Season 6

2004–2005

Oct 26, 2004 · 60m

The Political Dr. Seuss is a 2004 documentary film written by Ron Lamothe, Eric Martin and Lois Vossen, and directed by Ron Lamothe.

E2. Polka Time

Nov 9, 2004 · 60m

Each July for more than 30 years, polka lovers from around the United States have descended on the tiny rural town of Gibbon, Minnesota, for the Gibbon Polka Fest. Meet numerous "polka people" and performers as they demonstrate their love and hope for the future of polka through dance, music, personal stories and observations.

E3. Afghanistan Unveiled

Nov 16, 2004 · 60m

Filmed by the first-ever team of women video journalists trained in Afghanistan, this uncompromising film reveals the effects on Afghan women of the Taliban's repressive rule and of the U.S.-sponsored bombing campaign. Leaving Kabul for the first time and traveling to rural regions of the country, the filmmakers present footage of women whose lives have been devastated by recent events.

E4. Los Angeles Now

Nov 23, 2004 · 60m

Los Angeles Now is a 60 minute documentary by producer/director Phillip Rodriguez. It first aired in November 2004 on PBS’s Independent Lens series. The documentary investigates the city of Los Angeles as it comes of age and wrestles with its history and its future. The film includes conversations with a broad range of Los Angeles figures, from actress Salma Hayek and businessman/philanthropist Eli Broad to author and essayist Richard Rodriguez and Cardinal Roger Mahony.

E5. The Day My God Died

Nov 30, 2004 · 60m

Young girls whose lives were shattered by the child sex trade describe the day they were abducted from their villages as "the day my god died." By weaving footage from the brothels of Bombay with these girls' stories, producer Andrew Levine offers an unforgettable examination of the growing plague of child sex slavery.

E6. Girl Wrestler

Dec 14, 2004 · 60m

Follows teenager Tara Neal as she deals with fierce policy debates while facing boys on the mat.

E7. Fine; Doki-Doki

Dec 21, 2004 · 60m

On an historic weekend in November 1977, 20,000 women and men attended the first federally funded National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas, where they caucused, argued and finally hammered out resolutions that revolutionized the women's movement. This program features archival footage and interviews with past and current activists and participants.

E8. Short, Not Sweet

Dec 28, 2004 · 60m

Five shorts ranging from funny to creepy to downright scary prove that just because they're short, they don't have to be sweet. "Title" Director "The Fine Line Between Cute and Creepy" Robert D. Slane "La Puppé" Timothy Greenberg "A Monster's Calling" Louise Johnson "The School" Ezra Krybus and Matthew Miller "Why the Anderson Children Didn't Come to Dinner" Jamie Travis

E9. A Hard Straight

Jan 4, 2005 · 60m

A gang member, a hustler and a small-time dealer. They served their sentences and they're on parole. Now they're about to discover that walking out the prison gates is just the beginning. This intimate and dramatic film sheds light on the profound experience of doing time and trying to go straight.

E10. A Touch of Greatness

Jan 11, 2005 · 60m

Stunning footage and interviews showcase the lives transformed by maverick teacher Albert Cullum.

E11. Power Trip

Jan 25, 2005 · 60m

Amid pervasive blackouts and corruption, an American energy company purchases a formerly state-run electricity company in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Cultures clash, tempers flare, and managers and locals tussle as a struggling nation attempts to build itself from beneath the rubble of Soviet collapse.

E12. February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four

Feb 1, 2005 · 60m

A sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter in North Carolina in 1960 was a pivotal civil rights event.

E13. On a Roll: Disability and the American Dream

Feb 15, 2005 · 60m

Greg Smith and his family bare all in this unflinching portrait of a 65-pound man striving for the American dream. Fueled by discrimination, Smith created "On a Roll" talk radio from his wheelchair in 1992. The father of three travels the globe but finds his own nation's capital inaccessible - a minor challenge compared to living independently and having safe intimate relationships.

E14. Thunder in Guyana/Unites States of Poetry

Feb 22, 2005 · 60m

When the filmmaker's cousin was elected Guyana's president seven years ago, Janet Rosenberg Jagan -- considered one of the founders of Guyana along with her husband, Cheddi Jagan -- became the first American-born woman to lead a nation. This program interweaves family history and Guyanese history with the extraordinary life story of one unconventional woman.

E15. Sisters of '77

Mar 1, 2005 · 60m

Sisters of '77 is a documentary film that chronicles an unprecedented event in women's history, the first National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas in November 1977. The purpose of the National Women's Conference was to end discrimination against women and promote their equal rights. The conference was the first federally funded women's conference, and brought together over 20,000 women and men from around the United States. Sisters of '77 provides a look at a pivotal weekend that changed the course of history and the lives of the women who attended. The film incorporates rare archival footage and interviews of leaders relating this history to the present. The conference attendees included former first ladies Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, and Rosalynn Carter. The women present included Republicans, Democrats, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinas, Native American, pro-choice, pro-life, straight, gay, liberal and conservative women. The most influential leaders attending the burgeoning women’s movement included Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Eleanor Smeal, Ann Richards, Coretta Scott King, Billie Jean King, and Barbara Jordan.

E16. Sunset Story

Mar 22, 2005 · 60m

Eighty-one-year-old Irja and her 95-year-old best friend Lucille are the only lucid residents at a senior citizens' home for political progressives. This program delves into their world, revealing how these women salvage support and community in their old age.

E17. Let the Church Say Amen

Mar 29, 2005 · 60m

Easter in Washington, DC, means children hunting for eggs on the White House lawn. But blocks away is one of America's poorest neighborhoods, where a storefront church serves as a beacon of hope. Tracing the lives of four parishioners in the months before Easter, this film shows how the holiday's promise helps pull them through adversity.

E18. A Lion's Trail

Apr 5, 2005 · 60m

An illiterate Zulu musician wrote Africa's most famous song, "Mbube" -inspiration for the pop classic "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" - and received pennies for his efforts. Traveling into the musical worlds of South Africa and America, this film celebrates the song's timeless power while revealing injustices within the international recording industry.

E19. Keeping Time: The Life, Music & Photographs of Milt Hinton

Apr 12, 2005 · 60m

Legendary jazz bassist Milt Hinton (1910-2000) was also a skilled photographer and storyteller. This insider's view of jazz and life in 20th-century America is told by Hinton and fellow musicians, including Branford Marsalis and Quincy Jones. Archival footage and hundreds of Hinton's photographs document his unique journey.

E20. End of the Century: The Ramones; Joe Strummer Rocks Again

Apr 26, 2005 · 60m

A profile of seminal punk band the Ramones includes concert footage, interviews with group members and clips of bands that influenced them or were influenced by them. Bassist Dee Dee Ramone died shortly after filming, while guitarist Johnny Ramone died soon after the film's release. Both are interviewed. Susan Sarandon introduces the film. Also: a preview of a movie about Joe Strummer, who is shown performing.

E21. The Last Letter; Zyklon Portrait; The Walnut Tree

May 3, 2005 · 60m

A Jewish woman in a Ukrainian city seized by the Germans in 1941 writes her son a final letter.

E22. Imelda

May 10, 2005 · 60m

How has Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines, managed to court, coddle, use and abuse power for nearly four decades? News clips, propaganda films, home movies, verite footage and interviews with Marcos, her friends and her enemies reveal her methods.

E23. Imelda: Power, Myth, Illusion

May 10, 2005 · 60m

E24. Red Hook Justice

May 24, 2005 · 60m

In 2000, an experimental court opened in Brooklyn's Red Hook, a neighborhood plagued by a cycle of unemployment, poverty and crime. Instead of jail time, offenders are sentenced to job training, drug counseling and community service. This film follows the ups and downs of several defendants and staffers involved in a legal revolution that has become a model for courts nationwide.

E25. Double Dare; Piki and Poko: Taking the Dare!

May 31, 2005 · 60m

As Hollywood stuntwomen for "Wonder Woman" and "Xena: Warrior Princess," Jeannie Epper and Zoe Bell have been set on fire, thrown off buildings, dragged by wild horses and hit by cars. Who are the real women behind these two television icons? This film follows their daily struggles to stay employed, stay thin and stay sane in this notoriously macho profession. The broadcast includes the animated adventure, "Piki & Poko: Taking the Dare!" Piki and Poko, the Eternal Martial Arts Warriors from Another World, attempt to save the universe and master their own awesome powers.

E26. Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story

Jun 7, 2005 · 60m

Narrated by Cheech Marin and scored by Ry Cooder, this film shows how a community was betrayed by greed, political hypocrisy and good intentions gone astray. Don Normark's haunting photographs evoke a lost Mexican-American village, in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, razed in the 1950s to build Dodger Stadium.

E27. Brother to Brother

Jun 14, 2005 · 60m

A young artist befriends an elderly gay stranger who co-founded the revolutionary journal Fire!