Summary: It is a timely tale of what can happen when engaged citizens fight the power for the sake of a better world. Arguably, no one did more to shape our understanding of the modern American city than Jane Jacobs, the visionary activist and writer who fought to preserve urban communities in the face of destructive development projects. The film vividly brings to life Jacobs' 1960s showdown with...

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: MPI Media Group 2017

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC CIT

Summary: Explores the history of the New York City nightclub Max's Kansas City and its influence on punk rock music and culture.

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: 2023

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in Music DVDs, Call number: DVD MUSIC NIG

Summary: On the Bowery: A documentary film of men living on the Bowery. Depicts life inside the bars and on the sidewalks, the alcoholism and unemployment and life on the streets. Good times, wonderful times: This antiwar film predated Viet Nam, but had great impact in the sixties. The film cuts between documentary war footage and extemporized conversations.

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: Milestone Film & Video 2012

Copies Available at Woodmere

2 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC ON

Summary: Survivors, observers and expert government officials recount the 1971 uprising at the Attica Correctional Facility, when a violent five-day standoff between mostly black and latino inmates and law enforcement took place.

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: 2022

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC ATT

Summary: For three days in the summer of 1969, a rock concert was held on an upstate New York farm, and 400,000 people attended -- far more than were anticipated, far more than paid, far more than could be fed or sheltered or cared for after injuries or drug overdoses. It rained, there was mud, all traffic in and out was gridlocked, and the music continued, night and day. "Woodstock Nation" existed for...

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: Warner Bros. Pictures 2009

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in TC Film Fest DVDs, Call number: DVD TCFF WOO

Copies Available at Peninsula

1 available in Musicals DVDs, Call number: DVD WOO

Summary: A quintessential New York story. For over 70 years, the influential Fashion Calendar with its iconic pink pages laid out every fashion event in New York City, including New York Fashion Week. Behind it was founder Ruth Finley. In 2014, Ruth returned at 95 and sold the Fashion Calendar to the Council of Fashion Designers of America. This documentary examines this momentous transition, and...

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: 2022

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC CAL

Summary: In 2020 the Metropolitan Museum of Art celebrated its 150th anniversary. This three-part program looks at the uncertainty the Met faced at this time as it faced an indefinite closure due to COVID-19 and calls for social justice following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police.

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: 2021

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in E-TV DVDs, Call number: DVD E-TV INS

Summary: Shortly after noon on September 11, 2001, retired FDNY firefighter Mike Lennon arrived at the devastation of the World Trade Centers. After two weeks of digging, first for survivors and then for remains, he grabbed his camera and began interviewing every firehouse that had lost men. An interview done prior to 9/11 with John Satore, a firefigher who died at the WTC, leads to a flood of memories...

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: Vanguard Cinema 2004

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC BRO

Summary: Tells the riveting, behind-the-scenes story of Cantor Fitzgerald. On September 10, 2001, financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald was headquartered on the top 5 floors of the World Trade Center. On September 11, 2001, 658 of their 960 employees were missing, presumed dead, in the nation's worst terrorist attacks. Tells twin stories' the saga of the ravaged business and surviving employees, and an...

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: 2014

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC OUT

Summary: It was a morning like any other, until the unthinkable made it a day we would never forget. On 9/11 and the following days the footage from 27 filmmakers recorded what they saw throughout the city.

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: Anchor Bay Entertainment 2004

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC SEV

Summary: Narrated by Tony-and Academy Award-winner Joel Grey, this entertaining documentary mingles cultural history with illuminating perspectives on the origins and meanings of some of Broadway's most beloved songs, stories, and shows. With performances by Matthew Broderick, Kelli O'Hara, Zero Mostel, Nathan Lane, Barbra Streisand, Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, and many more!

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: 2021

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in E-TV DVDs, Call number: DVD E-TV BRO

Summary: Chronicles America's complicated perceptions of race and crime through the story of the "Central Park 5" -- a group of minority teenagers wrongfully convicted and jailed for brutally raping a white woman in New York.

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: PBS Distribution 2013

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC CEN
1 available in TC Film Fest DVDs, Call number: DVD TCFF CEN

Summary: Between 1961-1973, musicians in the Village banded together to sing about the radical social upheaval of the time, sparking everlasting political, social, and cultural changes. For the first time, the greatest singer-songwriters, authors, and performers from Greenwich Village reflect on how they collectively became the voice of a generation. Through poignant interviews, rare archival footage,...

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: 2013

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC GRE

Summary: This is the true-life story of a junkie turned multimillionaire drug lord. With the first hand testimony of the Godfather himself, Nicky Barnes, who was the most powerful black drug kingpin in New York City history. From humble beginnings, he came to dominate the heroin distribution business. Trusted and trained by the Italians, he set up his own crime family --The Council.

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: Distributed by Magnolia Home Entertainment 2008

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC MR

Summary: Famed street photographer Ricky Powell made a name for himself taking wild portraits of New York City's who's who in the 80s and 90s. From the Beastie Boys to Basquiat, Powell's lens captured the grit and glamour of the city's downtown scene like never before. Powell and some of his notable subjects reflect on his fascinating life and work as well as the demons that shaped him.

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: 2022

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC RIC

Summary: New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art introduces a new fashion exhibition with a gala event every year on the first Monday of May. A grand fashion and cultural exhibit fundraiser for the museum's Costume Institute, the event is attended by A-list celebrities. The film gives a behind-the-scenes look at the the exhibition "China: Behind the Look Glass," conceived and organized by Met curator...

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: 2016

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC FIR

Summary: The Automat recounts the lost history of the iconic restaurant chain Horn & Hardart, which served affordable food to millions of New Yorkers and Philadelphians for more than a century. Founded by Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart in 1888, it revolutionized the nation's restaurant scene with technology that captured the public's imagination like nothing else the customer put nickels into slots, and...

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: 2022

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC AUT

Galinsky, Michael

Summary: A man leads a movement against the development of a professional basketball arena to try and save his home and community from being demolished.

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: Virgil Films 2013

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in TC Film Fest DVDs, Call number: DVD TCFF BAT

Summary: On 12.12.12 some of the world's leading artists came together for a live, one-night-only fundraising concert at Madison Square Garden to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. The concert was broadcast all across North & South America, Europe, Africa, Asia & Australia. The all-star line-up includes The Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, Chris Martin, Paul...

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: 2013

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in TC Film Fest DVDs, Call number: DVD TCFF TWE

Summary: Follows the lives and careers of a group of artists and designers who inadvertently affected the art world.

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: Oscilloscope Pictures 2009

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC BEA

Summary: The story of Craig Castalso, better known as Radioman for the stereo boombox worn around his neck. This New York film set mascot overcame homelessness and alcoholism to become a fixture of the New York film industry, with over 100 small parts to his name.

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: 2022

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC RAD

Summary: In the late 19th century, as America's teeming cities grew increasingly congested, the time had come to replace the nostalgic horse-drawn trolleys with a faster, cleaner, safer, and more efficient form of transportation. Ultimately, it was Boston, a city of so many firsts that overcame a litany of engineering challenges, the greed-driven interests of businessmen, and the great fears of its...

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: 2017

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in E-TV DVDs, Call number: DVD E-TV RAC

Summary: With a healthy dose of insight and wit, takes an inside look at the Park Slope Food Coop, one of America's most successful cooperative food supermarkets. In Brooklyn NY, in the shadow of Wall Street, an institution that represents a less well-known American tradition is booming. The Park Slope Food Coop, a cooperative supermarket where all 16,000 members work 2.75 hours per month to earn the...

Format: moving image

Publisher / Publication Date: 2019

Copies Available at Woodmere

1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC FOO