Arguably the most influential creator, writer, and producer in the history of television, Norman Lear brought primetime into step with the times. Using comedy and indelible characters, his legendary 1970s shows such as All In the Family, Maude, Good Times, and The Jeffersons, boldly cracked open dialogue and shifted the national consciousness, injecting enlightened humanism into sociopolitical debates on race, class, creed, and feminism.
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Muhammad Ali: A Life takes a look back at the life and career of the world champion boxer and activist. No athlete has ever contributed more to his country or to the world than Muhammad Ali.
A fallen professional wrestling superstar battles his past demons in a struggle to reclaim his life and the family that has given up on him.
In 1972, a seemingly typical shoestring budget pornographic film was made in a Florida hotel, “Deep Throat,” starring Linda Lovelace. This film would surpass the wildest expectation of everyone involved to become one of the most successful independent films of all time. It caught the public imagination which met the spirit of the times, even as the self appointed guardians of public morality struggled to suppress it, and created, for a brief moment, a possible future where sexuality in film had a bold artistic potential. This film covers the story of the making of this controversial film, its stunning success, its hysterical opposition along with its dark side of mob influence and allegations of the on set mistreatment of the film’s star.
A high society wedding, bustling city streets, a center for former child soldiers, a nightclub full of music and laughter: these are the many faces of today’s Uganda, as wonderfully captured by filmmaker Kimi Takesue. Whether exploring the pulsating energy of the city or contemplating quiet moments in the country, her artful camera compositions and the lyrical pacing of the film allow us to truly engage and process the foreign land on our own terms. Documenting Uganda while it deals with day-to-day realities and the aftermath of its civil wars, Takesue, well aware of her perspective as an outsider, strives for simple, unadorned honesty. Employing a largely observational style, Takesue allows the sight and sounds-and the people-of Uganda to speak for themselves. Usually the people she records simply ignore the camera, but when someone does engage-whether it’s a group of school children…
The inspiring true story of Dream Alliance, an unlikely race horse bred by small town bartender, Jan Vokes. With very little money and no experience, Jan convinces her neighbors to chip in their meager earnings to help raise Dream and compete with the racing elites. Their investment pays off as Dream rises through the ranks and becomes a beacon of hope in their struggling community.
Georgiana Halmac is turning 15 this winter, but she has no time for teenage dreams when her mother, who’s on unemployment, moves to Torino to find work. Georgiana is left in charge of her six siblings in a social housing condo on the outskirts of Bacau, Romania. Caught between adolescence and the responsibilities of adulthood, Georgiana does the best she can, improvising with parenting advice from the television and the occasional phone call with her mother. As she handles her own issues and high-school dramas, Georgiana must also deal with admonishing neighbours who threaten to turn the whole family into social services. With incredible calm and stoicism, Georgiana amazes as she holds everything together in an ingenious and delicate balance.
Men steal for it. Nations go to war for it. The it is oil – and it grows on trees. Coconut oil is the precious lifeblood of 1870s South Seas traders. And lots of real blood will be spilled to get it! Screen royalty Burt Lancaster ist His Majesty O’Keefe in this last of three adventures that (along with The Flame and the Arrow and The Crimson Pirate) blew a revitalizing wind into the sails of the swashbucker genre. Action, cunning and derring-do are watchwords of the title seafarer as he befriends, defends and ultimately rules the islanders of exotic Yap. Lensed on gorgeus Fiji locations, grandly scored by Robert Farnon and rousingly directed by Byron Haskin, His Majesty O’Keefe delivers heroics of regal proportions.
In 1879, during the Zulu wars, man of the people Lt. John Chard (Stanley Baker) and snooty Lt Gonville Bromhead (Michael Caine) were in charge of defending the isolated Natal outpost of Rorke’s Drift from tribal hordes, holding out during an Alamo-like siege until they are overwhelmed, losing the battle, but going down in history as heroes. 150 soldiers defended a supply station against some 4000 Zulus, aided by the Martini-Henry rifle “with some guts behind it”. In the hundred years since the Victoria Cross was created for valour and extreme courage beyond that normally expected of the British soldier in face of the enemy only 1344 have been awarded. Eleven of these were won by the defenders of the mission station at Rorke’s Drift, Natal, January 22nd to the 23rd 1879.
