In the West Garo Hills, villagers still grow ancient and diverse strains of hill rice in the same manner as man first did 6000 years ago. Shot over the course of an entire growing cycle, from the preparation of the fields to the rice harvest, STILL, THE CHILDREN ARE HERE is an elegant meditation on an ancient but increasingly threatened way of life. “Beautifully shot... Portrays a rich way of life and how it’s now threatened by agricultural development and outside market forces.” —TV Guide.com 2005 Association for Asian Studies Film Festival 85 minutes | color | 2003 Sale/DVD: was $440 now $398 | Order #GE08-02 Still, the Children Are Here Directed by Dinaz Stafford
Transcript
FILMS & DVDs for
GEOGRAPHYCOMMUNICATION GEOGRAPHY
FIRST RUN/ICARUS FILMS
PLAYING THE NEWS profiles Kuma War, a video-game company that uses satellite technology tocreate an intensely realistic simulation of actualevents in the Iraq War. It features interviewswith Kuma executives and designers, a mediastudies professor, a New Technology critic, awar correspondent, and several video gamers.
The game’s creators argue that it isdesigned to convey accurate news andinformation to young people who do notordinarily follow current affairs. Althoughthe state-of-the-art technology utilizedaccurately portrays the geography of theconflict, the film questions whetherKuma War enables players to actuallylearn about Iraq, its geography andsociety, or whether it simply exploits thewar for entertainment purposes.
“An excellent teaching tool… Highly recommended.”—Educational Media Reviews Online
2005 Currie Documentary Prize,UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
22 minutes | color | 2005 Sale/DVD: $225 | Order #GE08-01
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Playing the NewsA Film by Jeff Plunkett & Jigar Mehta
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
Produced by Mira Nair (Vanity Fair, SalaamBombay), STILL, THE CHILDREN ARE HERE is anexquisitely photographed portrait of the Garopeople of India, an indigenous society that hasmaintained its culture in isolation from a rapidlyurbanizing and Westernizing country. In the
West Garo Hills, villagers still grow ancient anddiverse strains of hill rice in the same manneras man first did 6000 years ago.
Shot over the course of an entire growingcycle, from the preparation of the fields to therice harvest, STILL, THE CHILDREN ARE HERE isan elegant meditation on an ancient butincreasingly threatened way of life.
“Beautifully shot... Portrays a rich way of lifeand how it’s now threatened by agriculturaldevelopment and outside market forces.”—TV Guide.com
2005 Association for Asian Studies Film Festival
85 minutes | color | 2003 Sale/DVD: was $440 now $398 | Order #GE08-02
Still, the Children Are HereDirected by Dinaz Stafford
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
FIRST RUN/ICARUS FILMS2
THE WILD EAST is an ethnographic rendering ofcontemporary life in Ulaan Bataar, a city at thecrossroads of tradition and modernity, commu-nism and global capitalism. Through the dailystruggles of two young men, Jenya and Sasha,the film reveals a Mongolia beyond the stereo-types of wild horses and wandering nomads.
The city is a kaleidoscopic snapshot of a society inthe midst of a radical transformation. With hugesections of the rural population migrating, thepopulation of the city has exploded. The Russianbuilt concrete housing blocks are surrounded byvast tent cities, and parking lots are jammed witheverything from the hottest new Japanese cars todecrepit Russian jalopies operating as taxis.
As THE WILD EAST follows Jenya and Sashathrough a series of financial ventures, itbecomes clear that their hopes and dreams arenot so different from young men everywhere.Set at a contemporary junction at which manysocieties worldwide stand, THE WILD EAST is anarrative of the struggle to realize dreams in theface of cold reality, and reveals that despitedifferent geographies and cultures, these hopesand dreams are something we all share.
“Conjures up a series of fascinating andhighly expressive tableaux from distantMongolia… The film depicts the classicalstruggle between tradition and modernity, yet avoids moralizing.”—The Jutland Post
“Visually stunning! An understated butpowerful film that captures something of thetension between the vivid dreams and drearyrealities of young people in so many parts ofthe ‘non-industrial world.’”—Visual Anthropology
“Excellent… illustrates contemporaryproblems of economic and cultural change...a film that appeals to the senses, engagingthe viewer from beginning to end.”—Anthropology Review Database
2004 Jean Rouch Award Winner,American Anthropological Association
54 minutes | color | 2002 Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #GE08-03
The Wild East–Portrait of an Urban NomadA Film by Michael Haslund-Christensen
THE DREAMERS OF ARNHEM LAND is theremarkable story of two Aboriginal elders, Stuartand Valerie Ankin, who set out to save theircommunity from cultural extinction. Combiningtraditional knowledge and contemporary scien-tific expertise, Stuart and Valerie marketednatural medicines, plants and seeds, fruit juicesand other organic products, thereby creating aneconomic incentive for younger Aborigines toreturn to their ancestors’ lands on Australia’sNorth Coast.
The film reveals how the modern synergy of“blackfella’s knowledge and whiteman’s knowl-edge” has not only encouraged a revival ofAboriginal culture and spiritual traditions butalso ensured conservation of ancestral land andits natural resources.
“Reveals the complex meanings of sustain-able development as it plays out on theground, providing a provocative springboardfor discussion of theoretical issues and thepractical aspects of social and environmentalchange.”—Ellen Percy Kraly, Professor ofGeography, Colgate University
2007 FIFO (International Festival of Pacific Films), Tahiti
50 minutes | color | 2005Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #GE08-05
The Dreamers Of Arnhem LandA Film by Christopher Walker
DEVELOPMENT GEOGRAPHY
DAM/AGE traces writer Arundhati Roy’s involve-ment in the protest campaign against the still-pending Narmada Dam Project in central India,which will displace up to a million people, anddisrupt land, water and energy resources formillions more. The film shows how Roy—authorof The God of Small Thing and Power Politics—uses her fame to stand up to multinationalcorporations and the Indian government.
As it illustrates the potentially devastatingconsequences for displaced Indians and showsthe enthusiasm Roy generates among commonpeople, DAM/AGE also explores issues of devel-opment and globalization and the urgent needfor state accountability and freedom of speech.
2004 American Sociological AssociationFilm Festival
50 minutes | color | 2002 Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #GE08-04
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DAM/AGEA Film with Arundhati Roy A Film by Aradhana Seth
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ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHYDEVELOPMENT GEOGRAPHY
CALL TOLL FREE: 800.876.1710 FIRST RUN/ICARUS FILMS4 5
Every day the U.S. donates millions of tons offood to famine victims and other starving peoplein the world’s poorest countries. This provocativedocumentary, through an in-depth case study ofa recent famine crisis in Zambia, shows howthese aid programs may address an immediatecrisis but at the same time can create long-term problems for the recipient nation.
THE PRICE OF AID reveals the vast bureaucraticnetwork of American aid agencies involved in the“hunger business,” one in which rich countriesbenefit from the problems of poor countries.U.S. aid policies are explained in interviewswith representatives from the U.S. Agency forInternational Development, the Coalition forFood Aid, CARE, the World Bank, the Farm andForeign Agriculture Service, the Food for PeaceProgram, and U.S. government officials.
Zambian government officials, including formerand present Ministers of Agriculture, as well asZambian farmers, explain how foreign fooddonations perpetuate a state of dependencyamong African and other Third World countries,undercutting local agriculture and developmentprojects.
U.S. aid programs, rather than assisting devel-oping nations to become self-reliant, primarilyserve to implicate them in a globalizationprocess that finally does more harm than good,endangering their health, environment andeconomies.
“A Winner! Informative, well-balanced, andcredible... it should be acquired by librariesof every college offering courses in publicadministration, agricultural studies, andpolitical science.”—Catholic Library World
“Highly Recommended!... profoundly disturbing.”—Educational Media Reviews Online
2005 African Studies Association Film Festival
2004 International Film Festival on Human Rights (Geneva)
55 minutes | color | 2004Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #GE08-06
The 20th century has seen the creation ofcolossal wealth and exploding economies. Butthe days of industrial mass employment areover. In the global economy, human resourcesare being replaced by technology. The filmanalyzes globalization in the context of thesupply and demand for labor and the increasingmigratory movement of workers.
FOR MAN MUST WORK raises crucial questionsabout the future of work. Besides personalstories, we also hear from experts such asVivianne Forrester, author of The EconomicHorror; Jeremy Rifkin, American economist andauthor of The End of Work; and sociologistRicardo Petrella. Filmed in the U.S., Canada,France and Mexico, the film shows how livingand working conditions are deteriorating formany people.
“A very disturbing portrait… An extraordi-narily provocative examination.”—Labor History Journal
“Highly Recommended… a superb piece ofwork that gives a thorough assessment ofglobalization in the context of supply anddemand for labor.”—Educational Media Reviews Online
52 minutes | color | 2001 Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #GE08-07
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The Price Of AidA Film by Jihan El Tahri
For Man Must Work or the End of WorkDirected by Jean-Claude Bürger A National Film Board of Canada Production
Focusing on Levi Strauss, WORKING WOMENOF THE WORLD follows the relocation ofgarment production from Western countries tonations such as Indonesia, the Philippines, andTurkey, where low wages are the rule andemployee rights are nonexistent.
The film introduces us to women like Yanti, a26-year-old Indonesian who works ten hours aday, six days a week, for $60 a month, andalso presents the stories of her Westerncounterparts who are losing their jobs, such asMaria Therese, a former union representative inthe Levi’s factory in Yser La Basse, France.
WORKING WOMEN OF THE WORLD puts thesewomen’s stories into the larger history anddevelopment of globalization.
2004 National Women’s Studies Association Film Festival
2003 Association for Asian Studies Film Festival
53 minutes | color | 2000Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #GE08-08
Working Women of the WorldA Film by Marie France Collard
BLOWING UP PARADISE uses color archivalfootage to chronicle France’s explosion ofvarious nuclear devices in the idyllic MoruroaAtoll in French Polynesia, in violation of theinternational test ban treaty, from 1966 to1995. Interviews with former and current
French government officials, scientists, andnuclear advisors illuminate France’s politicalagenda of the era as well as its continuingdenial of responsibility for the social devasta-tion wrought and its refusal to pay anycompensation to former test workers.
“Remarkable…compelling…one of the bestdocumentaries on the atomic age to appearin a very long time…ideal for classroomuse.”—Gabrielle Hecht, H-France
60 minutes | color | 2005Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #GE08-11
Blowing Up ParadiseA Film by Ben Lewis
ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY
FIRST RUN/ICARUS FILMS6 7
In 1999, the residents of Tambogrande, a smalltown in northern Peru, learned that the Fujimorigovernment had secretly granted mining conces-sions on their land to the North American corpo-ration, Manhattan Minerals. The company’s plansfor an open-pit gold mine would involve reloca-tion of roughly half of the town’s residents andcontaminate the soil and ground water in thisagricultural region famous for its fruit orchards.
Aware of the devastating environmental andhealth consequences of a mining operation inthe Peruvian town of Choropampa, the residentsof Tambogrande organized The Defense Front toprotect their town.
In TAMBOGRANDE, the producers of Choropampa:The Price of Gold (also distributed by First Run/Icarus Films) follow the Tambogrande residents’five-year-long struggle to thwart the Peruviangovernment’s connivance with corporate plansthat would despoil their land and destroy theirlivelihoods.
In telling this story of the starkly dramaticshowdown between the popular will and multinational-corporate interests, TAMBOGRANDE
uses scenes of mass demonstrations, interviewsand commentary from participants on both sidesof the conflict, statements by national politi-cians, Manhattan Minerals corporate videos,archival footage, testimony from an environ-mental scientist and a Wall Street stockbroker.
In the ongoing history of attempts by multina-tional corporations to exploit Latin America’snatural resources, TAMBOGRANDE is a raresuccess story, one demonstrating how ordinarypeople can defeat government and corporatecollusion.
2007 One World International HumanRights Documentary Film Festival
2006 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
Jury Award, 2007 International Festival of Dignity and Work
2007 Green Film Festival International,Seoul, South Korea
85 minutes | color | 2006Sale/DVD: $440 | Order #GE08-09
On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl NuclearPower Plant in the Ukrainian city of Pripyatexploded and began spewing radioactive smokeand gas. More than 40,000 residents in theimmediate area were exposed to intenseradioactive fallout.
Based on top-secret government documentsthat came to light only after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, THE BATTLE OFCHERNOBYL reveals a systematic cover-up ofthe true scope of the disaster, including the
possibility of a secondaryexplosion of the still-smoldering magma, whoseradioactive clouds would haverendered Europe uninhabitable.The government effort toprevent such a catastrophelasted for more than sevenmonths and sacrificed the livesof thousands of soldiers,miners and other workers.
THE BATTLE OF CHERNOBYLrecounts these harrowing events through newlyavailable films and photos taken in and aroundthe plant, computer animation, and interviewswith participants and eyewitnesses.
“Powerful… an important film.”—Bruce Thompson, American Society forEnvironmental History Newsletter
Best Documentary,2006 Prix Italia Festival
94 minutes | color | 2006Sale/DVD: $440 | Order #GE08-10
Tambogrande: Mangos, Murder, MiningA Film by Ernesto Cabellos & Stephanie Boyd
The Battle Of ChernobylA Film by Thomas Johnson
SEE PAGE 31 FOR ORDERING INFORMATION
HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY
CALL TOLL FREE: 800.876.1710
In 1942, as the tide of the war was turningagainst Germany, philosopher Martin Heideggerlectured at Freiburg University on the poetry of Friedrich Hölderlin, especially his poem “The Ister,” the ancient Greek name for theDanube River.
In the form of a journey up the Danube, thelongest river in the European Union, whichflows through ten countries, from its mouth inRomania to its source in the Black Forest,THE ISTER traces some of the most challengingaspects of the philosophy of Martin Heidegger aswell as the history and current affairs throughoutthis region of Central and Eastern Europe.
Winding through the shattered remains of theformer Yugoslavia, through a Hungary busilyrestoring its national mythology, and through aGermany that is both the heart of the newEurope and the ghost of the old one, the Danubeitself is the question of the film. THE ISTERfeatures stunning natural vistas along the river’snearly 2,000-mile length, as well as ancientGreek ruins, the Mauthausen concentrationcamp, Yugoslavian bridges devastated by NATObombings, and King Ludwig’s Walhalla Temple.
By drawing the places and times of the river intoa constellation with Heidegger’s thought, THEISTER invites the viewer to participate in some ofthe most provocative questions facing Europe andthe world today. These questions—of home andplace, culture and memory, of technology andecology, of politics and war—concern us todayjust as much as they did Heidegger in 1942.
“A stimulating three-hour journey in time,space and the mind.”—Philip French, The Observer
2005 WaterWays Conference on theConfluence of Art, Science, Policy, &Philosophy
189 minutes | color | 2004Sale/DVD: $490 | Order #GE08-14
The IsterA Film by David Barison & Daniel Ross
ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY
When a dam burst at a Romanian goldmine inearly 2000, more than 100,000 tons of cyanidewas released into the Tisza River, devastatingits ecology as well as the livelihoods of subsis-tence fishermen in neighboring Hungary. Thisspill created Central Europe’s worst ecologicaldisaster since Chernobyl.
INHERITANCE follows fisherman BalazsMeszaros as he struggles with the effects ofthe disaster on his own community, andattempts to confront the corporate forcesbehind the mining operation
As INHERITANCE follows Balazs’s efforts topreserve a way of life, and documents his trans-formation from quiet fisherman into a man whostands alone against huge multinational corpora-tions, it exposes the environmental and humanconsequences of unregulated globalization.
“An excellent film for the global environ-mental history.”—H-Environment Discussion Network
Best Documentary Award,2004 Real Life on Film Festival
75 minutes | color | 2003Sale/DVD: $398 | Order #GE08-12
Inheritance: A Fisherman’s Story A Film by Peter Hegedus
AN INJURY TO ONE provides a compellingglimpse of a particularly volatile moment inearly 20th century American labor history:the rise and fall of Butte, Montana.
Butte’s history was entirely shaped by its exploita-tion by the Anaconda Mining Company, which, atthe height of WWI, produced ten percent of theworld’s copper from the town’s depths. War profi-teering and the company’s extreme indifference to
the safety of its employees (mortality rates inthe mines were higher than in the trenches ofEurope) led to the arrival of Wobbly organizerFrank Little. The film draws a connection betweenthe unsolved murder of the “labor agitator” andthe attempted “murder” of the town itself.
“The most exciting documentary of theseason. Passionate, persuasive, and beauti-fully designed.”—The New York Sun
Big Sky Award, 2004 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
53 minutes | c/b&w | 2002Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #GE08-13
An Injury To OneA Film by Travis Wilkerson
FIRST RUN/ICARUS FILMS98
PALEOGEOGRAPHY
Why on Earth are there Human Beings? The factthat we exist has always been taken for granted,and, thanks to Darwin, we also know that in allprobability we are descendants of some ape-likecreature. But how did this descent, from ape toman, come about? Are there any signs thatNature intended it this way?
COINCIDENCE IN PARADISE investigates theseand other fascinating questions through inter-views with world-renowned scientists, andcaptures their work-in-progress with stunningcinematography. The film presents, in the field,some of the most influential scholars workingtoday, including paleontologist Dr. MaeveLeakey, biologist Dr. Christophe Boesch, anthro-pologist John Gurche, fossil collector KamoyaKimeu, and paleontology professors Tim Whiteand Elisabeth Vrba.
From fossil rich desert gorges to laboratories,from primeval rain forests to the sculptor’sstudio, COINCIDENCE IN PARADISE delves intothe million year mystery of our origins, seekingthe latest discoveries that may answer thequestion—What exactly was it that first initi-ated our genesis, our species’ actual birth?
“Excellent!... succeeds both as a film and asan educational tool... two thumbs up.”—Journal of Human Evolution
“Interviews these famous scientists in theirwork environments, giving you insight intotheir research and thought processes… thisfilm would be an asset to an upper-levelcollege anthropology course studyinghuman origins. Recommended.”—Educational Media Reviews Online
“Succeeds admirably in its exploration of theevolutionary roots of humans… For thoseseeking a thoughtful, meditative treatmentof human evolution, this film will serve verywell.”—Palaeontologia Electronica
2000 Award of Excellence,Society for Visual Anthropology
88 minutes | color | 1999Sale/DVD: $440 | Order #GE08-16
Coincidence In ParadiseA Film by Matthias Von Gunten
HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY
FIRST RUN/ICARUS FILMS10
This documentary accompanies theInuit hunter Hivshu, a.k.a. Robert E.Peary II, on a quest to trace the story
of his great grandfather and his other ances-tors, including the Eskimo family the famousArctic explorer brought back with him to NewYork as part of an exhibit at the AmericanMuseum of Natural History in 1897.
THE PRIZE OF THE POLE uses archival footage,photos and audio recordings to chronicle Peary’sexploration of the Arctic and his still controversial1909 claim to be the first man to reach the NorthPole. The film also explores the activities of FranzBoas, the “father” of American anthropology,who viewed the Eskimos, as “living fossils” forscientific study, focusing on the fate of the sixEskimos who traveled to New York with Peary.
Peary’s great-grandson meets with tribal eldersin Greenland, who recount ancient stories of theArctic explorer’s expeditions, his fathering oftwo children with an Inuit woman, and the oftenunethical zeal with which he pursued his scientificinterests. In New York he meets with officials atthe American Museum of Natural History and TheExplorers Club, and another of Peary’s grandsons.
Along the way Robert E. Peary II visits researchlibraries and other historical sites in an effort tolearn the truth about mysteries surrounding thepreservation of his ancestors’ skeletons andbrains. His exploration reveals a darker side of hislegendary great-grandfather, especially the humanprice paid for one man to realize his dream.
“Well-made and often poignant... highly recommended.”—Video Librarian
“First rate... enthusiastically recommended.”—Educational Media Reviews Online
“An engaging experience… elegant andmoving… comments on anthropology,colonialism and multi-culturalism.”—Copenhagen Documentary Festival Jury
Amnesty Award, 2007 CopenhagenInternational Documentary Film Festival
In a world in which the U.S. andEurope are addicted to oil and gas,and those increasingly scarce
resources are controlled by authoritarian regimesin Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria andRussia, the geopolitical ramifications have upsetthe traditional balance of power between nations.
ENERGY WAR reveals precisely how theeconomic importance of fossil fuels affectsinternational politics and becomes a powerfultool of foreign policy.
The film profiles newly emergent “superpowers”such as Iran, a rogue regime that Westerndemocracies must politically tolerate to assureaccess to its oil, and Venezuela, where PresidentHugo Chavez has nationalized the oil industry,which boasts the largest untapped oil field in theworld. Through interviews with Russian andGeorgian government officials, ENERGY WARshows how oil was used as a political weapon inthe struggle between an economically revitalizedRussia and its former Soviet Republic.
Thomas Friedman (author of The Lexus and theOlive Tree: Understanding Globalization and TheWorld is Flat) analyzes the political concept of“petro authoritarianism” and Kenneth Deffeyes(Hubbert’s Peak: The Impending World OilShortage and Beyond Oil) explains the “PeakOil” phenomenon, the point at which the earth’ssupply of oil begins its terminal decline.
ENERGY WAR concludes by investigating thesearch for alternatives to our dependency onoil, featuring interviews with economists, stockmarket traders, and new energy entrepreneurswho discuss the pros and cons of such possiblesubstitutes as biofuels, hydropower, nuclearand solar energy.
As China, Africa, Latin America and even SaudiArabia are preparing for a “green” future, it’sclear that a world of new energy sources willreshape the global balance of political power.
78 minutes | color | 2007Sale/DVD: $398 | Order #GE08-19
Energy War A Film by Shuchen Tan, IJsbrand van Veelen & Rudi Boon
POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY
FIRST RUN/ICARUS FILMS
BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND THE ROOSTER’SCROW investigates the EnCana Corporation’sdevelopment of a heavy crude oil pipeline fromthe Amazon across the earthquake-prone Andesto the Pacific coast for export. Filmmaker NadjaDrost follows the cross-country route of thepipeline, along the way interviewing farmers,indigenous community representatives andenvironmental activists who recount forcedrelocation, imprisonment, and intimidation bythe Ecuadorian police and army who protectEnCana’s pipeline.
Avoiding government and corporate securityagents, Drost documents unsafe construction,toxic waste, and contamination of rivers, aswell as the affects on Ecuadorians (skin cancer,miscarriages and birth defects) and thedestruction of wildlife and natural preserves.
“Remarkable! Brave! Uncovers evidence ofpollution, coercion, and corruption.”—indieWIRE
2006 American Sociological AssociationFilm Festival
66 minutes | color | 2005Sale/DVD: $348 | Order #GE08-17
Between Midnight And The Rooster’s CrowA Film by Nadja Drost
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During the 1930s and 1940s, YossefNachmani, director of the JewishNational Fund in the Galilee, acquiredas much land from Arabs as possible inorder to establish Jewish settlements.THE DIARIES OF YOSSEF NACHMANIutilizes rare archival footage, interviewswith eyewitnesses and participants andIsraeli historian Benny Morris.
The result is a firsthand account of theearly years of Zionism, Jewish emigra-tion to Palestine, and the struggle overthe land, exemplified through the storyof Tiberius, the first mixed city whoseArab inhabitants were expelled during thecourse of the War of Independence. GeographyProfessor Danny Gur details the history of thisconflict, including a major land grab by Israelisone day before a U.N. Resolution that dispos-sessed Arabs could return to their land.
“Fascinating! A finebalance between facts andideology.”—Haaretz
“The sheer historicalweight of the materialpresented raises fasci-nating questions.”—Lisa Nesselson, Variety
60 minutes | c/b&w | 2005Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #GE08-18
The Diaries Of Yossef NachmaniA Film by Dalia Karpel
GEOGRAPHY
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FIRST RUN/ICARUS FILMS
CHAIN OF LOVE examines the emigration ofFilipina women to the U.S. as maids andnannies for American families where bothparents work, and how this migration affectsthe women, their families in the Philippines, andfamilies in the West.
Since childcare workers in the U.S. are poorlypaid and not highly respected, it is immigrantwomen from the Third World who are increas-ingly fulfilling the need for childcare andmaternal love. The film reveals that Filipinaservants are often not able to return home foryears at a time, and much of the money theysend home to support their families is used tohire local help to care for their own children.
“An excellent documentary.”—Asian Educational Media Service’s ‘News and Reviews’
2003 Award of Excellence,Society for Visual Anthropology
50 minutes | color | 2001Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #GE08-20
Chain Of LoveA Film by Marije Meerman
Set in Indiantown, Florida, MAYAN VOICES:AMERICAN LIVES contrasts the experiences ofMayan refugee families who fled the violence inGuatemala in the early 1980s, with the strug-gles of those continuing to arrive in search ofbetter lives. The film demonstrates the impact5,000 new immigrants with a foreign languageand culture is having on the still predominantlywhite community.
MAYAN VOICES: AMERICAN LIVES exploresissues of identity, cultural integration, migration,and social change, in the process breakingthrough refugee/migrant worker stereotypes.
“A wonderful resource for teachers, students,policy makers, and ordinary citizens whowant to better understand the dynamics ofthe ‘new immigration’ to the U.S. and itsimpact on American communities.”—Norma Stoltz Chinchilla, Professor ofSociology, California State University Long Beach
1995 American Anthropological Association Conference
Mayan Voices: American LivesA Film by Olivia Carrescia
Alpha, a New York City taxi driver, comes fromBatama, a village in the poorest region of Mali,one of the the poorest countries on earth. Sincethe 1973 drought, there has never been enoughrain—the rivers have dried up, the animalshave died, the trees are gone and the fieldshave turned to desert. The men of Batama havegone abroad, hoping to earn enough to keep thewomen and children alive.
Like Alpha, they started in France, whereAfricans were welcome to the jobs nativeFrench didn’t want. But when France fell onhard times, the men dispersed to New York andeven Tokyo, where they work in dry cleaning,restaurants, and construction—and earn doublethe money they would in other cities.
“Superior... Recommended.”—Educational Media Reviews Online
Certificate of Merit, 1995 Chicago Film Festival
51 minutes | color | 1994Sale/DVD: $285 | Order #GE08-23
Taxi To TimbuktuA Film by Christopher Walker
Sometimes poor people, risking their lives, leaveeverything behind in an attempt to survive, tolive elsewhere. But they’re often not wantedelsewhere. And if they are wanted it’s for theirlabor, for jobs that no one wants.
Renowned filmmaker Chantal Akerman chroni-cles the plight of Mexican immigrants in theborder town of Agua Prieta, Sonora, wherepeople from all over Mexico wait in limbo beforeattempting to cross over illegally, and U.S.landowners in neighboring Douglas, Arizona, atown ringed by mountains and desert plains.
FROM THE OTHER SIDE illuminates this humandrama through moving interviews with Mexicans,many of whom have family members thatperished attempting to cross the border, as wellas concerned U.S. landowners and a local sheriff.
“Sensitive portraiture and investigativejournalism.”—Chicago Reader
2003 Award of Merit in Film,Latin American Studies Association
99 minutes | color | 2002Sale/DVD: $440 | Order #GE08-21
From The Other SideA Film by Chantal Akerman 56 minutes | color | 1994
Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #GE08-22
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To make way for rice farming, the Fulaninomads of West Africa must move their cattleherds seasonally, but this annual migration hasbeen disrupted by years of drought. Traditionalroutes may not yield green pastures andenough water for the people and their cattle tosurvive the dry season. Enter modern satelliteimagery, and with it, the ability to see the entireregion and its resources from space.
THE COW JUMPED OVER THE MOON documentsthe interaction between the tradition-basedknowledge of West African nomads and theadvanced technological knowledge of the U.S.,represented by satellite dishes operated byagencies such as NASA and NOAA (NationalOceanographic and Atmospheric Agency).
The satellite program is an initial step in the“Mission to Planet Earth”—a comprehensiveprogram of environmental monitoring by NASAsatellites. At Lockheed-Martin and NASA’sGoddard Space Center, scientists explain thetechnology and theory behind this program.
From the traditions of the cow-herder in thedesert, to the expertise of the NASA space-scientist, THE COW JUMPED OVER THE MOONposes important questions about the nature ofknowledge and technology, autonomy againstconformity, localization versus globalization. Itasks whether it is possible to create a fusionbetween learning from experience and employingoutside expertise as a means of traversing ourgeography and saving our environment.
“A wonderful instance of how technologycan assist in efforts to save the environ-ment, climate, and diversity of the world...Highly recommend!”—Educational Media Reviews Online
Winner of the Public Prize, 2000Festival de Pastoralisme et Grands Espaces
52 minutes | color | 1999Sale: $390 | Order #GE08-25
The Cow Jumped Over The MoonA Film by Christopher Walker
RELIGIOUS GEOGRAPHY
FIRST RUN/ICARUS FILMS
The Bible is both a religious andhistorical work, but how much ismyth and how much is history?
When and why was the Old Testament written,and by whom? What do contemporary archae-ologists know about the Patriarchs? TheExodus? The Conquest of Canaan? Kings Davidand Solomon? Where do the people of Israeloriginally come from?
THE BIBLE UNEARTHED is a four-part seriesbased on the best-selling book The BibleUnearthed by Israël Finkelstein (Professor ofArchaeology at Tel Aviv University) and NeilSilberman (Director of the Ename Centre forPublic Archaeology and Heritage Presentation).
An archaeological and biblical investigation,the film visits digs in Egypt, Jordan and Israel,including Megiddo, the cradle of biblical archae-ology, where 25 strata recording 7,000 years ofhistory have been excavated. This fascinatingexploration of biblical history uses archivalfootage of previous archaeological excavations,maps, biblical illustrations and computer anima-tion, revealing ancient architecture, cuneiformtablets and other rare artifacts.
THE BIBLE UNEARTHED features interviews witharchaeological specialists from the Levant aswell as biblical scholars from France, Canada,
Switzerland, and the U.S., from the greatestmuseums, including the Louvre, the Museum ofCairo, the Museum of Jerusalem, and theBritish Museum.
The four episodes of THE BIBLE UNEARTHED—“The Patriarchs,” “The Exodus,” “The Kings” and“The Book”—show how the efforts of contem-porary archaeologists are helping us to under-stand the stories of the Bible in their political,geographical, historical and cultural contexts.
“An excellent series.”—Educational Media Reviews Online
“A genuine work of scholarship as well asfilm art.”—Dr. Jim West, Biblical Studies Resources
4 x 52 minutes | color | 2005 Sale/DVD: $490 | Order #GE08-24
The Bible Unearthed:The Making Of A New Religion A Film Series by Thierry Ragobert
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This offbeat documentary examines the growingmalaise of people in many Western societies,where daily lives and personal relationships areexperienced primarily through technology andmedia representations, generating a gnawingsense of philosophical dissatisfaction and adesire for a greater sense of “authenticity.”
One result has been the development of an“experience economy,” in which companiespackage “authentic” experiences, a chance to witness or even participate in real-lifeadventures. The filmmaker examines thisphenomenon, both in her own life and that ofmany others.
“Fascinating! Recommended!”—Educational Media Reviews Online
2005 American Sociological AssociationFilm Festival
51 minutes | color | 2004 Sale/DVD: $348 | Order #GE08-27
Keeping It Real A Film by Sunny Bergman
LIVING MEMORY is a film about Mali’s ancientculture, its position in the country’s societytoday, and its relationship to Western tourism.Samuel Sidibé (Director of the Musée Nationaldu Mali), the brilliant Malian cinematographerRacine Keita and Susan Vogel (founder of theMuseum for African Art, New York) provideunparalleled access and an insider’s vision.
The film is constructed in six sketches,focusing on Ritual Arts, Culture on Display,Style, Architecture, Contemporary Artists andMusic. Alternately sensual, ironic, beautiful andhumorous, the film exposes tensions in aculture assailed by modernization, Islam andglobal tourism.
“A must see film for... students of African artand culture.”—Mary Jo Arnoldi, Curator,African Art and Culture, National Museum ofNatural History, Smithsonian Institution
2004 American Anthropological AssociationFilm Festival
53 minutes | color | 2003 Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #GE08-28
Living Memory: Six Sketches Of Mali TodayA Film by Susan VogelProduced by Susan Vogel, Samuel Sidibé, Eric Engles & the Musée National du Mali
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CAN’T DO IT IN EUROPE portrays the newphenomenon of “reality tourism,” whereby boredAmerican or European travelers seek out real-lifeexperiences as exciting tourist “adventures.” Thefilm follows a group of such international touristsas they visit the mines in Potosi—the poorestcity in the poorest nation in Latin America—where Bolivian miners work by hand, just as theydid centuries ago, to extract silver from the earth.
Led by their Bolivian tour guide, and walkingthrough constricted, muddy and poorly ventilatedtunnels, breathing fetid air laced with arsenic,asbestos and toxic gases, the tourists take in the“sights” with goggle-eyed amazement.
In addition to interviews with the tourists, tourguide, and an elderly retired miner, CAN’T DO ITIN EUROPE features a discussion by the city’sDirector of Development, who explains why, inorder to preserve the authentic “experience” fortourists, they don’t want to change or improveworking conditions for the miners.
“Accessible to those first being introduced toanthropology, it is also provocative andengaging for senior students able to addressmore fully themes of postcolonialism, thetourist gaze, authenticity, commodification,globalization, and discourses of Orientalismand ‘imperialist nostalgia.’”—Anthropologica
“An excellent film.”—Pegi Vail, Anthropologist/Filmmaker/Curator,Anthropology Department, Columbia University
2007 Society for Visual Anthropology/AAA Film Festival
46 minutes | color | 2005Sale/DVD: $348 | Order #GE08-26
Can’t Do It In EuropeA Film by Charlotta Copcutt, Anna Weitz & Anna Klara Åhrén
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In May 1995, Shawn Nelson, a 35-year-oldplumber from Clairemont, California, stole atank from a nearby National Guard armory andwent on a rampage through the residentialstreets of his neighborhood, crushing cars andlampposts until the cops shot him dead.
CUL DE SAC goes far beyond this bizarre news story and provides extensive political,economic and social context that ties Nelson’slife to the larger story of a working-classcommunity in decline.
Newsreels of a fat, happy San Diego in the1950s and 1960s, the perfect representation ofmiddle-class aspirations for economicprosperity, are juxtaposed with contemporaryimages of shuttered defense plants, joblessblue-collar suburbanites, drug abusers, andpolice on patrol. The area’s social ills and itschanging topography, dating back to WWII andup to recent layoffs, are discussed by histo-rians, real-estate agents and California urbangeography professors Doreen Mattingly, LarryFord and Richard Walker.
“Highly Recommended.”—Educational Media Reviews Online
“[A] terse, scrupulous film, the footagepunctuates a bleak tale of a defense-industrytown’s boom and bust—once a Cold Warcapital of airplane and missile production,the San Diego suburb has decayed into astrip-mall wasteland.”—The Village Voice
“Truly extraordinary... a chilling X-ray of thedespair in poor white suburbia.”—The Independent Film & Video Monthly
Best Director, 2002 CinemaTexasInternational Film Festival
57 minutes | color | 2001 Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #GE08-29
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Cul De Sac: A Suburban War StoryA Film by Garrett Scott
Lagos’ population is expected to reach 24million people by 2020, which would make itthe third largest city in the world. Every hour,21 new inhabitants set out to start a life in thecity, a life that is highly unpredictable andrequires risk taking, networking and improvisa-tion as essential strategies for survival.
Rem Koolhaas—winner of the PritzkerArchitecture Prize—is a Professor ofArchitecture and Urban Design at Harvard.For the past eleven years Koolhaas andstudents from The Harvard Project on the Cityhave come to Lagos, Nigeria regularly toresearch the type of urban environment that isproduced by explosive population growth. TheProject on the City is framed by two concepts:academia’s bewilderment with new forms ofaccelerated urbanization in developing regionsand the maelstrom of redevelopment in existingurban areas; and, second, the failure of thedesign professions to adequately cope withthese changes.
LAGOS / KOOLHAAS follows Koolhaas during hisresearch in Lagos over a period of two years ashe wanders through the city, talking with peopleand recognizing the problems with water,electricity and traffic. But instead of judging thecity to be doomed, he is able to interpret this“culture of congestion” positively, helping todevelop a new concept of the big city.
“Highly Recommended! Excellent!”—Educational Media Reviews Online
“Fascinating and provocative… engaging andstimulating viewing!”—Visual Anthropology Review
2004 African Studies Association Film Festival
55 minutes | color | 2002 Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #GE08-30
Lagos/KoolhaasA Film by Bregtje van der Haak
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Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán is bestknown for his political documentaries on thePinochet regime. But in MADRID he offers up awhimsical, personal view of one of the world’struly great cities.
The outskirts of Madrid are a mess of anony-mous freeways. But inside the traffic-snarledring lays the heart of the old city, a place wherepeople enjoy the finest things in life: superbfood, engaging conversation, and the companyof friends.
MADRID is not the typical travelogue,highlighting must-see tourist spots. Instead itcaptures the feeling of the city and of life forMadrileños. It is a documentary made by a manwho clearly feels more passion for Madrid thanfor any other city on Earth.
41 minutes | color | 2002Sale/DVD: $285 | Order #GE08-31
MadridA Film by Patricio Guzmán
Ordering InformationPlease refer to Order Numbers on all Orders.
Sales: DVDs are “leased for the life of the DVD” and are licensed with Public PerformanceRights for non-commercial and educationalexhibition when no admission fee is charged.A rental fee may be deducted from the saleprice if the video is purchased within 60 days of the rental.
Previews: Films may be previewed for purchaseconsideration by established video libraries.
Ordering: Submit all orders by purchase order,on official institutional letterhead stationery,or pay in advance of shipping. Please refer toOrder Numbers on all orders.
