Home

Home 1979

4.70

Through eloquent portrayals of four different life experiences — birth, aging, marriage and the death of a parent — Home addresses how the dissolution of the nuclear family and the increasing control of daily life by institutions have affected the individual. The subjects of this verité documentary include a ninety-four year-old woman in a nursing home and a young man caring for his terminally ill mother at home.

1979

Godot in San Quentin

Godot in San Quentin 1988

1

A documentary made at the set up of a theater production, of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot", directed by Jan Jönson, played by prisoners, at San Quentin State Prison in California.The play is about two men who meet on a lonely country road, waiting for someone called Godot to confirm their lives and make life easier for them to live. Towards the end Godot announces that he will not come tonight, but maybe tomorrow. Producer and director John Reilly and a crew spent four weeks at the maximum-security facility; rehearsal and performance sequences are inter-cut with footage of daily prison life and discussions with the principal characters.

1988

The Pursuit of Happiness

The Pursuit of Happiness 1983

1

A video exploration of the Declaration of Independence’s most ambiguous "self-evident truth" through portraits of six people whose paths intersect at a maximum security prison in Pittsburgh, PA.

1983

The Trial of the Avco Plowshares

The Trial of the Avco Plowshares 1986

1

In July 1983, seven United States citizens entered AVCO Systems Division, a manufacturing plant for MX and Pershing II missiles in Wilmington, Massachusetts. They threw blood on blueprints and computers to protest the buildup of nuclear arms. AVCO PLOWSHARES documents the ensuring trial, which includes dramatic testimony on civil disobedience and the question if a greater moral imperative exists beyond the letter of the law. Acting on their own behalf, the defendants argued "the justification defense" to claim their duty as citizens to warn of impending nuclear threats.

1986

Desire

Desire 2005

1

Independent videomaker, Julie Gustafson, invites a diverse group of teenage girls from New Orleans to make autobiographical videos exploring their developing sexuality and identity. An unprecedented long-term collaboration, DESIRE weaves together the girls’ video work, the stories of their changing lives, as well as the family, social and economic contexts in which their desires and choices are shaped.

2005

Casting the First Stone

Casting the First Stone 1991

1

Set against the background of the Supreme Court’s historic decisions on women's reproductive rights, this documentary looks at the abortion controversy through the eyes of six women activists on both sides of the barricades in Paoli, PA. CASTING THE FIRST STONE focuses on six women who regularly confront each other from opposite sides of the picket line.

1991

The Politics of Intimacy

The Politics of Intimacy 1973

1

In this seminal feminist video, ten women address the camera and seemingly each other in a wide-ranging exploration of such previously taboo subjects as women’s sexuality, power, and fears about intimacy.

1973