Directed by Women

Surveys the work of plastic artists in Puerto Rico during the 20th century, as well as significant forerunners in the 18th and 19th centuries, focusing on the artists' expression of national identity. The video combines illustrations of hundreds of art works with interviews with a dozen major contemporary artists and commentary by art critics.

After the Napoleonic wars and the revolutionary fervor of the late 18th century, Europeans were eager to retreat from the tumultuous arena of history to the uneventful calm of private life.

Profiles lithograph artist Robert Blackburn, one of the few black printmakers to emerge from WPA-sponsored arts projects, including the Harlem Art Center, during the Thirties. His prints have been exhibited widely and he has also had a long teaching career, but the now 77-year-old Blackburn is best known as the founder and director of the Printmaking Workshop, which recently celebrated its fiftieth anniversary.

This fascinating and informative video details the step-by-step procedures involved in modeling a clay sculpture, showing how professional sculptor and art instructor Margot McMahon creates a portrait of her model over several sessions (working from a knowledge of anatomy and a sensitivity to artistic rhythms) and then demonstrates the plaster mold-making process by which the final art work is cast in Fondu concrete for permanent exhibition.

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.

Portrays a summer bagpipe school in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where piping enthusiasts from all over North America gather to learn the craft and music of the traditional instrument of the Scottish highlands.

Captures the spirit and charm of the legacy of Elvis Presley by accompanying a fan through Elvis country, from Tupelo, Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee. The video visits his birthplace and other shrines of Presleydom, meets people who were associated with Elvis, plus his adoring fans and impersonators.

This music and dance spectacular, sung and danced by members of the award-winning Beija Flor Samba School and photographed during the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, dramatizes the legend of genesis according to Yoruba mythology.

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.

This behind-the-scenes documentary chronicles the collaborative efforts of young composer Peter Lieberson, pianist Peter Serkin, and conductor Seiji Ozawa as they shape Lieberson's first orchestral piece for debut by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

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

This video features legendary musicians Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Hinton and Jonah Jones, who clear up the mystery of a fabled incident in jazz history in the early Forties when the three were members of Cab Calloway's famous band.

This video features a performance of French composer Olivier Messiaen's famous quartet by The Houston Symphony Chamber Players under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach (piano), accompanied by Eric Halen (violin), Desmond Hoebig (cello) and David Peck (clarinet).

Examines the life and work of the Nobel Prize-winning poet. In an interview conducted shortly before his death, Neruda discusses his worldview and explains his writing methods.

This biographical profile of M.F.K. Fisher (1908-1992) features intimate conversations with the American author and imaginatively visualized excerpts from her writings.

Focusing on the beat poetry scene of the late Fifties, this film poem celebrates a colorful generation of American poets, featuring interviews with Stuart Perkoff, Aya, Jack Hirschman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Allen Ginsberg, who read their poems and discuss what it means to be a poet in America.

Novelist Jane Rule's discussions of the craft and her philosophy of writing are blended with readings from Rule's novels and stories and an interview with Smith College professor Marilyn Schuster, who discusses plot, characterization and other aspects of fiction, moral statements in literature, and issues of freedom of expression and censorship.

Profiles the life and work of lesbian novelist, essayist, teacher and political activist Jane Rule. Blending interviews with archival footage and dramatic evocation's of Rule's writings, the documentary examines the author's lifelong interest in the intricacies and complexities of human relationships and communities, her continuing involvement in the struggle against censorship, and her conviction that we must all be able to live and love truthfully.

Scandalize My Name examines the way Red Scare politics were used to impede the emergence of African-Americans as full participants in the political, social, and cultural aspects of postwar American life. Because television was born into this era and adopted the political attitudes of the time, the story is told through the confrontations of African-American performers with blacklists, loyalty oaths, and discrimination in casting.

Featuring poetry performances that often resemble contemporary rap, this film examines an important aspect of Afro-Caribbean cultural heritage.