Documentary Films

5 Girls

For two years, filmmaker Maria Finitzo followed five strong young women between the ages of 13 and 17. Unlike the myriad reports, books and "specials" that focus on young women as passive and powerless, 5 Girls explores the ways these girls discover the resources necessary to successfully navigate the rocky waters of adolescence. It focuses on the positive ways girls learn to adapt to challenge in their lives by understanding and exercising choices, by believing in their strength when others do not and by resisting powerful cultural messages, which urge them to be silent.

A Beautiful River: Rediscovering the Ohio

This film focuses on the towns that border the Ohio River, highlighting the river’s history and the recent resurgence of riverside activity. After facing a severe economic slowdown in the 80’s, especially when important industrial jobs were eliminated, several river communities have begun rejuvenating the river, rediscovering it as the heart of their town. The river, which was recently plagued with pollution and regarded as dangerous and unappealing, is now benefiting from heightened environmental awareness and clean up efforts. The film details these developments via a journey down the entire length of the river, from Pennsylvania to Illinois.

A River Called Ohio

This Documentary Films examines the history of the Ohio river from the time when American Indians were the sole inhabitants of the river’s surrounding region through the settling of European people along its shores. The film focuses on the introduction of steamboats into the settlers’ way of life and the equally devastating consequences, such as displacement, that this technology had on indigenous peoples. The story of the steamboat is told at length, and it spans the turn-of-the-century effects on job production through the steamboat’s contribution as a transport for supplies during the war effort of the 1940s. The film also focuses on the devastation brought about by floods and the ways in which river communities have coped with this natural phenomenon over the years. Finally, the film touches upon how history has dealt with the more modern problem of river pollution.

A Time for Honor: Stories from Vietnam

A Time For Honor is a sixty minute television documentary focusing on stories from Vietnam veterans living in the geographic area surrounding Effingham. The program weaves together stories from the area veterans in presenting a cross sectional view of the war from the viewpoint of those who served. There is a great body of scholarly research on the political and military aspects. This program focuses on the more personal stories that reveal truth about Vietnam.

About Face: The Story of the Jewish Refugee Soldiers of World War II

The film is a feature-length documentary that tells the remarkable, yet previously untold story of thousands of young Jewish immigrants who fled Germany and Austria in the early days of Hitler's regime, only to perform an "about face" returning to confront their oppressors as American GI's and British Tommie's in WWII. "About Face" does not focus on the camps, the ghetto uprisings or the victimization of the Jewish people. Instead, it depicts the uniquely powerful and unexpected experiences of the Jewish refugees-turned soldiers, who fought with distinction in the US and Allied Armed Forces as combat infantrymen, paratroopers, and interrogators in counter intelligence and military intelligence positions.

Official Selection, Stony Brook Film Festival

After Innocence

AFTER INNOCENCE tells the dramatic and compelling story of the exonerated - innocent men wrongfully imprisoned for decades and then released after DNA evidence proved their innocence. The film focuses on the gripping story of seven men and their emotional journey back into society and efforts to rebuild their lives. Included are a police officer, an army sergeant and a young father sent to prison and even death row for decades for crimes they did not commit.

Special Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival; Audience Award, Independent Film Festival of Boston

American Dream

Winner of the 1991 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary, this film captures working men and women making tough choices about survival during a time of economic crisis in the American Midwest. American Dream also won the 1992 Director's Guild of America Award for Best Feature Documentary and the 1991 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, the Audience Award and the Filmmaker's Trophy.

1991 Academy Award, Best Documentary Feature

American Roots Music: Chicago

American Roots Music tells the story of Chicago's musical heritage, including the blues, gospel, and folk music. Particular emphasis is placed on how this heritage emerged from the migration of numerous cultures to Chicago.

And They Came to Chicago: The Italian American Legacy

The film traces the 150-year history of the Italians of Chicago, from the early settlers whose distinct regional customs and traditions laid the foundation for burgeoning Italian enclaves, to how Italian Americans helped steer the course of Chicago’s history. We look at Italian-American contributions to the world of politics, labor, the arts and culture, and pay tribute to the unsung heroes of our community. Combining rare historical footage and photographs, revealing interviews with noted Italian Americans, historians, community and business leaders, and folks from the “old neighborhood,” this program journeys to the heart of a unique and vibrant community for an unforgettable celebration of Chicago’s Italian American legacy.

Artifacts and Heavy Timber

A one-hour documentary on the reconstruction of an historically accurate, early American frontier fort on the Ohio River near Metropolis Illinois. The film highlights the work of Paul Maynard, Illinois' first professionally trained archaeologist, who used the emerging science to excavate the French Colonial and early American site.

Blue Collar and Buddha

This color documentary examines Lao patterns of life in the U.S. by reference to Lao religious and cultural traditions and explores how native-born Americans perceive these new immigrants. The film is a vivid record of the Lao acculturation process.

Best Documentary, Atlanta Film & Video Festival; Award of Excellence, Society for Visual Anthropology

Available via Filmmakers Libraryand MediaRights

Body and Soul: Diana and Kathy

A documentary about two friends with intellectual disabilities -Down Syndrome and cerebral palsy- that, despite great odds, have lived independently together for 37 years. The documentary follows the daily lives of these friends currently living in Springfield to illustrate the normalcy and independence that they have achieved and to correct misconceptions about the capacities of people with this type of disabilities.

Charlie Birger

This PBS television documentary explores the social undercurrents that created and destroyed Southern Illinois' infamous gangster and bootlegger, Charlie Birger.

Chicago on Stage

This documentary focuses on the Chicago theatre scene over the past 25 years. The film explores the qualities that make the Chicago scene different from those in Los Angeles or New York, specifically the resilience of small playhouses and the experimental tendencies that infuse both Chicago actors and theatre companies. These same qualities, unfortunately, make it difficult to survive as a working actor in Chicago, a problem which plagues the theatre community and that is explored in depth throughout the documentary. Although several famous actors started their careers in Chicago, including John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, and John and Joan Cusack, all moved away in order to further their careers. As playhouses become more abundant, actors in Chicago increasingly struggle to survive while sustaining their hallmark quality: creative innovation. This film raises issues pertinent to the current theatre scene in Chicago and beyond.

Citizen Soldiers: The Story of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War

Citizen Soldier is a documentary about the Vietnam Veterans who fought in the Vietnam War and then came back to fight against that same war. It is also a story about how activism became a way to combat lingering memories about that war. Told from the viewpoint of the veterans, it discribes how they came to oppose the war that they had just fought in. It also illustrates of a lifetime of activism has become an essential part of their lives.

Also available via Media Rights.

Cowboy Church

Set in Farmer City, Illinois, this documentary video examines the weekly musical ministry of the First Christian Church and its unique combination of country western and southern gospel music with the traditional practices of devotional service.

Daley: The Last Boss

In this documentary the life and times of Richard J. Daley and the city he so profoundly influenced are discussed. The film tells the lively story of this most controversial and powerful urban politician, whose life provides critical insight into several important themes of 20th century history.

Dvorak and America

This film explores Czech composer Antonin Dvorak’s three years in the U.S. between 1892 and 1895. Combining archival material, never-before-released letters, and musical compositions, the film examines the historical and cultural context of Dvorak’s visit to America with a particular focus on the ethnic groups from which he drew musical influence, particularly the African-American community.

Early History of the Illinois Indians

A number of states are named after Native American Tribes, and one of them is the state of Illinois. But where are the Illinois today? Journeying through the early history of the Illinois with David Froman, Peoria tribe member and Illinois descendant, this hour long documentary looks at the first contacts between the Illinois and European explorers.

First Person Singular: John Hope Franklin

Track the career of octogenarian John Hope Franklin, the historian who rewrote U.S. history. His major work, FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM, forever changed historians' perceptions of the African-American role in building America. Franklin describes the difficulties of growing up black in America: slights, strife, opportunities denied. Yet against a grim backdrop, his indomitable spirit shines through, in an uplifting tale of triumph over adversity.

For My People: The Life and Writings of Margaret Walker

For My People: The Life and Writing of Margaret Walker gives the long-overdue recognition to one of the seminal figures of American literature. Margaret Walker has been described by scholar Jerry Ward as "a national treasure" and by Nikki Giovanni as the "most famous person nobody knows." Her signature poem, For My People, written when she was 22, set a tone and a level of commitment which African American literature has been responding to ever since.

Frank Yankovic: American's Polka King

This film presents the life of polka musician Frank Yankovic and his role in Polka music history. The program examines Yankovic’s lifelong passion "to keep polka alive," which has resulted in the creation of a uniquely American genre that incorporates elements of Slovenian music. This is a lively film that includes several of Yankovic’s signature songs.

Funny Ladies: A Portrait of Women Cartoonists

This dynamic film highlights four women cartoonists in the United States: Nicole Hollander, Lynda Barry, Dale Mesick, and Cathy Guisewite. These cartoonists prove to viewers that women hold an important position in the cartooning world, although their success has long gone unrecognized. Each cartoonist approaches the creative process differently in terms of the way she creates dialogue, the issues she focuses on in her strips, and the actual drawing process. The viewer gains an appreciation for the intensity of the process and the communicative power of the cartoonist in dealing with current issues, especially their political and psychological ramifications.

Gold Star Mothers: A Pilgrimage of Remembrance

For 6,000 women whose sons or husbands were lost in World War I and buried in foreign graves, a pilgrimage to see their loved one's final resting place brought a measure of comfort. In the 1930s, when mothers had heroic stature in the eyes of the nation, the government took thousands of them on trips across the ocean to visit cemeteries in Europe. This one-hour documentary, produced by WILL-TV, tells the story of the emotional Gold Star journeys that, for many women, involved their first travel outside their own communities. The program also describes how mothers wielded political power to get Congress to approve the Gold Star pilgrimages, and how the segregation of African American women on the trips contributed to the decision of many black voters to leave the Republican Party. The documentary also follows some of today's Gold Star Mothers, who lost sons in Vietnam, as they make modern-day pilgrimages to see where their loved ones died.

Also available for purchase via amazon.com

Golub

Leon Golub's massive canvasses depict scenes most of us would prefer not to see – mercenary killings, torture, and death squads. Golub offers not simply a profile of a painter with a political conscience, but an investigation into the power of the artist to reflect our times and to change the way we think about our world. This one-hour film juxtaposes scenes of violence and political repression around the world, statements by American politicians and others, the responses of viewers to Golub's exhibitions and an extended sequence capturing the artist at work.

INPUT '91, Dublin Ireland, 1991 – Official Selection
Kartemquin Films
Where located: IHC Office (VHS), ISL

Golub: Late Works Are the Catastrophes

Kartemquin Films completes its chronicle of the work and times of the American artist, Leon Golub. Begun in 1985, the film ends with Golub's death in 2004, taking us from searing images of interrogations and torture to the ironies and dark humor of old-age.

Halsted Street, USA

This film documents the cultural and ethnic diversity found along the 400 mile stretch ending in Chicago’s Halsted Street. Beginning in quiet, rural, predominantly white Illinois along Route 1, the film continues north to the outskirts of Chicago, where gang violence brews and local residents are primarily people of color. The journey takes viewers through the Stockyards District of Chicago, Bridgeport, Pilsen, Maxwell Street, Cabrini Green, Lincoln Park, and, finally, all the way up to BoysTown on Chicago’s north side. The film incorporates footage from a 1932 Documentary Films on the same subject. The film is compelling because it clearly shows the differences in socioeconomic status, cultural celebrations, gender specification, and racial composition of the communities that lie along a street that winds its way through 14 different counties.

Historic Great Lakes

A five part video program, "The Historic Great Lakes," examines related issues over a wide span of time rather than simply presenting the history chronologically. Each hour-long segment helps to define the region in terms of culture, politics, and natural history.

Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral On A Moving Train

The filmdocuments the life and times of the historian, activist and author of the best selling classic A People's History of the United States. Featuring rare archival materials, interviews with Howard Zinn as well as colleagues and friends including Noam Chomsky, Marian Wright Edelman, Daniel Ellsberg, Tom Hayden and Alice Walker, YOU CAN'T BE NEUTRAL captures the essence of this activist and thinker who has been a catalyst for progressive change for more than 60 years. As Noam Chomsky has said of him, "it is no exaggeration to say he has changed the consciousness of a generation."

Audience Award for Best Documentary, 2004 Provincetown International Film Festival

Huele De Noche: Night Blooming Jasmine: Santa Clara del Cobre, Mochoacan, Mexico

A bilingual video traces the history of copper smithing in one region of Mexico from the pre-Columbian period until the present time. Emphasizing how the production of copper objects both responds to and reflects the challenges of the region in its encounters with other cultures, the video accompanied a traveling exhibit on this same subject.

In Mr. Lincoln’s Footsteps

This film is intended for younger audiences. It chronicles the events of Lincoln’s life by using the five historic Lincoln sites in the Springfield area. Three enthusiastic youth take a field trip to each of the sites, learning about Lincoln through questioning one another and the helpful guides they run into along the way.

Inland Voyages: The Poetry of John Knoepfle

This brief documentary film analyzes the career and accomplishments of poet John Knoepfle, lifelong resident of the Midwest and poet-in-residence at Sangamon State University from 1972 to 1992. Regarded as a distinguished poet of "place," he is the author of several volumes of poetry devoted to central Illinois and was named "Illinois Poet of the Year" in 1985. In the film, Knoepfle explains how he uses the history of places, specifically Illinois rivers, prairie lands and urban-river towns, as well as the stories of the people who inhabited those places, to find inspiration for his poems.

Jamesie: King of Scratch

Award-winning filmmaker Andrea E. Leland collaborated with James Brewster to create a 70-minute documentary and archiving project. The result of their collaboration is a spirited musical journey to the Caribbean focusing on Scratch band music (also known as Quelbe) , an indigenous, grass-roots form of folk music from the Virgin Islands that was recently declared the “official” music of the Virgin Islands.

John Peter Altgeld: The Eagle Remembered

An historical documentary that examines Peter Altgeld, the progressive governor of Illinois from 1892-1896, notorious for pardoning the remaining members of the Haymarket Riot anarchists in 1893.

Knute Rockne and His Fighting Irish

This film on Notre Dame football coach and sports promoter Knute Rockne investigates the role that sports, especially football, play in American culture. Rockne’s career greatly helped to solidify football’s position as an institution of power and symbolism for many Americans.

Lincoln and Black Hawk

This film examines the 1832 Black Hawk War through the lens of two important leaders: Black Hawk and Abraham Lincoln. The presentation is illustrated with lithographs, paintings, and statuary of the period and its subsequent commemoration in various heritage events.

Mazamorreo: In Search of Memory

A multi-layered documentary which addresses anthropologic, folkloric, sociologic and contemporary issues facing Afro-Colombian communities of the Pacific Lowlands of Colombia, South America. The province documented is Cauca. The history of the region is told through the voices of its people. This work attempts to contribute to the cultural understanding and awareness of Afro-Colombian cultures and their legacy.

Available from the National Film Network.

Midnight Ramble: The Story of the Black Film Industry

A one-hour documentary examines a little-known film industry that produced almost 500 "race movies" for African-American audiences during the period between World War I and II. Produced by both black and white companies, they were shown in segregated late-night theaters and came to be known as "midnight rambles." One production center for these films was located in Chicago.

Also available via amazon.com

Mirroring Hispanic Culture: Murals in Chicago

This film explains how mural paintings have given the Latino community a positive way to comment on current social issues, as well as giving them a means to preserve cultural identity through historic figures and scenes. The function of murals in history has been to bring communities together by informing the public of issues that affect it politically, economically, and culturally. The artists interviewed in this film feel that they carry on this tradition through their work as mural painters.

Passionate Nature: Alfred Caldwell's Chicago Parks

Alfred Caldwell was the last of the great prairie landscape architects of the 20th century, influenced by his mentor, Jens Jensen, and by Frank Lloyd Wright. In this documentary of his Chicago parks, Caldwell candidly recalls the hardships and disappointments of a life of idealism and hard work, and clearly articulates his philosophy of urban nature. In interviews and documentary footage, Mr. Caldwell reveals the passionate nature that was the force behind all he accomplished for the people of a great city.

Record Row: Cradle of Rhythm and Blues

This film tells the story of the birth and emergence of the soul music industry in the late 1950’s along the twelve-block stretch of Chicago’s South Michigan Avenue known as "Record Row." The film tells the story of a group of men and women whose ambition, talent, business skills, and ingenuity created the Chicago sound--a musical style that revolutionized popular music around the world. In the midst of a segregated society dealing with severe racial tension, the artists and entrepreneurs of Record Row were excellent role models. With its inclusion of dozens of famous bands and musicians, the film not only informs viewers of the complex music industry of the late 50’s and 60’s, but it keeps them toe-tapping throughout.

Refrigerator Mothers

It is America of the 1950s and 1960s, when a woman's most important contribution to society is generally considered to be her ability to raise happy, well-adjusted children. But for the mother whose child is diagnosed with autism, her life's purpose will soon become a twisted nightmare. Looking for help and support, she encounters instead a medical establishment that pins the blame for her child's bizarre behaviors on her supposedly frigid and detached mothering. Along with a heartbreaking label for her child, she receives a devastating label of her own. She is a "refrigerator mother". Refrigerator Mothers paints an intimate portrait of an entire generation of mothers, already laden with the challenge of raising profoundly disordered children, who lived for years under the dehumanizing shadow of professionally promoted "mother blame."

Best Documentary, 2002 Sedona International Film Festival, Arizona

Romance of a People: The First 100 Years of Jewish History In Chicago, 1833 - 1933

This informative film presents a history of Jews in Chicago using contemporary Chicago-area scholars as well as older, archival resources. Through historical and cultural perspectives, the film explores how Jewish immigrants affected the emerging city of Chicago and how the metropolis affected them.

Shadow Over Tibet: Stories in Exile

Directed by Rachel Lyon and narrated by Richard Gere, Shadow over Tibet: Stories in Exile is a highly personalized account of the crises in Chinese-occupied Tibet and the attempts of Tiebetan refugees to maintain their ancient culture in exile while using non-violent means to bring peace and freedom to their homeland. The documentary focuses its cameras on Norbu Samphell, one of 1,000 Tibetans-in-exile who recently emigrated to the United States, as he struggles to start a new life with the help of The Tibetan Resettlement Project - Chicago, an organization whose mission is to find sponsors and provide jobs, housing and health care for Tibetan immigrans in American.

Shaping the Waterways

This film is consists of two parts from a five part series detailing the history of the Great Lakes. The first segment explains the construction of the Illinois/Michigan Canal in 1836, including the political and social issues that surrounded the workers and the economic changes experience by the region--specifically Chicago--in the following years. The second part, entitled "Solving the Problem of Urban Growth," deals specifically with solutions proposed for the disposal of sewage and industrial pollutants, as well as the illnesses they can cause. The film also discusses social issues, such as population growth and the influx of different national, ethnic, and racial groups to the area.

Struggles for Environmental Justice and Health in Chicago

This environmental documentary is based upon an oral history project which elucidates the environmental memories, experiences and reflections of African American Catholics who have lived in Chicago from 1920-2004.

Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press

Tell The Truth and Run, is the dramatic story of muckraking journalist George Seldes, and a piercing look at censorship and suppression in America's news media. Eighty years a newspaperman, Seldes was a noted foreign correspondent who became America's most important press critic. Through Seldes's encounters with Pershing, Lenin and Mussolini; the tobacco industry, J. Edgar Hoover and the "lords of the press," Tell The Truth and Run raises profound ethical, professional and political questions about journalism in America.

Academy Award Nominee, Best Documentary Feature

Ten Sisters: A True Story

10 Sisters: A True Story tells the story of the mysterious courthouse proceeding that separated the 10 daughters of Glen and Ruth Waggoner from each other and their parents. The local documentary, produced by WILL-TV’s Tim Hartin, paints a heart-wrenching picture of the inseparable sisters being torn apart as they cling to each other at the courthouse. Going immediately to live in foster and adoptive families, in an orphanage and in the case of one girl, with relatives, the sisters never saw their home again. The sisters have spent the last 65 years regaining the closeness they once shared, and the documentary is as much a triumphant story about their work to become a family again as it is a story of childhood loss.

Terra Incognita

Terra Incognita is a feature length documentary film and companion civic engagement campaign featuring the story of Dr. Jack Kessler, the current chair of Northwestern University's Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurological Sciences, and his daughter, Allison, an undergraduate student at Harvard University. When Kessler was invited to head up the Neurology Department at Northwestern, his focus was on using stem cells to help cure diabetes. However, soon after his move to Chicago, Allison -- then age 15, was injured in a skiing accident and paralyzed from the waist down. In the moments following the accident, Dr. Kessler made the decision to change the focus of his research to begin looking for a cure for spinal cord injuries using embryonic stem cells. Through Kessler's story, we bring the stem cell debate to the public for discussion. The film follows the constantly evolving interplay between the promise of new discoveries, the controversy of modern science and the resilience and courage of people living every day with devastating disease and injury.

The A.C.L.U.: A History

This film charts the history of the American Civil Liberties Union from World War I to the present. The origins of the A.C.L.U. as an organization created to enforce the Bill of Rights are discussed in great detail. The film also spends a significant amount of time discussing Roger Baldwin, the founder of the A.C.L.U. Through a thought-provoking historical analysis of the types of struggles the organization has taken part in, viewers are made aware of the delicate balance between the rights of individuals and the rights of groups or of the government. The A.C.L.U.’s dedication to defending the extremes of society, from the most liberal to the most conservative, show not only how this controversial organization has been essential to American liberty, but also how it has contributed to the discussion about the tension between legal rights and moral laws.

Also available via films.com

The Chicago Maternity Center Story

1988
60 min.

For more than 75 years, the Chicago Maternity Center provided safe home deliveries for Chicago mothers. However, when modern medicine's attitude toward home birth changed and funding from Northwestern University declined in 1974, the center was forced to close. This film interweaves the history of the center with the stories of a young woman about to have her first baby and the center's fight to stay open in the face of the corporate takeover of medicine.

The Hall of Man

In the 1930s, Malvina Hoffman, a female sculptor and protégé of Auguste Rodin, was commissioned by the Chicago Field Museum to make a series of 104 life-size figures depicting the different races of the world. Those who commissioned her deemed Hoffman’s exhibit as more of an anthropological than an artistic endeavor. This film focuses on Hoffman’s struggle to reconcile her artistic vision with the outdated and obscure demand that she classify by race. Questions related to the veracity of classifications based on race and how best to represent an entire race with an individual specimen led to the dismantling of the Hall of Man in 1968. The debate continues over what to do with such a fine artistic collection, as currently only a fraction of the sculptures are on display in the museum.

The HistoryMakers: Three Artists, Three Lives, Three Stories

This endearing film explores the lives of three Chicago-based artists: photographer Dawoud Bey, painter Richard Hunt, and collage artist Allen Stringfellow. Thefilm presents each artist’s process, philosophy, and vision of the future of art. Throughout the film, each artist periodically adds various bits of wisdom that stick with the viewer, such as the importance of the process of discovery.

The Last Kamikaze

This film project proposes to document in-depth interviews with a group of former Japanese suicide bombers during WWII. The interview questions include their views concerning the war, suicide missions, spirituality/religion, and their advice to future generations.

The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg

The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg is a humorous and nostalgic documentary about an extraordinary baseball player who transcended religious prejudice to become an American icon. Detroit Tiger Hammerin’ Hank’s accomplishments during the Golden Age of Baseball rivaled those of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. This compelling documentary examines how America’s first Jewish baseball star was a beacon of hope to American Jews who faced bigotry during the Depression and World War II.

Peabody Award, 2001; Best Non-Fiction Film, New York Film Critics Association

Also available for purchase from amazon.com

The New Americans

The New Americans follows four years in the lives of a diverse group of contemporary immigrants and refugees as they journey to start new lives in America. We follow an Indian couple to Silicon Valley through the dot-com boom and bust. A Mexican meatpacker struggles to reunite his family in rural Kansas. Two families of Nigerian refugees (including the sister of slain Ogoni activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa) escape government persecution. Two Los Angeles Dodgers prospects follow their big dreams of escaping the barrios of the Dominican Republic. A Palestinian woman who marries into a new life in Chicago only to discover in the wake of September 11, she cannot leave behind the pain of her homeland's conflict.

The Optimists

This documentary tells the dramatic story of how Bulgarian Christians and Muslims saved 50,000 Jews from the Holocaust. Fifty thousand Jews lived in Bulgaria before and after World War II. Fifty thousand didn't die even though the Nazis had begun to set in motion the trains that were to take the Bulgarian Jews to their deaths. The Jews of Bulgaria lived because Bulgarian Christians and Muslims found ways to protect them. Individuals and organizations made a difference. Ordinary people stood up for their Jewish friends and neighbors. The Church, certain Bulgarian Parliament members, lawyers, writers, trade unions, professional guilds, and people from all walks of life helped defeat the Nazis' plans for mass deportations. And this despite the efforts of the Bulgarian government to meet Nazi demands for quotas, i.e., to hand over thousands of Jews for transport to concentration camps.

The Real Dirt on Farmer John

Meet Farmer John, a man who will turn every idea you ever had about what it means to be an American farmer, or an American dreamer, on its head. Farmer John might sit on a tractor but he’s also an outrageous artist, a maverick environmentalist, a homespun rebel, a pink-boa-wearing eccentric, a playful provocateur – and the incredible human being whose inspirational story of revolutionizing his family farm and redeeming his own life has won accolades and awards at film festivals around the world in THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN. This lovingly handmade, grassroots epic has garnered fans even in the corridors of power, with former Vice President Al Gore calling it “unbelievably special,” celebrity chef Alice Waters declaring it “a charming, wonderful and important movie” and master documentarian Albert Maysles describing the film as “genuinely beautiful . . . a cause for hope.”

Awards: Al Gore Award, Nashville International Film Fesitval; Audience Award, Chicago International Film Festival; Audience Award, Slamdance Festival; Grand Jury Award, San Francisco International Film Festival

They Served With Honor

This documentary provides a view of America during World War II by focusing on the dramatic stories of war veterans living in the Effingham area. It interweaves these stories with memories from local residents about the home front during the war. The film is geared towards a younger audience, and effectively introduces the historical context of World War II.

Ties That Bind

Ties that Bind is a documentary that brings together women spiritual leaders from the Black Evangelical, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Hispanic Protestant communities to share their music and personal stories: to work together to create a vision of humanity.

Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern

Troublesome Creek is a Midwestern. It's the story of the Jordan family's struggle to save their Iowa farm. From crossing the Mississippi in 1867 to driving to Daddy Date Night in 1967. From fighting off the Crooked Creek Gang in the 1880's to fighting off the bank today. Now, with their backs against the wall, the Jordans confront the very worst with their very best. Troublesome Creek is wry and emotional without being sentimental. It's a cliffhanger about history, loss and the humor and deep character that settled America, and now preside at its unsettling.

Academy Award Nominee, Best Documentary Feature

Also available via amazon.com

Victory on the Homefront: Rememberances of Richland & Lawrence Counties During WWII

Concentrating on the peoples’ viewpoint, this film uses oral histories to focus on the changes brought about by World War II in southern Illinois, specifically Lawrence and Richmond counties. It provides a local perspective on the profound political, economic, and social changes created by the war effort at home.

Waiting to Inhale

Waiting to Inhale examines the heated debate over marijuana and its use as medicine in the United States. Twelve states have passed legislation to protect patients who use medical marijuana. Yet opponents claim the medical argument is just a smokescreen for a different agenda-- to legalize marijuana for recreation and profit. What claims are being made, and what are the stakes? Waiting to Inhale takes viewers inside the lives of patients who have been forever changed by illness—and parents who lost their children to addiction. Is marijuana really a gateway drug? What evidence is there to support the claim that marijuana can alleviate some of the devastating symptoms of AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis? Waiting to Inhale sheds new light on this controversy and presents shocking new evidence that marijuana could hold a big stake in the future of medicine.

Winner, Eureka! International Film Festival

Watch the Pallino

At the turn of the century, over 15 million immigrants left home for better lives in the US. Many were drawn to the promise of steady work in the coalmines of small rural towns like Toluca, Illinois. The Italian miners and their families gathered together on Sundays to play bocce ball, competing for a bottle of wine or wheel of cheese. Today, Toluca maintains this convivial spirit by hosting what is arguably the largest bocce tournament of its kind in the country—and probably one of the most raucous. "Watch the Pallino" uncovers the history of Toluca's passion for bocce, and follows key players and organizers over the course of the daylong tournament--all the way to the finals. Father Neri, a bocce playing priest, the jocular Shirley and State champs Theresa and Nancy Biagini are all there to win. "Watch the Pallino" showcases the historians, entertainers and avid bocce players who make the town what it is today.

Weathered Secrets

This documentary shows that although the Midwestern barn is no longer the nucleus of the American family farm, becoming almost obsolete by the standards of contemporary culture, its honorable history merits preservation. Including beautifully incorporated camerawork, interviews with some of the last family farmers of the Midwest region, and old black and white family photos, this simple but poignant film documents the drastic changes the American farmer has undergone over the past two centuries.

Who Owns the Past?

A documentary film examines the competing world views of some Native Americans and many Euro-Americans from 1620 to the present regarding the excavation, study, and representation of prehistoric and historic American Indian remains and associated funeral objects.

Women of Mystery

What do authors Sue Grafton, Sara Paretsky, and Marcia Muller have in common? Their novels about courageous, strong, intelligent women private investigators have revolutionized contemporary detective fiction. With V.I. Warshawski, Kinsey Millhone and Sharon McCone, the female private eye entered the scene of detective fiction. Diving into the wilderness of the unknown, she saw what no one else had seen and told a new story. WOMEN OF MYSTERY is the first film to celebrate the writers who started a literary revolution and, in the process, captured readers' imagination around the world. WOMEN OF MYSTERY includes dramatizations that capture familiar characters and themes from the novels, engaging scenes with each author exploring her heroine's home turf, and intimate interviews that reveal the complex relationship between author and heroine.

Wrapped in Steel

Producer and/or Director: Jim Martin
1985
92min.

This in-depth documentary focuses on the obstacles of declining demand and extensive layoffs faced by steelworkers in southeast Chicago in the early 1980’s. The prosperity of the community, rooted in steel, quickly evaporated as foreign imports and new technology competed with quickly outdated domestic steel technology. The film chronicles the history of steel in that community, showing its pivotal role in bringing citizens together and creating an honest, proud environment. The film not only focuses on the strong bond between the citizens of the community, but it also sheds light on the political atmosphere that accompanied the hard times steelworkers faced in the layoff period. This is an unedited version of the film.

Send a check for $25.00 payable to Phelps Martin Media, Inc. to:
Phelps Martin Media, Inc
PO Box 1897
Winter Park, FL 32790-1897