Prices subject to change.
starring: William Shatner, Edward Teller, Frank H. Shelton, Randall William Cook, W.H.P. Blandy
directed by: Peter Kuran
Trinity and Beyond
In the salad days of nuclear-weapons testing, the United States detonated 331 atomic, hydrogen, and thermonuclear bombs. Many of those explosions appear in Trinity and Beyond, which utilizes a lot of declassified footage, most of it in color. Standouts include the United States' South Pacific detonation of an atom bomb 90 feet below the water to study the effects on a fleet of ships. Surprise, surprise, they sink! If that wasn't enough, the navy also loaded the decks with sheep to study the effects of the blast on life forms. Surprise, surprise, they die! Glowing leg of lamb anyone? This film will alternately amuse and horrify you at the rampant irresponsibility of the Soviets and Americans in their quest for nuclear domination. The Russians have the honor of having detonated the largest nuclear bomb ever at a whopping 58 megatons. The Hiroshima bomb was barely a kiloton. Of course, after the U.S. and Russia ceased their activities, the Chinese decided to get in on the act. But that's a different story for a different documentary. --Kristian St. Clair
Nukes in Space: Rainbow Bombs
Boasting material that was recently declassified, this documentary presents some startling information about how the United States detonated a number of atomic bombs in space during a top-secret cold war weapons program. The history of military rockets is detailed, beginning with the Nazi V2 rockets that attacked England late in World War II. The problems encountered in America's cold war rocketry program are dramatically illustrated with a film montage of U.S. missiles spectacularly blowing up on their launch pads. After the Soviets launched Sputnik, America's resolve to be able to wage war in space stiffened, and test detonations of atomic weapons in space began. The effects of these little-known tests were bizarre and included electromagnetic disturbances that blew fuses in Hawaii while creating beautiful, if dangerous, artificial auroras that gave the tests the nickname of the "Rainbow Bombs." Of particular interest in this documentary are tapes of White House meetings at which President John F. Kennedy and his top science and military advisers discussed the atomic tests in space. The bomb detonations caused radiation problems in space, damaging fledgling communications satellites, and the government eventually called an end to the program. This is an entertaining and very informative look at a piece of cold war history that seems like vintage science fiction, yet it's all real. --Robert J. McNamara
Atomic Journeys: Welcome to Ground Zero
Our atomic heritage resides in sites all over the country--from the Trinity test area to natural-gas wells in Colorado--and many of them are open to the public. Plan your vacation with Atomic Journeys: Welcome to Ground Zero, a blast through memory lane narrated by the perfectly suited William Shatner. Never- before-seen footage of test explosions and top-secret work labs explores the history of America's nuclear programs, and interviews with current and former atomic scientists and engineers give depth to sights such as "the most bombed place on Earth" in Nevada. Learn about nonmilitary uses of nuclear weapons, the rationales behind the different programs, and where you can find these strange places. The musical score is a special bonus, performed by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra in a goodwill gesture of post-cold-war cooperation. --Rob Lightner
September 09, 2000
Prices subject to change.
starring: Narrated by Julianna Margulies
directed by: Gerardine Wurzburg
"Autism is a World" is a documentary about Sue Rubin, who is autistic. Sue was diagnosed and treated as mentally retarded until the age of 13 when she began to communicate using a keyboard. Now she is a junior in college. In Sue's own words, "Autism is a World" takes the viewer on a journey into her mind, her daily world, and her life with autism. A co-production of CNN Productions and State of the Art, Inc., the film has been honored with numerous awards including a 2004 Academy Award nomination for Documentary Short Subject. With Closed Captioning, and two additional audio tracks: Audio Description of the Visually Impaired and Spanish.
June 06, 2005
Prices subject to change.
starring: Cicely Tyson, Eric Brown, Richard Dysart, Joel Fluellen, Will Hare
directed by: John Korty
"One of TV's all-time best." -Leonard Maltin The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
This highly acclaimed drama, based on the epic novel by Ernest J. Gaines, eloquently covers the story of the Black Experience - from the Civil War to the civil rights movement - all told from the memories of a fictional 110-year-old slave played by Cicely Tyson. Ms. Tyson's tour-de-force performance, her most memorable, earned her an Emmy. All total this incredible made-for-TV film earned nine Emmys, including one for director Korty and one for Tracy Keenan Wynn's intelligent script.
January 01, 2003
Prices subject to change.
starring: James Barnhart, Jane Bohman, James J. Brask, Bernardine Dohrn, Daniel Ellsberg
directed by: Carmine Cervi
AXIS OF EVIL is a powerful new documentary that asks a very fundamental question: What is evil? Interviews with 16 journalists, artists, scholars, and activists explore the concept of evil and how it has been used to justify political and military actions throughout the world. As the viewer will see, traditional "black and white" concepts of good vs. evil must be readdressed in an increasingly complex world. Against a backdrop of potent stamp art by 54 artists from 11 countries, the film challenges the mind and stirs emotions. At a time when governments distort the truth with empty rhetoric and flagrant manipulation of the media, the need for voices like those in AXIS OF EVIL becomes only greater.
December 12, 2004
Prices subject to change.
starring: Liev Schreiber, Babe Ruth, Jean Shepherd
Considered by many to be the greatest baseball player who ever lived, he was a legend in his own time, and for all time. This is the extraordinary life of the man who changed the face of baseball.
April 04, 2002
Prices subject to change.
Studio: Bfs Ent & Multimedia Limi Release Date: 02/22/2005 Run time: 150 minutes
February 02, 2004
Prices subject to change.
starring: Jeffrey Beltran, William Berterm, Edward Dunton, James Hill, Chester Keenum
directed by: Jon Alpert, Matthew O'Neill
Produced and directed by 11-time Emmy? Award-winner Jon Alpert, this 64-minute verite documentary takes an unforgettable look inside the 86th Combat Support Hospital (CSH), the U.S. Army?s premier medical facility in Iraq and former site of one of Saddam Hussein?s elite medical facilities. Shot over two months in the summer of 2005, the film puts a human face on the war?s cold casualty statistics, as doctors and nurses fight to save the lives of wounded soldiers who are Medevaced (helicoptered) in a numbingly routine basis.
August 08, 2006
Prices subject to change.
starring: Guillermo Armas, Maria Celeste Arraras, Rafael Cano, Fidel Castro, Bill Clinton
directed by: Josep Maria Domènech, Carlos Bosch
An Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature, BALSEROS is the heartrending yet triumphant account of seven Cuban refugees--and their families--who risked their lives to venture towards America's shores on homemade rafts. The Village Voice raves that BALSEROS is an "engrossing documentary" with an "extraordinary sense of recording stories as they unfold!" While Presidents Clinton and Fidel Castro argued over the closing of Cuba's coast in the chaotic summer of 1994, nearly 50,000 "balseros" (a slang term for Cuban rafters) set out towards Florida, navigating the shark-infested waters on vessels made of wood, nails, and tar. The television reporting team of Carles Bosch and Josep M. Domènech began filming this remarkable story over those landmark 15 days. Then, as most of the rafters were picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard, Bosch and Domènech continued to follow their lively cast of characters, some of whom were detained for more than a year at the Guantanamo naval base before finally being allowed onto American soil.
July 07, 2005
Prices subject to change.
starring: Daniel Okrent, George Plimpton, John Chancellor, Buck O'Neil, Vin Scully
After the national success of his 11-hour epic, The Civil War--the highest-rated miniseries in public-television history--many wondered if Ken Burns could capture the same energy and passion with smaller subjects. His reply, the 18-hour history of America's greatest sport, Baseball, not only quieted these worries, it also perhaps surpassed his prior achievement. Massive in scope (it covers more than 100 years), exhausting in detail, and filled with celebrities, journalists, politicians, historians, and the men who played the game, Burns's romantic love letter to the game achieves the impossible: even those who hate baseball can't help but become immersed in it. This is because Burns doesn't just detail the great players and the memorable plays and games; he also presents baseball as a cultural and social mirror, reflecting the beauty and hypocrisy of the nation that created it. Divided into nine innings, two hours each in length, the video examines complex social issues such as segregation, racial inequality (its section on Jackie Robinson, baseball's first African American player, should be required school viewing), labor battles between owners and players, politics, technology and gender conflicts, among others. Then, of course, there's fascinating footage and biographies on the players--troubled icons such as Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, heroes such as Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, and tragic figures such as Pete Rose and Lou Gehrig--the men who, despite a rocky and often hypocritical history, constructed baseball's tradition and preserved its invincibility. --Dave McCoy
September 09, 2004
