Religion & Spirituality

This documentary examines one of the most significant holidays on the Mexican calendar, showing how it is celebrated today and tracing its historical background, which goes back 3,000 years.

Documents an African approach to treating mental-health issues by showing the communal healing process used by the Wolof in Senegal.

Portrays the revival of Los Pastores (The Shepherd's Play), an ancient Christmas morality play that has long been part of Hispanic folk traditions in the American Southwest.

An emotionally powerful account of Pope John Paul's 1987 visit to Chile, which caused a massive outpouring of political discontent with the Pinochet regime, including emotional appeals to the Pope to support protests over the imprisonment and torture of political prisoners, the lack of political freedom, and widespread hunger and unemployment.

This three-part video series examines different social aspects of the cultures of Mesoamerica (i.e., the nations of Mexico and Central America).

This four-part series examines changes in Cuban society during the post-Soviet economic crisis between 1994-98.

Examines the impact of Islamization on women in Pakistan, revealing the oppression and injustice which has led Pakistani women to the forefront of the political struggle for equal rights.

Blending archival footage and contemporary interviews, this documentary chronicles the true story of the Chinese invasion and brutal occupation of Tibet, a country where hopes for democracy and religious freedom are routinely punished by imprisonment and torture, a continuing tragedy which the Chinese government bars international human rights groups from investigating.

Explores the Indian community in Trinidad, outlining the events and accidents of history that constitute this example of the Indian diaspora, and interviewing various Trinidadian- Indians about the hybridity of their culture and their relationship, if not preoccupation, with India.

Tibetans in exile discuss the discrimination and human rights abuses their people suffer from the occupying Chinese government. These interviews, filmed in the U.S. and in a Buddhist monastery in Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama's government in exile in Northern India, are blended with historical footage of the Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet, surveillance footage of the brutal Chinese suppression of a major protest by Tibetan monks in 1988, and contemporary footage and photos of life in Dharamsala, the second home for Tibetan refugees.

A docu-drama portraying the selection and lifelong education of an Inyanga, an African healer who dispenses traditional herbal remedies. The film examines the preparation and use of traditional medicines, the diagnosis and treatment of patients, and the metaphysics and cosmology of African beliefs regarding the powers of the Inyanga.

Examines the West African religious institution of trokosi, where young women are chosen to serve an indefinite period of servitude for crimes committed long ago by their grandparents and even great-grandparents.