Summary: In this program, esteemed authors including Thomas Keneally, Christopher Koch, Eva Sallis, Luke Davies, and Nikki Gemmell focus on two of the most difficult things that inevitably come with a writer's livelihood: writer's block and rejection. The business side of writing-agents, publishers, and editors-is also considered. Some final advice on how to write a story? Sallis says, "Just write-let...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In this program, Claire Messud, Jennifer Johnston, Tom Petsinis, Roger McDonald, Hilary Mantel, and other skilled authors talk about the personal qualities that writers depend on to cope with the creative, emotional, and psychological demands of writing. They also offer advice on how to develop the language skills that writers need, explain the importance of doing research, and stress the value...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: How important is the opening line of a book? Does a writer always have to know what is going to happen next? Where should the line be drawn between historic fact and historical fiction? And what are the particular challenges of writing a biography? Drawing on the expertise of Edvard Radzinsky, Fay Weldon, Anson Cameron, John Lanchester, Nicholas Shakespeare, and other respected authors, this...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In this program, dedicated authors including A. Scott Berg, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Isobelle Carmody, Venero Armanno, and Thomas Keneally explore the ways in which writers deal with fatigue, rejection, and uncertainty in order to sustain their enthusiasm over the years it often takes to write a book and then find a publisher. In addition, they address three core issues involving the mechanics of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Henry Ford meets Franklin Roosevelt to discuss New Deal and their differences
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1938
View online at AVOD
Summary: Beginning with a condensed history of classical and quantum physics to contextualize the current state of quantum science, this highly visual program takes viewers to the frontiers of quantum computation. Wave-particle duality, entanglement and superposition, the EPR Paradox, Schrödinger’s Cat, the famous double-slit experiment, and the “noisy observer effect” flash by like road markers on this...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: They helped to instill the mythic qualities of the cowboy in American cinema. This powerhouse program focuses on the friendship of John Wayne and John Ford, beginning with their first meeting in 1928 and spanning their collaboration over 130 pictures, 14 of which were made without a contract-unheard of in 21st-century Hollywood. The program analyzes chiefly their work in Stagecoach and Red...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Ridiculed by some, admired by others, and ignored by no one, Yukio Mishima has remained a paradox in both life and death. This program combines extensive archival footage of Mishima; interviews with colleagues, including his biographer, Henry Scott Stokes, and two of his translators; and readings by actor John Hurt to portray Japan's immensely popular novelist, playwright, actor, and patriot of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Read by noted actors Michael Gough, Edward Fox, and Eileen Atkins, T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land powerfully expresses the disillusionment and disgust of the post-World War I era in Europe. In this program, Professor Frank Kermode, of Cambridge University; Eliot biographer Peter Ackroyd; and poets Sir Stephen Spender and Craig Raine examine the complex nature of Eliot's influential poem, analyze...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program provides the essentials for writing for television and feature films. David McFadzean and Matt Williams, writers for such primetime television programs as Roseanne and The Cosby Show, discuss what they call the "grueling" cycle of writing for the medium. They advise would-be writers how to take and learn from criticism, and that any immorality in stories should be constructed...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2003
View online at AVOD
Summary: Genetic science holds the keys to life itself. How should this knowledge be used? Enhanced by outstanding 3-D computer animations and microscopic imaging, this engaging program featuring Dr. Cary Fowler, author of Shattering: Food, Politics, and the Loss of Genetic Diversity, takes a balanced look at the biotechnological revolution. Among the numerous topics surveyed are genetic engineering,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program explores a century of conflict and tragedy in the Appalachians, beginning with the cultural oppression and forced exodus of the Cherokee. Documenting Appalachia's role in racial and ideological tensions leading up to the Civil War, the video examines the prevalence of slavery outside plantation culture and the unpredictable divisions among mountain communities that followed...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006