Cultural Studies

Chronicles the history of Filipino immigration to the U.S. during the 1920s and '30s. The story is told by the immigrants themselves, and their interviews are blended with historical photos, film footage, and period music.

Focuses on Asian-Indian immigrants in the U.S. who discuss the complex social and personal issues involved in dealing with their dual cultural influences.

In 1993, Mieko Ouchi, a half-white, half-Japanese actress, began researching a documentary about her Japanese immigrant grandfather. Shortly thereafter, she was cast to star in The War Between Us, a feature film on the WWII internment of Japanese-North Americans, thus re-enacting a key episode in her own community's history.

This provocative documentary, blending interviews with archival footage, examines the nature of shared national identity and what it means to be an American today.

Examines the aspects of culture and heritage that African Americans have brought into the new millennium.

Examines the worldwide crisis in teenage pregnancies through four case studies of teenage mothers in Ghana, England, Cuba, and the U.S., thereby providing a cross-cultural survey of the underlying reasons for the increasing rate of adolescent pregnancies and also discussing the hazards to the health and well-being of such young mothers.

Chronicles the lives of the students of the EAGLES Center (student population: 30), an alternative high school in Los Angeles for gay and lesbian teens who, due to persecution, are unable to function in the regular school system. In addition to the students' discussions of the social discrimination they face and their own personal struggles, the video shows their historic efforts in organizing a citywide promo for over 200 gay and lesbian high school students throughout L.A. County, and the first gay and lesbian prom in America.

This video takes us on a trip through six decades and over twenty countries in tracing the development of Betty LaDuke, one of America's leading multicultural artists. Her vision encompasses not only American culture, but also influences from Native American, Mexican and African cultures and lifestyles.

Examines the cultural and political history of plena, a Puerto Rican musical blend of African and Spanish rhythms, featuring great performers of the past and contemporary attempts to preserve plena.

This cinema-verite documentary explores the realities of life as a classical musician through the story of Hexagon, a newly-formed chamber ensemble. The documentary chronicles their challenging first year and a half, from the group's seemingly casual first rehearsal to its high-pressure launching into the mainstream of the classical music scene.

Takes us to the heart of the Andes to capture the atmosphere of the annual music festivals, showing ceremonies of the Aymara Indians who dress as devils, bears and sacred spirits that come to life at carnival time.

This contemporary portrait of folkloric traditions in Cuba, focusing on the everyday life of musicians and dancers.

This video follows the world-famous Chicago Children's Choir on their 1996 tour of South Africa and shows how music can convey a message of peace.

This video, which documents one of the oldest cultural festivals in the Western Hemisphere, celebrates the vitality of calypso music today on the island of Barbados.

This second video from the "Journey in Music" series chronicles the philosophy, history, and techniques of percussion instruments, focusing on drums and other musical instruments from West Africa, the Caribbean, Japan and India.

This first video from the "Journey in Music" series surveys the history and musical heritage of string instruments, from ancient times to the present day, including string instruments from China (Zheng), Iran (Santuri), Greece (Bouzuki) and Spain (Guitar), among others, and concludes with an unusual jam session featuring all of these classic instruments.

This video traces the forgotten roots and celebrates the continuing legacy of Blues music in the Mississippi Delta, interweaving rare archival footage of the South's sharecropping era with performances by Blues veterans Muddy Waters, Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James and Howlin' Wolf.

Hosted by Cheech Marin, this documentary examines the work of several Hispanic- American writers and how their poems, short stories and novels reflect what it means and what it's like to grow up Hispanic in America.

Set against a background of farming, saw-milling and moonshining activities in rural Kentucky during the Depression, this short film dramatizes the use of violence as a socially accepted form of "folk justice."

Celebrates the traditional art of storytelling through profiles of three storytellers--Judith Black, whose stories explore the Jewish immigrant experience; Michael Cotter, a Minnesota farmer whose stories focus on the extraordinary qualities of ordinary people; and Rex Ellis, whose stories deal with the historical period of enslavement of Afro- Americans.