Summary: Home to more biodiversity than either Europe or North America, Costa Rica has shown the world how to benefit from the environment without destroying it. This program treks across the Central American nation with a spotlight on ecotourism and how it fits into Costa Rica's overall economy. Visits to a banana farm, a coffee plantation, the Monteverde Cloud Forest, and the Tortugero National Park...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program defines Mexico City's globalization in terms of winners and losers, examining how, in the world's largest metropolis, immigration challenges are linked to poverty and population influx from surrounding rural areas. Contrasting the city's high-tech facilities and fashionable neighborhoods with its sprawling slums and their struggling inhabitants, the program outlines the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Coffee is second only to oil as the world's most valuable traded commodity, but small-scale producers rarely profit from it. This program reveals the hardship and uncertainty faced by coffee farmers in Guatemala, and how many are taking steps to obtain better prices and build better lives. Analyzing the country's traumatic history and the lingering effects of its civil war, the video sheds...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In Nicaragua, a growing awareness of domestic violence and its consequences has spurred grassroots activism. This program documents the efforts of two groups, the Xochitl-Acatl Center and the Association of Men Against Violence, both of which confront gender and sexual abuse. Arguing that economic and political oppression influence male tendencies to exercise physical authority within the home,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: For many teenagers in Mexico, heading across the U.S. border after high school is much more common than heading off to college. But as law enforcement continues to tighten security, that journey is growing more and more hazardous. Filmed on both sides of the border, this program briefly examines issues surrounding illegal immigration-particularly how much more a person can earn in America than...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Mexican citizens working in the United States and Canada can face difficult conditions, even when they are employed legally. Filmed over an entire growing season, El Contrato documents the experiences of a group of laborers contracted to work in a sprawling tomato greenhouse. Tensions between workers, growers, and government officials reveal disturbing aspects of the hugely profitable...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Urban punks with green hair and green thumbs, the members of Tierra Viva transform toxic Mexican earth into vegetable gardens. Their actions make up one remarkable part of this wide-ranging Mexican odyssey. Depicting Michoacan farmers who are fighting the trend to move to the cities-and preserving the winter home of the monarch butterflies-the program also journeys to Magdalena Bay,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: With the arrival of the conquistadors, many ancient Mesoamerican rituals were absorbed into Christian holidays. This program examines a collection of sacred, social, and artistic traditions that survived European assimilation and now compose one of Mexico's most important annual festivals. The film follows the travels and experiences of a young Purepecha artisan, her grandmother, and their...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Presented by sculptor Antony Gormley, this program was created to complement the 2002-3 exhibition of Aztec culture at London's Royal Academy. Many of the incredible works loaned to the exhibit are shown, along with sculptures and artifacts filmed in Mexico City and at important Aztec sites. Leading scholars and curators explore how the nomadic Aztecs drew inspiration from earlier cultures. The...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Ernesto "Che" Guevara was both a romantic and a rebel, honored by many for his commitment to liberation yet vilified by others as a rogue. This compelling program traces the life of a man whose idealism and determination gripped the imagination of an era. Interviews with family members, partisans, enemies, and others-including the photographer who immortalized him-share their recollections and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program provides a portrait of Cortez and his world-the real world and the imaginary one painted by theologians, mystics, imaginative travelers, poets, and liars; of the New World as seen by a small number of Spaniards; and of the civilizations of Mesoamerica before they were "discovered"-the world of the Mayas and Aztecs, the nature of Aztec religion and politics. It describes the Battle...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The program examines the Dominican Republic that tourists rarely see-a nation of sex markets, prostitution, poverty, and lack of educational opportunities. The current economic crisis and its effect on middle-class life are discussed, along with efforts currently under way to alleviate the social and economic problems. We hear from women on all levels of society, from prostitutes to the Vice...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In the 1990s, thousands of Salvadoran nationals living illegally in the U.S. were deported to their homeland. Some took Los Angeles gang culture with them. This Wide Angle report documents six months spent inside the transnational gang known as "18"-a Salvadoran permutation of L.A.'s notorious 18th Street gang. Following teenage "homeboys" as they patrol their turf in the streets of San...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In recognition of her work for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 12, 1992. "The celebration of Columbus is for us an insult," said Menchu, one of the most outspoken and articulate and persuasive advocates of native rights. This program presents a profile of this extraordinary woman, whose life has become a symbol of the sufferings,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: The mariachi sound is the heart and soul of Mexico-and a form of music that today is enjoyed throughout the world. In this down-to-earth program, mariachi aficionado Cornelio Garcia introduces viewers to the music, history, and cultural importance of mariachi bands in Mexico and elsewhere. Whether they are marching in a parade, performing onstage in a restaurant or at a fiesta, or even...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: The life of Cuba's Communist leader reveals much about the Cold War, 20th-century Latin American history, and the political and military dimensions of revolutionary movements. This program reaches into all those subjects as it explores the rise and decades-long rule of Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz. Interviews with Latin American experts-including Argentine columnist Oscar Raul Cardoso, historian...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Stratification of women in Guatemalan society is the subject of this program. It examines the submissiveness of upper-class women; a new emerging middle class who are defying tradition and cultural expectations to fight for their equal rights; and the indigenous population, who are segregated and discriminated against. Scenes and descriptions of sexual abuse among lower economic groups are...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program examines the work of the resolute women of the Puerto Rican independence movement. The first woman mayor of San Juan, Felisa Rincon, discusses problems of delinquency and crime within the culture, and how women are contributing to a solution. Feminism and women's rights in the areas of divorce, abortion, and employment are examined, along with racism experienced by Puerto Ricans in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Startled by the killing of two young women lawyers, one from the political right and the other from the left, Mexico struggles to confront its own political morass. This Wide Angle documentary examines the deep-rooted institutional corruption the attorneys had been battling-a system of bribes, debts, and favors that for decades has prevented the world's tenth-largest country from fulfilling its...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: For guidance northward, illegal immigrants from Latin America frequently enlist mercenary escorts known as "coyotes." This program examines one such charming and unseemly figure and the three Guatemalans who have placed their trust in him. Viewers follow the nervous foursome through checkpoints and river crossings as they employ unreliable forged documents and take on false identities-while...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program examines the pros and cons of Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution through the eyes of women exiles in Miami and Castro supporters in Cuba. We hear from several women, including an avid anti-Castro exile and a Cuban television reporter, who tell stories of repression under the Castro regime. Health workers and educators discuss the benefits of Castro's policies, and the role of women in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although dreams of a socialist utopia in Cuba have all but vanished, decades of U.S. trade sanctions have not had the expected effect, either. This program looks at the legacy of Cuba's Communist revolution and the Castro regime, examining political, social, and economic conditions prevailing in the island nation today. Positive and negative aspects alike are discussed-from Cuba's high literacy...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Surveying some of the most under-appreciated art of the 20th century, this program documents a groundbreaking exhibit of work by Latin American women at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The video opens up the world of these bold and sensitive visionaries, illuminating their accomplishments, their impact on artists outside their own countries, and the relationship between cultural and artistic...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Guiding viewers through a rich mosaic of history and culture, this program evokes the complexities of Mexico as experienced by its own people. The nation's indigenous and Spanish roots are both explored through nuanced discussions of iconic cultural elements-for example, viewers learn how the Day of the Dead reflects the national character by merging Catholic and pre-Columbian traditions....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010