*** Notice: For the protection of property rights, this catalog is available for online browsing only. Please drop us a line if you would like to receive a copiable version of this catalog. Thank You!

Criminal Justice

TRIBAL JUSTICE

Directed by Anne Makepeace

Documents an effective criminal justice reform movement in America: the efforts of tribal courts to return to traditional, community-healing concepts of justice.

TRIBAL JUSTICE is a feature documentary about a little known, underreported but effective criminal justice reform movement in America today: the efforts of tribal courts to create alternative justice systems based on their traditions. In California, the state with the largest number of Indian people and tribes, two formidable Native American women are among those leading the way. Abby Abinanti, Chief Judge of the Yurok Tribe on the northwest coast, and Claudette White, Chief Judge of the Quechan Tribe in the southeastern desert, are creating innovative systems that focus on restoring rather than punishing offenders in order to keep tribal members out of prison, prevent children from being taken from their communities, and stop the school-to-prison pipeline that plagues their young people.

Abby Abinanti is a fierce, lean, elder. Claudette White is younger, and her courtroom style is more conventional in form; but like Abby, her goal is to provide culturally relevant justice to the people who come before her. Observational footage of these judges' lives and work provides the backbone of the documentary, while the heart of the film follows offenders as their stories unfold over time, in and out of court. These other stories unfold over time, engaging viewers with the dedication of the judges, the humanity of the people who come before them, and a vision of justice that can actually work.

Through the film, audiences will gain a new understanding of tribal courts and their role in the survival of Indian people. The film will also inspire those working in the mainstream legal field to consider new ways of implementing problem-solving and restorative justice, lowering our staggering incarceration rates and enabling offenders to make reparations and rebuild their lives.

DVD / 2017 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adults) / 87 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

DR. FEELGOOD: DEALER OR HEALER?

Directed by Eve Marson

The case of Dr. William Hurwitz educates audiences on the complexities involved in opioid painkiller prescriptions.

The story of Dr. William Hurwitz - a preeminent pain specialist sentenced to 25 years in prison for drug trafficking - provides a window into the ethical dilemma of opioid prescriptions. Painkillers give doctors tremendous power to relieve pain, a primary goal of any physician. But this power begets trouble when the same drugs can lead to addiction, abuse and death.

In 2004 Dr. William Hurwitz was convicted of over 50 counts of narcotics distribution and handed a 25-year prison sentence. DR. FEELGOOD traces Dr. Hurwitz's trial and eventual appeal, detailing the events that led to his arrest.

Testimonies from the witnesses in Dr. Hurwitz's case contradict one another - some revere him, while others condemn him. Taken together, their accounts reveal a profile of a compassionate yet flawed doctor. The film, in telling his story, underscores the tension between every patient's right to pain relief and the lawful need for drug control. There could not be a more critical time to spark discussion on the topic, and call for careful thought and action.

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 10 - 12, College, Adults) / 84 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

INCARCERATING US

Directed by Regan Hines

Exposes America's prison problem and explores various criminal justice reforms.

Incarcerating US exposes America's prison problem and explores ways to unshackle the "land of the free" through vital criminal justice reforms. With 2.3 million people behind bars, the U.S. has the largest prison population in the history of the world.

Through dramatic first-hand accounts, expert testimony, and shocking statistics, Incarcerating US asks fundamental questions about the prison system in America: What is the purpose of prison? Why did our prison population explode in the 1970s? What can make our justice system more just?

The film begins with a brief overview of U.S. prisons and the flawed policies that fueled unprecedented overincarceration. In many cases, these laws exacerbate problems they were designed to solve. Through both empirical evidence and the eyes of those tragically affected by the system for committing minor crimes, we see the failures of two major initiatives: the War on Drugs and mandatory minimum sentences.

Incarcerating US tells the story of America's broken criminal justice system through the eyes of those who created it, those who have suffered through it, and those who are fighting to change it. After decades of failures, now is the time to unshackle the land of the free.

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adults) / 84 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

RETURN, THE

Directed by Kelly Duane de la Vega, Katie Galloway

After California's "Three Strikes" law was amended, thousands of lifers were suddenly freed, but re-entry presented problems for the lifers, their families and their communities.

In 2012, California amended its "Three Strikes" law--one of the harshest criminal sentencing policies in the country. The passage of Prop. 36 marked the first time in U.S. history that citizens voted to shorten sentences of those currently incarcerated. Within days the reintegration of thousands of "lifers" was underway.

THE RETURN examines this unprecedented reform through the eyes of those on the front lines--prisoners suddenly freed, families turned upside down, reentry providers helping navigate complex transitions, and attorneys and judges wrestling with an untested law. At a moment of reckoning on mass incarceration, what can California's experiment teach the nation?

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 9-12, Adults) / 84 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

TADMOR

By Monika Borgmann and Lokman Slim

Amidst the popular uprising in Syria that began in 2011, a group of former Lebanese detainees of the Assad regime decides to break their long-held silence about the horrific years they spent imprisoned in Tadmor, Palmyra, one of the Syrian government's most dreaded prisons.

They testify publicly about the systematic torture and humiliation they experienced. And to reclaim and overcome this dark chapter in their lives, in TADMOR they recreate the prison in an abandoned school near Beirut. There, and by playing out the roles of both "victims" and "victimizers," they will relive their survival.

DVD (Color) / 2016 / 103 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

DREAMCATCHER

By Kim Longinotto

"You got any dreams you wanna catch?" Sundance award winner DREAMCATCHER takes us into a hidden world of prostitution and sexual trafficking through the eyes of one of its survivors, Brenda Myers-Powell. A former teenage prostitute with a drug habit, Brenda defied the odds to become a powerful advocate for change in her community, and works to help women and young girls break the cycle of sexual abuse and exploitation. DREAMCATCHER lays bare the hidden violence that devastates the lives of these young women, their families and the communities where they live in Chicago and Brenda's unflinching intervention that turns these desperate lives around.

With unprecedented access, multi-award winning director, Kim Longinotto (SISTERS IN LAW, ROUGH AUNTIES, SALMA) paints a vivid portrait of a community struggling to come to terms with some of its most painful truths and of the extraordinary woman who uses her past to inspire others to survive. With warmth and humor, Brenda gives hope to those who have none in the four magic words she offers up to everyone she meets: "It's not your fault."

DVD (Color) / 2015 / 98 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

EL POETA

Directed by Katie Galloway, Kelly Duane de la Vega

After his only son is murdered in the Mexican drug war, a mystic poet launches an international crusade to save his country.

EL POETA tells the story of renowned Mexican poet Javier Sicilia, who ignited mass protests and an ongoing movement for peace after the brutal murder of his 24-year-old son Juan Francisco - collateral damage in a drug war that has left 60,000+ dead since 2006 - the majority civilians.

Drawing on the philosophical, artistic and spiritual dimensions of Sicilia and his movement, EL POETA reinterprets the "hard news" horror story of the Mexican drug war as a deeply personal, poetic and at times even hopeful one, tracing Sicilia's path from poet and father to movement leader and international symbol of grief and redemption.

DVD / 2015 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 55 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

IN HIS OWN HOME

Directed by Malini Johar Schueller

IN HIS OWN HOME is a new, critically acclaimed documentary about police racism and campus militarization.

Before Michael Brown and Ferguson, Missouri, the headline-making killing of Trayvon Martin and the death of Eric Garner at the hands of New York City police officers, there was the shocking 2010 shooting of Kofi Adu Brempong, a disabled Ghanaian graduate student attacked by University of Florida campus police responding to a 911 call.

The powerful documentary, IN HIS OWN HOME, recounts the events of that fateful March day and their aftermath: we watch live video of the police attack on Kofi's apartment; we hear accounts of those who marveled at the number of snipers "ready to shoot at any time" as they surrounded the apartment of a lone student, as well as from fellow students who attest to Kofi's peaceful demeanor; and, we hear from police officers who explain how they felt threatened and had to shoot. And, in the aftermath, we bear witness to the administration's shortcomings and the students and community activists who demand justice.

Underlining an ongoing pattern of racism and police brutality, as well as the frightening "militarization" of campuses nationwide, IN HIS OWN HOME speaks to widespread and pervasive issues in our country that will, for the time being, remain among our most controversial and disconcerting.

DVD / 2015 / 31 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

WHEN JUSTICE ISN'T JUST

Director: David Massey

Directed by Oscar-nominated and NAACP Image Award winner David Massey, this dynamic documentary features legal experts, local activists, and law enforcement officers delving into ongoing charges of inequality, unfair practices, and politicized manipulations of America's judicial system. Additionally, the Black Lives Matter movement and citizens nationwide question the staggering number of police shootings of unarmed Black men and women.

DVD / 2015 / 40 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

ABOUT EXECUTING EICHMANN

By Florence Jammot

On December 15, 1961, in Jerusalem, Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death for crimes against the Jewish people and against humanity.

The court's judgment was largely met with public consensus, but some spoke out against it, and on May 29, 1962, a group of Holocaust survivors and intellectuals, including philosophers Hannah Arendt, Hugo Bergmann, Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem, sent a petition to Israeli President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi demanding that Eichmann's death sentence be commuted.

By opposing Eichmann's execution they raised questions about the Holocaust and also defended values of Judaism, raising questions about Jewish morality for Israel, and about the very nature of a Jewish State.

ABOUT EXECUTING EICHMANN brings together the texts, eyewitness accounts, archival footage, audio recordings, and materials from the time, with discussions amongst contemporary Israeli historians and philosophers to both set out the facts, and go over the arguments. Amongst those taking part are historians Anita Shapira and Hanna Yablonka, and philosophers Moshe Halbertal and Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin. Returning to a little remembered debate that was central to that era, they also expose its relevancy today, and why it deserves to be revisited.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2014 / 60 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

CULTURED CRIMINAL, THE

By Florin MARKSTEINER

The Cultured Criminal, revisits the 1890 Birchall-Benwell Affair, one of the most sensational murder cases in Canadian history.

The 19th-century Canadian murder case is a dramatized short period piece, which stars Mark Cowling as Reginald Birchall, a dissolute Englishman and Oxford-educated son of a cleric who moved to Ontario after selling off his inheritance to cover his gambling debts.

In 1890, Birchall conned two men into entering a partnership and then killed one, Frederick Benwell (Paul Watson). Birchall apparently intended to slay the other man as well, but failed to carry out the plan. Tried for murder, Birchall was found guilty despite the absence of a confession and was hanged in November 1890.

From a gruesome discovery in the Blenheim Swamp to the trial in Woodstock's Old Town Hall and beyond, the production is highly stylized and a dramatic recreation of the events that shook the quiet nation at the time.

It's short running time lends itself to the style of the film and you may find yourself totally immersed in the true story.

DVD (Black and White) / 2014 / 38 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

KNOW HOW

Director: Juan Carlos Pineiro Escoriaza

Written and acted by young people in New York City's foster care system, Know How presents dramatic stories ripped from their own life experiences. Five characters' worlds intersect as they confront loss, heartbreak, adulthood, and bureaucracy in this tale about transience and perseverance.

Addie lives with her Aunt Janet in what's known as "kinship" care; her biological parent is unfit to care for her. Addie's closest friends are from her block: Juice, a drug dealer, and Marie, a girl on the verge of spiraling out of control.

Marie's grandmother has been in the hospital for months now and the prognosis is bleak. Her boyfriend Trey takes care of her as best he can, but both of them are struggling in the foster system.

When the Administration for Children's services (ACS) finds out that Megan's been physically and sexually abused they remove her from her family. Separated from her sister Kayla, she's placed in a treatment facility that is anything but safe.

Eva only has one more year of school, and yet her sister Desi cannot seem to find the time to attend classes. When ACS discovers their father's crack addiction, the family is torn apart.

Austin and his brother James have been living on the street-hungry for a good meal. Desperate, they resort to petty crimes to survive, but soon find themselves embroiled in a turf war that's bigger than they are.

Know How captures the reality of life in foster care from the point of view of those living in it. It's not a documentary nor is it fiction. It's a hybrid approach for using film to create social change. Instead of professional screenwriters and actors, these true stories are written and performed by a cast of ordinary foster care youth, and their performances are powerful, moving, and eye-opening. KNOW HOW is also a musical that brings authentic voices and unseen stories to the screen, and emerged from the efforts of The Possibility Project, a non-profit organization in NYC that brings teenagers together to transform the negative forces in their lives into positive action through projects like this one.

Why make a film by young people in foster care? Because the system doesn't work and the human cost of its dysfunction is too great to ignore. Consider this: a few years after aging out of foster care, only 50% of young people will complete high school or a GED, 60% will be convicted of a crime, 75% will receive public assistance, and only 6% will complete a college degree. The system needs to change.

DVD / 2014 / 106 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

LIFE AFTER MANSON

By Olivia Klaus

Life After Manson is an intimate portrait of one of the world's most infamous crimes and notorious killers. At 21 years old, Patricia Krenwinkel callously murdered three people at the command of Charles Manson. Now 66 years old, she continues to be demonized by the public and haunted by the suffering she caused over four decades ago. Through an exclusive interview with and never before seen footage of Krenwinkel, filmmaker Olivia Klaus (SIN BY SILENCE), frames a historically irreconcilable story through a complex emotional lens, offering insight into what led a suburban girl to commit crimes the world will never forget. A provocative and powerful character study, LIFE AFTER MANSON reveals a broken woman struggling with her past, her arduous effort to evaluate the cost of her choices, and the possibility of self-forgiveness.

DVD (Color, Black and White) / 2014 / 25 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

PRIVATE VIOLENCE

Directed by Cynthia Hill

PRIVATE VIOLENCE explores a simple but deeply disturbing fact of American life: the most dangerous place for a woman in America is her own home. Every day in the U.S., at least four women are murdered by abusive (and often, ex) partners. Through the eyes of two survivors - Deanna Walters, a mother who seeks justice for the crimes committed against her at the hands of her estranged husband, and Kit Gruelle, an advocate who seeks justice for all women - we bear witness to the complex realities of intimate partner violence. Their experiences challenge entrenched and misleading assumptions, providing a lens into a world that is largely invisible; a world we have locked behind closed doors with our silence, our laws and our lack of understanding. PRIVATE VIOLENCE begins to shape powerful, new questions that hold the potential to change our society: "Why does he abuse?" "Why do we turn away?" "How do we begin to build a future without domestic violence?"

DVD (Color) / 2014 / 77 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

UNAFRAID: VOICES FROM THE CRIME VICTIMS TREATMENT CENTER

By Karin Venegas

A deeply personal documentary, UNAFRAID gives voice to four, diverse rape survivors and takes a historic look back at the pioneering treatment center where they now receive counseling. In her directorial debut, Karin Venegas highlights the work of two unsung feminist heroes in the movement for victims' rights at the height of 1970s feminism and the Women's Movement. From breaking victims' silence to the revolutionary invention of the rape kit, this powerful film intimately explores the impact of rape and the capacity of ordinary individuals to effect change.

Although frequently referenced in popular culture, few audiences know of the rape kit's feminist origins. UNAFRAID is the first film to address the grassroots genesis of this important tool, which not only made it easier to convict in the criminal justice system but which helped shape our very cultural acceptance of rape as a serious crime, worthy of prosecution and compassionate treatment.

Together, UNAFRAID's collage of voices aims to lift the stigma that traps victims in silence - and to remind its audience that social change is indeed possible. Essential viewing for Criminal Justice, Law and Women's Studies Classrooms.

DVD (Color) / 2014 / 44 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

BROADMOOR: HISTORY OF THE CRIMINALLY INSANE

Interviews and archives highlight Britain's most notorious criminals and the place they called home.

Leading criminologist, Professor David Wilson, gives an insight into the world of Britain's Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital.

Cameras have been allowed to film inside Broadmoor Hospital for the first time in 150 years as part of a new documentary. The inner workings of the high-security psychiatric hospital, which houses more than 200 men, some of which are the most mentally-ill and disturbed criminals in the UK, are revealed in the dynamic expose.

Out of all the patients, 35 per cent come from prisons, 35 per cent from the court system, a quarter from medium-secure psychiatric units and five per cent from other high-security hospitals. Although the average stay in the hospital I

DVD / 2013 / 46 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

FACING FEAR

Directed by Jason Cohen

A former neo-Nazi skinhead and the gay victim of his hate crime meet by chance 25 years later, are reconciled and collaborate in educational presentations.

In this Academy Award-nominated short documentary, worlds collide when a former neo-Nazi skinhead and the gay victim of his hate crime attack meet by chance 25 years after the incident that dramatically shaped both of their lives. Together, they embark on a journey of forgiveness that challenges both to grapple with their beliefs and fears, eventually leading to an improbable collaboration...and friendship.

FACING FEAR retraces the haunting accounts of the attack and the startling revelation that brought these men together again. Delving deep into their backgrounds, the roots of the ideologies that shape how they handle the reconciliation process are exposed. Self-doubt, anger and fear are just a few of the emotions they struggle through as they come to terms with their unimaginable situation.

DVD / 2013 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 23 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

KILL TEAM, THE

Directed by Dan Krauss

Soldier Adam Winfield attempted to thwart atrocities being committed by his platoon in Afghanistan but was then himself charged in one of the largest war crimes investigations in US history.

THE KILL TEAM goes behind closed doors to tell the riveting story of Specialist Adam Winfield, a 21-year-old infantryman in Afghanistan who attempted with the help of his father to alert the military to heinous war crimes his platoon was committing. Tragically, his father's pleas for help went unheeded. Once Adam's fellow soldiers got wind of what he'd done, they threatened to silence him -- permanently. Forced to choose between his conscience and his own survival, Adam found himself drawn into a moral abyss, faced with a split-second decision that would change his life forever.

With extraordinary access to the key individuals involved in the case -- including Adam, his passionately supportive parents, and his startlingly candid compatriots -- THE KILL TEAM is an intimate look at the personal stories so often lost inside the larger coverage of the longest war in US history.

DVD / 2013 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 79 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

UNREAL DREAM, AN

Director: Al Reinert

From Oscar-nominated director Al Reinert, An Unreal Dream is the terrifying true story of Michael Morton, who spent over two decades in Texas prisons for a crime he didn't commit.

In 1986, Christine Morton was brutally murdered in front of their only child. After Michael was accused and convicted his son Eric, only three at the time, was raised by family members and eventually cut off all contact with the father he believed had killed his mother.

The Innocence Project, in partnership with John Raley, a Texas attorney working on his first ever criminal case, spent years fighting for DNA testing and investigating possible prosecutorial misconduct in Michael's case. Twenty-five years after the murder, DNA analysis of a bloody blue bandana found near the crime scene not only cleared Michael, but yielded a hit on a known felon who has since been charged with the murder of Christine Morton, along with the murder of another young woman two years later.

Upon his release in late 2011, Michael riveted the outside world with his lack of bitterness or anger. Instead, he reached out to his estranged son, and focused his newfound freedom on the fight for reform. An Unreal Dream tells his story, and sheds needed light on America's flawed criminal justice system. <

DVD / 2013 / 92 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

VALENTINE ROAD

Directed by Marta Cunningham

In 2008, eighth-grader Brandon McInerney shot classmate Larry King at point blank range. Unraveling this tragedy, the film reveals the heartbreaking circumstances that led to the shocking crime as well as the aftermath.

On February 12, 2008, in an Oxnard, California, classroom, 14-year-old Brandon McInerney shot classmate Larry King twice; Larry died of the wounds two days later. Larry (Leticia), a gender-variant youth of color, had liked to wear makeup and heels to school, and had publicly announced a crush on McInerney. For this reason, some of McInerney's defenders say the victim had "embarrassed" the shooter--and was therefore at least partly to blame for his own murder.

VALENTINE ROAD is about an outrageous crime and an even more outrageous defense of it, but the film goes much deeper than mere outrage. In the end, it's the story of two victims of homophobia. Larry was killed because of it, but Brandon's life was horribly twisted by it as well. And it's the story of a community's response--sometimes inspirational and sometimes cruel--to a terrible tragedy.

Filmmaker Marta Cunningham deftly looks beyond the sensational aspects of the murder, introducing us to Larry's friends, teachers and guardians, as well as Brandon's loved ones--both children had led difficult lives. In examining Brandon's prosecution and defense, the documentary poses difficult questions about punishing juveniles for serious crimes, while exposing society's pervasive and deadly intolerance of young people who don't conform to its gender "norms."

VALENTINE ROAD brilliantly focuses on how bigotry and prejudice are community-wide problems, rather than only the acts of individuals. It asks how schools can respond to the the full complexity of students' lives, and support students in crisis before tragedy strikes.

DVD / 2013 / (Grades 8-12, College, Adult) / 88 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

BETTER THIS WORLD

Directed by Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega

The story of two young Texans accused of intending to firebomb the 2008 Republican National Convention reveals the workings of the post 9/11 security state.

How did two boyhood friends from Midland, Texas wind up arrested on terrorism charges at the 2008 Republican National Convention? BETTER THIS WORLD follows the journey of David McKay (22) and Bradley Crowder (23) from political neophytes to accused domestic terrorists with a particular focus on the relationship they develop with a radical activist mentor in the six months leading up to their arrests. A dramatic story of idealism, loyalty, crime and betrayal, BETTER THIS WORLD goes to the heart of the War on Terror and its impact on civil liberties and political dissent in post-9/11 America.

DVD / 2011 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 89 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

COMMON PURPOSE, A

By Mitzi Goldman

The trial of the "Upington 25" in South Africa in 1986 saw twenty-five men and women from a black township bordering the town of Upington tried for the murder of a local black policeman. Upington, a small white town located in the heart of Afrikaner nationalism, was besieged by the legal proceedings, which culminated in the conviction of all the defendants, fourteen sentenced to death, the assassination of the lawyer and human rights advocate Anton Lubowski, and the exile of the young lawyer Andrea Durbach who also represented the accused.

A COMMON PURPOSE follows Durbach, now director of the Australian Human Rights Council, as she returns to her homeland to meet with her clients from that landmark case. The story unfolds to reveal one of legal history's biggest cases on the death penalty.

The context, political, and legal events of the time are movingly recounted by the journalist John Carlin, many of the accused themselves, and Durbach. They tell a story of a struggle for justice in a country where injustice was entrenched in the law.

The film also examines the at-times distorted South African legal system, with an explosive and inspirational look at the subsequent Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings.

DVD (Color) / 2011 / 75 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

EL SICARIO, ROOM 164

By Gianfranco Rosi & Charles Bowden
Directed & photographed by Gianfranco Rosi

The term sicario goes back to Roman Palestine, where a Jewish sect, the Sicarii, used concealed daggers (sicae) in their murders of Romans and their supporters. In modern language, a sicario is a professional killer or a hit man.

In an anonymous motel room on the U.S./Mexico border, a Ciudad Juarez hitman speaks. He has killed hundreds of people and is an expert in torture and kidnapping. He was simultaneously on the payroll of the Mexican drug cartels and a commander of the Chihuahua State Police. There is currently a $250,000 contract on his life and he lives as a fugitive, though he has never been charged with a crime in any country. With his face obscured by a black mesh hood, he tells his story to the camera inside the very motel room he once used to hold and torture kidnapped victims. Aided only by a magic marker and notepad, which he uses to illustrate and diagram his words, the sicario describes, in astounding detail, his life of crime, murder, abduction and torture.

DVD (Color) / 2011 / 84 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

IMPUNITY

By Juan Jose Lozano & Hollman Morris

In 2005, Colombia's new "Commission for Peace and Justice" started gathering evidence about the horrific violence carried out by illegal paramilitary groups. A highly controversial justice and peace process was designed to allow paramilitary leaders to hand in their weapons and give themselves up voluntarily in exchange for reduced sentences. IMPUNITY documents the hearings in which paramilitary commanders, such as "HH" describe atrocities they have committed in detail, as the families of their victims listen and watch on projected screens.

Through a series of commission testimonies, footage of paramilitary crimes, and interviews with victims and experts, IMPUNITY shines a light on the brutal history of paramilitary violence. Yet due to serious irregularities in the justice and peace process, many families express their fear that they will never know the truth surrounding the deaths of their loved ones, and that the perpetrators will escape punishment. In an era where many countries are tempted to sacrifice justice in the name of "peace", what happens in Colombia will resonate beyond its borders.

DVD (Color) / 2010 / 85 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE

Directed by Andy Wolff and Stefanie Brockhaus

Through a clever dramatic narrative structure, On the Other Side of Life rises above a social environment study to become a far-ranging discourse about the future of an Africa ground to pieces between tradition and modernity.

Lucky and Bongani pretend to be cool and in the know. To survive in a Cape Town township, they learned their lessons early: where to get drugs, where to get money, how to pick up girls and how to get rid of them.

Their mother does not pay much attention to them, but at least their grandmother is on their side. The two brothers share everything: the bed, the food and now even an accusation of murder.

The first thing they get in prison is an unmistakable lesson about the rules there. No questions... newcomers are at the bottom of the hierarchy. Together they must learn who may be attacked and who must be served. It's a matter of survival. And, Once out on bail, something special awaits them-an initiation of a different kind.

The brothers move through three cultures, each of which calls for its own gestures and rituals. The deep rift between the generations becomes painfully obvious. The old people still have the sense of honour of African tradition; their successors have only a tiny chance of escaping the squalid suburbs. What will be their package in life?

DVD (English and Xhosa with English Subtitles) / 2010 / 88 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

ANGOLA 3 - BLACK PANTHERS AND THE LAST SLAVE PLANTATION

Narrated by Mumia Abu-Jamal, this film features interviews with former Panthers, political prisoners and revolutionaries.

The Angola 3: Black Panthers and the Last Slave Plantation tells the gripping story of Robert King Wilkerson, Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, men who have endured solitary confinement longer then any known living prisoner in the United States. Politicized through contact with the Black Panther Party while inside Louisiana's prisons, they formed one of the only prison Panther chapters in history and worked to organize other prisoners into a movement for the right to live like human beings.

This feature length movie explores their extraordinary struggle for justice while incarcerated in Angola, a former slave plantation where institutionalized rape and murder made it known as one of the most brutal and racist prisons in the United States.

The analysis of the Angola 3's political work, and the criminal cases used to isolate and silence them, occurs within the context of the widespread COINTELPRO being carried out in the 1960's and 70's by the FBI and state law enforcement against militant voices for change.

Narrated by Mumia Abu-Jamal, The Angola 3 features interviews with former Panthers, political prisoners and revolutionaries, including the Angola 3 themselves, and Bo Brown, Geronimo (ji Jaga) Pratt, Malik Rahim, Yuri Kochiyama, David Hilliard, Rod Coronado, Noelle Hanrahan, Kiilu Nyasha, Marion Brown, Luis Talamantez, Gail Shaw and many others. Portions of the proceeds go to support the Angola 3.

DVD / 2008 / 109 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS

Directed by Benjamin Franzen

Copyright Criminals examines the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law, and (of course) money.

This documentary traces the rise of hip-hop from the urban streets of New York to its current status as a multi-billion-dollar industry. For more than thirty years, innovative hip-hop performers and producers have been re-using portions of previously recorded music in new, otherwise original compositions. When lawyers and record companies got involved, what was once referred to as a "borrowed melody" became a "copyright infringement."

DVD / 2008 / 54 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

JENA 6, THE

Narrated by Mumia Abu Jamal

Jena-A small town in Louisiana-six families fought for the lives of their sons.

Two nooses were left as a warning to black students trying to integrate their playground, fights broke out across town, a white man pulled a shotgun on black students, someone burned down most of the school, and the DA put six black students on trial for attempted murder. The quiet town of Jena became the site of one of the largest civil rights demonstrations in the South since the 1960s.

The Jena 6 is the story of hidden racial inequality and violence becoming visible. It is a powerful symbol for, and example of, how racial justice works in America-where the lynching noose has been replaced by the Da?s pen.

DVD / 2008 / 30 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

DHAMMA BROTHERS, THE

Directed by Jenny Phillips, Anne Marie Stein and Andrew Kukura

An overcrowded maximum-security prison is dramatically changed by the influence of an ancient meditation program.

Behind the high security towers and double row of barbed wire and electrical fence at Donaldson Correction Facility dwells a host of convicts who will never see the light of day. But for some of these men, a spark is ignited when it becomes the first maximum-security prison in North America to hold an extended Vipassana retreat, an emotionally and physically demanding course of silent meditation lasting ten days.

The Dhamma Brothers tells a dramatic tale of human potential and transformation as it closely follows and documents the stories of the prison inmates who enter into this arduous and intensive program. This film, with the power to dismantle stereotypes about men behind prison bars also, in the words of Sister Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking), "gives you hope for the human race."

DVD (Color) / 2007 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 76 minutes

[Go top]

>>> Add Cart <<<

***Price on web-site may not be current and is subject to modification by quotation***

Email :
inquiry@learningemall.com

Websites :
http://www.learningemall.com [ English ]
http://www.learningemall.com.hk [ Chinese ]

Follow us: