Title Index
Absolutely Safe - This is the story of everyday women who find themselves and their breasts in the tangled and confusing intersection of beauty and business, revealing that the conversation on implant safety is far more complex than mere health issues.
The Altered Consciousness Collection - This box set of award-winning documentaries explores the frontiers of human consciousness and the iconic pioneers who opened the doors of perception. From early LSD research and hypnotic “dream machines” to the transformational powers of Eastern spirituality, The Altered Consciousness Collection reveals the sub-culture of enlightenment seekers who influenced a generation.
The American Ruling Class - The American Ruling Class is a morality tale set to music about of two Yale students who seek their opportunities after graduation. Lewis Lapham, the renowned essayist, author and longtime Harper’s Magazine editor, conducts them through the corridors of power – Pentagon press briefings, the World Economic Forum, philanthropic foundations, Washington law firms, banks, the Council on Foreign Relations and New York society dinners. As they make their way, the real-life luminaries they meet become characters in a dramatic story about power, its responsibilities and abuses. The subject is our country’s most taboo topic: class, power and privilege in our nominally democratic republic.
Arab Labor: Season 1 - Arab Labor is a raucous and irreverent critically acclaimed comedy series from Israel about Amjad, a Palestinian journalist and Israeli citizen in search of his identity. His personal quest for status and success as a journalist at a Jerusalem newspaper is foiled by the humiliating searches he endures everyday when he leaves his Palestinian neighborhood to commute to his job. The result is a comedy series that pierces the taboos of acceptable language and humor surrounding the prickly, long-standing status quo in which Palestinian and Jewish Israelis live side by side.
Art of Faith - Art of Faith is a visually sumptuous series revealing outstanding examples of the art and architecture of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The films bring to life many of the greatest and most significant religious buildings through stunning photography and interviews with the people who know and love them. Art of Faith enables viewers to enter into the lives of these people and gain a deeper understanding of the three Abrahamic faith traditions as well as the history and art of these great and glorious buildings.
The Atheism Tapes - This two-disc film features interviews with six of today’s leading men of letters and science: biologist and New York Times best-selling author Richard Dawkins; philosophers Daniel Dennett and Colin McGinn; distinguished playwright Arthur Miller; theologian Denys Turner and Nobel Prize winning physicist Steven Weinberg, discuss why they are atheists and why non theism is one of today’s most controversial issues.
Beyond Belief - Susan Retik and Patti Quigley were two ordinary soccer moms living in the affluent suburbs of Boston until the tragedy of September 11 struck. Rather than turn inward, grief compelled these women to focus on empowering widows in the country where the terrorists who took their husbands’ lives were trained: Afghanistan.
Elvis: Return to Tupelo - The Elvis phenomenon has its roots in his birthplace where Presley began a musical journey that would take him from the wrong side of the tracks in Tupelo through Memphis to worldwide iconic status. Using interviews, recordings, photographs and rare home movies, Elvis: Return to Tupelo is the rock n’ roll adventure story of one of the greatest cultural forces of the twentieth century.
Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara: The Bolivian Diary - Over 40 years ago, on October 9, 1967, Ernesto Che Guevara was executed by the Bolivian army, aided by the CIA. Guevara’s diary, a detailed, personal account of his futile 11-month attempt to foment revolution in Bolivia, is the basis of this moving portrait.
Fela Kuti: Music is The Weapon - Fela Kuti is to African music what Bob Marley is to reggae: its prophet. All contemporary forms of black music, from funk to electronic, owe something to the irresistible groove of the Afrobeat sound that he created. Shot in Lagos at the peak of his career in 1982, this documentary contains interviews with Fela detailing his thoughts on politics, Pan-Africanism, music and religion, alongside unpublished versions of songs like ITT, Army Arrangement and Power Show. For all who wish to know more about an artist at the heart of African musical history, Fela Kuti: Music is the Weapon is an essential film.
Fierce Light - Gandhi called it “Soul Force,” Dr. King called it “Love in Action,” and now, acclaimed filmmaker Velcrow Ripper is calling it “Fierce Light.” It is a universal power that radiates from every human heart, undeniably hopeful, and full of possibility. It holds us to be uncompromisingly nonviolent and drives us to the pentacle of our spiritual excellence. Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action chronicles Ripper’s journey to document examples of this sacred beacon that shines the brightest at the darkest and most dangerous times.
FLicKeR - This award-winning documentary about poet, artist, calligrapher and mystic Brion Gysin portrays the life and legacy of an artist who believed art could revolutionize human consciousness. This film chronicles Gison’s complex ideas, friendships and influence with some of the 20th century’s key counterculture figures, such as William Burroughs, Kurt Cobain and Marianne Faithful.
Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman- This six-part series takes a personal, experimental approach to female life in the 21st century. The series narratively and visually interweaves aspects of filmmaker Jennifer Fox’s own life over five years and across seventeen countries, as she struggles to understand how diverse women define their lives when there is no map. Employing an ingenious new camera technique called “Passing the Camera,” Fox creates a documentary language that mirrors the special way women communicate. Over intimate conversations around kitchen tables from South Africa to Russia, India and Pakistan, she initiates a groundbreaking dialogue among women, illuminating universal concerns across race, class and nationality.
Forgiveness: Stories for Our Time - In a world wracked by increasing violence and horror, Forgiveness: Stories for Our Time brings hope that there are other possibilities beyond blind revenge, no matter how violent the cirme - and that in forgiving others we can set ourselves free.
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop - A vibrant chronicle of one of today’s most notorious and revered live bands, Gogol Bordello Non-Stop follows Eugene Hütz’s gypsy-punk brigade around the world as they spread their liberating libertine musical gospel. Filmmaker Margarita Jimeno tracks their raucous gigs from 2001 to 2006, from NYC to Italy, as the band rises from dingy basements to festival main-stages. The cast is a rotating circus of polyglot personalities from Israel, Russia and America, who dish on their music, their heritage, and their favored vices.
Griefwalker - A universal experience whether or not we can admit it, death is the sole counterpart to life. From the moment we take our first breath, death is our only guaranteed experience. This is something Stephen Jenkinson not only understands but something he loves. And he wants you to feel the same way. Griefwalker, a feature length documentary by Tim Wilson, sets its lens on Jenkinson in an unforgettable exploration of death phobia as a culture.
Hair: Let the Sun Shine In - Award-winning filmmaker Pola Rappaport’s documentary excavates the origins of this culturally transformative theatre work. Interviews with co-creator James Rado, original cast members and producers as well as director Milos Forman are fused with abundant and rare archival footage. The result is a delectable deconstruction of a musical that defined an era, a generation and its politics. The DVD includes an additional hour of bonus material featuring extended interviews with the original creators and cast.
Hippie Masala - This enlightening documentary is a fascinating chronicle about aging flower children who, after fleeing Western civilization, found a new way of life in India.
Hofmann’s Potion - Featuring interviews with the pioneers of LSD, Hofmann’s Potion is a comprehensive chronicle of LSD’s history, from its discovery by Alfred Hofmann to its prohibition in 1973. Featuring interviews with Albert Hofmann, Ram Dass and other groundbreaking researchers and a wealth of archival footage, this informative program provides a history of a chemical that changed a culture.
Holes In My Shoes - Holes In My Shoes is the profoundly moving story of native New Yorker, Jack Beers. As featured on PBS, he rides three miles a day on a stationary bike, cuts down trees and can rip a telephone book into four pieces at the ripe old age of 94. But it is his long and diverse list of lifetime achievements that makes his tale so touching.
Kiki & Herb Live at the Knitting Factory - Justin Bond and Kenny Mellman are KIKI & HERB, worldwide smash punk rebel entertainers, cabaret outsiders, and subversive pop stars who rock stages all over the world. Join the Tony-nominated duo at the epicenter of their madness for their first-ever live DVD from the Knitting Factory in New York City.
Living Goddess - Living Goddess is a journey into the small Himalayan kingdom of Nepal, rooted in religious and political tradition facing the challenges of modernization and political reform. The film juxtaposes the call for political reform on the street against intimate footage of a pre pubescent living goddess, Sajani. Venerated as a living incarnation of the divine, she is also a precocious and charming eleven year old who goes to school, plays hide and seek, and collapses in giggles in front of the camera when not presiding over religious ceremonies full of pomp and circumstance. The film is a powerful portrait of a young girl venerated as a goddess growing up in a country on the verge of civil war.
Meditate and Destroy - Meditate and Destroy profiles bestselling author of Dharma Punx and Against the Stream, Noah Levine and his journey from a life of addiction and violence to taking on the role of dedicated meditation teacher and community leader. Interviews with family and friends, including renowned Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield, illustrate the driving forces that compelled Levine to turn to Buddhism, while conversations with his students testify to a man whose candor inspires others to integrate Buddhist teachings of nonviolence and inner peace with the experiences and challenges of Generation X.
Mystical Brain - Is it possible to shed light on the states of grace experienced by mystics and meditators? Mystical Brain shows us the most recent discoveries of scientific research on this phenomenon in North America and abroad.
A Not So Silent Night - Direct from the Knitting Factory stage in downtown Manhattan, A Not So Silent Night features Kate and Anna McGarrigle in a live performance of The McGarrigle Christmas Hour, joined by Kate’s children, Rufus and Martha Wainwright. Other guests include Grammy award-winner Emmylou Harris, Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed, and famed performance artist Laurie Anderson. An eclectic cast performing original and traditional Christmas-themed songs transports viewers through a rousing rendition of the Christmas story.
Protagonist - Protagonist explores extremism through contrasting stories of personal revelation. The film features four individuals who have been devoted to personal odysseys - a cause, a quest, an ideal - to the point of total consumption. At first glance the characters appear disconnected: a former German terrorist, an “ex-gay” evangelist, a bank robber and a martial arts student. But as their stories unfold, one starts to see the parallels between the uncommon, common experience of these four men.
Sacred Love-Making - Sacred Love-Making is the kind of film that will awaken all of your senses, challenge you, enrich your intimate understanding, increase your spontaneity, cultivate your artistry, and– without a doubt– make you a better lover. Watch as best-selling author and relationship expert, Karinna Kittles-Karsten, introduces ancient Taoist love secrets and rituals for deeper sexual satisfaction and emotional connection as she guides you through the Sacred Love-Making experience in this exquisitely beautiful, breakthrough educational DVD.
Secrets of Mary Magdalene - Based on Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer’s nonfiction work, this documentary reveals the untold story of how her image has been continuously reimagined throughout history. A sinner and prostitute, or the secret wife of Jesus and original leader of his church? Featuring interviews with Elaine Pagels and Susan Haskins among other notable scholars, Secrets of Mary Magdalene strips away the veils of history to reveal the flesh and blood of the woman who served as Jesus’ foremost apostle and possibly the love of his life.
Secrets of the Soul - This documentary film takes an all encompassing look at the universal belief in the soul. From the older tradition of the Native American Vision Quest to mediums who claim to be able to communicate with the dead, this two-hour special explores the beliefs and rituals of the faithful as well as the latest scientific research that investigates the soul’s very existence.
Sex: How To Do Everything - SEX: How To Do Everything is a groundbreaking ten-part series featuring renowned sexperts Em & Lo setting out to whip your sex life into seriously seductive shape. Each episode is full of information, interviews and how-to demonstrations from various models illustrating a variety of different techniques, from the ordinary to the super-scandalous.
Signs Out of Time - Signs Out of Time weaves together interviews, archival footage, photographs, and narration to portray the scope of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas’s life and work. Using animation, artifacts, archival interview footage of Marija, comments from her supporters and critics, this biographical documentary explores her ground-breaking studies, excavations and publications, the depth and breadth of her scholarship, and the controversy around her theories concerning matriarchies and herstory.
So Help Me God - Advertising guru Simon Cole loves his job, his car and his wife, but feels spiritually empty and disconnected. Wondering if he were the only person in America not talking to God, he starts an entertaining personal trip across the country in search of God in different cultures. In encountering the Mormons, Muslims, Jews and Jehovah’s Witnesses of America, So Help Me God is the amusing story of one man’s journey to find a spiritual life and fill the hole he feels his life is missing.
Son of Man - In the state of Judea in southern Africa, violence, poverty and sectarianism are endemic. The neighbouring Alliance has invaded to restore ‘peace’ at gunpoint. Bloody street battles accompany the neighbouring dictatorship’s incursion into its weaker satellite. Promises of a transition to open democratic rule accompany summary executions and brutal massacres. As the civil war reaches a new level, a divine child is born to a lowly couple. As he grows and witnesses the inhumanity of the world he lives in, his angelic guardians offer him an escape to the heavens. He refuses. This is his world and he must try to save it from the work of evil men and from the darkness working through them. As an adult, he travels to the capital, gathering followers from the armed factions of rebels that crisscross the land. He demands that his followers give up their guns and confront their corrupt rulers with a vision of non-violent protest and solidarity. Inevitably, he attracts the attention of the Judean tribal leaders who have struck a power-sharing deal with the aloof Governor Pilate. The Son of Man must be brought down and destroyed. It should be another simple ‘disappearance’ like any other…
Sound of the Soul - Already a worldwide film festival favorite, Sound of the Soul transports viewers on an exhilarating and inspiring cinematic journey into the heart of the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music. In a world increasingly polarized by religious conflicts and fundamentalist forces, Sound of the Soul reverberates with unity, understanding, and most of all, hope. This thought-provoking documentary film vividly portrays the universal language of music and an Arab country where people of different faiths and cultures have lived together in relative peace for centuries.
Spiritual Revolution - Spiritual Revolution captures the spiritual revival that is exploding across the United States today. Rooted in eastern traditions, specifically the practice of meditation, the new spirituality is transforming traditional western faith practices. Eminent spiritual leaders, Zen masters, yogis, scholars and scientists explore the new role of meditation in traditional faith practices; the power of meditation to affect the brain on the molecular level; and its potential as a remedy for those with ADD. Emerging new gender paradigms based on equality are also presented.
Theater of War - Filmmaker John Walter artfully captures Meryl Streep groping for – and then seizing – the character in her unforgettable portrayal of Mother Courage in Tony Kushner’s adaptation of the Bertold Brecht masterpiece Mother Courage and Her Children, which was presented by The Public Theater/NY Shakespeare Festival in Central Park in the summer of 2006. Theater of War is about theater and war, capitalism and Marxism, the postwar anti-Communist hysteria of the 1950s, and one literary genius’s ability to make art from them all.
Through the Eastern Gate - Through the Eastern Gate is a documentary film about the aspirations, practices and beliefs of three young Westerners who follow three different eastern spiritual traditions. Filmed in the gorgeous countryside and ancient cities of India and Turkey, this intimate and compelling film delves into the worlds of people who have turned their backs on Western traditions to find new transcendent meaning in their lives.
Tibetan Book of the Dead - Death is real, it comes without warning and it cannot be escaped. An ancient source of strength and guidance, The Tibetan Book of the Dead remains an essential teaching originating in the spiritual cultures of the Himalayas. Narrated by Leonard Cohen, this enlightening two-part series explores the sacred text and boldly visualizes the afterlife according to its profound wisdom.
With One Voice - With One Voiceis an illuminating spiritual documentary concerning the unity of humanity, our essential oneness, through the single message and mystical tradition that binds all faiths together. The film features mystics from many of the great spiritual traditions around the world who discuss spiritual awakening, world peace and love.
Women and Spirituality - Donna Read’s definitive series explores the power of the sacred feminine in mythological, historical and cultural contexts. This trilogy investigates the relationship between women and spirituality from ancient times to the present and includes interviews with Starhawk, Merlin Stone, Carol Christ and other pioneering members of the goddess movement.
Workingman’s Death - After the fall of Communism, the plight of the Proletariat is rarely discussed and today’s manual laborers are no longer celebrated with hymns of praise. The critically acclaimed Workingman’s Death provides a rare glimpse into the harsh treatment faced by manual labor around the world today.
The Workshop - In a wooded glade somewhere near San Francisco, The Workshop challenges the rules of modern society by pushing all boundaries of normal convention - especially the sexual ones! A group of people agree to take part in a 10-day ‘workshop’ led by spiritual leader Paul Lowe in their search for a higher personal truth. On day one they are told to introduce themselves and meet everyone else - completely naked! Searing emotional honesty, full nudity, experiments and sexuality and the exorcising of inner demons are the hallmarks of this groundbreaking and provocative documentary. Enlightenment achieved?…maybe. But definitely the naked truth…