Sharon Wood

The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy itself, which began in 1927 when Louis B. Mayer, then head of MGM, led other prominent members of the industry in forming this professional honorary organization. Two years later the Academy began bestowing awards, which were nicknamed "Oscar," and quickly came to represent the pinnacle of cinematic achievement.

Exuberant, eye-opening movie that serves up a dazzling hundred-year history of the role of gay men and lesbians have had on the silver screen. Film contains fabulous footage from 120 films showing the changing face of cinema sexuality, from cruel stereotypes to covert love to the activist triumphs of the 1990s.

During the Nazi regime, there was widespread persecution of homosexual men, which started in 1871 with the Paragraph 175 of the German Penal Code. Thousands were murdered in concentration camps. This powerful and disturbing documentary, narrated by Rupert Everett, presents for the first time the largely untold testimonies of some of those who survived.

A multi-racial group of college students in a weekend racial sensitivity workshop discuss affirmative action, self-segregation, internalized racism and cultural identity. The film continues as they return to their campuses (University of Massachusetts, Texas A&M, Chico State, and U.C. Berkeley) and visit home.

Transcending cultural barriers and consistently going against the grain, female Nepali climber Pasang Lhamu Sherpa attempted to summit Everest four times in the early nineties. Although she was not allowed to attend school as a child, Pasang did not let that stop her from pursuing her dreams. After founding her own trekking company in Kathmandu, she blazed a trail for Nepali women via her efforts to summit Everest. Proving how big you can dream and how far you can go to achieve those dreams, she left a legacy not only for the family she has left behind, but for the myriad women following in her footsteps.

John Ford was a master filmmaker with an influential style.

A compelling study of the Hopi that captures their deep spirituality and reveals their integration of art and daily life. Amidst beautiful images of Hopi land and life, a variety of Hopi — a farmer, a religious elder, a grandmother, a painter, a potter, and a weaver — speak about the preservation of the Hopi way. Their philosophy of living in balance and harmony with nature is a model to the Western world of an environmental ethic in action.

Parents talk about their gay and lesbian children, and how they came to accept their lifestyle.

Isamu Noguchi was a sculptor, designer, architect, and craftsman. Throughout his life he struggled to see, alter, and recreate his natural surroundings. His gardens and fountains were transformations meant to bring out the beauty their locations had always possessed.

This documentary examines the 80 year career of journalist George Seldes, his encounters with Lenin and J. Edgar Hoover, his long battle against press censorship, the tobacco lobby, and his eventual blacklisting.With Ben Bagdikian, Jeff Cohen, Daliel Ellsberg, Ralph Nader, and Marian Seldes

Novelist Alice Walker narrates a documentary about the oldest independent radio station in the world, KPFA radio.

Follows the people behind California's historic No-on-8 campaign to defend same-sex marriage through exclusive behind the scenes footage, interwoven with the national history of marriage equality since the 1950s.

These film clips tell the story of the human experience of living with HIV/AIDS. People with HIV/AIDS, their husbands and wives, their families, their doctors and health workers talk about how HIV/AIDS has affected their lives. These are the personal video stories from Cameroon and Zimbabwe in which people speak out about their hopes and fears, their struggle against pain and abandonment and their fight for greater awareness and understanding. The film challenges stereotypes and calls for a concerted effort to face up to the epidemic.

Born into great wealth and privilege, during the 19th Century Lev Tolstoy turned away from celebrity and high society and instead looked inward to become a writer who transformed fiction writing and the novel into fine art.