Surviving Progress
 

Featuring, Stephen Hawking, Margaret Atwood, Jane Goodall, Michael Hudson, David Suzuki, Craig Venter.

Technological advancement, economic development, population increase - are they signs of a thriving society, or too much of a good thing?

'Surviving Progress' is a provocative documentary that explores the concept of progress in the modern world, guiding through the major 'progress traps' facing civilization in the arenas of technology, economics, consumption, and the environment.

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Not the best I have seen but very good at reviewing history, and delineating the ways in which history repeats. I kind of like the way they show humans, as a species, have not evolved. The hardware of our brains is the same as in prehistoric times, programmed as hunters. All that has changed is the configuration and intricacies of the hunt, the tools at our disposal with which to hunt, and the impact of these on civilization, the economy, and the planet.

What is a little scary, is the focus on using genetic technology as a way to force humans to evolve from the hunter into something as yet undefined. Even scarier is who will control this evolution and for what purpose. And, is this just more of the hunter mentality or is it potential progress.

Kind of cool to think about from this perspective.

This is only available for FREE viewing now through New Years Day in honor of Transgender Day of Remembrance!

The LGBT Aging Documentary, Gen Silent


http://stumaddux.com/gen_silent_HOME_VIEWING_NIU.html

PBS Independent Lens

Park Avenue money, power, and the American dream.

#ReGeneration
 

The award-winning documentary film, #ReGENERATION, explores the galvanizing forces behind the Occupy Movement and the state of social activism in our society. The film takes an uncompromising look at the challenges facing today’s youth and young adults as they attempt to engage on a myriad of social and political issues.

Focused on how our education, parenting, and media can influence us, the film follows three separate walks of life representing today’s generation. Each brings their own unique perspective – from an inspired collective of musicians working outside the corporate system, to a twenty-something conservative family about to welcome the birth of their second child, and a group of five high-school students from the suburbs looking for their place in society. Their stories are interspersed with the knowledge, wisdom, and personal reflections of some of the country’s leading scholars, social activists, and media personalities, including Noam Chomsky, the late Howard Zinn, Adbusters’ Kalle Lasn, Andrew Bacevich, Talib Kweli, and many others.

Narrated by Ryan Gosling and featuring a riveting soundtrack from STS9, the film explores how today’s generation approaches activism, how it is impacted by technology, our disconnection with nature and history, our consumer culture, and the economic factors holding many of us back from becoming more active participants in our communities. Through a diverse and intelligent series of stories, interviews and insights, we come to a deeper understanding of the influences shaping our society. We have entered uncharted territory, economically, environmentally, and intellectually–and we must look honestly at ourselves to create a sustainable future.

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I loved this movie. And Noam Chomsky is one of my heroes.

Much to digest, and to wade through as they try to connect the dots to a certain end. Very thought provoking.

Hungry for change
 

From the creators of the best-selling documentary Food Matters comes another hard-hitting film certain to change everything you thought you know about food and nutrition. It exposes shocking secrets the diet, weight loss and food industries don't want you to know about deceptive strategies designed to keep you coming back for more. Find out what's keeping you from having the body and health you deserve and how to escape the diet trap forever.


Very interesting. Adds more pieces to the puzzle of how the body reacts to all the chemicals it is exposed to, and how the chemicals are deliberately used by the food industry to increase out comsumption while adversely affecting our health.

Deep Water
 

I watched this doc in the theatre, then stayed to watch it again.
Did any of you see it? What did you think?

DEEP WATER is the stunning true story of the first solo, non-stop, round-the-world boat race, and the psychological toll it took on its competitors. Sponsored by the Sunday Times of London, the much-ballyhooed event attracted a field of nine, including amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst, who set out to circumnavigate the globe in late 1968. Battling treacherous seas and his own demons, Crowhurst almost immediately comes apart as he faces the isolation of nine months on the high seas. Part adventure yarn and part metaphysical mystery, DEEP WATER is an unforgettable journey into one mans heart of darkness.

Herskovitz at the Heart of Blackness

Thank you for the link--

:mohawk:

Half the sky
 

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/half-the-sky/

While the documentary shows a lot of ways in which womens lives are getting better, it also very clearly shows the oppression I am shielded from in my world here in the States.


This is now the documentary I re watch on days I loose my grip on gratitude.

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead...it's on Netflix....

Great illustration of how easily we can change our bodies and our lives with a change in diet and a change in our thinking....

dang bless it
 

The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia

You gotta see it to believe it
Like watching a train wreck you don't want to watch but can't turn it off .
Gotta love some Boone county WV folk

Showtime's current series: "Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States".

Right now watching: "Johnson, Nixon & Vietnam: Reversal of Fortune".

Wow. Learned quite a few things I never knew from newspapers or history books (as I have from other episodes and time periods in the series).

I recommend the series highly.

Dragged BB to "West of Memphis" on Christmas, a doc follow up to another great doc "Paradise Lost."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_of_Memphis

Thanks for posting this. I just watched it. Very moving. And makes you think about your own future and mortality.

I liked the documentary they recently put on netflix called (a)sexual ans I would highly reccomend it to anyone who wants to understand sexuality or a lack there of as well. :)

wish there were more like it
 

I love documentaries of all sorts. Can I ask how you post youtube links?

First, on the YouTube video, you'll see a link like "blahblah=blahblah. You highlight and copy everything after the "=".

Then come back here and in the response page, you'll see an "Youtube" icon. Click this and it comes up . Paste the link (remember, everything after the =)in between the borders. This should bring up the video link when you hit "post".

Thank you! I hate feeling so new lol I'm sure it has its perks. I really need to take more time to look around, but I'm more of the "jump in" type.

I think I've probably listed this film before in this thread, but I'm just so fond of it.

"I Like Killing Flies". It's about the smallest restaurant you have ever seen and the cantankerous, philosophical, greasy guy who cranks out amazing cuisine, scattering gems all the while.

The Gulabi gang is the subject of the 2010 movie Pink Saris by Kim Longinotto and the 2012 documentary Gulabi Gang by Nishtha Jain.


The first is more film than documentary but the story is powerful and reminds me how strong women are.

It is about women who, at 20,000 strong, have banded together to fight against abuse, rape, and child brides.

Things are changing in India, I am confidant that these women warriors are fundamental, if not direct instruments, to that change.

I :heartbeat: Errol Morris.

Love most of his work.

LOVE watching stuff like BBC's Blue Planet, and Human Planet. BluRay makes it spectacular! :)

Haven't seen The Invisible War, although it's come highly recommended--need to sort of gear up for that one.

Really liked Cave of Forgotten Dreams by Werner Herzog. :)

Pink Ribbons, Inc.
 

Pink Ribbons, Inc. is a very eye-opening documentary about the dark side of the pink ribbon campaign for breast cancer.

http://0.tqn.com/d/documentaries/1/0...inkribbons.jpg

Has anyone else seen it?

Searching for Sugarman (Sixto Rodriguez)
 

My day began very early with going out shopping for groceries before the sun came up and by the time I had called for a cab to bring me home (with food in tow), I had no idea how that ride would change my plans today. My cab driver had an interesting pair of shades on and I asked him if they were late 60s Vaurnet shades and our conversation, as he drove me home, led to me finding out about a documentary that was only in town for today.

I went to see: Sugarman

It was such a great story about a lesser known man from Detroit - an indie artist, I guess one might say - who apparently was so talented that no one took notice of him. Yeah. Anyway, woven throughout the hour and a half film, I learned about how his recordings ended up in South Africa and for years, he had such a huge following - cult-like, almost.

It really opened my eyes to how the music industry is such a cut-throat business and that artists who are well-known stars by today's standards, are not even half as talented as Sixto Rodrigues (Sugarman).

The film had only three showings today and I happened to be able to walk into the late morning showing of this documentary. I have a feeling it will earn some awards this year at Sundance... it's that good.

http://discovernyack.com/wp-content/...1/sugarman.jpg

Here's a trailer I found for the film on YouTube:



PS/ if you get the chance to see it in your town, I say go see it!
I haven't said much about what a person finds out in the film:
I don't want to spoil it for people.... But seriously, it's very good.

There are two documentaries that I found remarkable:

The first was presented on the PBS show Nova and was entitled "Dimming The Sun". It described the effect of air clarity on global warming and, surprisingly, explained that some of our efforts to reduce air pollution have been counterproductive.

The second memorable documentary was presented on the PBS show Frontline and was entitled "The Jesus Factor". This program described the rise in political power of the evangelical movement and the manner in which George Bush used this power to attain the presidency.

I haven't seen it, but I'm going to see if we can get it on the Roku via one of their services. It's interesting that you bring it up because I was talking with a group of people about where we were on 9/11. Both myself and a younger cousin (who was in kindergarten at the time) said that one of our strongest memories of that time was no planes. They had grounded planes worldwide and the atmosphere got so clear that it affected the average temperature that year. We both remember really blue skies and I remember going out to the observatory nearby with my telescope to take advantage of the incredibly clear skies that week.

Okay, in an effort to stay on topic.... I love Ken Burns but was disappointed in the Dust Bowl. I think he kinda phoned that one in. Jazz was much better! But the best one I've seen lately was the Machine that Made Us, which is about Johann Gutenberg. It was interesting to see what he went through. People were really freaked out by what he was doing and one of the biggest, scariest things about it was that parts of the ruling classes realized that more books, made cheaply would put more more information in the hands of the poorer classes. An educated populace was a scary thing!

A new documentary that I think is very worthwhile is "MAKERS: Women Who Make America", which recently aired on PBS. I highly recommend it to anyone who was not around in the '70's and is not fully aware of the struggle for women's rights. The promo blurb:

MAKERS: Women Who Make America tells the remarkable story of the most sweeping social revolution in American history, as women have asserted their rights to a full and fair share of political power, economic opportunity, and personal autonomy. It’s a revolution that has unfolded in public and private, in courts and Congress, in the boardroom and the bedroom, changing not only what the world expects from women, but what women expect from themselves. MAKERS brings this story to life with priceless archival treasures and poignant, often funny interviews with those who led the fight, those who opposed it, and those first generations to benefit from its success. Trailblazing women like Hillary Rodham Clinton, Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey share their memories, as do countless women who challenged the status quo in industries from coal-mining to medicine. Makers captures with music, humor, and the voices of the women who lived through these turbulent times the dizzying joy, aching frustration and ultimate triumph of a movement that turned America upside-down.

P.S. The show can be viewed online at http://video.pbs.org/program/makers-...-make-america/

The men who built America
 

Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carmegie, Morgan, Ford, the Men Who Built America. Meet the titans who forged the foundation of modern America and created the American Dream. The mini-series shines a spotlight on the influential builders, dreamers and believers whose feats transformed the United States. a nation decaying from the inside after the Civil War, into the greatest economic and technological superpower the world had ever seen.

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3 disks, 6 hours of utter fascination.

I can't wait to see this!!!

Beauty in Truth <-- link

Alice Walker has long been an icon to me.

This year's WOW (Women of the World) Film Festival included the world exclusive premiere of 'Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth', a feature documentary film directed by Pratibha Parmar about the life and art of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'The Color Purple'.

After the screening, Mariella Frostrup chaired a Q&A discussion with Alice Walker and Pratibha Parmar.

Just saw this one yesterday:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qagl90eKQr...0/outfoxed.jpg

Very interested. I already knew "Faux News" was a crock but it really gets in depth and connects some of the dots you may have missed. Interesting.