Recent videos of interest

Ethnicity, Race & Racism

• Beauty lies
  DVD only. “Filmmaker Karen Chapman explores her feelings about her natural hair as a young black woman in a media-driven world, revealing layers of insecurities. Beauty Lies questions the ideals, motivations and images of beauty in the media that could be seen as manifesting a 'white standard' of beauty”
• Bombay calling
  DVD only. Filmmakers Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal dive into the bustling world of late nights, long hours and hard partying. The result is a compelling insider's look at youth culture in India, and a growing number of young people who choose to follow the American dream...Indian style.
• Cultural anthropology: our diverse world
  DVD only. A 17-part cultural anthropology 'course' on DVD.] Takes a cross-cultural approach to diverse subject areas, including subsistence patterns, political organization, the family, social organization, economics, kinship, language, the arts, and religion.
• In the name of the family: honour killings in North America
  DVD only. Award-winning director Shelley Saywell brings her consummate documentary skills and passion for human rights to challenge the traditions that lie behind the heartbreaking tragedies committed against young girls caught between two cultures in North America.
• KZ
  DVD only. Tourists, tour guides and locals at a former concentration camp in Austria. “Through its unflinching depiction of daily modern life in the small Austrian town of Mauthausen, KZ reveals the lasting legacy and impact of the Holocaust on individuals of all generations, nationalities and religions.”
• Les fleurs à la fenêtre (on veut bien l'amour) / Flowers at the window (we want love)
  DVD only. “..three Cameroonian young women who are using the Internet to meet white men in the hope that these men will change their lives for the better.”
• Liberty, equality, accommodation
  DVD only. The Herouxville Code of Conduct informed newcomers that women were not to be excised, stoned or burned alive. A storm of voices and opinions greeted that announcement and generated a unique expression of direct democracy. The film is about this unprecedented collective experience.
• Lost boys of Sudan
  DVD only. “The journey of two teenage Sudanese boys, orphaned by their war torn country, who traveled to America looking for a safer environment and learning to cope with the unfamiliar complexities of contemporary American society.”
• Made in India: a film about surrogacy
  DVD only. The human experiences behind the phenomena of 'outsourcing' surrogate mothers to India. Shows the journey of an infertile American couple, an Indian surrogate and the reproductive outsourcing business that brings them together. Weaving together these personal stories within the context of a growing international industry, MADE IN INDIA explores a complicated clash of families in crisis, reproductive technology, and choice from a global perspective.
• Me broni ba
  DVD only.“Combines montages of hair salons in Ghana with various images of Western pop culture, invoking a clash of cultures and communities… [Explores] the legacy, changes, and ongoing effect that European Colonialism has dealt to African culture.”
• Mountains that take wing
  DVD only. Internationally renowned scholar, professor and writer Angela Davis, and 89-year-old grassroots organizer and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Yuri Kochiyama share intimate conversations about personal histories and influences that shaped them and their shared experiences in some of the most important social movements in 20th century United States.
• Multiracial identity
  DVD only. Multiracial people are the fastest growing demographic in America, yet there is no official political recognition for mixed-race people. [This film] explores the social, political, and religious impact of the multiracial movement and the lived experience of being multiracial Clinging to a racial identity -- Miscegenation in the U.S. -- Tragic mulatto -- Interracial marriage and racial categories -- The multiracial Reaney family -- Non black and white multiracial heritages.
• Namrata
  DVD only. “Namrata Gill - whose story was one of many real-life inspirations for Deepa Mehta's feature film Heaven on Earth - describes her six years in an abusive relationship, and how difficult leaving can be when you are part of a close-knit immigrant community.”
• NeverPerfect
  DVD only. “Traversing historical and contemporary notions of beauty, stereotypes and iconography within Asian and popular cultures, this film incorporates a rich selection of archival footage and commentary from numerous voices which ignites lively debate on the phenomena as they pertain to race and gender identity.”
• Pink saris
  DVD only.“The 'Pink Gang' is a group of women who wear pink saris as a symbol of their revolt against their society. They are victims of domestic violence, rape and social exclusion. Their champion is Sampat Pal Devi, who takes up their cases of social injustice.”
• Poetry of resilience
  DVD only. In a small gathering in a Massachusetts town, 27 poets have come together for the first time to share their experiences as survivors of political atrocities. The poets' tales all vary, but they are united by the drive to bear witness to their past and to continue the process of healing. This documentary features six international poets who individually survived Hiroshima, the Holocaust, China's Cultural Revolution, the Kurdish Genocide in Iraq, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Iranian Revolution.
• Rex vs. Singh: four versions
  DVD only. "Between 1909 and 1929, an inordinate number of men tried for sodomy in Vancouver were Sikhs. In 1915, two Sikh mill-workers, Dalip Singh and Naina Singh, were entrapped by undercover police in Vancouver and accused of sodomy. This experimental video stages scenes from the trial, told four times: first as a period drama, second as a documentary investigation of the case, third as a musical agit-prop, and fourth, as a deconstruction of the actual court transcript."
• Suspino: a cry for Roma
  DVD only. 'Examines the persecution and discrimination inflicted upon European Roma. Focuses on Romania, where Europe's largest concentration of Roma are considered ‘public enemies’-- and Italy, where the Roma are classified as nomads and forced to live in camps while being denied human rights available to refugees and foreign residents.'
• Tales of sand and snow
  DVD only. In a quest to understand his own cultural identity and rediscover the spiritual values of his own people, Canadian emigré Hyacinthe Combary, an African native, turns to another indigenous culture, from the snows of North America. ... [A] cinematic dialogue between the Gourmantché of Burkina Faso, who read their people's future in the sand-patterns of the desert, and the Atikamekw of Québec, who connect with the spirits through snow-encased sweat lodges. Both cultures have been victims of colonization, ...
• The body beautiful
  DVD only. Originally produced in 1991. This bold, stunning exploration of a white mother who undergoes a radical mastectomy and her Black daughter who embarks on a modeling career reveals the profound effects of body image and the strain of racial and sexual identity on their charged, intensely loving bond. At the heart of Onwurah's brave excursion into her mother's scorned sexuality is a provocative interweaving of memory and fantasy.
• The end of immigration? / La fin de l'immigration
  DVD only. Montreal filmmakers look at the regressive immigration policies of the Canadian state and the people most affected.
• The M word
  DVD only. A history and critique of multiculturalism in Canada. “The M Word records the history of various immigrant groups who are not officially recognized in the history books. It also interviews a number of prominent Canadians to take the pulse of multiculturalism today, including Haroon Siddiqui, Allan Gregg, Candy Palmater, Jack Jedwab, and Uzma Shakir.”
• The spectre of hope
  DVD only.“Photographer Sebastião Salgado's collection, ‘Migrations’… addresses Salgado's work, the impact of globalization, and the power of the image.“
• The split horn: the life of a Hmong Shaman in America
  DVD only. Shows the life and culture of the Thao family, Hmong Americans in Appleton, Wisconsin, and a shaman's struggle to maintain his ancient traditions.
• They think I'm Chinese / On me prend pour une chinoise!
  DVD only. A journey into the inner world of five adopted teenage girls. Girls who were in the first wave of Chinese children adopted in Quebec in the 1990s are now in their teens. Nicole Giguère focused her lens on five of them and accompanied them throughout their emotionally charged transition to adulthood. In their quest for identity, how do these young Quebeckers experience their differences? Includes original French version and French version with subtitles.
• Tiara
  dvd only.Are beauty pageants on the radar of today's young women? Tiara discovers that they certainly are in Asian communities in Canada. Tiara explores the connection between the desires of young women from the Chinese, Filipino and South Asian communities for validation of their appearance in the midst of popular media's narrow representation of beauty.
• Tracked down by our genes
  DVD only. Shows how the Human Genome Project, which has provided a map through the labyrinth of heredity, allowing us to trace our ancestors' footprints, has ushered in a new age of genetic awareness, with hundreds of companies offering tests to determine ancestry, paternity, and hereditary diseases.
• Unnatural causes: is inequality making us sick?
  DVD only. A seven-part documentary series arguing that health and longevity are correlated with socioeconomic status; people of color face an additional health burden, and our health and well-being are tied to policies that promote economic and social justice. Each of the half-hour program segments, set in different racial/ethnic communities, provides a deeper exploration of the ways in which social conditions affect population health and how some communities are extending their lives be improving them.
• Unveiled Views: Muslim women artists speak out
  DVD only. In this revealing documentary five extraordinary women talk about their occupations, aspirations, and the rights and status of women in their Muslim countries.
• Walk a mile: the immigrant experience in Canada
  DVD only. “A series of four television segments. … [describes] the shared hardships newcomers face when striving to settle in Canada. The series puts a human face on the immigrant experience and illustrates the newcomer's frustrations, worries and progress toward becoming full participants in Canadian society.”
• What are we doing here? has foreign aid hurt Africa?
  DVD only.Challenging viewers to rethink traditional humanitarian approaches, this film follows four young Americans as they experience firsthand the scope and intractability of Africa's suffering….Discussions focus on HIV/AIDS, armed conflict, child sponsorship, U.S. farm policies, and the role of NGOs.
• Why Democracy? Series
  DVD only. Ten one-hour films focused on contemporary democracy, made by filmmakers from around the world, including China, India, Japan, Liberia, USA, Bolivia, Denmark, Egypt, Pakistan and Russia. For more info see: www.whydemocracy.net
• Wo Ai Ni Mommy (I love you, mommy)
  DVD only. An intimate and honest film about an eight-year old Chinese adoptee's journey from Guangzhou, China to Long Island, New York. Fang Sui Yong, aka Faith Sadowsky, was abandoned at age 2, lived in an orphanage, and then was taken in by a loving Chinese foster family. Sui Yong's life is suddenly upended when she is adopted by the Sadowskys, a Jewish family in New York. Over the next 17 months, we witness Sui Yong's struggle to adapt to her new life in America and watch her slowly lose ties to everything ...