In the late 19th century, the Canadian government removed ritual objects from the possession of the Kwakiut'l, an indigenous community on the Northwest Coast. The Potlatch was their way of celebrating their culture, their identity, and their heritage. A ritual passing down of treasures, it symbolized a rebirth of tradition, a positive affirmation of their identity, past and present. In 1921, the Kwakiut'l people of Alert Bay, British Columbia, held their last secret potlatch. In 1980, also at Alert Bay, the U'mista Cultural Centre (U'mista means "something of great value that has come back") opened its doors to receive and house the cultural treasures which were seized decades earlier and only then returned to the people.
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This program studies divergent points of view contributing to the global warming debate, untangling a morass of political and scientific concerns and providing a wealth of historical background on the issue.
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Meditation Park is the story of devoted Chinese-Canadian wife and mother Maria Wing, whose life is altered when the discovery of her husband's infidelity forces her to confront how powerless she truly is.
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For years, debates have raged among scholars, politicians, and concerned parents about the effects of media violence on viewers. Too often these debates have fallen into simplistic battles between those who claim that media images directly cause violence and those who argue that activists exaggerate the impact of media exposure. Based on interviews conducted with media scholar George Gerbner, the film urges us to think about media effects in more nuanced ways. In contrast to behaviorist models that see media violence as causing real-world violence, and limited effects models that question the impact of media altogether, Gerbner encourages us to move outside the frame of this debate to consider how the repetitive stories media tell constitute a pervasive cultural environment--a landscape of ritualized, often violent images that have the power to cultivate how we see and understand the world.
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Journey to freedom describes Nelson Mandela's life, from his idyllic childhood to his first encounters with racism and repression. It documents his role in staging peaceful resistance movements against apartheid but, after the African National Congress (ANC) party was banned by the Nationalist Afrikaaner party, Mandela participated in revolutionary actions, leading to his 30 year imprisonment. Released from prison in 1990, Mandela was instrumental in ending apartheid and giving the vote to the black South African people. In 1994, he was elected president of South Africa.
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Dead men's tales uses archaeological, forensic, and historical methods to learn about: the Jamestown Colony; mummies found in the Xinjiang Province of China; the truth to the legend of Wild Bill Longley; the burials and lives of the people who built the pyramids; and the evacuation of a 13th century palace in South Africa.
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This exclusive portrait is the first to portray North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il, with interviews of North and South Korean politicians, as well as close relatives and former employees who have fled the regime. The government is secretive and little is known about Jong-il. He managed to retain power after his father Kim Il- Sung's death in 1994. By 1997, North Korea had become one of the most isolated countries in the world, with an economy in shambles and frequent famines, causing the death of millions of his compatriots. Jong-il s regime has made North Korea a nuclear rogue state threatening the security of the world.Having grown up among the military and political operatives of his father s government, Jong-il was appointed his father s propaganda chief. By writing and directing films, ballets and operas glorifying his father and himself, he created a remarkable personality cult around his father. This he extended to encompass himself, thereby legitimizing the father-son political succession. He has a reputation as a vain and capricious playboy, having been married five times and has had many mistresses, some chosen from the "Pleasure Brigade" of young women used by his cronies and himself. He lives in great opulence, feasting on rare foods and drinking heavily.Kim Dae Jung, the former President of South Korea and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize recalls his visit to Kim Jong-il in 2001 when Jong- il told him he wished to improve relations with the U.S. His message was passed on to President G.W. Bush. Despite this, Bush demonized Jong-il, declaring North Korea to be part of an "axis of evil" in 2002. As a result, U.S. - North Korean relations have worsened considerably over the past six years.
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Age recommendation: 15+ (strong language and adult themes). Recorded through National Theatre Live on 27th July 2017 from the Lyttelton Theatre in London. America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, six New Yorkers with interconnect lives grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell. This multi-award-winning revival of Tony Kushner's two-part play is directed by Marianne Elliott, with a cast including Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, Denise Gough and Russell Tovey.
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Age recommendation: 15+ (strong language and adult themes). Recorded through National Theatre Live on 27th July 2017 from the Lyttelton Theatre in London. America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, six New Yorkers with interconnect lives grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell.This multi-award-winning revival of Tony Kushner's two-part play is directed by Marianne Elliott, with a cast including Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, Denise Gough and Russell Tovey.
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