Ive recently watched all of the great documentaries listed below and thought i would share some of these masterpieces with you guys,hope you enjoy the uploads and comment!
Some files are originally from seeds so thanks to the uploaders,even if it has taken me over a week to download some of the titles at 5-10 kb!
All links are hosted on rapidshare so you can download the files at fast speed and not wait a week on bittorent like i had to :(
Currently this thread contains over 77 hbo documentaries for your viewing pleasure!
Most rips are very good quality and around the 700mb file size however a few are not so great quality due to me not being able to locate a good source file.
Ive also added premium links for some of them :) and if any links are down pm me and ill re up them and the same goes for any requests if theres a hbo doc that isnt here and you would like to see then just leave a reply and i will see if i can locate it!
Hookers and Johns Trick or Treat (2000)
Verite documentary that takes an up-close and personal look at street prostitution through the eyes of hookers and their customers. With graphic video footage and hidden-microphone audio shot in New York, Newark, Miami and Amsterdam, this special captures illicit activity that offers insights into the "client side" of the business.
American Hollow (1999)
I love documentaries. "American Hollow" was very good because it let you see a side of American life that few ever see. I really cared about these people. One thing that bothered me a little was that if these folks were so poor and had no running water, jobs, etc., why was there a satellite dish in their front yard? I don't consider myself "poor" but even I can't afford a satellite dish!
Also, the show never stated this, but I wonder if the teenage Bowling son and Shirley Couch didn't get married because of HER parents and social rank? It seemed one minute she was all for it and the next thing you knew was that the engagement was off! Fickle female or interfering parents? Interesting. I was ready to slap him, though and tell him to get on with his life. If he put one-fourth the energy into finding a job instead of mooning over his little girlfriend, he would have made enough money to move out of the "holler"! Anyway, it was a very interesting, engrossing documentary. I recommend it.
Small Town Ecstasy (2002)
When a middle-aged married couple decided to get a divorce, their four adolescent children thought things couldn't possibly get worse, until their father began taking the "club drug" Ecstasy. This documentary provides a first-hand account of Ecstasy's pervasive influence on a middle-class family that had seemed to have the perfect life. Filmed over the course of two years, the film explores the troubles of 40-year-old Scott, a strait-laced dad whose rapid descent into addiction leads him to bring his young children to drug-fueled raves and parties -- while subtly encouraging them to join in.
Originally aired on HBO.
One Year in a Life of Crime (1989)
A precedent-setting documentary that offers a unique perspective on the people who turn to a life of crime, violence and drugs. America Undercover records the lives of three professional criminals in their 20s - Rob, Fred and Mike - over the course of a year, from 20 March 1985 to 16 March 1986. In addition to their family life, we see hidden camera footage of actual crimes in progress.
This is not a pretty picture with a happy ending, as Hollywood would’ve scripted it. What emerges from Alpert’s camera is an extraordinary portrayal of the ways in which people’s lives spiral deeper and deeper into despair and how violence in the home often connects with violence in the streets.
TOP DOCUMENTARY 4/5*
VERY RARE!
Life of Crime 2 (1998)
Shot over the course of five years, this new documentary revisits the netherworld of the streets of Newark, New Jersey and three of the subjects of Jon Alpert’s raw and disturbing ‘One Year in a Life of Crime: America Undercover’ (1989), Rob, Freddie and Deliris.
As the documentary begins, Rob and Freddie are both serving time in prison but about to be paroled, whilst Deliris is supporting her drug habit by turning tricks with motorists, leaving her two young children, Kiki and Chimo, at home alone.
Just as ‘One Year in a Life of Crime’ showed how the dead-end, drug-riddled culture of the inner city can wreck lives, ‘Life of Crime 2’ underscores the problems that arise when people with histories of crime and drug abuse are released into an environment that offers too many temptations and little incentive to change.
Originally aired on HBO.
High on Crack Street Lost Lives in Lowell (1995)
"High on Crack Street," an excrutiating close-up of three addicts, begins by switching back and forth between what remains of the textile mills that once made Lowell, Mass., a thriving city and the crack houses that have replaced them.
Originally aired on HBO.
Chernobyl Heart (2003)
On April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear accident in history occurred when a reactor exploded at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Sixteen years later, award-winning filmmaker Maryann De Leo took her camera to follow the devastating trail this radiation left behind in hospitals, orphanages, mental asylums and evacuated villages.
Winner of the Academy Award ® for Best Documentary Short.
Lock-Up: The Prisoners of Rikers Island (1994)
A look inside Rikers Island which is a rather unknown place in New York. Many of the inmates and various people working in the law enforcement field are interviewed. We see aftermath of violence, different units, a drug search in one of the prison units, judge visits etc.
Hookers at the Point (1996)
Filmmaker Brent Owens is one brave soul. He took his movie camera into the questionable community of Hunts Point in the South Bronx to not just interview the "ladies of the night" who work there but also to photograph them in action with their "johns," as they performed any number of illegal adult acts. The documentary is riveting, but only because most of us wouldn't be brave enough to drive down some of the Point's streets, much less stop, have conversations and photograph the people who reside in this rough part of the world. Hookers at the Point is actually two films run back to back: Part 1 introduces the women and establishes their careers; Part 2 is a follow up, in which Owens, who also directed Pimps Up, Ho's Down, attempts to document the effects of prostitution on the women. It's eye-opening sociological stuff, but the one question that must be asked is, Why would any man pay to have sex with women who look and behave like this? Not a one of them is even remotely attractive. That said, it's interesting that none of the johns is shown on screen. One wonders what they must look like. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
While filmmaker Marc Levin was making his feature-film debut with Slam, he was also completing this documentary which tells a similar tale on far grimmer terms. Thug Life In D.C. tells the harrowing true story of Aundrey Burno, a 17-year-old felon facing up to 115 years in prison on charges of killing a police officer. On one hand Burno is a street-hardened young man who talks of the “thug life” creed that “you gotta do what you gotta do to survive,” but at the same time it’s hard not to see the fear and despair in his eyes as his case moves along, or in his pleas to his younger brother not to follow the path he’s walked. Thug Life In D.C. was produced by Levin for HBO’s America Undercover documentary series
Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street (1999) rapidshare
Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street is a documentary directed by Steven Okazaki. Filmed from 1995 to 1998 in the Tenderloin, San Francisco, California, the documentary offers the viewer a sobering dose of reality about the lives of black tar heroin addicts.
The film follows a simple structure, and shows the drug-related degradation of five youths (Jake, Tracey, Jessica, Alice, and Oreo) during the course of three years. The film is brutal in the depiction of drug-related crimes and diseases: prostitution, male prostitution, AIDS, and lethal overdoses. The director also put a lot of emphasis on the moral sides pertaining to the junkie lifestyle: from the question of robbing other people for money to the degradation of family relations and loss of friends, a wide scale of highly unconventional problems are exposed.
Born Rich (2002) rapidshare
First-time filmmaker Jamie Johnson, a 23-year-old heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune, captures the rituals, worries and social customs of the young Trumps, Vanderbilts, Newhouses and Bloombergs in the documentary special, BORN RICH, a 2003 Sundance Film Festival selection. Offering candid insights into the privileges and burdens of inheriting more money than most people will earn in a lifetime.
Narrated by Johnson, a history student at New York University, and filmed over a three-year period, BORN RICH spotlights ten young adults who came into the world knowing they would never have to work a day in their lives. These society-column names speak frankly about the one subject they all know is taboo: money.
With his unfettered access to this rarified subculture, Johnson explores topics such as the anxieties of being "cut off," and the misconception that money can solve all problems. "Most wealthy people are told from a very young age not to talk about money," notes Johnson. "Consequently, they are extremely reluctant to speak to people about their backgrounds. Also, many of the subjects in my film already have more public recognition than they may want, and have very little to gain by receiving more." Among the peers Johnson interviews are: Josiah Hornblower, heir to the Vanderbilt and Whitney fortunes; S.I. Newhouse IV, of the Conde Nast Newhouses; Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald Trump; and Georgianna Bloomberg, daughter of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The story begins with the advent of the filmmaker's 21st birthday, and his mingled anticipation and fear of receiving his portion of the family inheritance. Unsure about the future direction of his own life, Johnson decides to document the experiences of his privileged peers in dealing with their family's legacies. He explores their candid perspectives on subjects ranging from life philosophies and trust funds to prenuptial agreements and career choices, ultimately revealing their common struggle to discover their own identity.
BORN RICH is directed by Jamie Johnson; produced by Dirk Wittenborn; producer, Jamie Johnson; co-producer and director of photography, Nick Kurzon; edited by Nick Kurzon, Steve Pilgrim and Jason Zemlicka; consulting editor, Geof Bartz; music by Joel Goodman.
The Children of Leningradsky (2004) rapidshare
Nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Documentary, Short Subject, this 35-minute documentary, takes an unblinking look at the reality of homeless children living in Russia today - in particular the ones who call the underground Leningradsky train station in Moscow home. Utilizing verité footage of over a dozen children who speak candidly about their lives, routines and lost dreams, the film captures the sobering reality of post-Soviet Russia, as kids are left behind, get booted out of their homes, turn into prostitutes, are abused, and run away. Though it has been making efforts to overcome this dire situation, the Russian system has yet to completely control it, as many young children (ages 8-16) continue to be swept into the abyss.
When this film was made, authorities estimated that some 30,000 children were living on the streets and railway stations of Moscow. The Children of Leningradsky concentrates on a dozen or so children living in the Moscow train station Leningradsky. Panhandling from strangers and sleeping among the rush of commuters, their wants are minimal. "We need some heat, food, a little money and nothing more," says one, forgetting that his daily diet also includes an unhealthy dose of vodka, cigarettes and glue sniffing. "When it is worst, we try to make money for food by prostitution," admits another.
Police brutality is a daily reality for the children of Leningradsky. The film captures one incident where the police patrol beats one of the street children and smears an entire tube of glue into his hair and onto his face. Ironically, it is by sniffing glue fumes that these children (at least for a little while) are able escape the unforgiving world around them. It is a life of fleeting possibilities and danger.
The Children of Leningradsky conveys what life is like for these homeless children as they plan their day around "best begging hours." Originally part of a project to bring money and aid to homeless youth, Polak and Celinski started filming this documentary as a non-profit initiative. The film has helped focus attention on this matter; since it was made, Russian authorities have stepped up their efforts to reduce homelessness in Moscow, though it's still a serious problem in other cities.
Death sometimes crosses the paths of the children of Leningradsky, directly and indirectly. One group of kids explains how they were badgered for 48 hours by police after another child was murdered, even though they weren't anywhere near the crime scene. In another, far more emotional scene, a group of homeless children wail at the funeral of a pretty 14-year-old girl. Neverless, Misha, the boy who was discarded by his father, remains optimistic: "God believes in people and helps them. He loves everyone, even bad people, not just Russians. He even loves Chechnyans. But most of all, He loves children.
Methadonia (2005)
The term "methadonia" describes a borderland for recovering heroin addicts on methadone maintenance. Here, addicts pass their time mixing methadone with benzodiazepines ("benzos") - a class of drugs used to treat anxiety and insomnia that includes such brand-name prescriptions as Xanax, Klonopin and Valium - which enhance their high, and keep them stuck in a gray area between addiction and "straightland."
Shot over the course of 18 months in New York City's Lower East Side, METHADONIA sheds light on the inherent flaws of legal methadone treatments for heroin addiction by profiling eight addicts, in various stages of recovery and relapse, who attend the New York Center for Addiction Treatment Services (NYCATS). This facility offers group therapy and outpatient support for its clients, many of whom are former heroin addicts now on methadone maintenance.
In addition to providing details on methadone addiction, METHADONIA explores the often-insurmountable obstacles addicts face on the road to rehabilitation. As men and women dream of living drug-free lives, they often find that the "liquid handcuffs" of methadone have robbed them of the physical and emotional willpower to do so.
Subjects include: Millie, who has 28 years of drug use behind her and now counsels a group of addicts in recovery; Bill, a canny ex-teamster who has been on methadone almost 30 years; George, an aging rocker whose rehab is made more difficult by a series of personal setbacks; Mario, who stopped using heroin 45 years ago, but still can't get straight; Steve, a charismatic homeless man trying to prove that rehab is indeed possible; and Susie and Eddie, who share the most desperate reason to clean up - a child on the way.
With almost every one of these users, the "cure" to heroin often proves equally as addictive, and as hard to overcome, especially when methadone is combined with easy-to-find pills like benzos. But Millie, the group leader, proves it is possible to kick the addiction. Although she has lost two husbands, served two state prison sentences, and suffered a heart attack, Millie has been clean for nine years and is the role model for the group. She doesn't run the group like an outsider, and her tough-love approach (she won't tolerate anyone who's high or nods off during meetings) is appreciated by most of the addicts.
Bill has spent 27 of his 48 years on methadone. When he graduated from Catholic high school, he was already a dealer and a heroin addict. Then came Vietnam, psych wards, prisons and detox centers. Bill owned a gas station and drove for the Teamsters before he lost everything to pills. Today, he tries to keep his habit under control while providing an experienced voice of reason to other addicts.
George, who has a passion for rock 'n' roll, suffers from serious mood swings - it doesn't help that his ex-wife is dying of cancer - but is well-liked by the group. In addition to methadone, he takes Klonopin for anxiety, Paxil for depression, and another drug (he can't remember what) for voices he occasionally hears. George's life takes a downward turn when the apartment he shares with Jeff, a fellow addict, burns down. He ends up moving in with his ex-wife, and endures physical problems that land him in the hospital.
At 56, Jeff has been high every day of his life since age 17. Last year, he went into at least ten detoxes, but quit all of them. The fire that burned down his apartment started when Jeff ingested pills and drank beer after taking methadone, then fell asleep while smoking a cigarette.
Having endured two heart attacks from smoking crack, Susie came into the methadone program to get off Vicodin. She has also had problems with bulimia, gallstones, an enlarged spleen and hepatitis C. At 38, Susie learns she is pregnant. While her other children were taken away from her by authorities, Susie is determined to keep her new baby, although the child will be born an addict and will need to detox before leaving the hospital.
Susie's husband Eddie gets out of prison after serving time for selling drugs. Growing up, he worked for his father at the Fulton Street Fish Market. Eddie was already into hard drugs, so it didn't take long before he was living on the street, where he met Susie. After their baby girl Leah is born, Eddie and Susie fight their own methadone habits to prove they're capable of supporting her.
Having grown up on the Jersey side of the Hudson, Steve was a security guard for years and didn't start using until his mid-30s. But once he started, his habit got him fired, and he spent five years homeless. A gregarious and likable character when he's not nodding off during meetings, Steve is determined to kick his methadone habit, and even gets to the point of checking into the hospital for a final ten-day detox. But as he soon discovers, the last few days are often the hardest.
Mario stopped using heroin 45 years ago, but has struggled with pills and other drugs ever since. His wife and daughter were killed in a car accident in the 1990s. Picking up the pieces has proven hard for him, though he does show improvement after his "little secret" - he'd been taking up to a dozen benzos a day with his methadone - landed him in the hospital.
For director Michel Negroponte, METHADONIA strikes a deeply personal chord. As he explains in the film, his wife's sister was a heroin addict, and was "totally focused on the drug. Nothing else mattered, and nothing seemed capable of stopping her from using, until the overdose that killed her. So one thing I know is that heroin addiction is work. By the time addicts have needle marks running down their veins, it's become the lousiest job you can imagine, with a boss who is screaming at them from inside their own skulls, and no days off."
In addition to the Emmy®-winning "Jupiter's Wife," which also received a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 1995, Michel Negroponte's directing credits include "Space Coast," "Silver Valley," "No Accident," "W.I.S.O.R." and "The Sightseer."
Protocols of zion (2005)
This 92-minute documentary is Marc Levin's firsthand exploration of resurgent anti- Semitism in the wake of 9/11. Starting with the examination of a long-discredited piece of 100-year-old propaganda, Levin's film was inspired by an encounter he had in a New York taxi, in which his driver, an Egyptian immigrant, made the disturbing claim that Jews had been warned not to go to work at the World Trade Center on the day of the attacks. The driver added that "it's all written in the book," referring to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious forgery created 100 years ago, purporting to be the Jews' master plan to rule the world.
Protocols of Zion premiered to much acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2005, and was featured at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2005. Variety wrote, "Filmmaker Marc Levin fearlessly faces down his adversaries as he strolls from one lion's den into another."
Levin and his film partner Daphne Pinkerson have produced ten acclaimed films for HBO over the years, including Mob Stories, Prisoners of the War on Drugs, Execution Machine: Texas Death Row, Soldiers in the Army of God, and Gladiator Days. Thug Life in D.C. won the 1999 Emmy® for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special. Gang War: Bangin' in Little Rock won the CableACE Award for Best Documentary Special of 1994. The sequel, Back in the Hood, premiered last summer on HBO. The team also produced 2004's Heir to an Execution, a documentary feature following Ivy Meeropol's journey on the 50th anniversary of the execution of her grandparents, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
Children of God: Lost and Found (2007)
After a highly unconventional childhood in Children of God, a cult that mixed religion with sex, filmmaker Noah Thomson escaped to begin a normal life. But after experiencing years of sexual abuse and neglect, Thomson and other former members of the organization may never know what "normal" is. The CINEMAX Reel Life documentary follows Thomson as he searches for others who have tried to start a new life outside the cult - and searches for answers about his own lost childhood.
Children of God (now known as The Family) started in 1968 in California. It was part of the Jesus movement of the late 1960s, and many early converts were hippies. In 1974, The Family began a method of evangelism called "flirty fishing" - using sex to show God's love and win converts. Flirty fishing has been compared by some to religious prostitution, and was discontinued in 1987. David Berg, the founder and prophetic leader of the cult, communicated with his followers via "Mo Letters" - letters of instruction and counsel on a myriad of spiritual and practical subjects. Following Berg's death in late 1994, his wife, Karen Zerby, became leader of The Family.
In CHILDREN OF GOD: LOST AND FOUND, Noah Thomson sets out to interview other ex-Children of God, discovering that these young, second-generation members have often failed to thrive in the outside world, turning to drugs, crime and suicide, unable to adjust to a society indifferent to their abuse as children. Surprisingly, a few still find value in the Children of God, bowing to the organization's request that they not give interviews, or telling Thomson they see nothing wrong with their upbringing. Thomson also reaches out to his mother several times in the film, asking her to be interviewed and defend the family she has chosen in place of her actual family.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER: Noah Thomson was born in Brazil in 1976 in a Children of God commune. As a child he moved around often, living in campers and tents in various communes. At 18, he moved to a commune in Japan and worked for the Children of God's in-house video production unit. After leaving the cult, he started collecting video footage to document his childhood. Children of God: Lost and Found is his first film. He lives in Brooklyn.
The producers of Children of God: Lost and Found are Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, the intrepid filmmaking duo that has produced many critically acclaimed documentaries for HBO and Cinemax over the years, most recently, The Hidden Führer: Debating the Enigma of Hitler's Sexuality for Cinemax Reel Life. Bailey/Barbato also produced 1998's Party Monster, 2000's 101 Rent Boys, 2000's The Eyes of Tammy Faye for Cinemax Reel Life, 2002's Monica in Black and White as well as ten popular Shock Video specials. They are currently working on a new HBO documentary about Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss.
Gang Wars: Bangin' in Little Rock (1994)
Gang War: Bangin' in Little Rock often referred to as Gang Bangin' in Little Rock is a 1994 HBO documentary about street gangs in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The documentary painted a hopeless and pessimistic view of the violence in the city. At the time Little Rock was one of the most dangerous cities in the country. Sitting at the intersection of two major interstates from Los Angeles and New York, it had become a haven for drug trafficking. There were prominent gang presences of Bloods, Crips and Hoover's Folk Nation.
The documentary brought much attention to the problems in the city; the Little Rock Police force was quadrupled. As a result, the street gang problem was nearly eradicated.
First aired on the HBO channel.
Gang Wars 2 : Back in the Hood (2004) rapidshare
Raw and unflinching, this pair of award-winning HBO films looks at the death and destruction caused by gang warfare across the United States. With unlimited access, the filmmakers document the lives and culture of rival Arkansas factions in Gang War: Bangin' in Little Rock. Back in the Hood: Gang War 2 follows Leifel Jackson, a former gang leader and ex-con trying to turn his life around after spending nearly a decade in prison.
Terror in Moscow (2003) rapidshare
In October 2002, 41 Chechen terrorists took more than 700 people hostage in a Moscow theater, demanding an end to Russia's war against their homeland. This gut-wrenching documentary takes you through the endless hours of waiting, a seemingly miraculous rescue operation, and the ultimate tragedy, that could have been avoided had adequate medical personnel been on the scene after the stalemate ended.
Southern Justice - The Murder of Medgar Evers (1994)
Hidden in a honeysuckle bush, a gunman waits for his target: civil rights leader Medgar Evers ...
He squeezes the trigger and watches Evers fall. Then he vanishes into the night. It is June 1963, in Mississippi.
Evers' widow accuses white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith of the murder. For thirty years, she hunts Beckwith and monitors his rantings: 'God put the white man on earth to rule over the dusky races.' She watches a Mississippi court let Beckwith go free, and discovers how top state officials secretly helped him. The Nightrider tells the story of Medgar Evers, who dared defy the hooded nightriders of the Ku Klux Klan, and of a murder that - by reviving the ghosts of the past - puts modern Mississippi to the test.
5 American Kids - 5 American Handguns (1995) rapidshare
When a child gets hold of a loaded handgun, someone often dies. Last year, 24,000 Americans lost their lives to handguns...and 3,600 of them were children. This profoundly disturbing documentary tells the stories of five handguns that killed five children--and how their deaths might have been prevented.
Ganja Queen (2007)
GANJA QUEEN explores the origins and outcome of this sensational case through in- prison interviews with Schapelle Corby, footage and interviews of her family (mother Rosleigh, father Michael, sister Mercedes, brother-in-law Wayan, and half-brother James) both in Bali and at home in Australia, flashback footage of Shapelle's arrest, and footage taken in and outside the courtroom during Schapelle's incendiary trial. As the sympathetic heroine at the center of the cauldron, Schapelle faces an unknown and unforgiving judicial process that could, potentially, have her executed (by firing squad) if found guilty. For Shapelle and the Corby family, the stakes could not be higher. For the media, in both Bali and Australia, the story could not be more compelling. Schapelle's comings and goings from her prison cell to a variety of meetings and interrogations make front-page headlines for months, with the public jostling nearly every day for a peek at Schapelle as she is hustled by authorities through a gauntlet of reporters and protesters (both pro and con).
In addition to chronicling the public and behind-the-scenes maneuvering by Corby, her family and legal team in the days, weeks and months leading up to her trial, the documentary explores numerous explanations for the appearance of the drugs in Corby's bag. Did this seemingly average young woman actually commit the crime for which she is accused? Did one of her family members put the marijuana in her bag without (or with) her knowing? Was there a connection to the Australian neighbor who grew pot on his property? Or was Schapelle simply the unlucky victim of a domestic drug-running operation? Indeed, with regard to the latter hypothesis, several intriguing developments arise during Schapelle's incarceration. In one report, we learn that Corby's flight occurred on the same day as a large shipment of cocaine was shipped out of the airport by a drug ring involving corrupt baggage handlers. In another, an Australian prisoner named John Patrick Ford comes forward to testify that he overheard a conversation in prison between two men in which they discussed planting the marijuana in Corby's boogie-board bag. Both pieces of news raise hopes for Schapelle's acquittal, as do reports that the marijuana bag had not been fingerprinted, and that baggage-handling security cameras in Sydney had not been working the day of her trip. One thing is certain: The evidence against Corby is sketchy, and most likely wouldn't rise to the level of "guilt beyond a reasonable doubt" required in U.S. or Australian courts. Explaining why she might put a huge amount of marijuana in an unlocked bag, Corby scornfully asks, "Do you think somebody can be that stupid?"
Among Shapelle's most ardent advocates is Ron Bakir, an entrepreneur known to TV viewers for a series of outrageous commercials selling cell phones. Explaining that a nerve was struck when he saw an emotional Schapelle for the first time on TV, Bakir becomes one of her most vocal supporters, and pumps his own money into her defense. However, Bakir ends up crossing the line when (without consulting with her attorneys) he accuses the prosecution team of seeking a bribe to reduce the requested sentence - an unfounded allegation that might cost her the court's sympathy, as well as a more lenient penalty.
And Along Came a Spider (2002) rapidshare
Between July 2000 and July 2001, 16 women were murdered in the holy Iranian city Mashhad, all but one of them with a prior incarceration for prostitution or drug-related charges. When 39-year-old Saeed Hanaei was arrested and then confessed to the killings, he proudly claimed his actions were in accordance with holy teachings of preventing vice and promoting virtue. Featuring a chilling first-person prison interview with Hanaei, AND ALONG CAME A SPIDER tells the story of Iran's infamous "spider killings" - named for the way he drew victims into a deadly web.
Atlantic City Hookers It Ain't E-Z Being a Ho (2004) rapidshare
Prostitution is a job that promises quick cash, but the reality is danger, drugs, sexually transmitted diseases, hard lessons and lost hopes. In the tradition of HBO's revealing "Hookers at the Point" documentaries, ATLANTIC CITY HOOKERS: IT AIN'T E-Z BEING A HO' sheds light on the world's oldest profession, but in a new, neon-soaked venue: Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Produced and directed by Brent Owens, who detailed the lives of street prostitutes in previous HBO documentaries, including three "Hookers at the Point" specials set in Hunts Point, NY, as well as "Hookers & Johns: Trick or Treat" and "Pimps Up, Ho's Down," ATLANTIC CITY HOOKERS: IT AIN'T E-Z BEING A HO' captures hookers in action as they turn tricks in cars, alleys and hotel rooms.
"With some of our personalities out of the game, we decided to head south to the Jersey Shore, where we see the Atlantic City lights, where many lost souls go broke," explains Owens.
Shot on location in the casinos and on the streets of this east-coast gambling mecca, the often explicit, yet frequently poignant, documentary underscores the hopes, fears and humanity of these Boardwalk women-for-hire, telling hard-luck stories of six prostitutes, who open up in a series of informal interviews.
People highlighted include: a mother of two who moved to Atlantic City after a pimp gave her his business card; a stripper-turned hooker who finds money "intoxicating"; a drug addict who once nearly sold her baby to bankroll a gambling habit; and a hooker who gave up a country-club lifestyle to descend into a life of drugs and tricks. Captured on camera, the prostitutes strike deals with "johns," check in with pimps and share "Can you top this?" tales with each other during breaks.
ATLANTIC CITY HOOKERS: IT AIN'T E-Z BEING A HO' is produced and directed by Brent Owens.
Heir to an Execution (2004)
HEIR TO AN EXECUTION captures the personal story of the Rosenbergs, deftly setting up the political backdrop of the prevalent anti-communist mood of the country at the time and shows how the fifty-year-old event still reverberates with the relatives they left behind and their descendants.
HEIR TO AN EXECUTION is the story of a family torn apart on June 19th, 1953 when Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for "conspiracy to commit espionage." When their names were seared into history that day, as both martyrs and "Atom Spies," the young Jewish couple left behind two orphaned boys - Michael, ten years old and Robert, six years old. Ivy Meeropol, the eldest granddaughter of the Rosenbergs, and Michael's daughter, embarks on a remarkable journey into her family's past that sheds new light on a chapter in American history and provides a personal perspective on the iconic event.
"Before they were immortalized by the strange machinations of history, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg belonged only to their families and friends," commented Ivy Meeropol. "This film is an attempt to reclaim them as such and challenge the simplistic definition that's allowed them to go down in history as 'The Atom Spies.'"
The filmmaker explores the events and ramifications of the execution on the Rosenberg family, particularly their two orphaned sons. In spite of an extended family of siblings, no one would step forward to take in the two boys. In fact, Ethel Rosenberg's brother, David Greenglass testified against her and his brother-in-law, providing the main evidence the government had to convict them. Michael and Robert were eventually adopted by complete strangers to the Rosenbergs, a couple named Ann and Abel Meeropol. The Rosenbergs' sons grew up believing in their parents' innocence and as adults they aggressively pursued the truth about their case. In the film they reflect on the circumstances of this event in a new, more personal, way.
Included in this documentary are little-seen archival footage from the early 1950's, interviews with the Rosenberg contemporaries still living today and the few family members willing to speak on camera. Also included is a striking conversation with Harry Steingart, aged 103, who admits to the filmmaker that he would not be alive today if not for the steadfast integrity of the Rosenbergs, an integrity which would not allow them to accuse others to save themselves. This interview is sharply contrasted with footage from a 60 Minutes II broadcast of the only interview David Greenglass ever gave, in which he admits lying to the government about his sister Ethel to save his own family. The film also includes excerpts from documents used in the trial which are now housed in the National Archives in Washington D.C.
HEIR TO AN EXECUTION is an HBO Documentary Film, directed by Ivy Meeropol and produced by Marc Levin, Daphne Pinkerson, Ivy Meeropol and Sheila Nevins. The film was edited by Ken Eluto, A.C.E. and Eric Seuel Davies, Matthew Akers and Ivy Meeropol are the Directors of Photography and music was composed by Human. Nancy Abraham is the Supervising Producer and Shelia Nevins is the Executive Producer.
The Journalist and the Jihadi: The Murder of Daniel Pearl (2006)
Narrated by acclaimed journalist Christiane Amanpour, THE JOURNALIST AND THE JIHADI: THE MURDER OF DANIEL PEARL was directed and produced by Ahmed A. Jamal and Ramesh Sharma, who gained unprecedented access to many of the key figures in the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in early 2002. Anant Singh ("Sarafina!," "Cry, The Beloved Country," HBO's Oscar®- nominated "Yesterday") also produced.
The debut of THE JOURNALIST AND THE JIHADI: THE MURDER OF DANIEL PEARL coincides with events taking place around the globe between Oct. 6 and 15, and organized by the Daniel Pearl Foundation, which battles cultural and religious intolerance through journalism, music and dialogue.
Through the words of Pearl's family, friends and colleagues, as well as FBI agents and State Department employees involved in negotiations for Pearl's release, and those who knew Sheikh best, including former schoolmates and associates, the documentary explores the forces that led to the tragedy.
Interviewees also include noted philosopher and author Bernard-Henri Levy; Pakistani police officials; Khalid Khawaja, a retired squadron leader of the Pakistani air force and a former Pakistan Intelligence Officer, known for his links with extreme religious organizations; and Maulana Shamszai, a noted Islamic scholar and the leading source of inspiration for the Taliban, and head of a madrassa (Islamic religious school) in Pakistan.
Ahmed A. Jamal has received numerous awards for his films, including "Who Will Cast the First Stone?" and "The Beach Boys of Sri Lanka." Through the independent production company First Take Ltd., he has made several groundbreaking documentaries, including "Dead Man Talking," "The Bounty Hunter," "The Dancing Girls of Lahore," "Camel Kids," "Iran - The Other Story" and "The Fundamental Question."
Ramesh Sharma is an award-winning feature film and TV producer-director. His Moving Picture Company India Ltd. is among the leading production houses in India. Sharma's list of credits includes the feature film "New Delhi Times," an award winner at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, as well as numerous acclaimed documentaries, including "Rumtek," "Drikung - A Faith in Exile," "Afghanistan - The Taliban Years and Beyond" and "Jihad - The Sword of Islam."
THE JOURNALIST AND THE JIHADI: THE MURDER OF DANIEL PEARL is an HBO Documentary Films presentation, co-produced by Moving Picture, First Take Ltd. and Distant Horizon. Directed and produced by Ahmed A. Jamal and Ramesh Sharma; producer, Anant Singh; narrated by Christiane Amanpour; written by Amit Roy; edited by Tony Appleton; music by David Heath. For HBO: executive producers, Sheila Nevins and Lisa Heller.
Skinheads USA: Soldiers of the Race War (1993)
This documentary takes you inside to an actual neo-Nazi Skinhead organization for a extended look at the methods and mentality that fuel the White Power youth movement in America. Focusing on the Alabama-based Aryan National Front and its leader, Bill Riccio, this special features behind-the-scenes footage of group members in their rural commune, at a series of White Power rallies, at a cross-burning Skinhead/KKK "Unification Rally," and on the brink of extinction following the arrest of Riccio.
The Farm: Angola USA (1998) rapidshare
documentary depicting day to day life in Angola Prison mostly from an inmate's perspective. Interviews are with several inmates including one with a life sentence who is about to die.
Speed and Angels (2003)
Not really a documentary more of an insight into the life of a naval fighter pilot,
Think Top Gun, but the the jets are real, the people are real, and the footage is real. Speed and Angels is not just an action film about fighter pilots flying jets. It's also a film about passion and dreams, and making dreams a reality. It is definitely a film for people who love to see high speed, dramatic aerial footage. And, it's also a film about people, their relationships with their families, their struggles, and their triumphs. And though the film is about two people who have chosen to be in the military, there is a critique of war, and varying perspectives on the military. The bottom line: there is something in this film for everyone and you will be sitting on the edge of your seat throughout.
From the website http://www.speedandangels.com/ In 2003, Director Peyton Wilson entered the world of U.S. Navy fighter pilots. Thanks to unprecedented access granted by the Navy, Peyton captured and created the most intimate film ever made on fighter pilots. Epic High Definition aerial footage and stunning cockpit photography provide a dramatic backdrop for the larger story of fighting for your dreams.
Inspired by the passion of two young Navy officers she encountered, Peyton followed Jay and Meagan as they chased their childhood dream of becoming naval aviators flying the F-14 Tomcat. Their two and a half year journey takes them through dogfights in the Nevada desert, night landings on aircraft carriers off the Atlantic coast, and eventually to the biggest challenge young officers face: wartime deployment to Iraq.
What begins as a story of realizing a childhood dream turns into a story of fighting for one's life and career as Jay and Meagan face the realities of war.
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003) rapidshare
Twelve years ago Nick Broomfield made a film "Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer". Aileen's lawyer, her born again Christian mother and the Florida state police had all been involved in trying to sell her story, the story of America's first female serial killer, to the highest bidder. Aileen herself, who was convicted of murdering seven men, ironically emerged as the most honest person.
Aileen and Nick Broomfield kept in touch writing occasionally and then last year he was served with a subpoena to appear at Aileen's final state appeal before execution. Extracts of "Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer" were shown in court, showing her lawyer puffing on a big joint, before giving her legal advice in prison. Many of her childhood friends were also called as witnesses.
Then unexpectedly Aileen suddenly announced she had killed the seven men in cold blood, not in self defense as she had pled previously, and she wanted to die immediately. Jeb Bush, the State's governor, welcomed Aileen's decision and announced his intention to reunite Aileen with her maker as soon as possible. In a subsequent interview Aileen admits in an unguarded moment when she thinks the camera is turned off that she did kill in self defense but that she can no longer stand being on death row (12 years) and has to die.
The film portrays Aileen's childhood in Troy Michigan as one of unbelievable abuse and violence, which continued with her years on the road as a hitch hiking prostitute and ultimately culminated in the murders. In her last interview, which Aileen asked Nick Broomfield to do, she said she believed her mind was being controlled by radio waves and that she would be taken away by angels on a space ship. The film provides an insight into the mind of a deeply paranoid yet sympathetic person who lost her mind and killed seven people.
It is a powerful statement against the death penalty and raises disturbing questions about executing the mentally insane.
Aileen Wuornos was executed in the state of Florida on October 9th 2002.
"It's a very powerful film for anyone who cares about the horror of the death penalty, in the US and �� an effective look at the micro level of the US death penalty."
Dave Calhoun - Dazed & Confused / Observer (UK)
Murder on a Sunday Morning (2001)
Brenton Butler was just a regular 15-year-old African American high-school student living in Jacksonville, Florida. But when a woman was murdered on a quiet Sunday morning, Brenton suddenly found himself accused of the killing in one of the most frightening cases of mistaken identity ever. This shocking documentary provides a candid look at the U.S. justice system at work and exposes the racial bias and abuse of power that resulted in Brenton's arrest. The film features exclusive courtroom footage as well as interviews with the youth's public defenders, including attorney Patrick McGuinness, who uncovered startling evidence that raised serious doubts about the police investigation and subsequent interrogation tactics.
Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary (2002) rapidshare
in 1942, at the height of World War II, Adolf Hitler hired 22-year old Traudl Junge as his private secretary. At the time, the naive Junge viewed the Fuhrer as a surrogate father figure, a gentle man in private, who was nothing like the crazed rhetorician of his speeches. But as the Nazi regime teetered on the brink of destruction, Junge became a firsthand witness to Hitler's plunge into delusion, apathy and depression.
Speaking out for the first time after more than a half-century of silence, Junge sheds new light on the private life of Adolf Hitler.
In spring 2001, through the efforts of writer Melissa Muller, Austrian filmmaker Andre Heller met Traudl Junge, who was Hitler's private secretary for the three years leading up to his ignominious death in 1945. Heller persuaded Junge that it would be historically relevant to record what she had witnessed, as well as cathartic to articulate her current attitudes toward her experiences after so many years of contemplation. Along with filmmaker Othmar Schmiderer, Heller crafted ten hours of interview footage into a stark yet riveting account of the infamous leader, and an exploration of Junge's emotional denial during her years of employment with him.
In BLIND SPOT: HITLER'S SECRETARY, Junge reveals the details of her relationship with Adolf Hitler during her time as his secretary in the final years of his life. Clearly troubled by her role as a confidante to one of history's worst tyrants, Junge often struggles with her emotions as she tries to justify her choices, sometimes watching herself in an earlier TV interview and commenting on the "banal" stories she had previously told about her former employer
During her first years with Hitler, Junge noted the difference between the private Hitler and his frenzied public persona. In addition to corroborating many of the Fuhrer's well-known personal quirks -- he did not like to be touched, did not smoke or drink, and suffered from "digestive" problems -- Junge came to understand Hitler's peculiar attitudes, noting that the Fuhrer was always willing to sacrifice individual happiness at the expense of greater ideals. Among Junge's more peculiar observations of the Fuhrer were the following: Hitler almost never said the word "Jew" in private, and Junge never heard him say the word "love."
As the Nazi hold on Germany grew more tenuous, Junge moved into the Reichstag bunker with Hitler and remnants of his staff, including Martin Bormann, Joseph Goebbels and Goebbels' family. Having survived an attempted assassination in July 1944 with just a few bruises, Hitler emerged with an ever-greater conviction that he was destined to win World War II. To Junge, the event turned Hitler into a paranoid, delusional tyrant who feared that Bolshevism would destroy civilization and whose win-at-all-costs motto was "We must triumph!" But by April 22, 1945, Hitler had lost hope, announcing to his remaining supporters, "All is lost. You must return to Berlin at once."
Some of his followers fled the bunker while others remained, declaring their loyalty to the Fuhrer. Despite an overwhelming sense of imminent doom, the group gathered for a few grim festivities, including the wedding of Hitler and Eva Braun. While the others held a somber celebration, Hitler pulled Junge aside for one more dictation: his final political statement, and private will and testament.
Junge was outside Hitler's room when she heard a shot and learned of his death. On Hitler's orders, his body, as well as the body of Eva Braun, were soaked in gasoline and burned in a courtyard to prevent the Russians from taking trophy corpses.
On Feb. 10, 2002, the day after BLIND SPOT: HITLER'S SECRETARY premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, Junge died of cancer. Her last words to the filmmakers were: "I think now I'm beginning to forgive myself."
BLIND SPOT: HITLER'S SECRETARY was a 2002 Official Selection at the New York and Toronto International Film Festivals. It won a Golden Plaque Award at the 2002 Chicago International Film Festival and a Panorama Audience Prize at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival, where it had its world debut. The Hollywood Reporter described the film as "provocative...plays beautifully as a modern morality tale." The New York Times called it "riveting," and Entertainment Weekly hailed the documentary as "fascinating."
BLIND SPOT: HITLER'S SECRETARY is directed by Andre Heller and Othmar Schmiderer; produced by Kurt Stocker and Danny Krausz.
Paradise Lost The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996) rapidshare
Berlinger and Sinofsky's documentary of a gruesome triple murder in West Memphis, Arkansas and the subsequent trials of three suspects, takes a hard look at both the occult and the American justice system in 'small-town' America. Three teenagers are accused of this horrific crime of killing three children, supposedly as a result of involvement in Satanism. As in their previous documentary, things turn out to be more complex than initial appearances and this film presents the real-life courtroom drama to the viewer, as it unfolds.
A must see!
Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000)
Paradise lost 2 is the follow up film to the first documentary about the Robin Hood Murders. This film shows us how the convicted boys have been coping since they have been in prison and how the murdered boys parents have dealt with the past few years. This film also focuses on more evidance that these boys are not guilty and how there is growing speculation on one of the murdered boys father that he is responsible for the 3 boys deaths. Yet again the film gets far to graphic , why do we have to see pictures of the castrated murdered boy? We do have an imagination HBO, and we can use it. The father who is under suspision comes across as a horrible man who looks as if he is a mixture of a drug addict,a bible basher and inter breading but having said that most of the people we see from Arkansas look and come across as being like that. I do feel this film is heavily biased towards the convicted boys but i also feel they should never have been convicted in the first place. 8 out of 10.
I Am an Animal: The Story of Ingrid Newkirk and PETA (2007) rapidshare
Ingrid Newkirk may be the most influential person most people have never heard of. President and co-founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Newkirk has sparked controversies around the world for more than 25 years, engineering radical campaigns for animal rights that have encompassed everything from undercover investigations to anti-fur protests to naked demonstrations. Directed by Matthew Galkin, I AM AN ANIMAL: THE STORY OF INGRID NEWKIRK AND PETA provides an unprecedented portrait of a very private person committed to a very public crusade, and offers a glimpse into the inner workings of the animal rights group.
The film includes often-graphic footage of animal cruelty that fuels many of Newkirk's campaigns against research facilities, meat-processing factories and clothing stores around the world. Without question, the direction and strategies of PETA are a direct reflection of its single-minded leader, who is both revered and despised for her uncompromising beliefs in the rights of animals, and her willingness to cross taboos and offend numerous groups to make her point.
Headquartered in Norfolk, VA, PETA has 300 employees and an annual operating budget of $25 million, most of which comes from private donations. Though many know about PETA, few are familiar with Newkirk, who co-founded the organization in 1980 with Alex Pacheco (who is no longer at PETA, though he is interviewed here). Under Newkirk's watch, PETA implemented a high-risk, high-publicity policy of animal-abuse investigations, and protests against offending groups - earning Newkirk the contempt of nearly as many people as those who support her.
With over one million members, PETA has been described as "by far the most successful radical organization in America." The group seeks "total animal liberation," says Newkirk - with no meat or dairy, aquariums, circuses, hunting or fishing, fur or leather, or medical research using animals, even if human lives can be saved. PETA is even opposed to the use of seeing-eye dogs.
Newkirk works tirelessly, often putting in 18-hour days, and performing many of PETA's hands-on operations herself. I AM AN ANIMAL follows Newkirk as she conducts several rescue missions, including saving a malnourished dog living outside a trailer home and recovering a turkey who escaped a processing plant. The documentary also chronicles the staging of a protest against "fur abuser" Jean Paul Gaultier, as Newkirk and her PETA colleagues take over his Paris boutique, smearing fake blood on themselves and the store windows.
PETA's uncompromising platform has won it an ardent suporters such as Pamela Anderson, Alec Baldwin and Bill Maher - as well as equally ardent critics. Says Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals, an advocacy group unaffiliated with PETA, "They [PETA] have trivialized animal rights. They have exploited racism, and women in campaigns, using people as props to project animal rights, and you can't do that. You can't sensationalize an issue involving a lot of pain, a racist issue for example, and expect to advance an ethical cause in doing so. The means don't justify the ends."
To Newkirk, saving the lives of innocent animals justifies the criticism PETA receives for its questionable marketing; in one memorable campaign, pent-up pigs and chickens were compared to Jews in the Holocaust. Argues Newkirk, "Sometimes the only way you get discussion on a table is to do something jarring ... I still hold that the [Holocaust] campaign is absolutely true."
I AM AN ANIMAL is Matthew Galkin's first film as solo director. His previous credits include the HBO documentary series "Family Bonds" and "loudQUIETloud," a feature documentary chronicling The Pixies' 2004 reunion tour, which he co-produced and co-directed with Steven Cantor. Steven Cantor, a producer of I AM AN ANIMAL, founded Stick Figure Productions. He won an Emmy® for his film "Willie Nelson: Still Is Still Moving"; Cantor also received an Academy Award® nomination for producing and directing the short documentary "Blood Ties: The Life and Work of Sally Mann," and an Emmy® nomination for producing the feature "Devil's Playground."
WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE: A REQUIEM IN FOUR ACTS (2006)
This intimate, heart-rending portrait of New Orleans in the wake of the destruction tells the heartbreaking personal stories of those who endured this harrowing ordeal and survived to tell the tale of misery, despair and triumph.
The film also looks at a community that has been through hell and back, surviving death, devastation and disease at every turn. Yet, somehow, amidst the ruins, the people of New Orleans are finding new hope and strength as the city rises from the ashes, buoyed by their own resilience and a rich cultural legacy.
"New Orleans is fighting for its life," says Lee. "These are not people who will disappear quietly - they're accustomed to hardship and slights, and they'll fight for New Orleans. This film will showcase the struggle for New Orleans by focusing on the profound loss, as well as the indomitable spirit of New Orleaneans."
WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE is Spike Lee's third feature-length collaboration with HBO, following 1998's "4 Little Girls," which was Oscar®-nominated in the Documentary Feature category, and 2002's "Jim Brown: All-American." Sam Pollard produces and edits the film. Sheila Nevins is executive producer; Jacqueline Glover is the supervising producer for HBO. Cliff Charles serves as cinematographer.
Lee contacted Sheila Nevins, president, HBO Documentary, with whom he had previously collaborated on "4 Little Girls." By coincidence, the call came as Nevins and Glover were discussing ideas for their own Katrina project. Nevins wanted to create the "documentary of record" about the disaster. For her, Lee's call came at the opportune time.
"It was pure serendipity," says Nevins. Lee was so intensely committed to his vision of the project that Nevins realized that he was the only director for the documentary. "Spike feels this in his gut: He brings his consciousness, his talent, and his passion to bear on the issues surrounding the project," she continues. "I don't know of anyone else who can do it."
Nevins describes Lee's approach as "down-to-earth reportage of how the disaster was treated on a local and federal level. Spike has access to people and information that would result in an encyclopedic look at the chronology of events, and the lack of action that followed."
Three months after Katrina struck, Lee, cameraman Cliff Charles and a small crew made the first of eight trips to New Orleans to conduct interviews and shoot footage for the film. With so many people affected, Lee had a wide range of subjects and opinions to choose from. "Spike wanted to offer multiple points of view," says his longtime editor, Sam Pollard. "He needed to represent the voices from the community, the different levels of government, activists and the celebrity element to provide a balanced take on the issues facing New Orleans."
Lee and his team selected close to 100 people from diverse backgrounds and representing a wide range of opinions to interview, including Governor Kathleen Blanco; Mayor Ray Nagin; residents Phyllis Montana LeBlanc, Kimberly Polk, Shelton "Shakespeare" Alexander and Rev. Williams; activists Al Sharpton and Harry Belafonte; CNN's Soledad O'Brien; and musicians Wynton Marsalis, Terence Blanchard and Kanye West.
Lee uses key elements of New Orleans' cultural legacy to illustrate its history of surviving against the odds. Long before Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and its citizens developed coping strategies for dealing with tragedy. Its aboveground cemeteries are not only practical, but evidence of a people used to the sight of death. The traditional jazz funerals - musical parades that mourn death, and then celebrate life - serve as testament to that fact.
Musician Wynton Marsalis considers music to be central to the everyday lives of New Orleaneans, saying, "The reason music came from us is we had a lot of ceremonies that required music. We have produced great musicians in every type of form you can think of - jazz, blues. It's all a part of people's everyday lives."
Fellow New Orleans native and jazz musician Terence Blanchard, a musician and composer on several of Lee's films, including WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE, believes artists will find inspiration from Katrina. "Out of this experience there's going to come some amazing music, because the musical culture of this city has never been driven by anything other than pure honesty and pure passion," he notes. "And with the artists that are from this city, there's going to be some amazing things that's going to flourish as a result of this."
Spike Lee (director/producer) is widely regarded as today's premier African- American filmmaker. His recent critical and box-office successes have included "Inside Man," "She Hate Me," "25th Hour," "The Original Kings of Comedy," "Bamboozled" and "Summer of Sam." Lee's films "Girl 6," "Get on the Bus," "Do the Right Thing" and "Clockers" display his ability to showcase a series of outspoken and provocative socio- political critiques that challenge cultural assumptions not only about race, but also class and gender identity.
His debut film, the independently produced comedy "She's Gotta Have It," earned him the Prix de Jeunesse Award at the Cannes Film festival in 1986. His second feature, the hit "School Daze," helped launch the careers of several young black actors. Lee's timely 1989 film "Do the Right Thing" garnered an Academy Award® nomination for Best Original Screenplay and Best Film & Director awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Lee's "Jungle Fever," "Mo' Better Blues," "Clockers" and "Crooklyn" were also critically well received. He founded 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, which is based in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn.
Sam Pollard's (producer/supervising editor) first assignment as a documentary producer came in 1989 for Henry Hampton's "Eyes on the Prize II: America at the Racial Crosswords," which brought him an Emmy®. He later served as co-executive producer and producer of Hampton's documentary series "I'll Make Me a World: Stories of African- American Artists and Community," winning a George Foster Peabody Award. He also received a Peabody as one of the producers on the PBS series "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow."
Between 1990 and 2000, Pollard edited a number of Spike Lee's films, including "Mo' Better Blues," "Jungle Fever," "Girl 6," "Clockers" and "Bamboozled." In addition, Pollard and Lee co-produced the feature-length HBO documentary "4 Little Girls," which was nominated for an Academy Award®, and HBO's "Jim Brown All-American." His other credits include "3-2-1-Contact," for which he received two Emmys®, "Fires in the Mirror," directed by George Wolfe and starring Anna Deveare Smith, and "Goin' Back to T-Town."
WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE: A REQUIEM IN FOUR ACTS is a Spike Lee Film and a 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks Production. Directed and produced by Spike Lee; producer and supervising editor, Sam Pollard; cinematography, Cliff Charles; editors, Geta Gandbhir and Nancy Novack; composer, Terence Blanchard; line producer, Butch Robinson. For HBO: supervising producer, Jacqueline Glover; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.
White horse (2008)
The documentary short White Horse is a one-day trip back with Maxim Surkov to see the home that he was evacuated from as a 10-year-old boy. The film begins in Kiev where Maxim and most of the Pripyat residents were resettled, and follows him as he goes to the Exclusion Zone, the thirty-kilometer zone around the reactor where no one is permitted without special passes. When Maxim enters Pripyat, just three miles from ground zero, he remembers the places of his hometown, now an empty city. Due to high levels of plutonium, some parts of the city of Pripyat will be unfit for human habitation for thousands years.
This is not the first journey to Chernobyl for filmmaker Maryann De Leo, who also explored the aftermath of this devastating disaster in the 2004 HBO Documentary Chernobyl Heart. Winner of the Academy Award® for Best Documentary Short, that 40-minute film followed the invisible but deadly trail that radiation left behind, profiling those who were hardest hit by radiation poisoning, from young adults plagued with thyroid cancer, to children with congenital birth and heart defects who are exiled in bleak institutions.
White Horse was nominated for a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2008.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS: In addition to her Academy Award® for Chernobyl Heart, Maryann De Leo was nominated for an Emmy® in cinematography for the same film. She has also received two Emmy®s, the 1995 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award, and the CableACE Award for her 1991 HBO Documentary Rape: Cries from the Heartland. She was awarded the bronze award at the 1998 Tokyo Video Festival for the 1997 HBO documentary Six Months to Live: Alternative Medicine and the Fight for Life. De Leo was a director on the memorable 1995 HBO Documentary High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell.
Christophe bisson is a french artist. After studying philosophy at the Paris Sorbonne University, he devoted himself to painting. His recent exhibitions brought him to Barcelona, Budapest, Kiev, Vilnius, Istanbul and New York. In 2008, he was the curator of an international conference on Chernobyl that took place in Lyon, France. White Horse is his first film.
CREDITS: A film by Maryann De Leo and Christophe Bisson; Editors: Flavia Fontes and Jeremy Stulberg.
Gladiator Days: Anatomy of a Prison Murder (2002)
Across the United States, violent crime in prison is an everyday reality, with inmates routinely exposed to assault, riot, rape and murder. Gladiator Days: Anatomy of a Prison Murder examines the culture of institutional violence through the events that led to one burtal prison murder. Utah State Prison surveillance cameras capture this disturbing real-life account of the vicious stabbing of black inmate Lonnie Blackmon by convicted murderer, white supremacist Troy Kell and his accomplice Eric Daniels.
Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq (2007) rapidshare
In a war that has left more than 25,000 wounded, ALIVE DAY MEMORIES: HOME FROM IRAQ looks at a new generation of veterans. Executive Producer James Gandolfini (sopranos) interviews ten Soldiers and Marines who reveal their feelings on their future, their severe disabilities and their devotion to America. The documentary surveys the physical and emotional cost of war through memories of their "alive day," the day they narrowly escaped death in Iraq.
Wide awake (2006)
In a style all his own, Alan Berliner puts his struggle with insomnia under the microscope in this groundbreaking personal documentary. A cinematically innovative and visually provocative film, Wide Awake takes aim at a debilitating affliction that affects many of us at some point in our lives. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 70 million Americans suffer from some form of sleep problem, and 50 percent of the adults who responded to their recent poll claimed they don't sleep as well as they'd like to.
In many ways, Wide Awake is also a film about filmmaking. We see footage documenting the process of making the film, including shots of Berliner recording narration, talking with his film crew, working at his desk and editing at his computer. There's even a raucously caffeinated tour of his studio, in which we begin to understand a lot more about Berliner's obsessions and how they serve him as a filmmaker. As the film progresses, Berliner reveals more and more about his secret life as a "night owl," and we learn how he has turned the very obsessive energy that keeps him up at night into a source of fuel and inspiration for his creative work.
Wide Awake is not only a personal story; it also achieves a broader social commentary by taking subtle aim at the enticements and distractions of technology and a media- saturated environment that bombards us with news and information, 24/7. Berliner suggests that the common explanation "human error" should be reinterpreted to mean the mistakes of someone suffering from sleeplessness; at one point he even wonders how sleep deprivation might affect everything from world politics to the results of the World Series.
Among the experts who share their knowledge in Wide Awake are: Dr. William C. Dement, MD, PhD, Director, Sleep Disorder Clinic and Research Center at Stanford University; Dr. Leonid Kayumov, PhD, Director, Sleep Neuropsychiatry Institute at the University of Toronto; Dr. Mark Rosekind, PhD, President & Chief Scientist, Alertness Solutions; Dr. Richard D. Simon Jr., MD, Medical Director, Kathryn Severyns Dement Sleep Disorders Center; and Dr. Art Spielman, PhD, Associate Director, Center for Sleep Medicine, Weill Medical College at NY Presbyterian Hospital- Cornell University.
Wide Awake received its world premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, and its international premiere at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival. An internationally acclaimed and award-winning filmmaker, Alan Berliner's previous films include The Sweetest Sound (2001), Nobody's Business (1996), Intimate Stranger (1991) and The Family Album (1986).
Produced, Directed, Written & Edited by Alan Berliner; Associate Producer: Natalya Trifonova; Story Consultants: Spencer Seidman and Shari Spiegel; Director of Photography: Ian Vollmer. For HBO: Senior Producer: Lisa Heller; Executive Producer: Sheila Nevins.
Right America Feeling Wronged (2009) rapidshare
On the day Barack Obama was elected the 44th President, more than 58 million voters cast their ballots for John McCain. In the months leading up to this historic election, filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi (HBO's Emmy®-winning "Journeys with George") took a road trip to meet some of the conservative Americans who waited in line for hours to support the GOP ticket, and saw their hopes and dreams evaporate in the wake of that Democratic victory. These voters share their feelings about the changing America in which they live.
Friends of God: A Road Trip with Alexandra Pelosi (2007) rapidshare
With her unique brand of road-tripping reportage, and driven by an unflagging curiosity and genuine interest in learning about this increasingly influential community, Alexandra Pelosi (whose previous HBO credits include 2000's Emmy®-winning "Journeys with George") embarks on a fast-paced cross-country journey, offering snapshots of a cross-section of evangelical America in Friends of God: A Road Trip With Alexandra Pelosi.
A sassy one-woman show who directs and shoots from the driver's seat, Pelosi ventures out over a year-long period for up-close and personal encounters with some influential members of the evangelical community, from Joel Osteen, the most-watched TV minister in America, to pastor Ron Luce, the founder of "Battle Cry," a concert tour that has drawn more than two million young people to its events nationwide. Pelosi also visits with a spectrum of others who embody a wide range of evangelical experiences, among them visitors at religion-themed parks, a Christian comic, creationist educators, Liberty University students and activists in Washington, D.C.
In her slice-of-life exploration, Pelosi travels to the red states and beyond to meet an array of open and forthright evangelicals who represent a broad sampling of the community. Many are pro-life and against gay marriage, and believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible, rebuking Darwinism.
Among them is Pastor Ted Haggard, who recently stepped down as president of the 30-million strong National Association of Evangelicals - the largest evangelical group in the U.S. - following allegations that he had sex with a male prostitute and bought illegal drugs. Before the scandal broke, Haggard welcomed Pelosi to his world, explaining that an evangelical is "a person who believes Jesus is the Son of God, the Bible is the Word of God, and that you must be born again." While mega-churches like his New Life Church in Colorado Springs have replaced the quaint churches of yesteryear, Haggard explains that their sense of community is as strong as ever and this contributes to evangelicals' happy lives.
Says Haggard, "We've settled the issue of eternal life. The Bible is clear about it...we are not afraid of death because of it. We are living in the United States of America; we have representative government; and we have freedom of religion and freedom of the press." He asks, "Why in the world would a person in that environment not be happy?"
During her journey, Pelosi also visits with Rev. Jerry Falwell, leader of The Moral Majority and chancellor and founder of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., who articulates a commitment to change the country and urges his congregation to "vote your values" in elections. "Evangelicals are the largest minority block in this country," he says. "It's not a majority, but I don't think you can win without them. John Kerry learned that. Al Gore learned that. And Hillary will learn that in 2008."
Alexandra Pelosi began her career in TV covering politics in Washington, D.C., and subsequently served as a network news producer for seven years. For her first film, 2000's Emmy®-winning HBO documentary "Journeys with George," she spent 18 months on the campaign trail with future president George Bush. For the 2004 HBO documentary "Diary of a Political Tourist," she spent a year and a half following seven Democratic presidential candidates, including John Kerry, Joe Lieberman and Howard Dean. Pelosi is the daughter of California congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, who becomes the first female Speaker of the House in history next month.
FRIENDS OF GOD: A ROAD TRIP WITH ALEXANDRA PELOSI was written, directed and produced by Alexandra Pelosi. For HBO: supervising producer, Lisa Heller; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.
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