Sociology


EAT BITTER
EAT BITTER

2024  African Studies  Asian Studies  Business  Economics  Environmental Studies  Family Relations  Political Science  Urban Studies  Sociology 

An eye-opening documentary filmed in the Central African Republic follows a native sand diver and a Chinese national developing the land.  As we follow the hardships and struggle, the film raises the question of what are we prepared to sacrifice for a better tomorrow, without a promise that it will ever arrive.


RECORDIALLY YOURS, LOU CURTISS
RECORDIALLY YOURS, LOU CURTISS

2023  American History  Business  Music  Performing Arts  Sociology 

Filmmaker Yale Strom explores the life and work of Lou Curtiss - creator of the San Diego Folk Festival, Adams Ave. Unplugged Festival, audiophile, folklorist, author, raconteur, radio host and proprietor of Folk Arts Rare Records, a mecca for some of the most celebrated American roots musicians in America.

A COMMON SEQUENCE
A COMMON SEQUENCE

2023  Anthropology  Biology  Cinema Studies  Cultural Studies  Directed by Women  Health  Indigenous Studies  Latino Studies  Religion & Spirituality  Science  Sociology  Spanish Language 

Within the human struggle to live and work on a changing planet, questions of value, extraction, and adaptation echo across seemingly disparate worlds. A Common Sequence examines shifts of life and labor through a critically-endangered salamander and plant patents in the apple industry. Weaving the stories of Dominican nuns running a conservation lab, a group of fisherman attempting to live off of a depleting lake, engineers developing AI-driven harvesting machines, and an indigenous biomedical researcher resisting the commodification of human DNA, the film becomes a meditation on the shifting border between the natural and unnatural world, and the dynamics of power at play.

HOUSE SPECIAL
HOUSE SPECIAL

2023  Asian Studies  Cultural Studies  Education  Gastronomy  Immigration  Indigenous Studies  Family Relations  Sociology  Women's Studies  World History 

A five-part docu series that chronicles the Chinese Canadian experience through the lens of small-town Asian food joints and the families that run them. Ride the rails with chef and author, Jackie Kai Ellis, as she explores Canadian Chop Suey cuisine.

THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT
THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT

2023  Cinema Studies  Family Relations  Narrative Films  Sociology 

 The Strange Little Cat assembles seemingly unspectacular details into an exciting choreography of everyday life, a carefully staged chain reaction of actions and conversations, turning an apartment into a universe.

GEOGRAPHIES OF SOLITUDE
GEOGRAPHIES OF SOLITUDE

2022  Anthropology  Cinema Studies  Directed by Women  Environmental Studies  Sociology  Photography  2023 

Critic's Pick!  One of the most awarded films of 2022, Geographies of Solitude is a playful and reverent collaboration with the natural world filled with arresting images and made with an activist spirit. The film follows Zoe, a naturalist and environmentalist who has lived Sable Island, on a remote sliver of land in the Northwest Atlantic with a rich ecosystem, for over 40 years.

SANSON AND ME
SANSON AND ME

2023  Cinema Studies  Education  Family Relations  Immigration  Latino Studies  Sociology  Criminal & Law  Political Science 

A vibrant portrait of a friendship navigating immigration and the depths of the criminal justice system and pushing the boundaries of cinematic imagination to rescue a young migrant's story from oblivion.

DOS ESTACIONES
DOS ESTACIONES

2022  Cinema Studies  Sociology  Spanish Language  LGBTQ  Latino Studies 

Winner of a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, Dos Estaciones follows iron-willed businesswoman María García (Teresa Sánchez), the owner of Dos Estaciones, a once-majestic tequila factory now struggling to stay afloat. 

ROCK BOTTOM RISER
ROCK BOTTOM RISER

Anthropology  Asian-American Studies  Cinema Studies  Economics  Media Studies  Photography  Political Science  Science  Physical Science  Sociology  American Studies  American History  2022 

Explorers have long made Hawaii the hub for their searching. Today-as lava continues to flow on the island—another crisis mounts as scientists plan to build the world's largest telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii's most sacred and revered mountain. The film weaves a vital tapestry of post-colonialism and pop culture with cinematic brio and a wry wit. Rock Bottom Riser is an essential document and an exhilarating tour-de-force, a palimpsest that traverses geology, ethnography and astronomy.


A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING
A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING

2022  Anthropology  Asian Studies  Cinema Studies  Directed by Women  Political Science  Sociology  World History 

Director Payal Kapadia deftly merges reality with fiction, weaving together archival footage with student protest videos to create a vital tapestry of the personal and the political. With its dreamlike editing rhythms and a revelatory use of sound, A Night of Knowing Nothing is both an essential document of contemporary India and a nostalgic look at youth fighting the injustice of their time.


LA MANPLESA: an uprising remembered
LA MANPLESA: an uprising remembered

2022  American Studies  American History  Criminal & Law  Cultural Studies  Directed by Women  Latin-American Studies  Sociology 

On May 5th, 1991, people took to the streets of Washington D.C.’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood to protest the police shooting of Daniel Gomez, a young man from El Salvador. Through testimony, song, poetry, and street theatre, La Manplesa weaves together the collective memory of one of D.C.’s first barrios and dives into the roots of the ‘91 rebellion.

ANY GIVEN DAY
ANY GIVEN DAY

2022  American Studies  Directed by Women  Family Relations  Health  Psychology & Psychiatry  Sociology  Criminal & Law 

A filmmaker with mental illness follows three defendants through a specialized mental health probation program. While sharing their rarely seen struggles, she faces her own challenges, making clear just how precarious the ties between people with mental illness, their families and society can be.  From Margaret Byrne, the director of Raising Bertie.



EXPEDITION CONTENT
EXPEDITION CONTENT

2021  Anthropology  Cinema Studies  Cultural Studies  Directed by Women  Education  Indigenous Studies  Political Science  Sensory Ethnography Lab  Sociology  World History  2022 

An immersive marvel of sonic ethnography, Expedition Content draws on audio recordings made by recent college graduate and Standard Oil heir Michael Rockefeller as part of the so-called Harvard-Peabody Expedition to Netherlands New Guinea in 1961

SO DEAR, SO LOVELY
SO DEAR, SO LOVELY

2021  Directed by Women  Middle Eastern Studies  Sociology  Short Films  Sensory Ethnography Lab  Peace & Conflict  Cinema Studies  2022 

In this two-part tour through the streets of Lebanon, a colorful Palestinian cab driver offers offhand insight into the region’s fraught political and social climate through boisterous serenades and excitable outbursts.

THE KITCHENISTAS
THE KITCHENISTAS

2021  American Studies  Business  Cultural Studies  Family Relations  Gastronomy  Health  Latino Studies  Latin-American Studies  Women's Studies  Sociology  2022 

What started as a 7-week nutrition program for women seeking healthier diets, has become a Latina-led movement to enact change in their own communities. Known as Kitchenistas, these women are showing how healthy food traditions can lead to physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing as well as big change in the home, at schools, within city hall, and in the healthcare system.

SWIMMING OUT TILL THE SEA TURNS BLUE
SWIMMING OUT TILL THE SEA TURNS BLUE

2021  Asian Studies  Cinema Studies  Cultural Studies  Education  Literature  Political Science  Sociology 

From master director Jia Zhang-Ke  comes a vital document of Chinese society since 1949. Jia interviews three prominent authors—Jia Pingwa, Yu Hua, and Liang Hong. SWIMMING OUT TILL THE SEA TURNS BLUE is an indispensable account of a changing China from one of the countrys foremost cinematic storytellers.


499
499

2021  Cinema Studies  Cultural Studies  Media Studies  Latin-American Studies  Sociology  Spanish Language  Performing Arts  Peace & Conflict 

Mixing fictional and nonfictional elements, 499 is a creative documentary that explores the brutal legacy of colonialism in contemporary Mexico, nearly five-hundred years after Cortez conquered the Aztec Empire.


THE TWO SIGHTS
THE TWO SIGHTS

Anthropology  Cultural Studies  Europe  Sociology  Cinema Studies  2021 

The Two Sights (An Dà Shealladh) explores the disappearing tradition of second sight in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. As we listen to locals' accounts of haunting experiences—phantom horses, ghost voices and other supernatural phenomena—Bonnetta connects their testimonies with striking 16mm images and a carefully-curated sonic montage of the physical and aural environment of these enchanted islands.

THE CALL
THE CALL

2019  Cultural Studies  Cinema Studies  Europe  World History  Sociology 

The Call is an inside look at the turbulent jury selection process in Italy. In Italy, citizens can be summoned at a day’s notice for potential jury duty. 60 common citizens are randomly selected by a computer and notified by the police in person to appear in court—by the end of the day, 6 people are selected to be jurors.

OWNED: A TALE OF TWO AMERICAS
OWNED: A TALE OF TWO AMERICAS

2018  Sociology  American History  Urban Studies  Cultural Studies  African-American Studies  2019 

Owned: A Tale of Two Americas is a fever dream vision into the dark history behind the US housing economy. Tracking its overtly racist beginnings to its unbridled commoditization, the film exposes a foundational story few Americans understand as their own.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 23