Directing
30 for 30 is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This currently includes four "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series under the ESPN Films Presents title in 2011–2012, and a series of 30 for 30 Shorts shown through the ESPN.com website. The series has also expanded to include Soccer Stories, which aired in advance of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and audio podcasts. This entry refers to the main Volumes of the series presented by ESPN
The Herlihys are a working class family from Chicago whose three children take wildly divergent paths: Brian joins the Marines right out of High School and goes to Vietnam, Michael becomes involved in the civil rights movement and after campaigning for Bobby Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy becomes involved in radical politics, and Katie gets pregnant, moves to San Francisco and joins a hippie commune. Meanwhile, the Taylors are an African-American family living in the deep South. When Willie Taylor, a minister and civil rights organizer, is shot to death, his son Emmet moves to the city and eventually joins the Black Panthers, serving as a bodyguard for Fred Hampton.
The story of the discovery of the AIDS epidemic and the political infighting of the scientific community hampering the early fight with it.
Using previously unheard audiotapes recorded shortly after John Belushi’s death, director R.J. Cutler’s documentary feature examines the too-short life of the once-in-a-generation talent who captured the hearts and funny bones of devoted audiences.
Real-life letters written by American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines during the Vietnam War to their families and friends back home. Archive footage of the war and news coverage thereof augment the first-person "narrative" by men and women who were in the war, some of whom did not survive it.
Jack Cooper could be a world-class baseball pitcher if he didn't keep buckling under the pressure. He tries to keep his spirits up after he's traded to a minor league team but loses all hope when he discovers that Ed, one of his teammates, is a chimp. Ed used to be the team mascot, but was promoted to third base when the owners realized he had a talent for baseball. As Jack struggles to get used to his new surroundings, Ed helps him regain his confidence on and off the field.
In the world of the Murkworks where nightmares are made, the evil Synonamess Botch hatches a scheme to make non-stop nightmares. Only Ralph and Mumford, misfits from the cheery land of Frivoli where good dreams are made, can stop him.
Revisits President John F. Kennedy's presidential legacy through 21 of the more than 800,000 condolence letters written to Jackie Kennedy after JFK's assassination. Based on a book by Ellen Fitzpatrick
Alzheimer's disease is the second-most-feared illness in America, after cancer. Is our anxiety justified? HBO presents this multi-part campaign that looks at the causes, symptoms, treatments and possible cures for this insidious disease.
A beautiful and disturbing film recounts America’s story from the environment’s point of view. From the arrival of Columbus to the simple wilderness living of the 16th and 17th centuries, through the agrarian lifestyle of the 18th century, the changes from the Industrial Revolution, to the 20th century when most of the planet’s resources have been depleted — this film examines the North American landscape and all the wildlife destruction, deforestation, soil depletion and pollution that have been wrought to make the American Dream come true.
Hollywoods biggest talents explore what is the recipe for blockbuster, flops, and how absolute happenstance and controlled luck can make movie magic.
Memorial: Letters from American Soldiers is a 1991 American short documentary film directed by Bill Couturié. It shows footage from World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War, overlaid with readings of letters from US troops fighting in each war. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.
Celebrating the people of the real West Wing, this documentary features interviews with former Presidents Carter, Clinton, and Ford, Secretary of State Kissinger, and more than a dozen White House aides, chiefs of staff, and press secretaries.
This documentary film comprises of interviews with five Vietnam War veterans in 1982 in prison for violent crimes committed after leaving the military, interwoven with film and television clips from the period. All five interviewed were decorated for bravery and none of the five men had a criminal record prior to going to Vietnam.
The documentary primarily focuses on two ex-players: Jim Otto and Roger Stillwell. Otto was a star center for the Oakland Raiders during the 1960s and 1970s. On the surface, his story seems to represent all that is right about pro football; after a long career he was elected to the NFL’s Hall of Fame and then enjoyed great business success as a restaurant franchise owner. Viewers learn, however, that Otto’s health is terrible, though was just 46 at the time of filming. The most-moving story in Disposable Heroes belongs to Roger Stillwell, a 6-foot-6 defensive lineman from Stanford University, who achieved a brief moment in the sun with the Chicago Bears. Stillwell’s career ended in an instant during a 1977 game against the Minnesota Vikings.
On the eve of 1987's Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, surviving families and friends of people who have died of AIDS prepare panels to be added to a large-scale memorial quilt project. Drawing from the sea of names memorialized, director Robert Epstein focuses on the lives of six people. Alongside the intimate profiles offered, through news footage and interviews, Epstein puts the AIDS crisis in the larger context of social and government response to the disease.
By the mid-1980s Paul Westhead had worn out his welcome in the NBA. The best offer he could find came from an obscure small college with little history of basketball. In the same city where he had won an NBA championship with Magic and Kareem, Westhead was determined to perfect his non-stop run-and-gun offensive system at Loyola Marymount. His shoot-first offense appeared doomed to fail until Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble, two talented players from Westhead’s hometown of Philadelphia, arrived gift-wrapped at his doorstep. With Gathers and Kimble leading a record scoring charge, Westhead’s system suddenly dazzled the world of college basketball and turned conventional thinking on its head. But then, early in the 1989-90 season, Gathers collapsed during a game and was diagnosed with an abnormal heartbeat. Determined to play, Gathers returned three games later, but less than three months later, he tragically died on the court.
Produced by Fireman's Fund Insurance Company and directed by Academy Award®-winning documentary filmmaker Bill Couturiè, "Into the Fire" goes beyond the hero image and into the hearts and minds of firefighters. Through intimate interviews with firefighters from big-city engine companies and small-town volunteer fire departments, the film asks - and answers - the question, "Why do they do it?"
Ten families read letters from their loved ones killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom in this powerful and moving HBO documentary by Oscar and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Bill Couturie (Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam). Photos of the soldiers in military and civilian life are shown as family members read the final correspondence received from Iraq and share their thoughts and memories about the fallen troops and the realities of war.
