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WOMEN'S STUDIES

WOMEN'S STUDIES


ALL OF US: PROTECTING BLACK WOMEN AGAINST AIDS

By Emily Abt

This unique documentary goes beyond the statistics of the AIDS epidemic among black women. It is a deeply personal exploration of the bedroom politics that make black women, and in fact all women, especially vulnerable to infection.

The film follows a young female doctor, Mahret Mandefro, working in the south Bronx, as she gives medical and emotional support to her afflicted patients. Mahret is battling not only the virus, but the social conditions that leave these women so vulnerable. Focusing on two women, Chevelle and Tara, she explores their lives and how their early experience of abuse contributed to their inability to demand of their mates protected sex. She forms a support group where women patients confide in and comfort one another.

As Chevelle and Tara strive for more power in their lives and relationships, Mehret expands her research to include women across boundaries of race, class and country. She realizes that even she, a Harvard- educated physician, faces a dangerous power imbalance in the bedroom. A provocative film to use in many areas of the curriculum.

Review
  • "This powerful, conceptually sure film is a model of documentary method and compassionate social filmmaking..." - The New York Times

    Notes
  • San Francisco Black Film Festival, 2008
  • Urbanworld Festival, 2008
  • Cleveland International Film Festival, 2008

    Item no.: NF07060009
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 82 minutes
    Copyright: 2009
    Price: USD 295.00

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    GREAT GRANNY REVOLUTION, THE

    By Robert and Brenda Rooney

    The Great Granny Revolution describes the remarkable partnership between black South African grandmothers who are raising their grandchildren, orphaned by AIDS, and a group of grandmothers from North America. It all began with Rose Letwaba, a psychiatric nurse counseling these orphans at a township clinic. She noticed that often their caregivers were Gogos (meaning "Granny" in Zulu). She brought the Gogos together for mutual support every Wednesday afternoon. Before long forty Gogos were meeting for comfort, sewing classes and to work in the garden.

    These women had survived oppression under the apartheid regime and the riots during the struggle for democracy. They endured the isolation that the stigma of AIDS brings to families and the heartache of burying their own children. Now, in old age, with poverty forced upon them, these women had the burden of the next generation. In 2004 Rose Letwaba spoke to a small group of people in Quebec about her concerns for these women, and the next day Norma Geggie, an 80-year-old, decided to do something about it.

    Twelve women gathered at Norma's home to offer moral and financial support to these Gogos living half a world away. They inspired others to get involved and more groups were formed. Meanwhile, the simple knowledge that women on the other side of the world cared about them brought hope to the Gogos and invigorated their efforts. Eventually there was a meeting in Toronto of women from both countries which sparked an exciting new movement. In Africa the AIDS pandemic continues to rage, but where governments have failed to respond, grandmothers in North America have decided to act.

    Item no.: TE07060021
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2009
    Price: USD 295.00

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    HER BRILLIANT CAREER

    This film examines discrimination in the workplace and politics, and introduces the viewer to a controversial program for women executives. What exactly is the glass ceiling that for so long challenged women and allowed so few to rise to power? Even though there are more opportunities for women now than a generation ago, there still is a state of mind among both men and women that can hold women back.

    Laura Liswood, who founded the Council of Women World Leaders, observes:"There's no such thing as a 'glass ceiling,' it's really just a thick layer of men!" Executive coach Jean Holland developed a unique workshop in California to help ambitious female executives get ahead. Known as the "Bully Broad" program, its premise is that women must modify the appearance of aggressive behaviour in order to make it in a man's world. Although some women attack the program as anti-feminist, Holland claims 85% of her graduates get promoted within a year.

    This provocative film is guaranteed to provoke discussion among men and women!

    Item no.: FA07061199
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Audience: College, Adult
    Copyright: 2009
    Price: USD 295.00

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    HERDSWOMAN

    By Kine Boman

    This colorful film portrays three Sami women of different generations as they follow the reindeer herds of Lapland. Their stories reflect the transition from a nomadic existence to modern life. When a court case questions their ancient rights to the reindeers' pasture, their life as reindeer keepers is at risk. The film captures the vulnerability of indigenous peoples in the modern world and the colonization process which has led to the present conflict over the right to land and water.

    Notes
  • Palm Springs Festival of Native Film and Culture, Palm Springs, California, 2008
  • Global Green Indigenous Film Festival, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2008
  • Dreamspeakers Film Festival, Edmonton, Canada, 2008
  • X Inernational Festival DerHumALC Cinema of Human Rights, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2008
  • Monterrey International Film Festival, Monterrey, Mexico, 2008
  • Third Mexico City International Documentary Film Festival, Mexico City, Mexico, 2008
  • 9th Festival de Cine y Video de los Pueblos Indigenas, La Paz, Bolivia, 2008

    Awards
  • Documentary Film Prize, 50th Nordic Film Days Luebeck, Germany, 2008
  • Best Esthetics Award, Nepal International Indigenous Film Festival, 2008
  • Audience Prize, Riddu Riddu International Festival, Norway, 2008

    Item no.: LA00871200
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 58 minutes
    Audience: High School, College, Adult
    Copyright: 2009
    Price: USD 295.00

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    MY IRANIAN PARADISE

    By Katia Forbert Petersen and Annette Mari Olsen

    This unique documentary interweaves the story of the filmmaker, who grew up in Persia (Iran) with the history of the country from the 30s and onward to the Islamic Revolution, Katia's parents were European. Her father was a Danish engineer and her Polish mother, a survivor from one of Stalin's gulags. They met in Tehran in 1942 where her father engineered an ambitious railroad project, and her mother had found refuge.

    Katia recalls the Tehran of her youth and adolescence as "the happiest place under the sun." When the Shah was deposed, life changed for foreigners. Oil politics began to tear the world asunder and the Islamic Revolution erupted. Her memories are brought to life by archival footage and photographs.

    After living in Denmark for her adult years, the filmmaker feels the need to revisit her birth place. She now has to don the chador as she walks the familiar streets speaking to whoever will talk to a foreigner.

    She observes the powerlessness of women, the tyranny of religion, and the economic condition of the people. Through her eyes, one gains a better understanding of this closed and inaccessible country.

    Item no.: NC00870071
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 58 minutes
    Audience: High School, College, Adult
    Copyright: 2009
    Price: USD 295.00

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    OUT FROM THE SHADOWS: THE STORY OF IRENE AND FREDERIC JOLIOT CURIE

    By Rosemarie Reed

    This fascinating biography relates the life and times of Irene Joliot-Curie, the eldest daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie. Although less well known than her parents, Irene and her husband, Frederic, made a contribution to nuclear physics that was of equally ground-breaking significance. And like her parents, they were awarded a Nobel Prize. In 1934, Irene and her husband announced in a report to the French Academy of Sciences that they had created a radioactive atom which did not exist in nature. The bombardment of a simple sheet of aluminum with alpha rays had produced a phosphorus isotope which disintegrated just like natural radioactive elements.

    Until then radioactivity had been a phenomenon which scientists could not influence or manipulate, but which they were able to observe in certain heavy nuclei. The discovery of the Joliot-Curies marked the beginning of a new era in the relationship of man towards matter: it had become possible to artificially create new atoms and new sources of ?radioactive radiation. The discovery of artificial radioactivity was also an important step towards the discovery of nuclear fission, made in 1938, and the development of the atomic bomb, completed in 1944. The film makes use of the Curie family photos and home movies, as well as interviews, stock footage, and dramatizations.?

    Item no.: YT07001234
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 57 minutes
    Audience: College, Adult
    Copyright: 2009
    Price: USD 295.00

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    SALT HARVESTERS OF GHANA

    By Marcia Rock

    This starkly beautiful film exemplifies the burden borne by African women to survive and support their families. The Ghanaian women who live on a lagoon in Ada, mine for salt with their bare hands during the three month-long dry season. Ankle deep in brackish water, they bend, scoop, bag and tote the raw salt, often developing sores and swellings. But they are happy to have this seasonal work and their indomitable spirit shines through. They boast that the men would not be as skillful in collecting and cleaning the salt. Their families depend on the meager income from the sale of salt to provide food and clean water.

    Women have done this back-breaking work for the last three hundred years.

    Although they dream of improving their lives with their income, in the end they have to spend all of the earnings on sustenance. While the government has promised them clean water, it has yet to materialize.The soundtrack includes traditional work songs as well as an original song by Ghanaian musicians.

    Award
  • Honorable Mention, Columbus International Film & Video Festival, 2008

    Item no.: NW07001243
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 19 minutes
    Copyright: 2009
    Price: USD 195.00

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    WILLA BEATRICE BROWN: AN AMERICAN AVIATOR

    By Severo Perez

    Willa Beatrice Brown, the first African American woman in the U.S. to be a licensed pilot, earned her license in 1937. She and her husband, Cornelius Coffey, founded a fully accredited flying school at Harlem Airfield, near Chicago. The school provided basic through advanced mechanic training and flight instruction for thousands of men and women, both black and white.

    Willa became a founding member of the National Airmen's Association of America, whose purpose was to lobby Congress for the racial integration of the US Army Air Corps. Her ?efforts were responsible for Congress' creation of the renowned Tuskegee Airmen, leading to the integration of the U.S. military service in 1948. Despite her many accomplishments, few people have heard of Willa Brown. This documentary tells her story and that of African American aviation before World War II, highlighting the contributions of the many extraordinary individuals who shaped civil rights history. The program also includes rare interviews with some of the actual participants.?

    Item no.: MG00870152
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 27 minutes
    Audience: High School, College, Adult
    Copyright: 2009
    Price: USD 250.00

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    BEAUTY IN CHINA

    By Elodie Pakosz

    These days, ambitious young women in China feel they have to Westernize their appearance through plastic surgery in order to get ahead. They undergo lengthy, painful, and expensive surgery and hospitalization, often financed by their parents who can ill afford it.

    To accomplish the "right look," they visit surgeons to have their legs lengthened, their eyes westernized and their breasts enlarged. Some of the women end up with terrible physical problems as a result. It is a startling fact that every week some 16,000 Chinese undergo face surgery. The film includes a beauty contest for "Miss Nip & Tuck," in which all the contestants are women who have had plastic surgery. Many of their families have spent their life savings to pay for this investment in their daughters. The winner's family paid over $3,000 (which represented 2 years' salary) for her various plastic surgeries. The surgeons are happy to accomodate this business when one operation to lengthen legs costs $10,500. When one compares the attitude in China towards women during the Cultural Revolution when they were discouraged from dressing in anything but Mao jackets, the phenomenon is a startling illustration of China's rapid push into modernity.

    Item no.: KY00871167
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 26 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 295.00

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    BEHIND FORGOTTEN EYES

    Directed by Anthony Gilmore; Narrated by Yunjin Kim

    While Korea groaned under the harsh colonial rule of Imperial Japan from 1932 until 1945, the Japanese military coerced, tricked, and forced more than 200,000 women of Korea into a brutal and systematic form of sexual slavery on an unimaginable scale. Forbidden to leave the rickety shacks hastily constructed near the front lines of Imperial Japan's aggressive wars, often with a blanket as the room's only "furniture", they were forced to have sex with some 30-40 men every day. Behind Forgotten Eyes presents the stories of a few brave Korean women who have come forward and broken the silence exposing a past that some may want to stay buried.

    To this day, the Japanese government has yet to formally apologize or pay compensation to these women. Along with the first-hand accounts from Korean women, we hear from Japanese soldiers who used and abused them. With the expert testimony of academics, social activists, and professionals from Japan, Korea, and the United States the film offer a candid look into an issue that has been ignored for far too long. Time is running out for these women and their stories.

    Notes
  • Amnesty International Film Festival. 2008
  • San Francisco Asian American Film Festival, 2008
  • Tiburon Film Festival, 2008

    Award
  • Best Film, Conflict and Resolution Competition, 2008

    Item no.: TP07061169
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 78 minutes
    Audience: College, Adult
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 350.00

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    CHAHINAZ: WHAT RIGHTS FOR WOMEN?

    By Samie Chala and Patrice Barrat

    Chahinaz is a young Algerian college student studying architecture who loves her country but feels suffocated by the weight of its tradition and religion, specifically as spelled out in the government's stringent Family Law. How can you change society in a country where the law officially sanctions inequality between men and women? The filmmakers chose her to explore this issue. She questions women across several continents, using her computer, comparing her situation with theirs.

    Online, Chahinaz meets a formidable Indian feminist and journalist as well as a conservative young American woman. To further explore the gap that exists between East and West regarding the status of women, she arranges a dialogue with Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland and the United Nations' High Commissioner for Human Rights. She also talks with the president of the General Assembly of the UN, Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, who comes from Bahrain.

    Chahinaz brings a fresh and intelligent view to the condition of women in the developed and less developed world. In the process she challenges some widely prevalent cliches about Muslim women. It is clear to her that legislation is needed to enhance the rights of women.

    Review
  • "This documentary is suitable for senior high and college classrooms to stimulate discussions about women's rights and women's treatment in other countries and cultures"--Educational Media Reviews Online

    Note
  • Middle East Studies Association, 2007

    Item no.: YC07061172
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Audience: College, Adult
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 295.00

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    CITY WALLS - MY OWN PRIVATE TEHRAN: SURVIVING DIFFICULT MARRIAGES

    By Afsar Sonia Shafie

    In this disarmingly intimate and revealing film three generations of women in an Iranian family describe their struggles for survival within marriages founded on Iranian traditions. The filmmaker's grandmother was married at 13 to a ne'er-do-well who spent what little money there was on opium and drinking. She became a maid and a wet nurse in order to earn enough to feed her six daughters.

    Both the filmmaker's mother and then the filmmaker herself entered difficult marriages, each of which ended in divorce. The third generation however had one advantage. The Revolution allowed girls to get a university education--even girls from poor families. So the filmmaker, Sonia, was able to study in Iran and abroad in Switzerland.

    As the women tell their stories the audience gets a glimpse of traditional customs in Iran and how they are carried forward today. A woman without a husband still encounters prejudices and a constricted life style. Sonia's shots of street scenes and of domestic life attest to her attachment to her country and her family Yet she must leave it all behind if she is to realize her goals.

    Review
  • "...a powerful picture of a society very different from our own. A valuable film with a touching message." - School Library Journal

    Item no.: BH07001177
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Audience: College, Adult
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 295.00

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    HOME DELIVERY

    By Christine Tournadre and Anne Labro

    Most women in the modern world never think twice about the decision to give birth in a hospital. Like their mothers and grandmothers before them, they imagine a time when they'll pack their bags, call their doctors and rush to the fluorescent lights and sterile sheets of their baby's first home. But in a time when health costs are skyrocketing, Caesarean deliveries are on the rise and hospital care can be impersonal, some women are questioning this paradigm.

    This film documents the lives of three women in New York, who for very different reasons have decided to have home deliveries with midwives. Two are African-Americans and one is French-born. Nadhege and her husband Kameau who are having their first child, decide on a water birth. Several generations of her family sing and pray as she labors, and celebrate when her baby is born. Melle is a single mother with two young children who are very much a part of the anticipation and the birth. She has concerns about having adequate support in the days after the birth. The midwife and her team are loving and supportive. Marine has a very long labor. When asked by her doula if she would do it again that way, she admits she would defer answering until she has recovered.

    Home Delivery allows the audience a profound and sometimes humorous look at women during an awe-inspiring process. It captures the spiritual as well as the physical side of childbirth.

    Item no.: SC07001201
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 58 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 295.00

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    ISABEL ALLENDE

    By Paula Rodriguez Sickert

    The world-famous Chilean author reveals her passionate engagement with life and politics. She has written nearly twenty novels, the most famous of which are The House of the Spirits, Paula and Aphrodite. Her books have sold more than thirty-five million copies in over thirty languages. Born in Peru in 1942 and raised in her grandparent's house in Chile, she started her career as a journalist. After the Chilean army overthrew her uncle Salvador Allende's government, she spent thirteen years in political exile in Venezuela before love finally brought her to live in the United States.

    Isabel Allende manages to transform her passionate and painful life into literature, exorcizing her experiences onto the page. Each of her most successful novels marks an important part or even watershed in her biography, like the tragic loss of her 28-year-old daughter Paula who died in Spain from a metabolic disease. The film contains intimate interviews with her and her close companions and reveals her complicated personality. Several of her readers explain how meaningful her books are to them.

    Review
  • "3 stars. Combines interviews ( with the author, her husband, relatives, and friends ), archival footage and family snapshots, and quotes from her writings to creat e a solid, if somewhat staid, documentary about Allende's life and work. Recommended" - Video Librarian

    Item no.: AV07061205
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 295.00

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    LOVE AND SEX IN CHINA

    Directed by Annemarie Gallone

    As China changes at an awesome rate, becoming more industrialized, urban and westernized, this film explores how this has impacted traditional relationships between men and women. Our guide is a young journalist, Yang Li Ne, whose parents have just divorced and whose own marriage is unraveling.

    She speaks about love and sex with young Bejingers, as well as older couples from the villages. Many of the young are afraid of commitment and are cynical about love and marriage. Money, not love, they say, is the basis for marriage. Prostitution is rampant; an estimated 6% of the national revenue comes from prostitution. Older couples reflect on the vanishing traditions that have given their marriages stability.

    A young gay man who was hesitant to be identified describes the homophobia in Chinese society and the secrecy with which gay and lesbians must lead their lives. He talks about the difference between making love and having sex.

    Examples of China's traditional erotic art, which was nurtured by the imperial court, are laced through the film. This documentary would be rated R.

    Item no.: WA07001216
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Audience: College, Adult
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 350.00

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    LOVE APART, A

    By Bettina Haasen

    This beautifully filmed documentary was shot in Niger, in the barren landscape of the desert, where a nomadic tribe, the Tuareg, keep their traditional ways. A charismatic teenager, Rhaissa, is about to marry a man she has never met. She learns from her girlfriend Fatima that her husband-to-be is not very handsome nor has an abundance of "ashek" or pride. But Rhaissa only giggles for she is resigned to her fate. Her parents have accepted the proposal and the unspoken tribal rules must be followed. This is the last time that Rhaissa can be a girl and have a shepherd's freedom to follow the sheep.

    The marriage ritual demands that Rhaissa spend the week before her marriage in a wedding tent, where she cannot speak to anyone or leave its confines. It is hard for this beautiful, energetic girl to be so confined but she submits with good grace. Her friends rubs potions into her skin and brush her hair as they prepare her for the big event.

    Outside the tent the wedding celebration begins in earnest as villages arrive on camels loaded with gifts, Some of her other girlfriends are rebelling against these tribal ways and want to choose their own mates. Rhaissa however remains a dutiful Tuareg, and is willing to first meet her husband on the wedding night. This warm, intimate documentary allows the viewer to glimpse a tradition that may soon be just a memory.

    Review
  • "The film provides an intimate portrait of the young protagonist, and teen viewers will be able to relate to the events as they unfold despite the vast differences between the Tuareg community and daily life for Westerners. Patient viewers will be rewarded by this striking portrait of the Tuareg people." - Meghann R. Matwichuk, University of Delaware, School Library Journal

    Notes
  • International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam, 2005
  • Thessaloniki International Film Festival, 2006
  • Grand Prix, Audiovisual de la SCAM, 2006
  • International Film Festival Cinema Africano, Milan, 2005

    Item no.: BD07061217
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Audience: College, Adult
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 295.00

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    RIVER OF LIFE

    By Selwyn Jacob and Werner Walcher

    River of Life chronicles the experiences of a determined group of women who make up the 2006 Paddlers Abreast racers in the Yukon River Quest, the world's longest annual canoe and kayak race. Their diverse stories unfold in this beautifully-realized documentary as they reveal their reasons for pushing themselves to new limits by paddling competitively. Set against the stunning backdrop of Canada's North, this film combines lively footage of the race with touching and humorous interviews with the women, their families, and other paddlers.

    Some members of Paddlers Abreast have been in remission for years, one was diagnosed as recently as the year before. Stroke by stroke, they forge on; everyone moving fluidly, part of the river and its surroundings. As the documentary follows the arduous physical and emotional journey of the team in its struggle towards the finish, what emerges most clearly is the incredible strength and spirit resonating from the boat. River of Life is an exhilarating story of a group of women who have faced death and understand how precious life is.

    Reviews
  • "Enhance with thematic unity, artistic flair, visual impact, delicate art, and true beauty both in nature and the teamwork of racers, River of Life touches that place deep inside where spirit and courage meet. Truly a therapeutic awakening. Extremely highly recommended." - EMRO

  • "Each woman's story is different, but all are heart-rending. This film is a tribute to the human spirit and our fight for survival." - Prof. Betty Klassen, University of Manitoba

    Item no.: AP00871242
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 53 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 295.00

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    WHY DO WE MARRY?

    This heart warming film explores why people of a variety of ages, cultures, and gender orientation, still want to marry in an era when it is socially acceptable for couples to live together, forgoing wedding vows. Tracing mores from the 1950's when traditional lifestyles were very much the norm, through the '60's sexual revolution, to our own time when fewer people are getting legally married, Robert Glossop of The Vanier Institute of the Family, observes that there are still reasons for people to get married.

    Some couples we meet are starry eyed in love and are ready to pledge themselves to one another. Some, of mixed cultures, are careful to satisfy the expectations of their families. One couple has been in a relationship for many years but has never lived together. They decide to marry to show their commitment but still plan to live separately because "it works" for them. Some couples want to start a family and believe in the traditional family. A lesbian couple who have been together for many years heads for the altar. Not for them a "commitment ceremony." They want the real thing.

    In an age when "anything goes" it is interesting to be reminded of the values people still place on marriage.

    Note
  • American Sociological Association, 2009

    Item no.: VC07001261
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 45 minutes
    Audience: College, Adult
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 250.00

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    ZANZIBAR SOCCER QUEENS

    By Florence Ayisi

    In the Muslim country, Zanzibar, women's activities are severely curtailed. This is a portrait of a feisty group of women who have defied the cultural constraints by playing a man's game, soccer, and giving reign to their competitive spirit.

    The women talk about the difference soccer has made in their daily lives. Ordinarily they are expected to remain at home. Now their horizons have widened, their physical fitness has improved, and their sense of self has risen .One women is visibly angry at her husband for forbidding her to play. As she performs her domestic chores she bemoans her fate --a star player she was on her way to becoming famous in her country and even beyond its borders, until he made her resign.

    A cleric warns women that playing in shorts and jerseys is tempting to the male spectators who ordinarily only see women covered up from neck to ankles. The soccer women, however, are devout, and are suitably attired when they pray in mosques. They seem to separate their daily existence from their athletic lives. One woman wonders why other sports like volleyball are allowed, but soccer is banned. Clerical disapproval has meant that there is a lack of women's teams with which to compete. The women must sometimes play against men's teams!

    Item no.: GC07061262
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 55 minutes
    Audience: High School, College, Adult
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 295.00

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    AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR: A GRANDMOTHER STANDS IN FOR PARENTS

    By Leah Bell

    The incidence of grandparents raising their grandchildren as primary caregivers has increased 30 percent since 2000. This film depicts such a situation as we see the daily life of a frail 77- year-old grandmother who is raising four grandsons aged 5-8. The children are from an interracial marriage and neither parent is involved in their care. They had been parceled out to foster homes and the grandmother wanted to keep them together.

    When they first arrived, the lively brothers had trouble with authority, were disrespectful of each other and were behind in learning. Love and consistent discipline has made a big difference in their adjustment to school and their new home. Their grandmother has had some help from a network of relatives, but it is clear that she is the main source of strength. She rises at 5 a.m to give them breakfast and often stays up past midnight to do the house work. Yet as she ages, how will she continue to care for them if her health fails and her resources dwindle?

    Review
  • "We see a myriad of social, health and economic problems far too complicated for any quick fixes" - Mary Waterman, Community Liason and Educational Chairperson, Choice

    Notes
  • Gero-Ed Film Festival, 2008
  • First Place, documentary category, Next Frame Festival, 2005

    Item no.: MZ00871164
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 20 minutes
    Audience: High School, College, Adult
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 195.00

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    I NAMED HER ANGEL

    By Nefin Dinc

    The Whirling Dervishes, also known as the Mevlevi Brotherhood, are part of the Sufi mystic tradition of Islam. While little is known in the Western world about their traditions, the filmmaker gained rare access to a Mevlevi religious den who allowed her to film their practices. For a year she followed Elif, a 12 -year-old Turkish girl, who undertakes the spiritual and physical training to learn ritual whirling.

    In this colorful film we see the gentle Elif attend meetings where she listens to the spiritual leader talk about matters of life and death, being human, the meaning of the colors of the Tenures (robes) worn by the worshippers, and the nature of Allah.. She learns the teachings of Rumi, the mystic poet, who was the founder of the Dervishes in the 13th Century .She understands. She masters the trance-like state that allows dervishes to mentally detach themselves from their bodies and dance without becoming dizzy.

    The film concludes by showing the Seb--i-Arus ceremony at the centuries -old Galata Mevlevi Temple where Elif conquers her stage fright and joins in the extraordinary dance. An important film that shows viewers a different face of Islam.

    Notes
  • Washington, DC Independent Film Festival, 2007
  • Tiburon International Film Festival, 2007
  • Hot Springs International Film Festival, 2006
  • MESA FilmFest, 2006
  • Dallas Video Festival, 2006

    Item no.: VL00871149
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 30 minutes
    Audience: High school, college, adult
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 295.00

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    IN GANDHI'S FOOTSTEPS: KIRAN BEDI

    By Oystein F. Rakkenes

    Kiran Bedi, a small woman with a huge mission, has been compared to Mother Theresa and Mahatma Gandhi. She is, in fact, a police woman-- and a reformer. Kiran Bedi has worked in the most dangerous and violent parts of Indian society and has found non-violent solutions. She believes that police should help prevent social problems, not wait until the problems worsen.Tens of thousands of police officers, formerly feared for their violence, have been turned into "welfare police" as a result of her ground- breaking training while in charge of the police school in New Delhi.

    Bedi also transformed one of the largest prisons in the world, Tihar Central Jail, from a hell hole to a reformatory. Among her innovations was meditation sessions for the prisoners which helped calm the violence in the jail. She has also initiated treatment for drug addicts and opened vocational trade schools for the slum dwelling poor

    She studied law and police education and became India's first female police officer. She became well-known when she had Indira Gandhi's illegally parked car towed, believing the powerful as well as the powerless should respect the law. This led her to be officially "punished" by receiving undesirable transfers. She recovered from this and eventually became India's Deputy Police Commissioner. Recently she was appointed to lead the U.N.'s Department of Peacekeeping Operations worldwide. This film provides a fascinating window into India today

    Review
  • "Kiran Bedi is a famous policewoman, accomplished and upright. I think she might soon become the top police officer of New Delhi." - Gautam Adhikari, Editor-in-Chief, Daily News & Analysis, Mumbai

    Item no.: ED07061117
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 19 minutes
    Audience: College, Adult
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 325.00

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    KENYA: WHERE WOMEN RULE

    Domestic violence against women is rife among the Samburu in Kenya. In Samburu culture the women also do all the work, including building the homes, herding, collecting firewood and water and caring for the children. In the 1980's and 90's two hundred women from the tribe claimed they were raped by men from a nearby British army base. The Samburu men rejected them, whipped them and threw them out of their homes.

    In 1990 a small group of these stigmatized women decided to band together and create their own village. Under the leadership of one woman, Rebecca Lollosoli, their village has prospered, taking advantage of the income from tourism. The Samburu men have tried to sabotage the tourist business and have also mounted raids on the village. Finally, the Samburu men's chief tried to effect a reconciliation, but the women vehemently rejected his proposal. They are clearly enjoying the advantages of independence!

    Note
  • African Studies Association, 2006

    Item no.: RA07001122
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 20 minutes
    Audience: College, Adult
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 250.00

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    MANDY'S CHOICE: A BIOETHICAL CONTROVERSY

    By Luisa Pretolani

    Mandy and Josh were a happily married young couple, when their idyll was abruptly shattered. Josh was in a motorcycle accident which left him in a seven day coma with death imminent. Mandy, desperate to preserve her tie to her beloved husband, asked that his sperm be harvested so that she could have his child. As there was no written consent from Josh, the hospital refused. The family of both Mandy and Josh, as well as their friends, rallied to the cause, and with pressure on their behalf from the media, they were able to get this controversial issue resolved. Dr. Cappy Rothman, the first doctor to have harvested post mortem sperm (1978), subsequently founded the Cryobank in California to store sperm. With his help, Mandy's mission was accomplished.

    The film follows Mandy's in vitro fertilization, her very emotional pregnancy and the birth of her son. Her resolve to bring up Josh's child never wavers even when a new man enters her life. Josh's parents are devastated at the loss of their son and the fear that Mandy's new relationship may make it harder for them to be connected to their grandson. For Mandy, the birth 15 months after the fatal accident makes her feel that part of Josh has survived.

    Item no.: PP07061220
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 50 minutes
    Audience: College, Adult
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 295.00

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    MUSLIM WOMEN TALK ABOUT SEX

    By Sophie Jeanneau

    In today's Arab-Muslim culture, the most taboo subject for women is sex. In this film, eight enlightened Muslim women living in France speak out frankly about their sexual education and experiences in relation to Islamic tradition. Young Muslim girls are given no information about their bodies and are so poorly informed that when they first menstruate, they often think they are ill or abnormal. Girls are raised to be completely prudish as far as men are concerned. In contrast, relationships between women are much more comfortable, with a strong sense of conviviality and even sensuality in the haman or communal bath.

    The women discuss the yearnings they felt for the men they were attracted to, as well as their first sexual experiences. One recalls her exhilaration when, at 16, she first felt desire, but her joy was bittersweet because it came with an overwhelming sense of guilt. Another decided to get rid of her virginity when she was in love for the first time but did it more out of a sense of rebellion than as a search for pleasure. She was not at ease with her body and only discovered pleasurable physical sensations when she was older. One said that after her first orgasm, she cursed her mother for trying to deny her that pleasure. Another could not indulge in sexual acts without imagining her mother in the room with her! She had sex with her boyfriend but afterwards underwent surgery to restore her virginity.

    For these Muslim women, sexual passion with a lover of their own choosing is empowering. One woman felt lovemaking could be a sacred moment but she was taught to repress this feeling. This remarkable film gives voice to women with the courage to break centuries of taboos and acknowledge their sexual nature.

    Note
  • Middle East Studies Association, 2006

    Item no.: NP07001141
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 41 minutes
    Audience: High School, College, Adult
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 325.00

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    OLDEST MOTHER ON THE BLOCK, THE

    By Cat Ashworth

    Everyone over the age of twelve knows how a baby is made. But for the fastest growing age group of women having babies, the magical process of sperm meeting egg takes place in a Petri dish. Many women over age forty soon realize that their own eggs have expired. These women decide to use eggs donated from a younger woman. This film follows three older women, as they struggle to achieve a pregnancy and later, as they cope with the unique problems of being an older mom.

    Eileen and Mike visit a fertility specialist who talks about Eileen's "egg problem." At first, they are told that there is less than a five per cent chance of conceiving using her own eggs. In the end they use donor eggs after considering all their options. Another woman uses donor sperm, chosen online. She gives birth to twin baby boys. The filmmaker and her husband conceive with donor eggs "...after wasting 25 years of good eggs!" She becomes pregnant at age 47 and now has a healthy five year old daughter who is asking them uncomfortable questions about her biological mother. These women are all pushing the limits of their biological clocks. They are struggling with pregnancy and small children at an age when many of their peers are becoming grandmothers, and they are redefining the image of motherhood. Included are interviews with several doctors and with Nancy London, MSW and author of Hot Flashes, Warm Bottles: First-Time Mothers Over Forty, who discusses how fertility declines with age.

    Reviews
  • "It is almost impossible to place this film into any one category: it is a social film; a medical film; a woman's film; a historical film; but most importantly, it is a human film. As an African-American male, OMOB opened a window to a growing population that I had never thought about before. It was simply astounding." - Omobowale Ayorinde, Instructor, Rochester Institute of Technology

  • " The film honestly examines the complex tangle of emotions that late motherhood raises. From fertility problems and IVF to fears about the future and the exhaustion of chasing a toddler around, Ashworth offers an intimate, thoughtful look at a big topic." - Jennifer Loviglio, City Newspaper, Rochester, NY

  • "A provocative film that asks tough questions about pregnancy and motherhood, this is recommended." - Video Librarian

    Award
  • Best Documentary, Ohio Independent Film Festival, 2006

    Item no.: DH00871230
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 60 minutes
    Audience: High School, College, Adult
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 295.00

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    RUNAWAY GROOMS

    By Ali Kazimi

    Many men of Indian origin residing in the West travel to India to meet an Indian woman, marry her and bring her to the West. Increasingly a large percentage of these brides are abandoned over dowry disputes. "Runaway Grooms" looks into this disturbing trend that has shattered the lives of at least 10,000 women in India. The social structures, laws and customs in India make it possible for women and their families to be ruthlessly exploited. The film profiles Namita Jain and Sonia Kaur who were deserted by their husbands.

    In the typical scenario a family looks for a prospective husband for their single daughter. If the groom is a permanent resident or citizen of a Western country, his status is high. The bride's family pays an initial dowry, and a wedding is arranged to take place in India. After the wedding and honeymoon in India, the groom leaves his wife for the West with the bridal money, promising to file papers for her so she can fly to her new home quickly. When the groom is safely abroad, he or his family demands a new dowry that ranges between $5,000 and $50,000. The families who can pay do so. Those who cannot, find their daughters abandoned by their husbands who keep the initial dowry and disappear. Namita's family is one that is fighting back against this extortion. "Runaway Grooms" explores this culture of patriarchy, shame and honor.

    Note
  • Nominee, Golden Sheaf Award,Yorkton Short Film Festival, 2006

    Awards
  • Gemini Award, Best Social/Political Documentary, Canada, 2006
  • Gold Award, Worldfest, Houston, 2006
  • Best Documentary, Indian Film Festival of L.A., 2006

    Item no.: YZ00871133
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 58 minutes
    Audience: High School, College, Adult
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 295.00

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    SHANGHAI BRIDE

    By Melanie Ansley and Sam Voutas

    How does the average man find a wife in materialistic Shanghai? There are two single males to every single female and the women are increasingly picky and middle-class. The effects of the one-child policy combined with a rapid revolution in China's values and lifestyles, have created increasingly selective middle- class Shanghai women. For working class men, finding a wife is a quest that requires money, time, and the strength to withstand countless disappointments.

    Wu is an electrician, earning 1,000 yuan (U.S.$125) per month. His ex-wife left him to find a wealthier man, and he has spent a large percentage of his income on dating agencies and newspaper classifieds in the hope of finding a nice woman to marry. Aileen is one of a growing number of professional, independent Shanghai women who no longer feel the traditional pressures of marrying early. Like many others, Aileen prefers foreign boyfriends, thereby completely skipping over local men like Wu in favor of finding a mate of higher status.

    Shanghai Bride is a rare portrait of ordinary people in an extraordinary social predicament, a window on the materialistic and cut-throat nature of Shanghai's marriage market.

    Item no.: PL00870011
    Format: DVD
    Duration: 51 minutes
    Audience: High School, Adult
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 295.00

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