Directing
COINTELPRO 101 exposes illegal surveillance, disruption, and outright murder committed by the US government in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. “COINTELPRO” refers to the official FBI COunter INTELigence PROgram carried out to surveil, imprison, and eliminate leaders of social justice movements and to disrupt, divide, and destroy the movements as well. Many of the government's crimes are still unknown. Through interviews with activists who experienced these abuses first-hand, with rare historical footage, the film provides an educational introduction to a period of intense repression and draws relevant lessons for the present and future.
Song for Cesar is a documentary film with a unique view of the life and legacy of Cesar Chavez and the farmworker movement. The film tells a previously untold story about the musicians and artists who dedicated their time, creativity and even reputations to peacefully advance Cesar Chavez's movement to gain equality and justice for America's suffering farmworkers.
The Guillotine examines the fascinating and bizarre history of the "national razor" that started out strictly for execution and then became a source of entertainment and amusement. In Scotland they called it "the Maiden," in England "the Halifax Gibbet," and in France "the Machine," "the Widow," and "the Guillotine." It existed for hundreds of years, but found its home in France during the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror when nearly 20,000 men, women and children died beneath its blade. Through dramatic reenactments and archival documentation of famous executions, the program explores the early technology of the guillotine and its bloodstained career throughout Europe.
Berlin Wall: Escape To Freedom reveals the stories of courageous East Germans who dared to challenge the authorities and the Berlin Wall in their bid for freedom. From tunnelling under the Wall, to smuggling refugees in a car’s trunk, to flights over the Wall, uncover the details of sensational escape stories. It takes us into the heart of the Death Strip – a lethal zone next to the Wall filled with barbed wire, mines, attack dogs, tank traps, and armed guards - and shows us how authorities learned from each escape to make the Wall stronger and harder to beat. Finally, the Wall that was strengthened over 28 years was opened in one unbelievable night and yet the divisions of generations past still linger today in modern Berlin.
Legacy of Torture chronicles a case that began in 1971 when thirteen alleged “Black militants” were arrested and tortured to obtain confessions. In 1975, a Federal Court in San Francisco threw out all of the evidence obtained in New Orleans. 34 years later, in 2005, two lead San Francisco Police Department investigators from over 30 years ago, along with FBI agents, have re-opened the case. Rather than submit to proceedings they felt were abusive of the law and the Constitution, five men chose to stand in contempt of court and were sent to jail. They were released when the Grand Jury term expired, but have been told by prosecutors that "it isn't over yet."
