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First Run/Icarus Films is working to make all New Releases available on DVD, most often with Scene Selections. Additionally, we are embarking on a long-term project to digitally restore some of our classic documentaries and re-release them on DVD.
This page, updated monthly, lists all titles currently available on DVD. So check back frequently. If there is a recent release you are interested in purchasing on DVD which is not on this list yet, please contact us to ask about availability.
On each title's own web page there is a "DVD INFO" button, click on this for a pop-up window with details about the format, features and scene selections of that DVD.
A
- Advertising Missionaries - Follows the mission of one theater company to bring the consumer revolution to the people of the highlands of Papua New Guinea.
- Against My Will - The stories of three women who took refuge at the Dastak women's shelter in Pakistan, founded to help women fleeing abusive and murderous families.
- Amartya Sen - A documentary about the life and work of Amartya Sen, the 1998 Nobel Laureate in Economics.
- America's Brutal Prisons - Exposes the violence occurring inside prisons throughout America, where prisoners are routinely abused, even tortured, by prison guards.
- Angry Monk - Gendun Choephel, a legendary figure in Tibet, turned from the monastic life he was born to (as the reincarnation of a Buddhist lama), to become a fierce critic of his country's religious conservatism and cultural isolationism.
- Antonio Negri - Traces the biography and current relevance of this controversial moral and political philosopher, his work, and his contemporary role as an intellectual leader of the anti-globalization movement.
- The Architecture of Doom[†] - Considers the Nazis' atrocities as a wholly rational extension of a fundamental tenet seeking to beautify the world.
- Aristide and the Endless Revolution - A dramatic political journey and expose about the rise and fall of the first elected President of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, featuring insiders on all sides of the story.
- August Sander - The first documentary about one of the most important photographers of the 20th century.
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B
- Back to the Soil - A young Korean couple leaves the city to become farmers. They struggle to survive economically from the land, while trying to balance their political activism and family life.
- Be Fruitful and Multiply - How does it feel to have been pregnant or nursing for 25 out of 26 years of your married life? In this new film this and other questions are posed directly to ultra-orthodox Jewish women for the first time. (new September, 2006)
- Between Midnight and the Rooster's Crow - A case study of the troubling connections between corporations, Western consumption, and the 3rd World, and journey along the cross-Andes route of an oil pipeline in Ecuador.
- Beyond Hatred - After their gay son is murdered by a gang of skinheads, a close-knit family tries to move toward understanding and even forgiveness in this devastating documentary.
- The Bible Unearthed - A four-part series based on the best-selling book The Bible Revealed by Israël Finkelstein (Prof. of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University) and Neil Silberman (Director of the Ename Center for Public Archaeology & Heritage Presentation).
- Blockade - Made entirely from footage discovered in Russian film archives, and featuring a meticulously reconstructed soundtrack, this film vividly re-creates the 900 day siege of Leningrad during World War II.
- Blowing Up Paradise - The first major documentary about three decades of French nuclear testing in the South Pacific.
- Bonhoeffer - The dramatic story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the young German theologian who was one of the first clear voices of resistance against Adolf Hitler, and who openly challenged his church to stand with the Jews in their time of need.
- Breasts[†] - Twenty-two women, ages 6 to 84-years-old, discuss how breasts play a crucial role in the experiences of puberty, motherhood, sex, health, and aging. ** 2002 Outstanding Achievement Award, Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality **
- Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan - The first film about the Kyrgyz tradition of bride kidnapping takes viewers inside families, to talk with kidnapped brides who have managed to escape as well as those who are making homes with their new husbands.
- Bright Leaves[†] - The new film from Ross McElwee, director of SHERMAN'S MARCH. The renowned filmmaker and native Carolinian journeys across the social, economic, and psychological landscapes of tobacco and family in North Carolina.
- Bruly Bouabre's Alphabet - In the 1950's, Ivory Coast artist Bruly Bouabré created hundreds of pictograms based on one-syllable words in his language, Bété.
- Buffalo Boy[†] - Set in the lowlands of southern Vietnam, this powerful coming of age tale is a richly textured and stunningly visual reflection of the rhythms of daily life and culture determined by water.
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C
- Can't Do It In Europe - In Potosí, Bolivia, adventurous tourists visit the deadly silver mine there to witness medieval work conditions. Why do they crawl through contaminated tunnels on their vacation? To know a foreign culture, or to escape boredom?
- The Case of the Grinning Cat[†] - In his newest film, French cinema-essayist Chris Marker reflects on French and international politics, art and culture at the start of the new millennium.
- Chain of Love - A film about the Philippines' second largest export product - maternal love - and how the international trade in love and care affects the women involved, their families, and families in the West.
- Charlotte - Based on the autobiographical series "Life or Theater?" by Charlotte Salomon, a young Jewish painter from Berlin, who sought refuge in Nice during World War II.
- Children of Fate - Thirty years in the life of a gutsy Sicilian woman who battles poverty, crime, and an abusive husband to keep her family together.
- Chore Wars - Do you say "I love you" with flowers - or by doing the dishes?! The place of chores in the battle of the sexes.
- Choropampa - When a devastating mercury spill by the world's richest gold mining corporation hits a quiet peasant village in the Peruvian Andes, a courageous young mayor emerges to lead his people on a quest for healthcare and justice.
- Citizen Bishara - Introduces us to the most emblematic of Israel's Palestinian citizens: the MP Azmi Bishara.
- Clara Lemlich - Recounts the life and accomplishments of the Jewish, Ukrainian-born union organizer who led the 'Uprising of the 20,000' - the 1909 strike of NYC garment workers.
- The Clitoris - A close look at that part of the female anatomy that exists purely for pleasure, and how this highly sensitive organ has long been ignored or misunderstood in the medical literature.
- Coincidence in Paradise - Delves into the mystery of our origins, seeking the latest discoveries that may answer the question - What exactly was it that first initiated our genesis, our species' actual birth?
- Compadre - Thirty years after meeting Daniel Barrientos and his family in Lima, Peru, where they eked out survival scavenging in garbage dumps, the filmmaker returns, and re-enters their lives.
- Constant, Avant le Depart - Shot in the weeks before Constant Nieuwenhuys' death, this is an intimate glimpse into the life and work of this painter, urban theorist, and highly influential member of the European avant-garde.
- The Cow Jumped Over the Moon - The impact that space technology will have on reshaping the climate, environment and diversity of the world in which we live.
- Cracks in the Mask - A Torres Strait Islander sets out on a voyage of discovery to the great museums of Europe where his cultural heritage now lies.
- Crimes of Honour - Filmed in Jordan and on the West Bank, investigates the terrible reality of femicide - the killing of sisters or daughters suspected of losing their virginity, for having refused an arranged marriage or having left a husband.
- Cul de Sac - An allegory for a working class suburb in decline, this film investigates the story of Shawn Nelson, who stole a tank and went on a rampage through the residential streets of Clairemont, CA.
- CultureJam - A film about the movement called Culture Jamming. Pranksters and subversive artists are causing a bit of brand damage to corporate mindshare...
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D
- Daily Baghdad - An intimate chronicle of daily life in Baghdad today, one year after the war, as seen through the eyes of an extended Iraqi family.
- Dam/Age - Traces renowned, prize winning writer Arundhati Roy's bold and controversial campaign against the Narmada dam project in India.
- Deadly Enemies - From early attempts to use bacteria as weapons, to the advent of gene splicing and the creation of superbugs, this is the chilling story of the development of biological weapons.
- Death By Design[†] - A delightful examination of the similarities among cell biology, filmmaking, and building demolition, among other things.
- Death Squadrons - The previously untold story of how the French military trained Latin American death squads in the 60s and 70s (and even U.S. Special Forces in the early days of our Vietnam War).
- A Decent Factory - Can multinationals make an ethical profit? This film finds out as it follows Nokia's new "ethical management consultant" on a trip to a supplier factory in China.
- Democracy on Deadline - A survey of journalists, working in various media and languages around the world, as they grapple with the complexities of the their relationships to government, and the dangers of speaking truth to power.
- The Diaries of Yossef Nachmani - A portrait of the complex and contradictory personality of the man largely responsible for the Zionist enterprise in the Galilee during the 1930s and 40s.
- The Discreet Charm of Bucharest - A picture of Romania's capital, and the lives of six individuals who live there, through stories of the houses they live in.
- Division of Hearts - Ordinary people from Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh recount their tumultuous experiences after the 1947 British subdivision of colonial India.
- The Dreamers of Arnhem Land - The two Aboriginal elders who set out to save their community from cultural extinction by combining traditional knowledge and contemporary scientific expertise.
- Dreamings - Showing Aboriginal artists at work in their native environments, DREAMINGS explores the meaning and mystical significance behind these evocative works.
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E
- Edward Said: The Last Interview - An extended discussion with Prof. Edward Said filmed less than a year before his death. The noted literary critic and Palestinian activist delivers his final testament about his life and work as a committed intellectual.
- Electric Shadows - An elegant short about film projectionists trying to keep cinema alive in their province of Sichuan, China.
- Empathy - A blend of documentary and fiction drama, this wry, intriguing deconstruction of psychoanalysis raises playful and provocative questions about trust, power, and understanding.
- An Empire of Reason - What it would have been like if television had covered the ratification process of the US Constitution in 1781.
- Everything Must Come to Light - This documentary focuses on the lives of three dynamic lesbians sangomas (traditional healers) living in Soweto, South Africa.
- Everything's Fine - Seydou Konaté is a physician in a remote area in Mali. He is at the center of a global issue: bringing quality health care to rural people left behind by development.
- Excellent Cadavers - A dramatic investigation of the recent history of the Mafia and its integral relationship to postwar Italian politics. Based on the book by Alexander Stille.
- Exit - Profiles the EXIT organization, which for over twenty years has counseled and accompanied the terminally-ill and severely handicapped towards a death of their choice.
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F
- Facing Death - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's seminal book "On Death and Dying," brought her international fame. This intimate portrait was filmed in 2002, when she lived secluded in the desert, awaiting - as she says - her own death.
- FALN - A remarkable time capsule of Venezuelan political and social history, and valuable background to the ongoing social conflicts in that country.
- Fang - Mixes documentary and fiction techniques to recount an African art object's 100 year journey - a whole century of Western attitudes towards African culture packed into 8 minutes!
- Fidel[†] - Juxtaposing the personal and anecdotal with the history of the Cuban revolution and Castro's fight to survive the post-Soviet period and the continued U.S. embargo, FIDEL tells a story that has yet to be told.
- Finally Got The News - A film about the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, which was, "in many respects the most significant expression of black radical thought and activism in the 1960s." - Manning Marable, Prof. of History, Columbia Univ.
- Fishing in the Sea of Greed - Documents the response of one fishing community in India to the "rape and run" industrial-scale fishing that has begun to dominate their livelihood and decimate their environment.
- Forgiving Dr. Mengele - The remarkable story of Auschwitz survivor and former 'Mengele twin' Eva Mozes Kor and the transformation that led her to forgive the Nazi perpetrators as an act of self-healing.
- 49 UP - The seventh film in a series of landmark documentaries that began 42 years ago, inspired by the Jesuit maxim "Give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man."
- 42 Up[†] - The latest installment in Michael Apted's remarkable documentary series following the lives of 14 people, now 42-years-old.
- From Courtyard House to Block Apartment - Examines the impact of rapid industrialization on traditional Chinese housing styles and ways of living.
- From Language to Language - Israeli writers, musicians, actors and a Rabbi/philosopher - from varying countries and ethnic backgrounds - discuss the relationship between their mother tongues and Hebrew, for centuries a sacred language but today the language of everyday life in Israel.
- From The Other Side - With technology developed for the military, the INS has stemmed the flow of illegal immigration in San Diego. But for the desperate, there are still the dangerous deserts of Arizona, where renowned filmmaker Chantal Akerman shifts her focus
- Fundi - Friend and advisor to Martin Luther King, FUNDI reveals the instrumental role that Ella Baker played in shaping the American civil rights movement.
- The Future Is Not What It Used To Be - A fascinating profile of Erkki Kurenniemi, an early inventor of electronic synthesizers and microcomputers, whose career represents a surprisingly natural blend of music, film, computers, robotics, science and art.
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G
- Glenafooka - Enchanting examination of the persistence in rural Ireland today of ancient beliefs in otherworld spirits, including fairies, ghosts, banshees and other supernatural forces.
- Guns & Mothers - The contentious debate over gun control, as seen through the eyes of two mothers on opposite sides of the issue.
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H
- Hats of Jerusalem - Jerusalem can rightfully be called the hat capital of the world, and this colorful and personal trip takes us along the diverse headdresses of the three religions populating the city.
- The Hermitage Dwellers - This kaleidoscope of people and events in the great museum unfolds into a poignant account of Russia's painful 20th century transformed by the "dwellers" intimate relationship with the art.
- Hiding and Seeking[†] - Through this complex, personal story of the effects of the Holocaust on four generations, this film becomes a plea for tolerance for non-Jews.
- Homo Sapiens 1900 - Examines eugenics, racial hygiene and the ideas of "the new man" in the 20th century.
- How Happy Can You Be? - What is happiness? And how can we get more of it? Visiting leading figures in positive psychology and observing clinical experiments around the world, this is a light-hearted but serious investigation.
- Human Faces Behind the Rain Forest - Documents the testimonies of peasants and indigenous peoples fighting against the social chaos caused by illicit drugs in Colombia.
- The Human Hambone - Celebrates the use of the human body as an instrument, and traces the roots of body music back to 18th-century American history, when African slaves were forbidden to use drums, and so resorted to the body itself as a percussive instrument.
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I
- I Am Somebody - 1969 hospital workers struggle in Charleston, South Carolina.
- I Talk About Me, I Am Africa - An intimate look at black South Africans' cultural resistance to apartheid.
- I'll Sing for You[†] - Transports us to the vibrant landscape of Mali and surrounds us with the delicate yet powerful rhythms of the country's most famous musician, Boubacar Traoré, who sang songs of independence to an entire generation.
- If You Only Understood - A Cuban film director's search for an actress to star in his new musical comedy exposes issues of racism and other conflicts in Cuban society.
- In Rwanda We Say... - 2004 was the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, and the government released 16,000 confessed killers into their communities. Captures the first steps toward reconciliation between Hutu and Tutsi that followed.
- In the Mind of the Architect - From Modernist ideas through the eccentricities of Postmodernism, this 3-part series is an investigation into the eclectic world of architects and their creations.
- Inheritance - After a gold mine floods a Hungarian river with tons of cyanide, fisherman Balazs Meszaro stands alone against a multinational corporation, exposing environmental and human consequences of globalization.
- An Injury To One - Reconstructs the long-forgotten murder of union organizer Frank Little in Butte, Montana, and draws a connection between the unsolved murder of Little, and the attempted murder of the town itself.
- Inside Out - Transsexuals in the Islamic Republic of Iran: intimate conversations with doctors, religious authorities, and transexuals about Islamic interpretations, how the mind/body conflict has affected their everyday behavior, and the impact of sex- (new September, 2006)
- The Intolerable Burden - One black family's commitment to a quality education, from the pre-1965 time of segregation, through desegregation, and through the recent period of resegregation. **Winner, John E. O'Connor Film Award, American Historical Association**
- Investigation of a Flame[†] - An intimate look at the Catonsville Nine who on May 17, 1968 walked into a Catonsville, Maryland draft board office, grabbed hundreds of selective service records and incinerated them with homemade napalm.
- The Ister - During a journey up the Danube River, this film takes up some of the most challenging paths in Martin Heidegger's thought. With the philosophers Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Jean-Luc Nancy, Bernard Stiegler, and filmmaker Hans-Jürgen Syberberg
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J
- J'y Crois - I Believe In It - A beautifully composed political documentary investigating the decentralization process in Mali.
- Jacques Lacan Speaks[†] - A unique film from the archives, a documentary based on a 1971 university speaking appearance by Jacques Lacan (1901-1981), the most influential psychoanalyst after Freud.
- Japan Dreaming - A remarkable journey through Japan's changing cultural - and technological - landscape.
- Japan's Peace Constitution - Explores the origins of Japan's Constitution in the ashes of war, and the significance of its famous peace clause, Article 9, and the debates surrounding it, in the 21st century.
- Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir - In this rare interview two of the most influential and controversial writers and thinkers of the 20th century discuss their work, lives, and the role of public intellectuals in modern society.
- A Jumpin' Night in the Garden of Eden[†] - Klezmer is rediscovered in this celebration of the lively and eclectic music of Eastern European Jews.
- Justice - Takes a camera where few have been, a criminal courtroom in Rio de Janeiro, to record the social theatre, the structures of power, what is usually invisible.
- Justice at Agadez - Agadez, Niger: Alongside the laws of the state, another judicial system exists. The living heritage of the Muslim tradition.
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K
- Keeping It Real - A philosophical but often comic investigation of the desire for truly "authentic" experiences, and how the new "experience economy" packages and sells them.
- Knock Off - Juxtaposes the deified position logos occupy in our consumer-culture, with the lives of sweatshop workers who cannot afford the items they create.
- The Knowledge of Healing[†] - The first feature documentary dealing extensively with Tibetan medicine.
- Kochuu - A visually stunning film about modern Japanese architecture, its roots in Japanese tradition, and their relationships to modernist Scandinavian design. With two Pritzker Prize winners, Tadao Ando and Sverre Fehn.
- Kumar Talkies - In Kalpi, a small city in northern India, Kumar Talkies is the only movie theater in town. This film juxtaposes life in the village, with the world of rebellion and romance on the silver screen.
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L
- La Sierra - Tracing a year in the life of a Medellin neighborhood ruled by a paramilitary gang, this is a searing exploration of three lives defined by violence.
- Lagos / Koolhaas - Renowned architect Rem Koolhaas and students from The Harvard Project on the City explore Lagos, Nigeria, interpreting the chaotic city in an innovative, surprising way.
- Last Dance[†] - Goes behind the scenes with the audacious, innovative Pilobolus Dance Theatre and legendary author-illustrator Maurice Sendak to reveal a stormy collaboration.
- Last Grave at Dimbaza - Shot secretly and smuggled out of South Africa at the height of the apartheid era, this was the most widely screened and influential anti-apartheid documentary. Now restored and on DVD for the first time.
- Leila[†] - An elegant and provocative portrayal of the clash between tradition and modern marriage, between manipulation and the power of love, from renowned Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui.
- The Life and Times of Sara Baartman - The strange and sad case of Sara Baartman, kidnapped from South Africa in 1810, "exhibited" around Great Britain, and then treated as a scientific curiosity.
- Light, Darkness, and Colours - Using Goethe's Theory of Colors (Zur Farbenlehre) as a point of departure, takes us on a fascinating journey through the universe of colors.
- Linnea in Monet's Garden[†] - From the bestselling book, a young girl's introduction to Monet's world.
- Litigating Disaster - December 3, 1984. Bhopal, India. The worst chemical disaster of all time. How has Union Carbide manipulated the US and Indian legal systems for 20 years to avoid facing justice?
- Living Memory - About Mali's ancient culture, and this culture's position in the country today. Exposes tensions in a society assailed by modernization, Islam and global tourism, yet confident that it will maintain its own distinctive character.
- Living Proof: HIV and the Pursuit of Happiness[†] - Portraits of a diverse and dynamic group of people who have HIV or AIDS, but refuse to be crippled by their conditions.
- Living With The Past - Cairo is one of the few medieval cities in the world that remains relatively intact. This a portrait of Darb al-Ahmar, a neighborhood in the old city now facing a process of radical change.
- Lula's Brazil - A snapshot of Brazil at the midway point in Luis Inacio da Silva's presidential term, and an examination of his failures and successes within the context of the election promises he made during his candidacy.
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M
- Mademoiselle and the Doctor - Thought-provoking, comprehensive examination of society's current debate about the right to die, from involving legal restrictions, to religious objections, and to medical ethics.
- Magnitogorsk - The fortunes of three generations living in the shadow of Russia's most breathtaking industrial project of the 1930s. The film was inspired by Joris Ivens' Song of the Heroes. (from the January, 1998 Catalog Supplement)
- Making Grace[†] - This candid look at the daily challenges faced by two lesbian mothers attempting to have their first child offers unique insight into the nature of families and how we make them.
- The Making Of Rocky Road to Dublin - Reunites Peter Lennon and cinematographer Raoul Coutard, who recount the making of their then controversial but now classic documentary on Ireland in the Sixties.
- Malick Sidibé - Short but sweet look at the work of the renowned African artist whose photographs have documented social and cultural changes in Mali over a forty-year period.
- Mango Yellow[†] - The intertwined stories of people living hardscrabble lives in the favelas of Recife, Brazil - women and men, from children to the aged, of every shade of skin color.
- Marguerite, A Reflection of Herself - A personal portrait of the great French writer Marguerite Duras. Made with home moves, archives, film extracts, readings, and television interviews filmed over many years.
- Marx for Beginners - Hilarious 7 minute animated introduction to Karl Marx's worldview.
- The Men Who Would Conquer China - How does one buy companies owned by the state of China, support that country's transition to capitalism, and make a fortune at the same time?
- Mille Gilles - The thought and ideas of the French philospher Gilles Deleuze, and his impact on creative work and communities around the world.
- Mobutu, King of Zaire[†] - The definitive history and visual record of the rise and fall of Joseph Désiré Mobutu, ruler of Zaire (the Congo) for over 30 years.
- Monte Grande[†] - How do body and mind exist as an integrated whole? The eminent neurobiologist Francisco Varela devoted his entire life to answering this question. Featuring His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama
- Motherland Afghanistan - Afghan-American filmmaker Sedika Mojadidi vividly reveals the extent of the infant mortality tragedy in Afghanistan by documenting return of her father, an OB/GYN who emigrated to the U.S. in 1972.
- My American Family - 70-year-old Gaetano Merenda and his son (the filmmaker) travel to America for a reunion with relatives whose ancestors came from their small town in southern Italy more than a century ago.
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N
- Naguib Mahfouz - A portrait of Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz, the first and still only Arab winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
- Napoleon, David - Featuring the paintings of Jacques-Louis David, including "Napoleon's Coronation." Examines how art and propaganda were intertwined throughout Napoleon's career.
- A Narmada Diary - Investigates the Sardar Sarover Dam project in western India which may displace 200,000 residents of the Narmada valley.
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O
- On The Objection Front - In early 2002, a group of Israeli officers and soldiers issued a public statement. Although willing to serve in Israel's defense, they would no longer participate in the "War of the Settlements."
- One Bright Shining Moment[†] - Retracing George McGovern's doomed presidential campaign of 1972, this film asks: could the ultimate political defeat of the American Century, also have been its high watermark?
- Osaka Story - A very intimate diary of a Korean/Japanese filmmaker's strained relationship with his family.
- Our Daily Bread - A fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at our modern agricultural industry and the elaborate technology utilized for mass production.
- Our Friends at the Bank - Follows World Bank and International Monetary Fund decision-makers in Uganda, showing how top-level decisions are made in the field.
- Our House - A groundbreaking documentary that explores what it's like to grow up with gay or lesbian parents, as Americans struggle to re-define family values.
- Out of Place[†] - Traces the life and work of Edward Said (1935-2003), the Palestinian-born intellectual who wrote widely on history, literature, music, philosophy and politics.
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P
- The Passion of María Elena - Following the hit-and-run death of her son, Maria Elena, a young woman from Mexico's Raramuri community, embarks upon an eye-opening journey from grief to unexpected spiritual resolution.
- Paulina - As a young girl in a small Mexican village Paulina was traded for land by her parents, and raped by the town boss. But today a vital, resilient woman, she returns for a visit ...
- Persons of Interest - Ashcroft calls them terrorists - they call themselves Americans. A unique and compelling film that gives voice to the human costs of the government's anti-terrorism campaign.
- The Photographer, His Wife, Her Lover - A lurid tale of art world profit, deception and crime framed by American icon Winston O. Link's stunning photos. Did his young wife defraud this renowned photographer? Or, did he exploit her for her business acumen?
- Playing the News - An incredible story about the future of news and entertainment, the convergence of current affairs and online computer games. Is it dangerous, or a new way to reach an under informed young audience?
- Power and Terror[†] - A portrait of the activist intellectual Noam Chomsky, arguably the most important voice of dissent in the United States today.
- The Price of Aid - An investigation of America's food aid programs for famine-stricken nations, a multi-million dollar business, which asks both U.S. and African government officials whether such aid creates more problems than it solves.
- Private Dicks[†] - Rarely do we hear men talking honestly about their penises - until now. Surveying men from all walks of life, this film explores the naked truth about how men feel about their penises.
- Proteus - Animated exploration of the 19th century's fascination with the undersea world, and portrait of biologist and artis Ernst Haeckel, who found in the sea depths an ecstatic fusion of science and art.
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R
- Rachida[†] - A moving story about an Algerian community, and above all about the women in it, living under the continous threat of terror.
- Red Hook Justice - Profiles an innovative court in a Brooklyn neighborhood plagued by poverty and crime that is at the center of a legal revolution - the community justice movement.
- Red Persimmons - A visually elegant paean to the cultivation and harvesting of the sweet red fruit, and the disappearance of a traditional way of life in rural Japan.
- Regular or Super[†] - A fascinating introduction to one of the 20th century's most influential architects and a thought-provoking demonstration of architecture's contributions to our urban environments.
- Remembering - The phenomena of human memory. A dialogue with one's own history? An incomprehensible flow of individual and collective references that determine our current and future life?
- Renzo Piano - An intimate working portrait of the world-renowned, non-conformist architect, designer of the Pompidou Center in Paris, the De Mesnil museum in Houstonand the Kansai airport in Japan. (new September, 2006)
- The Return of Sara Baartman - After years of unsettling negotiation with France, South Africa finally welcomes home the remains of Sara Baartman in an historic event of repatriation.
- The Road to Kerbala - Iraqi-Canadian filmmaker Katia Jarjoura joins religious celebrants on the 100-kilometer walk from Baghdad to Kerbala, offering rare insights into the political and religious turmoil of U.S.-occupied Iraq.
- Robert, Mary, and Katrina - The astounding and surprisingly humorous story of how an elderly couple faced and survived Hurricane Katrina.
- Rocky Road to Dublin - Provocative, revealing classic portrait of 1960s Ireland: the stultifying educational system, the repressive, politically reactionary clergy and the myopic cultural nationalism.
- Ross McElwee DVD Collection[†] - This new collection includes six of McElwee's best films, four of which have never been available on DVD. (new January, 2006)
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S
- S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine[†] - 17,000 Cambodians were interrogated, tortured, and then executed at the S21 prison. Now, three of the only six survivors and their jailers return to excavate the past.
- Sacco and Vanzetti - The definitive examination of one of the most famous court cases in American history, and a timely reminder of the fragility of our liberties in times of crisis.
- Salvador Allende[†] - Patricio Guzmán (The Battle of Chile) tells Allende's story, from his youth in Valparaiso and his early career, to his presidency of Chile and death during the coup of September 11, 1973.
- Sandcastles - A discussion about Buddhism and global finance featuring Tibetan teacher Dzongzar Khyentse Rinpoche, American sociologist Saskia Sassen, and Dutch economist Arnoud Boot.
- Santiago Calatrava's Travels - A fascinating portrait of world famous artist, engineer, architect and urban studies scholar Santiago Calatrava, and an interdisciplinary reflection on the perception and impact of architecture.
- Saudi Solutions - Goes beyond the stereotype image of the submissive and illiterate Arab woman by featuring personal profiles of ambitious women in Saudi Arabia, one of the most closed and conservative Muslim societies in the world.
- The Secret Life of Babies - An two-part examination of the psychological development of babies, from intrauterine life to the first months after birth. How does the baby perceive its world, and ours? When and what are its capacities for learning?
- Seeing is Believing[†] - From Rodney King to Osama bin Laden, handicams aren't just for weddings and vacations anymore!
- Selling Sickness - Explores the unhealthy relationships between society, medical science and the pharmaceutical industry as it promotes not just drugs but also the latest diseases that go with them.
- Sermons and Sacred Pictures - Profiles Reverend L.O. Taylor, a Baptist minister and inspired photographer/filmmaker who documented the fabric of black American life prior to the civil rights movement.
- Shi'ism - Offers valuable insights into the complex, largely unknown history of this small branch of one of the world's largest faiths, now a politically influential, controversial religious movement.
- Shigeru Ban - A profile of the award-winning Japanese architect noted for his use of inexpensive construction materials, such as cardboard tubes, used in prefab housing adopted by the UN High Commission for Refugees.
- Shirin Ebadi - In-depth introduction to Nobel Peace Prize winner in her Tehran office, interwoven with speeches at international conferences and a visit to the children's center she founded.
- Silent Waters[†] - Set in 1979 in Pakistan, when General Zia-ul-Haq took control of the country and stoked the fires of Islamic nationalism.
- Since the Company Came - In the Solomon Islands extensive logging forces the Haporai people to confront social, cultural and ecological disintegration.
- A Song for Ireland - Traces the history of Ireland through her music, and Ireland's music through her history.
- Sotsgorod: Cities For Utopia - Uncovers the secret history of Western architects who moved to the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s, to design the huge new industrial cities being built across Siberia and the steppes.
- Still, The Children Are Here - A portrait of the Garo people of India, for whom cultivating rice is a way of life and worship, this film not only describes an indigenous culture, but the essential nature of humanity. Produced by Mira Nair.
- Stories of Honor and Shame - Through a series of remarkable personal accounts, fifteen women reveal their roles in the patriarchal Islamic society of the Gaza Strip where men dictate most aspects of life.
- Story of a Beautiful Country - A South African filmmaker travels in a mini-van taxi across his country with a hand-held camera. Topics range over controversial issues such as land, race, language, democracy, identity, and violence.
- Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square - An artist's personal exploration of China's recent history from the Cultural Revolution through the 1980s, told through a rich collage of original artwork, archival and family photographs, and animation.
- Swing in Beijing - A comprehensive survey of the contemporary art scene in Beijing, China, by the Academy Award nominated filmmaker Shui-Bo Wang.
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- The Take - Unemployed Argentinian workers take over their closed factories! A compelling political film, a vision of working people forging genuine alternatives to a failed economic model - a story with universal implications.
- They Chose China - Academy Award-nominated documentarian Shui-Bo Wang tells the controversial story of American POWs who after the Korean War refused repatriation, and stayed in China.
- 3 Cm Less - The parallel stories of two very different Palestinian women who attempt to heal the rifts in their families, probing into the "invisible hunger" for love and security, amidst the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
- The 3 Rooms of Melancholia - An award-winning, stunningly beautiful revelation of how the Chechen War has psychologically affected children in Russia and in Chechnya.
- To Be Seen - A lively study of visual culture, and an exploration of an age-old urban cultural phenomenon, street art. What is art's role in the context of public space and urban culture?
- A Touch of Greatness[†] - Regarded as one of the most influential teachers in American history, Albert Cullum, in an era when Dick, Jane and discipline ruled America's classrooms, allowed Shakespeare, Sophocles and Shaw to reign in his fifth grade classroom.
- The Trials of Henry Kissinger[†] - Focusing on his role in events in Vietnam, Indonesia and Chile, this film examines charges that the former Secretary of State and Nobel Peace Prize winner is also a war criminal.
- Trinkets and Beads - The oil company MAXUS and Huaroni Indians of the Amazon.
- Try to Remember - A mother returns to her home village Yantang, in China, with her son, to show him where she grew up, and to talk for the first time about the days of the Cultural Revolution.
- The Two Lives of Eva - As a compelling biographical story of a woman whose formative years were lived during the rise of Nazism, WWII and the Holocaust, THE TWO LIVES OF EVA gradually becomes a revealing account of how her personal tragedy was inextricably linked
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- A Veiled Revolution - Considers the possible reasons for modern Egyptian women's turn back to tradition.
- The Virgin Diaries - Two young women journey through Morocco in search of answers to their questions about virginity, sex and Islam.
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- Wall Street - On the floor and behind the scenes of the New York Stock Exchange. A revealing and candid look at the people and culture that make up the biggest marketplace in the world.
- Wandering Souls - Thirty years after the end of the war, two Vietnamese combat veterans search for the remains of fellow NLF soldiers, meeting with the families, local bureaucrats, and visiting cemeteries in an attempt to bring their comrades' spirits 'back
- The War at Home[†] - This Academy Award nominated film chronicles the awakening and growth of the Vietnam protest movement in the United States.
- War Photographer[†] - Considered one of the bravest and most important war photographers of our time, James Nachtwey hardly fits the cliché of the hard-boiled war journalist. 2001 Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Feature.
- The Way Things Go[†] - 100 feet of physical interactions, chemical reactions, and precisely crafted chaos worthy of Rube Goldberg or Alfred Hitchcock - a discussion starter for sure.
- We Are Not Your Monkeys and Occupation: Millworker - Two films on one tape. WE ARE NOT YOUR MONKEYS is a look at the caste system in India through Daya Pawar's song. OCCUPATION: MILLWORKER records the courageous action of workers who, after a four-year lockout, forcibly occupied The New Great
- Whisky[†] - An inspired and beautifully assured tragic-comedy about Jacobo, a sixty-year-old owner of a small, outdated sock factory in Uruguay.
- White City, Black Lives - Five residents of White City, a neighborhood in Soweto, were trained how to use small Hi8 cameras, so that they could tell the story of their own lives, in their own way, to represent themselves to their fellow citizens, and the world.
- With God On Our Side[†] - A balanced chronicle of the emergence of conservative Christians as a political force, and an in-depth look at Pres. Bush's connection with evangelicals, told largely in evangelical conservatives' own words.
- The Women of Hezbollah - A portrait of two women activists in the Hezbollah, and an examination of the personal, social and political factors of their commitment to this Islamic movement in Lebanon.
- The World Stopped Watching - What happens to a country when the media spotlight is turned off? 15 years after the Sandinista/Contra war in Nicaragua often led our nightly news, journalists who covered that war return to find out.
- The Written Face - Offers an insight into the Japanese Kabuki star Tamasaburo Bando, one of the last defenders of this ancient and disappearing performing tradition.
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- Zinat, One Special Day - Zinat, the first woman from the Island of Qeshm in the south of Iran to remove the traditional face mask (Boregheh), is running for elected office.
- Zorro's Bar Mitzvah - Four 12-year-olds are preparing for their bar or bat mitzvot. A critical and ironic look at Jewish tradition and its interpretations, while exploring the diffuse terrain of adolescence.
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Note on DVD Formats: Titles marked with "†" are available on DVD-Video (like you buy in a video store). All other titles are on DVD-R format. DVD-R format has enhanced video and audio characteristics like regular DVD's, but may be incompatible with approximately 15% of players. DVD-Rs should play in all DVD-ROM computer drives. If you purchase a DVD-R from First Run/Icarus Films and find that it does not play in your machine, you may exchange it for a VHS or receive a refund.
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