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American Gypsy:
A Stranger in Everybody's Land America is home to one million Gypsies, or Rom, whose rich culture has long been mysterious to outsiders. Shot over the course of five years, this extraordinary documentary is the first ever allowed to break the wall of secrecy that protects the universally persecuted Romani people and their culture. |
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Ave Maria: The Story
of the Fisherman's Feast Documents one of the most important traditions of Boston's Italian-Americans: the annual celebration of the Feast of the Madonna del Soccorso, popularly known as the Fisherman's Feast. |
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Brownsville
Black and White This poignant and powerful documentary explores the complex history of interracial cooperation, urban change, and social conflict in Brownsville, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, from the 1930s to the present. |
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Can You See the
Color Gray? This unusual documentary is sure to provoke discussion and self-reflection in any course that deals with racial differences and stereotypes. It shows numerous people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds as they grapple with probing questions about their racial attitudes and their feelings about their own ethnicity. |
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Crawfish and Freys This finely woven and immensely appealing ethnographic documentary examines Southwestern Louisiana, where it illustrates how shared history, language, music, cuisine, and agriculture combine to create and perpetuate community and family ties. |
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Displaced in the
New South In 1980, there were a few thousand Asian and Latino immigrants in Georgia. By 1994, there were more than 300,000. |
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Fishing in the City
Explores the role of fishing in the social and cultural life of the various ethnic groups that make up the population of Washington, DC. |
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Flight of the Dove
This sensitive portrait of a Portuguese-American community in the Chino Valley of southern California examines its most important annual celebration, the Feast of the Holy Spirit. |
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From the Deep Grapevine:
French Roots, American Soil This lively, kaleidoscopic documentary explores the French heritage of southwestern Louisiana: the language, traditions, art, food, and above all, the music of the Cajun and Creole peoples in this region known as Acadiana. |
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Halsted Street,
USA Nowhere in America does a stretch of pavement slice through a more vibrant and diverse cross-section of humanity than Chicago's Halsted Street. Along its length one can view a dozen nationalities, a thousand lifestyles -- the American melting pot at full boil. But who are the people who make up the stew? This riveting, kaleidoscopic "road movie" traces this unique thoroughfare nearly 400 miles, from its origin in the cornfields of southern Illinois to its terminus in the city's boisterous heart. |
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Hamburger
and Dolma Five Armenian-American women of varying ages and diverse backgrounds discuss with keen insight and considerable eloquence their feelings of alienation from their ethnic community and their desire to relate to their cultural heritage on their own terms. |
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Island of Saints and
Souls This perceptive documentary shows how the Catholic traditions of many immigrant groups have influenced and contributed to the rich cultural texture of New Orleans. |
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The Italian Gardens
of South Brooklyn This infectiously enjoyable and constantly inventive documentary illustrates how "a mixture of old-world values and new-world horse sense" invigorates the traditional Italian-American community of South Brooklyn and infuses it with a strong respect for family, friends, and neighborhood. |
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The Moveable Feast
This beautifully filmed documentary follows a group of Italian-Americans from Boston's North End to their ancestral hometown, Sciacca, Sicily, to participate in the Feast of the Madonna del Soccorso (also known and celebrated in Boston as the Fisherman's Feast). |
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Musical Documents: The Films of John Cohen For some 30 years John Cohen has been making films that provide invaluable records of traditional music and its importance to people's cultural identities. The folowing seven films have been acclaimed by critics and scholars and won awards and honors around the world. |
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The High Lonesome
Sound This classic film evocatively illustrates how music and religion help people in rural Appalachia maintain their dignity and traditions in the face of change and hardship. |
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The End of an Old
Song Filmed in the mountains of North Carolina, this documentary revisits the region where English folklorist Cecil Sharp collected British ballads in the early 1900s. |
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Sara and Maybelle A rare filmed performance of two members of the original Carter family, whose recordings helped found the country music industry. |
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Fifty Miles from
Times Square A colorful portrait of life in Putnam County, New York, with its "old-time fiddlers, farmers, commuters, and hippies," where an earlier, more traditional, relaxed style of life continues. |
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Post Industrial
Fiddle This deceptively simple but profound film explores the importance of music-making in the life of a pulp mill worker in rural Maine. His "Down East" fiddling style is homemade music, influenced largely by local traditions. |
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Pericles in America This musical portrait of immigrant clarinetist Pericles Halkias and the Epirot-Greek community explores the aspirations and ambivalences of Greek-Americans. |
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Musical Holdouts This classic, entertaining survey of American traditional music presents varied individuals and groups who have not become part of the "melting pot" of American society. |
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My Town -- Mio
Paese This spirited documentary demonstrates the strength and vitality of Italian-American traditions by showing the ongoing cultural similarities between residents of Palermiti, in southern Italy, and the descendants of immigrants from Palermiti living in eastern Massachusetts. |
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Old Believers The Old Believers of Oregon are descended from religious dissenters who rebelled against reforms in traditional Orthodox Christian rituals in 17th-century Russia. |
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Over the Hedge This acclaimed film provides an insightful and humorous look at a fascinating and eccentric aspect of suburban America -- people who shape their front-yard hedges and plants into fantastic topiary shapes. |
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Shifting
Traditions Through the diverse voices of interfaith couples and rabbinical leaders, this incisive and balanced documentary examines interfaith marriages and the controversies surrounding them in the contemporary Jewish American community. |
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A World of Gestures
This often humorous and always entertaining video explores gestures from cultures around the world. |
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American Gypsy: A Stranger in Everybody's Land |
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This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Jasmine Dellal "American Gypsy" explores the 1,000-year-old cultural traditions of the Roma, interweaving remarkable and poignant historical material with the compelling story of Jimmy Marks, a flamboyant Romani community leader who becomes passionately obsessed with fighting a civil rights battle to defend his family, his culture, and his honor. His journey carries the film deep within the Romani culture, with fascinating scenes of Gypsies from around the world celebrating New Year in Las Vegas, the arranged marriages of teenagers, and car salesmen in Stetson hats driving Cadillacs. Though fiercely proud of his Romani heritage, Jimmy Marks has nonetheless broken one of its most strongly held tenets: the code of secrecy that forbids revealing or explaining that heritage to "gadje," or non-Gypsies. Throughout their history, the Rom, commonly called Gypsies because of a mistaken identification with Egypt, have suffered persecution and believed that the key to their survival lay in keeping strictly to themselves, "in order to remain pure." But Marks decided to open up his world to filmmaker Jasmine Dellal in order to counteract the injustice of a 1986 police raid on the Marks family's homes in Spokane, Washington. A blight on American justice, these raids also alienated the Marks family from the Romani community, which considered the Markses "tainted" by the police actions and treated them as outcasts. This double injustice led Jimmy Marks to seek vindication in American courts and to publicly defend Romani civil rights and his way of life. He has been called "the Gypsy equivalent to Rodney King," because his landmark civil rights battle against the Spokane police helped demonstrate the widespread prejudice faced by Romani people. He has also been called a madman, because he was consumed by this obsession, which ultimately made him a pariah in both American and Romani society. His tale is irresistibly human: as timeless as Don Quixote or Hamlet, as they go crazy battling to reclaim lost honor. "American Gypsy" is at once a powerful ethnographic study and a dramatic
illustration of some of the most painful ambiguities of immigration, assimilation,
and culture clashes in modern America. It is essential viewing for courses
in cultural anthropology, American history and studies, sociology, multiculturalism,
and diversity. It was produced by Jasmine Dellal. |
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"A fascinating window.... Confronts the prejudice and misperception that the Roma face in this country." -- The New York Times "A spellbinding, thought-provoking film about the Rom --America's hidden, sometimes romanticized, and often oppressed people." -- Program Guide, Taos Talking Pictures Festival "Raises issues of diversity and cultural pride, illustrated with fascinating interviews and historical photographs. Prejudice, discrimination, and racial profiling face Roma all over Europe, but few Americans realize that American Roma confront similar problems. This film would be excellent in American studies, anthropology, ethnic studies, and sociology courses." -- Carol Silverman, Assoc. Prof. of Anthropology, University of Oregon "A sharp and sophisticated film, which succeeds admirably in raising critical questions about representation and ethnographic research while elegantly unfolding an engrossing narrative. I intend to use this film in my courses on ethnographic research methods." -- Prof. Hugh Raffles, Asst. Prof. of Anthropology, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz "I do not remember any movie or documentary that ever came close to this one in insight, clarity, pathos, or sheer empathy toward the Gypsy cause. In addition to the beauty of the background music, the history, the editing, and the sheer transparency of the images, I am struck by the film's sensitivity to a problematic situation. This is a must-see in any class dealing with cultural differences or the role of the family." -- Antonio T. de Nicolas, Prof. of Philosophy Emeritus, State University of New York at Stony Brook "Much more than the story of a Romani family's fight for justice, this film presents an inter-generational portrait of Roma both preserving their traditions and creatively adapting to new situations in a new world. This is a must-have stimulus for discussion in sociology courses dealing with ethnicity, cultural resistance and assimilation, and racism." -- Prof. Ken Lee, Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, Univ. of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia "An impressive teaching tool in the area of minority studies and sociology. I highly recommend it and I will use it in my courses on the Holocaust, which include post-WWII events, human rights abuses, ethnic cleansing, and continuing discrimination in both the United States and Europe against minorities." -- Patricia C. Rose, History Dept., Congregation Beth El Religious School, Missouri City, Texas
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Ave Maria: The Story of the Fisherman's Feast |
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This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Beth Harrington 24 min. Color 1987 Catalog #37423 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $50 |
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An important contribution to the study of popular traditions. It explores the
many features of a complex celebration (family relations, religious beliefs, attitudes
toward childhood) with sympathy, affection, and understanding.-- Robert Orsi,
Prof. of Religious Studies, Indiana Univ.  "Best Independent Production," Birmingham Educational Film Festival Natl. Educational Film Festival Award Society for Visual Anthropology honoree American Anthropological Assoc. selection American Italian Historical Assoc. honoree |
| Brownsville Black and White | |
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| This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Berkeley Media LLC This poignant and powerful documentary explores the complex history of interracial cooperation, urban change, and social conflict in Brownsville, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, from the 1930s to the present. A case study of the tragedy of urban American race relations, the film recounts the transformation of Brownsville from a poor but racially harmonious area made up largely of Jews and blacks to a community made up almost entirely of people of color. Dubbed "The First American Ghetto" by historians and the press, Brownsville today is afflicted by poverty, gangs, drugs, decay, and unemployment. In the 1940s Brownsville was famous for its grass-roots integration. But it later achieved notoriety for one of the most divisive and bitter black-white confrontations in American history, the 1968 Ocean Hill Brownsville School War, in which the African-American (and Hispanic) community battled the predominantly white and Jewish Teachers Union. "Brownsville Black and White" examines some of the most troubling and
perplexing issues facing America and its cities and raises a multitude
of discussible questions. The film will provoke reflection, analysis,
and debate in a variety of courses in sociology and social issues, American
history and American studies, African American studies, urban studies,
race relations, cultural anthropology, Jewish Studies, and education.
It was produced by Richard Broadman and Laurann Black. |
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"An excellent introduction to the history of 20th-century American race relations that resonates with the issues facing the country today. The film illuminates, and provides a basis for discussion of, the role of race and class in shaping the lives of working Americans, but it also reveals the power that committed individuals have to change society. The film also contributes greatly to our understanding of urban change, and is a great resource for teachers interested in urban issues." -- Wendell Pritchett, Asst. Prof. of Law, Univ. of Pennsylvania Law School, Asst. Prof. of History, Baruch College, City Univ. of New York, and author of "Brownsville, Brooklyn: Blacks, Jews and the Changing Face of the Ghetto" "Offers a fresh entry into an explosive debate, by revisiting the late 1960s Ocean Hill Brownsville school battles between the largely white teacher's union and black and white community school activists. It sets these conflicts in the context of Brownsville's history as a crowded, racially mixed neighborhood of progressive politics, youth gangs, and poverty. Wonderful historic footage and photographs and black and white narrators' memories bring to life a neighborhood in the 1930s and 1940s where racial boundaries were routinely crossed and racial antagonisms were not inevitable. The film provides a rich backdrop for exploring the social changes that made it so hard for the two sides in the school wars to know or recognize each other. Highly recommended for any classes in twentieth-century urban history, history of education, or racial and ethnic conflict." -- Judith Smith, Director, Graduate Program in American Studies, Univ. of Massachusetts, Boston
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Can You See the Color Gray? |
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This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Berkeley Media LLC 54 min. Color 1997 Catalog #38381 Sale: video $225, Rental: video $75 |
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 An evocative and highly versatile piece that acts as a clearinghouse for residual racial tensions and gracefully guides the viewer through a kind of catharsis. -- Evelyn Kalibala, Dir., Division of Multicultural Education, New York City Board of Education This video enables us to discuss what's uncomfortable. It creates a forum for difficult discussion to take place. It lets you, as a teacher or professor, address issues you might otherwise have trouble leading a discussion in. I find it especially powerful to hear the attitudes of the kids in the video. It's very intense, but it's what kids carry around with them. -- Millie Fulford, Head of the New Program, a Multicultural School in Brooklyn, New York Intl. Film and Video Festival Award New York Festivals Award |
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Crawfish and Freys |
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This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Take Ten 28 min. Color 1997 Catalog #38380 Sale: video $175, Rental: video $50 |
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The film's intimate, personal approach gives students a sense of having met and understood a great deal about its subjects and about what community means. I will use it in my classes that address theories of socially constructed community and ethnic identities, and I recommend it for all such courses in cultural anthropology, sociology, American culture, and visual ethnography.-- Jane Gibson, Prof. of Anthropology, Univ. of Kansas |
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Displaced in the New South |
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| In 1980, there were a few thousand Asian and Latino immigrants in Georgia. By 1994,
there were more than 300,000. This remarkable documentary explores the cultural collision
between Asian and Hispanic immigrants and the suburban communities near Atlanta,
Georgia, in which they have settled. The film provides an informative, sensitive,
and insightful case study of a nationwide trend that is bringing explosive political
upheaval all across America: waves of people, mostly from Asia and Latin America,
coming to cities, small towns, and suburban communities that have never before experienced
immigration on such a scale. This is an exemplary case study and essential viewing
for anyone interested in the "New South" and for any course dealing with
contemporary American history and culture, social issues and problems, culture change
and identity, or immigration and multiculturalism. Produced by David Zeiger and Eric
Mofford. 57 min. Color 1995 Catalog #38317 Sale: video $225, Rental: video $70 |
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The best treatment of the emerging ethnic and cultural complexity of the "New South" that I have seen. In the classroom the film provokes intense discussion. The film's fast and colorful pace mirrors the pace and impact of new populations on Atlanta and its people as Phad Tai and Mole mix with Grits and Collard Greens. -- Arthur Murphy, Chair, Dept. of Anthropology, Georgia State Univ. Natl. Educational Film Festival Award Latin American Studies Assn. Award of Merit Assn. for Asian Studies honoree Worldfest Houston Gold Medal Chicago Latino Film Festival honoree Atlanta Film Festival honoree PBS National Broadcasts |
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Fishing in the City |
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| Explores the role of fishing in the social and cultural life of the various ethnic
groups that make up the population of Washington, DC. By showing who fishes with
whom and what each group does with its catch, this unusual documentary provides a
window on some of the social bonds that sustain the city's ethnic communities and
on some of the activities that help build bridges across them. A fresh example of
urban anthropology by Prof. Karen Brodkin Sacks, UCLA. 24 min. Color 1987 Catalog #37423 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $50 |
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A novel way of looking at the city! It's the perfect film for American studies and urban anthropology courses. -- Brett Williams, Prof. of Anthropology and American Studies, American Univ. American Anthropological Assn. selection |
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Flight of the Dove |
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| This sensitive portrait of a Portuguese-American community in the Chino Valley of
southern California examines its most important annual celebration, the Feast of
the Holy Spirit. The film traces the evolution of the feast from its origins in the
Azores to the festival celebrated in California and shows how it reinforces community
solidarity through its emphasis on shared cultural values. The film focuses on one
family and illustrates the difficulties and rewards of maintaining traditional religious,
family, and cultural values while assimilating into mainstream American culture.
By Nancy da Silveira. 29 min. 1990 Color Catalog #37985 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $50 |
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Society for Visual Anthropology honoree Royal Anthropological Institute (UK) Film Festival honoree American Anthropological Assn. selection Natl. Educational Film Festival Award |
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From the Deep Grapevine: French Roots, American Soil |
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| This lively, kaleidoscopic documentary explores the French heritage of southwestern
Louisiana: the language, traditions, art, food, and above all, the music of the Cajun
and Creole peoples in this region known as Acadiana. Featured in the video is the
Festival International de Louisianne, a six-day celebration of the area's francophonic
roots and cultural influences. Against the backdrop of the festival, the video introduces
a wide variety of musicians, characters, and everyday people who are working to preserve
their French cultural heritage. This is one video that is sure to entertain students
even as it raises important issues relating to culture transmission, assimilation,
and cultural identity. Produced by Amy Kalafa and Alexandre Gunuey. 58 min. Color 1994 Catalog #38287 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $60 |
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American Film and Video Festival Award Athens Intl. Film Festival honoree |
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Halsted Street, USA |
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| Nowhere in America does a stretch of pavement slice through a more vibrant and diverse
cross-section of humanity than Chicago's Halsted Street. Along its length one can
view a dozen nationalities, a thousand lifestyles -- the American melting pot at
full boil. But who are the people who make up the stew? This riveting, kaleidoscopic
"road movie" traces this unique thoroughfare nearly 400 miles, from its
origin in the cornfields of southern Illinois to its terminus in the city's boisterous
heart. Along the way the film presents a fascinating and profoundly American cultural
mosaic with Halsted Street as the thread that links a multitude of seemingly disparate
communities. The film journeys northward from the heartland of rural Illinois to the mostly African-American and impoverished south side of Chicago; from Bridgeport, home to five generations of an Irish family named Daley, to Pilsen, hub of Chicago's Hispanic community; from the colorful chaos of the Maxwell Street Market to the high-rise ghettos of the Cabrini Green public housing project; and from the yuppie boutiques and blues clubs of Lincoln Park to Lakeview, where Halsted is the backbone of Chicago's gay community. A varied and colorful cast of characters guides viewers along the route: kids in a rural town, a Latino street-muralist in Pilsen, a junk scavenger in Cabrini Green, revelers at the gay pride parade. Their impressions and anecdotes bring into focus vital issues that simmer up from the asphalt of main streets all across the country: tolerance and racism, immigration, class disparity, ethnic and cultural identity. Narrated by Studs Terkel, Halsted Street, USA is a thought-provoking crash-course in American cultural geography that will enhance a variety of courses in American studies and history, popular culture, sociology, and ethnic studies and multiculturalism. It was produced by David E. Simpson. 57 min. Color 1999 Catalog #38450 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $70 |
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 Students really get the lowdown on Chicago's complex social life while traveling up Halsted Street. Rural and urban, red neck and blue blood, racists and radicals all find a place along the journey. The film explores even the nastiest social conflicts and still finds cause to celebrate the diversity of cities. Students will find the mix of gritty tales and urban pleasures hard to ignore. Stereotypes dissolve along the journey. Who would believe that traveling a straight ribbon of aging asphalt could provide such powerful insights about the twists and turns of real city life? But it does. Bravo! -- Charles Hoch, Prof., College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago Offers stark rural-urban contrasts and vivid portrayals of ethnic and cultural differences. The robust inclusion of class and racial divisions provides plenty to discuss in courses in urban sociology, social problems, and introductory sociology. Best of all, the documentary style lets the people show the viewer a social landscape no textbook can ever hope to convey."-- Susan Stall, Prof. of Sociology and Women's Studies, Northeastern Illinois Univ. A pioneering way of looking at history and civic life: from the perspective of one street. The film provides a slice of Americana, as well as an affectionate look at an incredibly diverse metropolitan community. But it's about more than just Chicago: It's about our increasing diversity, and the pride that people take in that diversity as something positive rather than something divisive or threatening. -- Charles Branham, Dir. of Education, DuSable Museum of African American History More than just a story with the city as a great, uncompromising character.... It's a State of the Union address for America at the end of the century. -- PerformInk Nat'l Social Science Assn. honoree Council on Foundations Film and Video Festival honoree |
| Hamburger and Dolma | |
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| Over preparations of a sumptuous Armenian
meal of stuffed vegetables (dolma), five Armenian-American women of
varying ages and diverse backgrounds discuss with keen insight and considerable
eloquence their feelings of alienation from their ethnic community and
their desire to relate to their cultural heritage on their own terms.
While coring and stuffing vegetables, rolling grape and cabbage leaves,
and filling flaky pastry with cheese, the women delve deeply into topics
such as gender, age, race, sexuality, and ethnic politics.
The five women are all daughters or granddaughters of victims and survivors of the 1915 annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey. As a result, their discussions are grounded in the specter of past genocide and the psychological and social effects of contemporary erasure. However, although they don't deny their pain, the women are able to examine their feelings and experiences with humor and self-irony. This unique, engaging, and perceptive documentary will stimulate
discussion in a variety of classes in women's and gender studies,
multicultural studies, cultural anthropology, sociology, and psychology,
and especially in any class dealing with memory, intergenerational
transmission of individual and collective trauma, biculturalism, and
simultaneous constructions of gender, race, and ethnicity. It was
produced by Caroline Babayan. |
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 "A delicious compliment to classroom discussions on the complex nature of identity, providing myriad tangible tidbits with which to whet conversations concerning issues of ethnicity, culture, difference, and multiplicity. Steeped in questions of how race, gender, sexuality, age, and class matter to the formation of ethnic identity, this film is an exceedingly instructive tool for illuminating the complex dynamics of identity formation. This full-bodied, richly textured cinematographic delight brilliantly engages the senses and the intellect, vividly displaying the embodied nature of history, memory, and connection through the use of food as a metaphoric and literal Cuisinart for the crafting of identities." -- Karen Barad, Prof. of Women's Studies and Philosophy and Chair of Women's Studies, Mount Holyoke College "I really enjoyed watching this film. The filmmaker has contextualized the film within a historical and political framework and that makes it very useful as a teaching tool. I will use the film for my class on Race and Representation." -- Prof. Beheroze Shroff, Interdisciplinary Studies Program, Univ. of California, Irvine
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Island of Saints and Souls |
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| This perceptive documentary shows how the Catholic traditions of many immigrant groups
have influenced and contributed to the rich cultural texture of New Orleans. The
film spans a year in the life of the Crescent City, exploring its colorful history,
traditions, customs, and feast days. By Neil Alexander. 29 min. Color 1991 Catalog #38098 Sale: video $150, Rental: video $50 |
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A colorful, joyous, and exciting documentary. It combines penetrating insight into relationships between religion, ethnicity, family, politics, and the arts with sympathetic but honest portraits of people richly enjoying their living traditions. -- Prof. Robert A. Lystad, Dept. of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins Univ. American Film Festival Award American Anthropological Assn. selection Houston Intl. Film Festival Award |
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The Italian Gardens of South Brooklyn |
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| This infectiously enjoyable and constantly inventive documentary illustrates how
"a mixture of old-world values and new-world horse sense" invigorates the
traditional Italian-American community of South Brooklyn and infuses it with a strong
respect for family, friends, and neighborhood. There are segments about planting
gardens, crushing grapes, eating rabbits, and family discipline -- which is fierce.
The film's wise and gently humorous cast of "folk heroes" believe in success
and the American dream as much as anyone, but they offer an alternative vision of
it by demonstrating that it can be attained and sustained in the bosom of family,
friends, and community. Produced by Alaxandra Corbin. 26 min. Color 1997 Catalog #38382 Sale: video $175, Rental: video $50 |
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I was impressed by how genuine the representations this film makes were. The narratives
weave together to tell us that each of these residents is in his or her way aware
that this neighborhood and way of life is distined to change. I highly recommend
this for any class dealing with immigration, ethnic studies, cultural anthropology,
or American culture. I only wish that there were other films of equal quality available
about all the other ethnic groups in our American mosaic. -- Prof. Stan Brimberg,
Bank Street College A wonderful educational tool that is so entertaining you don't realize how informative it is with regard to topics of ethnology, American history, immigration, sociology, and more. The neighborhood it depicts will change, but this film will always be the living document of a unique cultural group in the act of choosing which of its values it will retain as it blends with the broader American culture. The film is a must in courses on American culture, ethnic studies, and immigration. -- Susan Morisoli, Social Sciences Instructor, Bay Area Community College Museum of Modern Art honoree BACA Film Festival honoree PBS National Broadcasts |
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The Moveable Feast |
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| This beautifully filmed documentary follows a group of Italian-Americans from Boston's
North End to their ancestral hometown, Sciacca, Sicily, to participate in the Feast
of the Madonna del Soccorso (also known and celebrated in Boston as the Fisherman's
Feast). The video examines issues of ethnicity, work, family, religion, and remembrance
with affection and good humor. It contrasts the relatively small religious and cultural
festival in Boston with the larger, older, more established ritual in Sicily, where
statues of the Madonna are carried through the streets in devotion to the saint and
as a way of honoring deceased family members. Produced by Beth Harrington as a companion
piece to her award-winning earlier documentary, Ave Maria: The
Story of the Fisherman's Feast. 28 min. Color 1993 Catalog #38221 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $50 |
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A compassionate treatment of a powerful subject. This compelling document of ritual and faith on two sides of the Atlantic treats the subject with great sensitivity and insight, revealing the strength of the celebrants' faith as well as the abiding ties between the two communities. -- Peter Allen, Prof. of Anthropology, Rhode Island College Society for Visual Anthropology Award American Anthropological Assn. selection Natl. Educational Film Festival Award |
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Musical Documents: The Films of John Cohen |
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| For some 30 years John Cohen has been making films that provide invaluable records of traditional music and its importance to people's cultural identities. These films have been acclaimed by critics and scholars and won awards and honors around the world. The seven titles below were filmed throughout America and offer a dazzling picture of our cultural diversity even in an era of domination by the mass media and popular, commercial culture. | |
Margaret Mead Film Festival honorees American Anthropological Assn. selections Selected for screening at dozens of international film festivals and academic conferences |
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The High Lonesome Sound |
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This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Berkeley Media LLC 30 min. 1963 B&W Catalog #38170 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $50 |
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 The sense of reality the film generates, its comprehensiveness, and its powerful photography make it good and useful; what makes it a great film is its great theme, the awe-inspiring dignity, beauty, and art of the common man in the face of adversity and hardship. -- Journal of American Folklore |
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The End of an Old Song |
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This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Berkeley Media LLC 27 min. 1972 B&W Catalog #38172 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $50 |
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A superbly conceived, masterfully executed work of art. -- Michael Goodwin, Rolling Stone |
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Sara and Maybelle |
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This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Berkeley Media LLC 10 min. 1981 B&W Catalog #38171 Sale: video $125, Rental: video $40 |
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Fifty Miles from Times Square |
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This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Berkeley Media LLC 43 min. 1981 Color Catalog #38166 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $50 |
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Post Industrial Fiddle |
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This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Berkeley Media LLC 23 min. 1982 Color Catalog #38173 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $50 |
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Pericles in America |
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This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Berkeley Media LLC 70 min. 1976 Color Catalog #38165 Sale: video $295, Rental: video $70 |
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Musical Holdouts |
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This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Berkeley Media LLC 47 min. 1976 Color Catalog #38174 Sale: video $250, Rental: video $60 |
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An eloquent testimonial to those enclaves within America where music-making endures as a key to a people's cultural identity. -- Karen Cooper, The Film Forum, New York City |
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My Town -- Mio Paese |
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| This spirited documentary demonstrates the strength and vitality of Italian-American
traditions by showing the ongoing cultural similarities between residents of Palermiti,
in southern Italy, and the descendants of immigrants from Palermiti living in eastern
Massachusetts. A high point is the emotion-filled retelling of the Palermiti patron
saint's legendary miracles by three generations of Italians and Italian-Americans.
By Katherine Gulla. 28 min. Color 1991 Catalog #38112 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $55 |
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Makes a deep and lasting impression. -- Choice American Anthropological Assn. selection American Italian Historical Assn. honoree |
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Old Believers |
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| The Old Believers of Oregon are descended from religious dissenters who rebelled
against reforms in traditional Orthodox Christian rituals in 17th-century Russia.
This poetic documentary shows how the language, dress, and social life of the Old
Believers stand as a strong testament to the value of cultural diversity in America.
By Margaret Hixon. 29 min. Color 1986 Catalog #37344 Sale: video $125, Rental: $50 |
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CINE Golden Eagle Award Margaret Mead Film Festival honoree |
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Over the Hedge |
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| This acclaimed film provides an insightful and humorous look at a fascinating and
eccentric aspect of suburban America -- people who shape their front-yard hedges
and plants into fantastic topiary shapes. There's a retiree who loves forming his
bushes into sombreros (or are they flying saucers?) and a woman who specializes in
pom-pom designs. Then there are waterfalls, windmills, exotic tubular forms, even
would-be cacti. Interviews with topiary enthusiasts, neighbors, and landscape designers
illustrate that the topiary garden represents a strong statement of American iconoclasm
-- a declaration of individuality and self-expression within the culturally contained
context of suburbia. By Karen Davis. 10 min. Color 1986 Catalog #38248 Sale: 16mm $325/video $160, Rental: video $40 |
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This film presents a model of how to study human institutions, however seemingly trivial, as well as the people behind those institutions. It will be a stimulating eye-opener and ice-breaker in classes on folklore, popular culture, and cultural studies in general. -- Prof. Josef Nage, Chair, Folklore and Mythology Program, UCLA Natl. Educational Film Festival Gold Apple Award American Anthropological Assn. selection American Folklore Society honoree PBS national broadcasts on P.O.V. Selected for screening at more than 25 international film festivals |
| Shifting Traditions | |
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| In Jewish communities across the country, the concept of "Jewish continuity" has been this generation's central obsession and rallying point. America's democratic and open society has enabled Jews to integrate into the social fabric and achieve success. However, there is growing concern that secular Jews are on the path toward complete assimilation, and therefore run the risk of disappearing as a sizable, identifiable community. In the context of this debate, "intermarriage" remains one of the most contentious and divisive issues. This incisive and balanced documentary examines interfaith marriages
in the contemporary Jewish American community. Through the diverse voices
of interfaith couples and rabbinical leaders, the film reveals the contemporary
struggle of many Jews to participate in a multicultural society and simultaneously
maintain a separate and unique cultural identity. In courses in sociology,
cultural anthropology, ethnic studies, and American studies, "Shifting
Traditions" will serve as an outstanding case study of one of the key
issues facing all minority communities in America, and it is essential
viewing in any course dealing with contemporary Jewish and Jewish American
issues. It was produced by Brett Schwartz. |
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"A perceptive look at the controversial topic of intermarriage. Instead of taking a simplistic position on the subject, the film offers the diverse and contradictory experiences of different couples, demonstrating that when Jews marry non- Jews, there is no such thing as one predictable outcome." -- David Biale, Emanuel Ringelblum Prof. of Jewish History and Dir. of Jewish Studies, Univ. of California, Davis
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A World of Gestures |
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| This often humorous and always entertaining video explores gestures from cultures
around the world. It shows people from dozens of countries performing gestures that
are by turns powerful, provocative, poignant - and sometimes outrageous. Many types
of gestures are illustrated, including those for beauty, sexual behavior, suicide,
aggression, and love. The video also examines the meaning and function of gestures
as a form of nonverbal communication and studies their origins and emotional significance.
Viewers are guaranteed a greatly enhanced appreciation of cultural diversity and
richness. In-depth instructor's guide included. By Dane Archer, Prof. of Sociology,
UC Santa Cruz. 28 min. Color 1991 Catalog #38112 Sale: video $295, Rental: video $55 |
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 An outstanding teaching tool. Nothing like it exists and, having seen it, I can't imagine teaching my classes without it. -- Prof. Robin Akert, Dept. of Psychology, Wellesley College Western Psychological Assn. honoree American Anthropological Assn. selection |
