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: 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 beautifully filmed program looks at the wall paintings of some of the most famous Mexican muralists-Diego Rivera, Juan O'Gorman, Jose Clemente Orozco-and at the work of Luis Barragan, the greatest Mexican architect of the 20th century. Their common medium is the wall. The muralists sought to return art to the people, by putting it on the walls of public buildings, just as it had been in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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: A seldom-discussed dimension of the war on drugs is the plight of impoverished farmers in the developing world. This program tells the story of Peru's struggling cocaleros, whose livelihoods and ancient agricultural traditions have become a casualty of antidrug policies. Shot on the steep hillsides where Peruvian growers have produced the crop since pre-Columbian times, as well as in villages...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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 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 2008
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: 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: 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: For decades, boxing has held a special place of honor in Cuban society-not least because Fidel Castro deployed the nation's athletes as an unconventional tool of foreign and domestic policy. This Wide Angle report goes inside the Havana Boxing Academy-the first time a foreign film crew has been permitted-to follow future Olympians, hand-picked from the age of nine, as they fight their way into...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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: 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: A 36-year civil war has left over 150,000 dead and more than 1 million displaced in Guatemala. This program presents stirring portraits of three Mayan women and their efforts on behalf of peace. Adela, a widow, bravely sustains her refugee family. Justina tirelessly travels the countryside explaining the human rights movement to fellow villagers. Francesca, a Mayan priestess, reaffirms the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Focusing on the life and career of Pedro Lascurain, this program scrutinizes the turbulent beginning and violent ending of democracy in 20th-century Mexico. The events leading up to Lascurain's noble moment as president are thoroughly examined, as is the heavy-handed American interference in Mexican politics. Political analyst Arnaldo Cordova, professor of history Eugenia Meyer, and other...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although Hernan Cortes hardly considered himself the reincarnation of Quetzalcoatl, the Aztecs did-and his conquest of Mesoamerica utterly destroyed their world, exactly as prophesied. In this program, Spanish historian and Oxford University professor Sir John Elliott and cultural historian Dr. Elizabeth Baquedano survey political, cultural, and religious aspects of Aztec civilization; analyze...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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: This program examines Chile under martyred socialist President Salvador Allende, and the subsequent Pinochet regime that followed. Allende's niece and novelist, Isabel Allende, exile Hortensia Bussi, Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriela Mistral, and others discuss women's role in the eventual toppling of Pinochet, and the formation of the Latin American Federation of Associations of Families of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This documentary reveals just how divisive the 40-year Colombian civil war has become. It ventures behind government spin and FARC guerilla secrecy to interview army commanders, public officials, Colombian journalists, drug cartel paramilitaries, and ordinary citizens who are literally caught in a crossfire. Testimonials from impoverished farmers-who have essentially no other options than to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Isolated in jungles, or crowded into large cities, Latin American Indians constitute the most exploited sector of society. This program traces the harsh life of indigenous women from several tribes, including the Otavalan, Puruha, and Quechua of Ecuador, from pre-Columbian times to the present. Topics discussed include rape as an ongoing practice; labor exploitation; the effects of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006