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Attica!

LauraFlanders — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:38:05 +0000

Thinking about Attica, I'm remembering Bill Kunstler. Watch or rewatch his daughters' great film: Disturbing the Universe. In this clip from "William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe," shown on POV, after prisoners at Attica Correctional Facility seized control of the prison on September 9th, 1971, William Kunstler was called in to negotiate on their behalf.

Got Docs: Prison Terminal

admin — Sat, 07 May 2011 13:00:36 +0000

The circle of life doesn't end when people begin a life behind bars. Incarcerated women give birth; others become gravely ill. Do prisoners have the right to comfort as they approach death? If so, who will provide it? These are real questions that many working in the prison system have ignored--but not everyone. Our documentary of the week goes behind the walls of the maximum security Iowa State Penitentiary, where a prisoner-staffed hospice program has been touching the lives of patients and caregivers alike. Filmmaker Edgar Barens spent six months embedded with program participants, and the resulting film is the intimate Prison Terminal.

Got Docs: Two Americans

admin — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 13:00:00 +0000

A 9-year-old child faces down Sheriff Joe Arpaio in this week's featured documentary, Two Americans. Katherine Figueroa is a US citizen born to immigrant parents, and when Arpaio targets them for deportation, she becomes the center of a fight against the sheriff's plans. In Arizona, the immigration battle has its ground zero, and this documentary follows the people at the center of it all.

Got Docs: The Price of Sex

admin — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 13:01:30 +0000

The job of the journalist is not to give people a voice, filmmaker Mimi Chakarova explains to her students: "People have a voice," she says, "It's just that they don't have an outlet." In her recent film, The Price of Sex, Chakarova went to great lengths to provide that outlet by embedding herself in the world of Eastern European sex trafficking. The resulting film is an intimate portrait of the individuals that comprise an industry, and the way that corruption thrives in the context of poverty.

The film is playing around the country at select venues and will have its NYC premiere this summer at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

Got Docs: My Perestroika

admin — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 14:00:50 +0000

In the past days and weeks we've seen some very young people protesting in the streets, squares and statehouses around the world. But what becomes of children who live through that reformation or regime change? Our documentary of the week is My Perestroika, and it tells the story of the last days of the USSR through the eyes of a group of former schoolmates who came of age as the world around them changed. The filmmaker is Robin Hessman, and the film is currently playing at festivals around the country.

Got Docs: Pushing the Elephant

admin — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 16:00:44 +0000

A little over a year ago, Rose Mapendo visited us in our New York studio to tell us her story. Rose escaped from the Democratic Republic of Congo with nine of her ten children, and she became a humanitarian activist. Pushing the Elephant picks up ten years later, as Mapendo reunites with her daughter and is struggling to heal her family and homeland as an advocate for refugees. The documentary exposes the hidden effects of war on families, and the collective power of women.

Got Docs: Water on the Table

admin — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:00:17 +0000

Is water a human right? That's the question at the center of the new documentary Water On The Table, featuring former GRITtv guest Maude Barlow. Maude has devoted her life to fighting corporate interests to keep our water clean and available for everyone--future generations as well as the present one. Filmmaker Liz Marshall set out to bring an epic vision of Canada's water and the battle over it to the screen, and you can find out more about Maude (and watch her interview with Laura) and the movie through the links here.

Got Docs: Queen of the Sun

admin — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 15:02:10 +0000

In a time of global crisis we don't want to be messing with our food supply. So how has it that the very technology designed for big crops threaten the bees required by the ecosystem? Some are taking action: Queen of the Sun introduces a few of the lesser-known heroes of the 21st century--the beekeepers. Want to keep bees of your own? Spring is the best time to start! And good news for our New York City viewers: the city lifted its ban on beekeeping last year.

Got a Got Doc? We'd love to hear from you. Pitch it to us on our Facebook page.

Got Docs: We Women Warriors

admin — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 15:00:15 +0000

Women on the streets of Egypt this week: we see you. And those who blog, write and excite, we see you too. Our documentary of the week honors women who lead their communities in fights for justice. We Women Warriors features three female leaders of an indigenous people's movement in Colombia who have refused to allow their people to become a wedge between their nation's warring factions. The film is directed by Nicole Karsin, and you can find out more about it through the links here.

Helena Norberg-Hodge: The Economics of Happiness

admin — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:00:20 +0000

"Economics has a lot to do with unhappiness," says Helena Norberg-Hodge, co-director of The Economics of Happiness. "We have an economic system that is systematically creating job scarcity worldwide," she notes, and it's time that we stopped obsessing about bottom lines, corporate growth, and income at the top and started to think about other ways of measuring positive effects in global society.

Helena is also the author of Ancient Futures, and she joins us in studio to talk about the need for economic literacy, new models of measuring happiness, and finding a balance between rural and urban life.