Asian Studies

An experiment in democracy is taking place in a third grade classroom in China. For the first time, students will be able to elect their own class monitor. A surprising and insightful documentary, Please Vote for Me seeks to determine how - if democracy should come to China - it would be received.

The journey of a young boy, hired to carry a red Coca-Cola fridge across the Himalayan Mountains, is an acute portrait of child labor in the developing world. This unusually beautiful and moving documentary is supported by the Global Fund for Children.

How are ideals of beauty influenced by race, history, and geopolitics? And how are these ideals reinforced in ethnic communities? With a rich selection of film clips and archival footage, Never Perfect examines the dramatic rise in popularity of cosmetic surgery among Asian-American women.

Chinese journalist Liu Binyan sought out the truth his entire life and consequently paid a huge price for his honesty. Named one of Time Magazine's Asian Heroes, this film documents his incredible story and struggle to build a freer China.

How can one believe that terrorism leads to heaven? Banned by the Indonesian government, this provocative documentary examines the psychology of extremism in a country with the largest Muslim population in the world.

A surprising and inspiring documentary about breaking gender and religious barriers in India. With no equipment or funding, a group of young Buddhist and Muslim girls work tirelessly to be the first female team to compete in the national ice hockey tournament.

2007 Academy Award® winner for Best Documentary Short Subject, The Blood of Yingzhou District is a groundbreaking documentary film which exposes the hidden AIDS epidemic in China, a country not commonly associated with the disease.

Business Process Outsourcing is the fastest growing industry in the world. In India, over 350,000 people are currently working in call centers. Vikeeh Uppal, or "Ethan Reed," is one of them. You may have already spoken with him.

What happens in the aftermath of a natural disaster? How are billions of dollars in aid spent by local governments? How does the desire for economic development influence the rebuilding process? Filmed in Sri Lanka, From Dust examines one government's controversial response to the Asian Tsunami

Set against the staggering and exotic beauty of Mongolia, Kiran Over Mongolia follows the story of a young man as he attempts to learn the culture of his ancestors through the ancient art of eagle mastery.

As China continues its unprecedented economic growth, Last House Standing captures the poignant story of an elderly man caught between his country's past and future.

Her opponents gave her the "Bullshit Award" for sustaining global poverty. Time magazine hailed her as one of the great heroes of our time. She is Vandana Shiva and this is a film about globalization, genetic engineering, bio-piracy, food and water.

A group of women in India are challenging male domination over a dangerous religious custom, where a human pyramid is formed to break decorated pots that hang several stories in the air.

The time of the Samurai in ancient Japan was unique and violent; a life filled with tradition, honor, and legend. This is the story of their life and of a culture unfamiliar to most of the Western world.

Brave New Men is an extraordinary triple-portrait of charismatic, top-notch geneticists from the wildly different “gene cultures” of Europe, the U.S. and Asia.

Welcome to Alang , India, the site of a gargantuan scrap yard where oceangoing ships come to die. Forty thousand Indians live and work here, dismembering and scavenging the hulks of 400 vessels every year.

The Angry Skies is a compelling documentary which follows Blake Kerr-a New York based doctor, author, and human rights activist –as he travels to Cambodia to uncover the truths behind the rise of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s and its legacy that remains today.

This documentary is about five women in China from different age, social and economic groups whose lives reflect the lives of many women all over China today.

Chronicles the efforts of international mediator Dr. Dudley Weeks to negotiate a peace process between warring factions of Indian (Sikh) and Pakistani (Muslim) youths in West London, showing how peacemaking skills utilized in South Africa and Bosnia can be applied at a community level.

Faced with widespread conditions of mass unemployment, poverty, urban crowding, and governmental crisis, more than a billion people in some 100 underdeveloped nations throughout the Third World have developed their own 'informal economy,' a parallel lifestyle operating on the margins of the society's formal economy and legal system, which provides them with a means of survival.