New library addition: Our Brand is Crisis

For many years American political strategists have consulted on the campaigns of presidential hopefuls in other countries, discreetly molding the opnions of the voting puplic, spreading US-style politicking around the world. This riveting documentary follows James Carville and a team of consultants as they help Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada become president of Bolivia. The same […]

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From the screen to the streets – life imitates art: A day without a Mexican (DVD 1008)

From the ALADIN record –“California awakens one day to discover that one third of its population has vanished. A peculiar pink fog surrounds the state and communication outside its boundaries has completely shut down. As the day progresses, it becomes apparent the sole characteristic linking the missing 14 million is their Hispanic heritage. Based on […]

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Must-see video: In the Realms of the Unreal

This documentary provides probably as much of the story of outsider artist Henry Darger as you are ever likely to learn. Darger was a recluse who avoided all but a few people during his relatively long life. Upon being admitted to a hospital late in life, his life’s work, an enormous and truly unique trove […]

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March Madness: Basketball films in Media Services

The Big Game (1982, VHS 4067) – From the classic Middletown film series on life in and around Muncie, Indiana – itself a complement to the Middletown studies conducted by Robert and Helen Lynd in the 1920s and 1930s. Director E.J. Vaughn uses a cinema verite technique to capture the activity surrounding the annual basketball […]

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World Cultures on video: Roma

Roma or Gypsies are among the most historically persecuted ethnic groups in Europe. Stereotyped as thieves and con men, Rom groups still find it difficult to peacefully exist in many towns, particularly in Eastern Europe. Yet there is much to admire in their fascinating culture. Their traditional music and dance can be simultaneously joyful and […]

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Suggested viewing: This Divided State – DVD 1678

When filmmaker Michael Moore is invited to speak at Utah Valley State College, local residents and conservative students pull out all the stops to try to pre-empt the engagement. Neither protests, threats, bribery, or a last-ditch speech by Fox News commentator Sean Hannity can sway the determined student government leaders though. Driven by their plain-spoken […]

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Forgotten classic: A Day with Timmy Page

Aspiring filmmakers can probably learn a thing or two from young auteur Timmy Page. From the paneled basement of his home in Connecticut, he explains how he came to be a movie producer/director, his philosophy of film making, his view of other more established film makers (Charlie Chaplin, etc.), and the art of plot development. […]

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Must-see video: Punishment Park

Peter Watkins’s Punishment Park was made and released in 1970. Watkins had set out to make a film about the Chicago Seven but instead wound up making a fictional film about a civilian tribunal hearing the cases and passing sentences on anti-war protesters. In lieu of long prison sentences, those found guilty are given the […]

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