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Content

Family Studies


Family Studies



QUEST

Director: Jonathan Olshefski

Filmed with verite intimacy over the course of nearly a decade, Quest is the moving portrait of the Rainey family living in North Philadelphia. Beginning at the dawn of the Obama presidency, Quest Rainey and his wife Christine'a raise a family while nurturing a community of hip hop artists in their home music studio - a safe space where all are welcome. But this creative sanctuary can't always shield them from the strife that grips their neighborhood. Epic in scope, Quest is a vivid illumination of race and class in America, and a testament to love, healing and hope.


DVD / 2017 / 105 minutes

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ONLY ME GENERATION - AN INTROSPECTIVE LOOK INTO CHINA'S ONE-CHILD POLICY

The one-child policy, a part of China's family planning policy, was a population planning policy of installed by the Chinese government. It was introduced in 1979 and began to be formally phased out in 2015

"Only Me Generation" is a documentary that explores the effects of the China's "One Child Policy" from the perspective of the policy's first generation point of view.

Almost 30 years ago, the Chinese government first introduced the "one child policy" to alleviate social, economic and environmental problems. Three decades later, they are now looking at a relaxation of the policy. The result is that the babies born under the current policy are a unique population set with issues and challenges that are different from those of other Chinese generations; most notably that they grew up as "only children".

This film provides a unique look into a unprecedented government policy that changed the rules of a society, impacted far more than a generation, and can now be studied on a variety of fronts. The film raises numerous questions and serves as a wonderful launching point for discussion and debate.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of "only children" in a generation of only "only children"?

What are the pressures that these children, the results of the policy, have lived under?

How have parental expectations changes due to family limits on the number of children permitted?

What are their social experiences now that these Only Me Generation children are now adults?

What are the ramifications, if any, of relaxing the policy now after so many years?


DVD (Color) / 2016 / 58 minutes

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SIBERIAN LOVE

By Olga Delane

In rural Siberia, romantic expectations are traditional and practical. The man is the head of the household. The woman takes care of the housekeeping and the children. But filmmaker Olga Delane doesn't agree. While she was born in this small Siberian village, as a teenager she migrated to Berlin with her family, and 20 years of living in Germany has changed her expectations. SIBERIAN LOVE follows Delane home to her community of birth, where she interviews family and neighbors about their lives and relationships. Amusing and moving, this elegant film paints a picture of a world completely outside of technology, a hard-farming community where life is hard and marriage is sometimes unhappy - but where there are also unexpected paths to joy and family togetherness. Through clashing ideals of modern and traditional womanhood, SIBERIAN LOVE is a fascinating study of a country little known in the US and of a rural community that raises questions about domesticity, gender expectations, domestic abuse, childcare, and romance. Excellent for anthropology, women's studies, sociology, Russian and Eastern European Studies.


DVD (Color) / 2016 / 82 minutes

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FROM THIS DAY FORWARD

Directed by Sharon Shattuck

Tells the story of a love, and family, that survived the most intimate of transformations.

With her own wedding just around the corner, filmmaker Sharon Shattuck returns home to examine the mystery at the heart of her upbringing: How her transgender father Trisha and her straight-identified mother Marcia stayed together against all odds. From This Day Forward is a moving portrayal of an American family coping with the most intimate of transformations.

As the film evolves into a conversation about love and acceptance in a modern American family, it raises questions relevant to all of us. As individuals how do we adapt to sustain long-term love and relationships? Where do sexuality and gender intersect? And how do families stay together, when external forces are pulling them apart?


DVD / 2015 / (Grades 6-12, College, Adults) / 76 minutes

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WHAT OUR FATHERS DID: A NAZI LEGACY

Directed by David Evans

Two elderly men possess starkly contrasting attitudes towards their high-ranking Nazi fathers. A study of brutality, self-deception, guilt and the nature of justice.

A bracingly rigorous examination of inherited guilt and pain, WHAT OUR FATHERS DID explores the relationship between two men, each of whom are the children of very high-ranking Nazi officials but possess starkly contrasting attitudes toward their fathers.

The film was written and is hosted by eminent human rights lawyer Philippe Sands, who became fascinated by its central figures, Niklas Frank and Horst von Wachter, while researching the Nuremberg trials.

The film comes to a climax when they travel to Lviv in Ukraine, where it becomes clear that Frank and von Wachter's Nazi fathers were responsible for the annihilation of Sands' own Jewish grandfather's entire family. WHAT OUR FATHERS DID is a compelling examination of brutality, self-deception, guilt and the nature of justice.

"This is both an intensely personal story for me as well as one with contemporary and universal relevance as anti-Semitism spreads across Europe and the wounds created in Ukraine during WWII can still be felt today." - Philippe Sands


DVD / 2015 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 92 minutes

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CAFE

By Hatuey Viveros Lavielle

Jorge is preparing to graduate from law school-the first person from the indigenous Mexican village of Quetzalan ever to do so. Chayo, his pregnant and unmarried teenaged sister, faces the most difficult decision of her life. Meanwhile their quiet and methodical mother, Tere, does her best to support them both, selling handmade napkin holders for 15 pesos (about $1) apiece. How will they cope in the year following the death of Antonio, the children's father?

CAFE is a beautifully observed, intimate film that documents the family during one crucial year. Director and cinematographer Hatuey Viveros Lavielle's brings a deliberate and poetic sensibility to ritualistic daily moments marking life in the mountain village: sorting coffee beans; roasting coffee in a dented pan; flipping tortillas over an open fire; feeding turkeys that will become a feast marking the first anniversary of Antonio's death.

Whether accompanying Jorge to one of his first cases as a lawyer-helping a woman who has been coerced into taking out a loan on behalf of her employer-or listening to Tere and Chayo discussing the possibility of seeking an abortion, CAFE (alternately known by the titles COFFEE: CHANTS OF SMOKE and CAFE: CANTOS DE HUMO), immerses viewers in the lives of its compelling protagonists as, in a year following personal tragedy, they struggle to find their futures.


DVD (Color) / 2014 / 80 minutes

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FAMILY AND SOCIAL CHANGE: CHILDHOOD AND NEW TECHNOLOGY

This clip considers how new technologies are changing the way people relate to family members and questions if technology is liberating or controlling us.

DVD / 2014 / 7 minutes

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FAMILY AND SOCIAL CHANGE: FAMILY DIVERSITY

By Steven Taylor This clip examines how the structure, organization, and culture of the family is changing in contemporary, late-modern families and discusses how sociology can explain these changes.

DVD / 2014 / 7 minutes

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FAMILY AND SOCIAL CHANGE: LATE MODERNITY AND FAMILY CHANGE

By Steven Taylor

This clip links the fragmentation and the diversity of family life to wider sociological changes in the construction of gender, in consumerism and identity, and in cultural ambiguity.


DVD / 2014 / 9 minutes

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FAMILY AND SOCIAL CHANGE: THE END OF CHILDHOOD

Presenting a brief case study of fashion and the claims of sexualization in children, this clip considers the meaning of childhood and why it is a social construction and asks if it is disappearing.

DVD / 2014 / 8 minutes

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RED LEAVES

By Bazi Gete

"Red Leaves" examines the life of a man, Meseganio Tadela (Debebe Eshetu), a 74-year-old recent widower and Ethiopian immigrant. Following the death of his wife, Meseganio sells his apartment and plans on living the rest of his days alternately living with the families of his sons. However, once put into practice, he discovers that his hard-lined traditional values are challenged by family members.

Meseganio Tadela immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia 28 years ago with his family. He chose to zealously retain his culture, talks very little, and hardly speaks Hebrew. After losing his wife, Meseganio sets out on a journey that leads him through his children's homes. He comes to realize that he belongs to a rapidly disappearing class that believes in retaining Ethiopian culture. As this harsh reality begins to hit him, he struggles to survive according to his own rules.


DVD (Amharic with English Subtitles) / 2014 / 80 minutes

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STRAY DOG

Directed by Debra Granik

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Debra Granik ("Winter's Bone") returns to SW Missouri for her first documentary, looking at the life of Vietnam vet, Ron "Stray Dog" Hall, and shattering some stereotypes.

Ron "Stray Dog" Hall lives in Southern Missouri where he owns and operates the At Ease RV Park. After years of living alone with his dogs, he is adjusting to life with his wife, Alicia, who is newly arrived from Mexico. Anchored by his small dogs and big bikes, Stray Dog seeks to strike a balance between his commitment to his family, neighbors, biker brotherhood, and fellow veterans. As part of the legacy of fighting in the Vietnam War, he wrestles with the everlasting puzzle of conscience, remorse, and forgiveness.

With Stray Dog as our guide, we experience the restlessness of ex-warriors as he tries to make peace with what he can't change and weathers the incomprehension of those who have never been to war. Stray Dog navigates the pressures of everyday life including the economic survival of his grandchildren and the increasing poverty of his community. The arrival of Alicia's twin sons from Mexico throws into harsh relief the current state of opportunity that newcomers seek and that America can or cannot offer.

Stray Dog continues to tally the cost of war, bearing witness to the soldiers coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan: both the dead and the living. The questions of contemporary American life loom larger and thornier, leaving us to wonder what is next for Stray Dog and his blended, multi-ethnic family.


DVD / 2014 / (Grades 8-12, College, Adults) / 102 minutes

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KISMET

By Nina Maria Paschalidou

Wildly popular at home, Turkish soap operas have taken the world by storm with more than 300 million viewers in 80 countries across the Middle East, North Africa, the Balkans, and Asia. With unprecedented access, KISMET delves into this phenomenon, weaving together excerpts from the major shows including interviews with their talent and the writers, producers and directors behind the scenes - primarily made up of women - and portraits of the everyday viewers in Turkey, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, and Greece.

Exploring how the serials captivate, inspire and empower women, the film reveals how the soaps impact and break down negative stereotypes and traditional taboos. The soaps openly discuss rape, sexual and domestic violence, child and arranged marriages, and honor killings while also sparking change in gender relationships, activism against sexual abuse, and a wave of divorce across the Middle East. Invaluable for studies in media and popular culture, KISMET discloses how profoundly Turkish soaps penetrate viewers' social and religious realities while empowering and helping women to transform their lives and strengthen the debate about women's rights across the region.


DVD (Turkish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Greek, Color) / 2013 / 57 minutes

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LOVING SOMEONE WITH AN ADDICTION

Living with an addiction is both heartbreaking and exhausting. Family members are torn between how to help the addict and how to avoid supporting the addiction.

Through interviews with experts and with families who have experienced the addiction of a loved one, this video will offer hope-filled support in the form of practical information, advice from others who have been there, and the power of shared experiences.

Topics discussed include:
  • Understanding addiction
  • Addiction affects the whole family
  • Grieving the loss of the person you once knew
  • Pitfalls for families when dealing with addiction
  • Feelings of guilt/shame/stigma
  • Dealing with denial, fear, hopelessness and despair
  • Detaching with love
  • The importance of educating oneself about addiction
  • Suggestions for recovery and where families can turn for help

  • Featuring interviews with these experts:
    Phillip Valentine, Executive Director Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR) Dr. Domenic Ciraulo, MD Professor and Chairman, Division of Psychiatry and Psychiatrist-in-Chief, Boston Medical Center Terri Blackstock, NY Times best selling author


    DVD / 2013 / 60 minutes

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    TWO DADS, TWO MOMS: GAY COUPLES AND THEIR FAMILIES

    Profiling families in the U.S., France, and Spain, this program focuses on the children of gay couples and how their experiences resemble or differ from more conventional upbringings. Most of the film's participants are in their late teens or early adulthood and have acquired a broad-minded, philosophical perspective on what they and their parents have gone through-although childhood was hardly challenge-free for any of them. In Paris, Bastien reflects on his father's belated coming-out process, the divorce it caused, and how it shaped their current family. In Valencia, Sushila and Gauri-both born in developing countries-discuss what it means to be adopted into a new culture by a lesbian couple. And in a Boston suburb, brothers Zachary and Kyle behave like "typical" teenagers-flirting with Goth culture, indulging a favorite pet, playfully punching Dad in the arm during breakfast-even though a second Dad is also present, and even though both boys were born through surrogate motherhood. Fathers Cliff and John were the first same-sex couple in America to produce a family that way.

    DVD / 2013 / 52 minutes

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    ENDING SILENCE, SHAME & STIGMA: HIV/AIDS IN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILY

    Director: Kat Cheairs

    ENDING SILENCE, SHAME & STIGMA: HIV/AIDS IN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILY explores the impact of HIV/AIDS on the Black community and addresses the complex social issues factoring into the high rate of infection among African Americans.

    Topics addressed include women's studies; addiction; African American studies; family relationships; Christianity; sexuality and religion; sexual behavior in the African American community; judgement of those who have the disease; and the need for cross-gender dialogue in progressive churches and in the community.


    DVD / 2012 / 30 minutes

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    FORGET ME NOT: LOSING MEMORY - FINDING LOVE

    Directed by David Sieveking

    An astonishingly candid, loving and revelatory chronicle of the changes his mother's Alzheimer's disease has on the filmmaker's family.

    Leading documentary filmmaker David Sieveking (David Wants to Fly) weaves an astonishingly candid, loving and revelatory chronicle of the changes his mother's Alzheimer's has on his family.

    Although dealing with his mother's disease is painful, caring for her does offer Sieveking a chance to reconnect with his family and immerses himself in the secrets and passions of his parents long and fascinating life. Some stories are heroic, while others have left a painful legacy in the couple's long marriage.

    Throughout, Sieveking's delicate handling of these revelations moves the focus of the story away from his mother's irreversible mental decline to that of a loving tribute to his mother as a human being with a remarkable life story. What emerges is a poignant and rich study of family ties, the delicate nature of marriage, and the unexpected rewards that come from living life to the fullest.


    DVD (German with English subtitles) / 2012 / (Grades 10-12) / 88 minutes

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    OTHER DAY, THE

    By Ignacio Aguero

    The home of acclaimed Chilean filmmaker Ignacio Aguero (AGUSTIN'S NEWSPAPER, 100 CHILDREN WAITING FOR A TRAIN) is filled with objects that speak to both his family's history and to the tumultuous history of his country.

    Seeking to make a quiet, personal film centered on his home and his memories, it is fitting that THE OTHER DAY begins when a ray of sunlight shines on a photograph of his parents.

    But Aguero's reveries are often interrupted by what seems like an unending stream of people knocking at his door: poor people asking for food, friends, neighbors, delivery men, young graduates looking for jobs.

    Aguero turns the tables on his uninvited guests, and asks them if he may knock on their doors too. His spontaneous excursions into their neighborhoods and homes broaden the film's scope, bringing different aspects of contemporary Chilean society into the picture.

    Interweaving these threads, collapsing past and present, interior and exterior, THE OTHER DAY is an elegant reflection on layers of history, and ways they are reflected in families and communities.


    DVD (Color) / 2012 / 120 minutes

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    RETT: THERE IS HOPE - CASE STUDIES, FAMILY PORTRAITS, AND THE SEARCH FOR A CURE

    Striking mostly girls under the age of 18 months, Rett syndrome is one of the most debilitating and frightening disorders on the autism spectrum. Its symptoms include seizures, recurrent infections, developmental delay, and absent to minimal speech. Its victims usually live into adulthood and require round-the-clock care. But increased attention to Rett has intensified research efforts as well as a greater sense of community and support among those affected by the disorder. This program focuses on families coping with Rett's daily realities-the constant stress of caregiving, the emotional impact on parents, and the perspectives on health and happiness that emerge when one realizes what a Rett patient must go through. The film also follows the work of scientists searching for the genetic key to a Rett cure. Interview subjects include Monica Coenraads, Executive Director of the Rett Syndrome Research Trust; Dr. Adrian Bird of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Cell Biology; and Dr. Huda Zoghbi of Baylor College of Medicine.

    DVD / 2012 / 53 minutes

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    MAN NOBODY KNEW, THE: IN SEARCH OF MY FATHER CIA SPYMASTER WILLIAM COLBY

    Director: Carl Colby A son's riveting look at a father whose life seemed straight out of a spy thriller, The Man Nobody Knew: In Search Of My Father, Cia Spymaster William Colby uncovers the secret world of a legendary CIA spymaster. Told by William Colby's son Carl, the story is at once a probing history of the CIA, a personal memoir of a family living in clandestine shadows, and an inquiry into the hard costs of a nation's most cloaked actions.

    From the beginning of his career as an OSS officer parachuting into Nazi-occupied Europe, William Colby rose through the ranks of "The Company," and soon was involved in covert operations in hot spots around the globe. He swayed elections against the Communists in Italy, oversaw the coup against President Diem in Saigon, and ran the controversial Phoenix Program in Vietnam, which sparked today's legacy of counter-insurgency. But after decades of obediently taking on the White House's toughest and dirtiest assignments, and rising to become Director of CIA, Colby defied the President. Braving intense controversy, he opened up to Congress some of the agency's darkest, most tightly held secrets and extra-legal operations.

    Now, his son asks a series of powerful and relevant questions about the father who was a ghost-like presence in the family home - and the intelligence officer who became a major force in American history, paving the way for today's provocative questions about security and secrecy vs. liberty and morality. The film forges a fascinating mix of rare archival footage, never-before-seen photos, and interviews with the "who's who" of American intelligence, including former National Security Advisers Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense and Director of CIA James Schlesinger, as well Pulitzer Prize journalists Bob Woodward, Seymour Hersh and Tim Weiner. Through it all, Carl Colby searches for an authentic portrait of the man who remained masked even to those who loved him most.


    DVD-R / 2011 / 104 minutes

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    CIRCO

    Director: Ross McElwee

    Gorgeously filmed along the back roads of rural Mexico, Circo follows the Ponce family's hardscrabble circus as it struggles to stay together despite mounting debt, dwindling audiences, and a simmering family conflict. Tino, the ringmaster, is driven by his dream to lead his parents' circus to success and corrals the energy of his whole family, including his four young children, towards this singular goal. But his wife Ivonne is determined to make a change. Feeling exploited by her in-laws, she longs to return to her kids a childhood lost to laboring in the circus. Through this intricately woven story of a marriage in trouble and of a century-old family tradition that hangs in the balance, Circo opens the viewer to the luminous world of a traveling circus while examining the universal themes of family bonds, filial responsibility, and the weight of cultural inheritance.


    DVD / 2010 / 75 minutes

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    IN THE NAME OF THE FAMILY: HONOR KILLINGS IN NORTH AMERICA

    By Shelley Saywell

    Schoolgirl Aqsa Parvez, sisters Amina and Sarah Said, and college student Fauzia Muhammad were all North American teenagers - and victims of premeditated, murderous attacks by male family members. Only Muhammad survived. Emmy winner Shelley Saywell examines each case in depth in this riveting investigation of "honor killings" of girls in Muslim immigrant families. Not sanctioned by Islam, the brutalization and violence against young women for defying male authority derives from ancient tribal notions of honor and family shame.

    As friends and relatives trace escalating tensions leading to the crimes, IN THE NAME OF THE FAMILY explores community reactions to the tragic events. The film also delves into the dual, precarious existence of other young Muslim women struggling to bridge two worlds, along with Muslim women's efforts to help girls at special risk. With consummate documentary skills and a passion for human rights, Saywell puts a much needed human face on a subject that is all too often silenced or sensationalized in post-9/11 North America.


    DVD (Color) / 2010 / 90 minutes

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    MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN

    Director: Andrew Thompson & Lucy Bailey

    Selected as one of the 15 feature documentaries on the short list for Oscar consideration, Mugabe and the White African is an intimate account of one family's astonishing bravery as they fight to protect their property, their livelihood and their country.

    Family patriarch Mike Campbell is one of the few white farmers left in Zimbabwe since President Robert Mugabe began his violent land seizure program in 2000. Since then the country has descended into chaos, the economy brought to its knees by the reallocation of formerly white-owned farms to Mugabe cronies, who have no knowledge, experience or interest in farming. In 2008, after years of intimidation and threats to his family and farm, Campbell decides to take action. Unable to call upon the protection of any Zimbabwean authorities, he challenges Mugabe before an international court, charging him and his government with racial discrimination and human rights violations.


    DVD (English and Shona with English Subtitles) / 2010 / 94 minutes

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    LITTLE GIRL (LA PIVELLINA)

    Director: Tizza Covi & Rainer Frimmel

    Steeped in the neorealist tradition of Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica, Little Girl is a captivating tale of people at the margins of society who open their hearts to a stranger.

    In a run-down park on the outskirts of Rome, a two year-old girl is discovered and taken in by a family of hard-luck circus performers. A note in the child's pocket from a desperate mother reveals little about who she is or why she was left. As the bond grows between the girl and her surrogate family, this naturalistic drama becomes a revealing and soulful portrait of courage and discrimination, and of loss and togetherness.


    DVD-R (Italian with English Subtitles) / 2009 / 100 minutes

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    CHINA NEW FACES 2: MARRYING INTO HER FAMILY

    In a traditional marriage, a woman marries into the husband's family, and her children take on the family name of their father. However, in some rich cities in Zhejiang Province, things are changing.

    The one-child policy has left some families with only one daughter. Feeling the need to carry on their family lineage, women now look for men who are willing to marry into their families so that their children could take up the mother?s surname. Meanwhile, men from other provinces are finding it hard to make ends meet in the cities, not to mention supporting a family. Because of this, some men are willing to do what it takes for a better life. With supply and demand in place, matchmaking agencies dedicated to this type of marriage are a thriving business.

    This could be a win-win situation, but are things always as good as they seem?


    DVD / 2008 / 30 minutes

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    COMING OUT: VOICES OF GAY AND LESBIAN TEENS AND THEIR FAMILIES

    By Karin Heller, MSW

    Thought provoking and accessible, this program is invaluable for all parents, teachers, and professionals working with teenagers.

    For gay and lesbian teens, coming out can be a complicated and difficult process. They may be isolated, alienated from their family and peers, and feel the dangerous threat of homophobia in their community. In this program, you will watch real interviews with gay and lesbian teenagers and their parents as they share their experiences of coming out. You will also hear expert commentary by Dr. Wendy Rosen on the special issues these teenagers face at home and at school, as well as the different stages and processes they and their families go through in order to fully embrace their sexuality. In a call for acceptance and community, this program helps pave the way.

    From watching this program, you will:
  • Learn about the different stages teens may go through in the coming out process including isolation, alienation, denial, and finally acceptance and finding community.
  • Become informed of the special needs of gay and lesbian youth including finding gay and lesbian role models, supportive peer groups, and acceptance from family.
  • Understand the pressures and difficulties, including implicit and explicit homophobia, that make coming out a challenging process for teenagers.


  • DVD / 2008 / 40 minutes

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    DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES AND THE SHAME CYCLE: HEALTHY FAMILIES, HEALTHY LIVES

    By Jef Gazley, M.S., LMFT

    Do you come from a dysfunctional family? Do you know what elements define a healthy family? This psychology DVD describes in detail the abuse and unhealthy abandonment that is caused by growing up in a dysfunctional family, and details the steps to recovery and the development of healthy relationships. This educational video focuses on the causes, symptoms, and treatment of this painful disorder. The cycle of shame can be broken, and this educational video is a great start.

    The term dysfunctional family has become popular in the last several decades, but many people do not really know what the term means. A dysfunctional family is an abusive family. Some of these families are physically or sexually abusive, but most often they display varying degrees of emotional abuse. Most of the emotional abuse goes unnoticed and has become so institutionalized that it is seen as normal and healthy. Because of this the cycle of abuse, shame, and dysfunction gets handed down through families from generation to generation. The emotional abuse that is shown in a dysfunctional family takes the form of expecting family members to be perfect and in control at all times. They are rigid and stilted and often don't talk about feelings directly, but instead are run by shame and abandonment.

    In this system people become stereotypes of themselves and lose their full potential. They are afraid to show who they are and therefore become isolated from each other. Instead of relating to each other in a spontaneous and flexible manner they hide from each other and only respond with what they think the other person wants to hear.


    DVD / 2008 /

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    MOVING MIDWAY

    Director: Godfrey Cheshire

    Godfrey Cheshire's richly observed film about his family's Southern plantation - and the colossal feat of moving it to escape urban sprawl - is a thoughtful and witty look at the lingering remnants and still-powerful mythology of plantation culture and the antebellum South. An award-winning film critic turned film maker, Cheshire uses the relocation of his family's North Carolina plantation house to embark on a surprising and multi-layered journey. While observing the elaborate, arcane preparations for moving a centuries-old house over fields and a rock quarry, unexpected human drama - from both the living and the dead - emerges. And a chance encounter leads Cheshire and his cousins to discover a previously unknown African American branch of the family (who have their own take on Midway and its legacy).

    Through the use of movies and music, and by turning the camera on himself and his family, Cheshire examines the Southern plantation in American history and culture, and how the racial legacy from the past continues into the present.


    DVD (Color) / 2008 / 98 minutes

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    ALZHEIMER'S & AFRICAN AMERICANS: ECHOES FROM THE PAST

    This 27-minute film looks at the high incidences of Alzheimer's in the African-American community as it documents the intimate, first-hand experiences of several families providing care for a loved one with Alzheimer's. The film intersperses information from health professionals throughout, making way for realistic discussion of the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's, genetic factors, financial concerns, and caregiver stress. Laced with candid, heart-felt emotion that other families will identify with, the film also shows how Alzheimer's can effect the interpersonal relationships between spouses and/or adult children who become caregivers. An excellent resource to inform and give hope to all caregivers as they adjust to the rewards and challenges of caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's.

    DVD / 2007 / 27 minutes

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    FOUR WIVES - ONE MAN

    By Nahid Persson

    From Nahid Persson, the filmmaker of the award-winning Prostitution Behind the Veil, comes an intimate portrait of a polygamist family in a rural Iranian village. Persson reveals the intricacies of the relationships between the four wives, their husband, their astoundingly free-spoken mother-in-law and their numerous children. Sometimes humorous and often heartbreaking, this film follows the daily lives of the wives whose situation has turned them into both bitter rivals and co-conspirators against their abusive husband.

    Persson's camera unobtrusively and beautifully captures the range of the family's interactions - from peaceful, pastoral scenes of a family picnic, to the temporary chaos caused by a broken faucet in the kitchen, to a furtive, whispered conversation between two wives about the latest beating. The women's work - making bread, weaving carpets, milking and herding the sheep - provide the background to their frank conversations. Avoiding sensationalism and sentimentality, this film provides unique insights into the practice of polygamy and its effect on the women involved.


    DVD (Persian, Color) / 2007 / 76 minutes

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    MOTHERHOOD MANIFESTO, THE

    Looks at the obstacles facing working mothers and families and the employer and public policy changes needed to restore work-life balance.

    Did you know that...

    Only four countries in the world- Lesotho, Swaziland, Papua New Guinea and the United States-fail to provide paid maternity leave to all workers? Canada now guarantees a full year of paid parental leave and California recently became the first state in the U.S. to provide such paid leave? Businesses that create flexible work environments find that productivity goes up, they attract more talent, turnover is reduced and their bottom line is improved?

    Moving personal stories combined with humorous animation, expert commentary and hilarious old film clips tell the tale of what happens to working mothers and their families in America. See how enlightened employers and public policy can make paid family leave, flexible working hours, part-time parity, universal healthcare, excellent childcare, after-school programs and realistic living wages a reality for American families.

    The film is based on the book The Motherhood Manifesto by Joan Blades and Kristin Rowe- Finkbeiner.


    DVD (Color, Closed Captioned, With Guide) / 2006 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 58 minutes

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    I FOR INDIA

    By Sandhya Suri

    I FOR INDIA is a chronicle of immigration in Britain, from the Sixties to the present day, as seen through the eyes of one Asian family and their movie camera.

    In 1965 Yash Pal Suri, a young doctor, left India for the U.K. with hopes of improving his family's life. The first thing he did upon arriving in England was to buy two Super 8mm cameras, two projectors and two reel-to-reel tape recorders. He sent one of each to his family in India, and kept the others for himself.

    Over the next forty years, through regular mailings of his filmed and taped thoughts and observations, he shared his new life abroad with family members back home, providing a unique record of the eccentricities-and occasional racism-of his new English hosts. Back in India, his relatives, in turn, responded with their own "cine-letters," sending tales of weddings, festivals and village life, along with impassioned pleas for his return.

    In addition to home movies, I FOR INDIA, directed by one of Suri's three daughters, uses archival and contemporary footage and excerpts from BBC TV programs (including The Dark Million, The Immigrant Doctors, and The End of the Line), which chart the changing national mood about immigration over the decades, from bemusement at the strange customs of the South Asian newcomers, to fears of British culture being "swamped," to right-wing protests demanding the expulsion of "colored" immigrants.

    By the end of the film, as Suri and his wife communicate today via webcam with a daughter who has relocated to Australia, I FOR INDIA becomes not only a bittersweet time capsule of cultural alienation, discovery, racism and belonging, but also a contemporary exploration of universal, emotionally compelling themes of family separation and the quest for personal happiness, wherever it may take you.


    DVD (Color) / 2005 / 70 minutes

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    OXHIDE (NIU PI)

    By LIU Jiayin

    Daily life in an impossibly cramped Beijing apartment takes on epic proportions in this, intimate portrait, with unprecedented access, of a working-class Chinese family.

    Boldly transforming documentary into fiction, Liu Jiayin cast her parents and herself as fictionalized versions of themselves. Her father, Liu Zaiping, sells leather bags but is slowly going bankrupt. He argues with his wife, Jia Huifen, and his daughter over methods to boost business in the shop. A cloud of anxiety follows them into sleepless nights shared in the same bed. But through the thousand daily travails of city life, a genuine and deeply moving picture of Chinese familial solidarity emerges from the screen.

    With virtually no budget and boundless ingenuity, Liu Jiayin's eye-opening debut, shot when she was 23 years old, consists of twenty-three static, one-scene shots within her family's fifty square meter home. Liu keeps her small DV camera in claustrophobic closeness to her subjects, often showing only parts of their bodies as their voices dominate the soundtrack. OXHIDE takes the microscopic physical and emotional details of a family and magnifies them on a widescreen canvas.


    DVD (Mandarin with English subtitles, Color) / 2005 / 110 minutes

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    SEVEN HOURS TO BURN

    By Shanti Thakur

    "A visually expressive personal documentary that explores a family's history. Filmmaker Thakur mixes richly abstract filmmaking with disturbing archival war footage to narrate the story of her Danish mother's and Indian father's experiences. Her mother survives Nazi-occupied Denmark while her father experiences the devastating civil war in India between Hindus and Muslims. Both emigres to Canada, they meet and marry, linking two parallel wars. Their daughter lyrically turns these two separate histories into a visually rich poem linking past and present in a new singular identity." Doubletake Documentary Film Festival Catalogue


    DVD (Color, Black & White) / 1999 / 9 minutes

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    DREAMING RIVERS

    A Sankofa film directed by Martine Attille

    From Sankofa Film and Video comes this bittersweet and nostalgic short drama illustrating the spirit of modern families touched by the experience of migration. Miss T., from the Caribbean, lives alone in her one-room apartment, her children and husband having left her to pursue new dreams. When she dies her family and friends gather at her wake. The tapestry of words that interweave the drama convey the fragments of a life lived, but only partly remembered.


    DVD (Color) / 1988 / 30 minutes

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