Summary: He has survived U.S. hostility, an invasion, several CIA assassination attempts and an economic embargo. His face, with its trademark beard, has become an iconic image worldwide, yet the man himself remains an enigma to all but a few. Fidel Castro, from the PBS American Experience collection, attempts to answer a singular question—what really happened in Cuba under the rule of Fidel Castro?...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Startled by the killing of two young women lawyers, one from the political right and the other from the left, Mexico struggles to confront its own political morass. This Wide Angle documentary examines the deep-rooted institutional corruption the attorneys had been battling-a system of bribes, debts, and favors that for decades has prevented the world's tenth-largest country from fulfilling its...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: For guidance northward, illegal immigrants from Latin America frequently enlist mercenary escorts known as "coyotes." This program examines one such charming and unseemly figure and the three Guatemalans who have placed their trust in him. Viewers follow the nervous foursome through checkpoints and river crossings as they employ unreliable forged documents and take on false identities-while...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: This program examines the pros and cons of Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution through the eyes of women exiles in Miami and Castro supporters in Cuba. We hear from several women, including an avid anti-Castro exile and a Cuban television reporter, who tell stories of repression under the Castro regime. Health workers and educators discuss the benefits of Castro's policies, and the role of women in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although dreams of a socialist utopia in Cuba have all but vanished, decades of U.S. trade sanctions have not had the expected effect, either. This program looks at the legacy of Cuba's Communist revolution and the Castro regime, examining political, social, and economic conditions prevailing in the island nation today. Positive and negative aspects alike are discussed-from Cuba's high literacy...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: Surveying some of the most under-appreciated art of the 20th century, this program documents a groundbreaking exhibit of work by Latin American women at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The video opens up the world of these bold and sensitive visionaries, illuminating their accomplishments, their impact on artists outside their own countries, and the relationship between cultural and artistic...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Guiding viewers through a rich mosaic of history and culture, this program evokes the complexities of Mexico as experienced by its own people. The nation's indigenous and Spanish roots are both explored through nuanced discussions of iconic cultural elements-for example, viewers learn how the Day of the Dead reflects the national character by merging Catholic and pre-Columbian traditions....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: Following the activities of gang members and undercover agents, this program investigates a group that some law enforcement experts have informally termed the New Mafia-a super-violent criminal franchise rooted in both El Salvador and the United States, known as MS-13 or Mara Salvatrucha. The film profiles two Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents who infiltrated the gang, re-creates a deep...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: This program follows the progress of women's rights and equal employment from the Contra war through the term of former president Violeta Chamorro. A former Sandinista fighter who lost a foot laying mines for the Contras wants the government to give her a job; a woman displaced from her job by men returning from the war objects; another whose daughter was murdered by the Somozist Guard wants...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The mariachi sound is the heart and soul of Mexico-and a form of music that today is enjoyed throughout the world. In this down-to-earth program, mariachi aficionado Cornelio Garcia introduces viewers to the music, history, and cultural importance of mariachi bands in Mexico and elsewhere. Whether they are marching in a parade, performing onstage in a restaurant or at a fiesta, or even...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: For decades, boxing has held a special place of honor in Cuban society-not least because Fidel Castro deployed the nation's athletes as an unconventional tool of foreign and domestic policy. This Wide Angle report goes inside the Havana Boxing Academy-the first time a foreign film crew has been permitted-to follow future Olympians, hand-picked from the age of nine, as they fight their way into...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: This beautifully filmed program looks at the wall paintings of some of the most famous Mexican muralists-Diego Rivera, Juan O'Gorman, Jose Clemente Orozco-and at the work of Luis Barragan, the greatest Mexican architect of the 20th century. Their common medium is the wall. The muralists sought to return art to the people, by putting it on the walls of public buildings, just as it had been in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: A 36-year civil war has left over 150,000 dead and more than 1 million displaced in Guatemala. This program presents stirring portraits of three Mayan women and their efforts on behalf of peace. Adela, a widow, bravely sustains her refugee family. Justina tirelessly travels the countryside explaining the human rights movement to fellow villagers. Francesca, a Mayan priestess, reaffirms the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Presented by sculptor Antony Gormley, this program was created to complement the 2002-3 exhibition of Aztec culture at London's Royal Academy. Many of the incredible works loaned to the exhibit are shown, along with sculptures and artifacts filmed in Mexico City and at important Aztec sites. Leading scholars and curators explore how the nomadic Aztecs drew inspiration from earlier cultures. The...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The life of Cuba's Communist leader reveals much about the Cold War, 20th-century Latin American history, and the political and military dimensions of revolutionary movements. This program reaches into all those subjects as it explores the rise and decades-long rule of Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz. Interviews with Latin American experts-including Argentine columnist Oscar Raul Cardoso, historian...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: The works of Frida Kahlo, one of the 20th century's most prominent artists, are included in museums and private collections the world over. This documentary incorporates archival material, readings from journals and letters, and interviews with friends and scholars to retrace the life and work of one of Mexico's most highly recognized painters.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: More than a decade after NAFTA went into effect, many Mexicans are worse off than before. What went wrong, and why? Focusing on the clothing industry, this program goes straight to the experts south of the border-a shop owner, a factory manager, employees under constant threat of layoff, and an economics professor-to find out. A general inability to compete with Chinese manufacturing is blamed,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Focusing on the life and career of Pedro Lascurain, this program scrutinizes the turbulent beginning and violent ending of democracy in 20th-century Mexico. The events leading up to Lascurain's noble moment as president are thoroughly examined, as is the heavy-handed American interference in Mexican politics. Political analyst Arnaldo Cordova, professor of history Eugenia Meyer, and other...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This is the story of Mexican women who have fought, and continue to fight, for equality and women's rights. They are women looking for children kidnapped during political pogroms, journalists, writers, and political activists. Machismo and the resulting sexism, as well as Catholicism and its perpetuation of the myth of the Virgin Mary as the standard for feminine behavior, are discussed as...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although Hernan Cortes hardly considered himself the reincarnation of Quetzalcoatl, the Aztecs did-and his conquest of Mesoamerica utterly destroyed their world, exactly as prophesied. In this program, Spanish historian and Oxford University professor Sir John Elliott and cultural historian Dr. Elizabeth Baquedano survey political, cultural, and religious aspects of Aztec civilization; analyze...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In the 1990s, thousands of Salvadoran nationals living illegally in the U.S. were deported to their homeland. Some took Los Angeles gang culture with them. This Wide Angle report documents six months spent inside the transnational gang known as "18"-a Salvadoran permutation of L.A.'s notorious 18th Street gang. Following teenage "homeboys" as they patrol their turf in the streets of San...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Mexican citizens working in the United States and Canada can face difficult conditions, even when they are employed legally. Filmed over an entire growing season, El Contrato documents the experiences of a group of laborers contracted to work in a sprawling tomato greenhouse. Tensions between workers, growers, and government officials reveal disturbing aspects of the hugely profitable...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This short adaptation of a play by Trinidad's foremost black writer is a metaphorical exploration of relations between black and white in the postcolonial world. The plot concerns a retired white actor and his black factotum; presumably they will perform a pantomime version of Robinson Crusoe, but roles become reversed, much to the white man's bewilderment and discomfort.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: The numbers alone are stunning: 8 million inhabitants, 70 percent of whom live below the poverty line; a life expectancy of 50 years; a 65 percent illiteracy rate; and a 70 percent unemployment rate. Such is the recent population in Haiti, which ironically had its origins cast in optimism: the Haitians were the first people to abolish slavery in 1797 and establish a black republic. Yet the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006