Lyn Goldfarb

A 7-part series telling dramatic and diverse stories of struggle and survival during the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. From the producers of Eyes on the Prize, this series was met with critical acclaim and won both an Emmy Award for writing and a duPont-Columbia Award.

Commanding shoguns and samurai warriors, exotic geisha and exquisite artisans—all were part of the Japanese “renaissance”; a period between the 16th and 19th Centuries when Japan went from chaos and violence to a land of ritual refinement and peace. But stability came at a price: for nearly 250 years, Japan was a land closed to the Western world, ruled by the Shogun under his absolute power and control. Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire brings to life the unknown story of a mysterious empire, its relationship with the West, and the forging of a nation that would emerge as one of the most important countries in the world.

Two thousand years ago, at the dawn of the first century, the ancient world was ruled by Rome. Through the experiences, memories and writings of the people who lived it, this series tells the story of that time - the emperors and slaves, poets and plebeians, who wrested order from chaos, built the most cosmopolitan society the world had ever seen and shaped the Roman empire in the first century A.D.

Two thousand years ago, at the dawn of the first century, the world was ruled by Rome. The Roman Empire struggled with problems which are surprisingly familiar: violent coups, assassination, overarching ambition, civil war, clashes between the classes as well as the sexes and questions of personal freedom versus government control. But from the chaos, the Roman Empire would emerge stronger and more dazzling than ever before. Soon, it would stretch from Britain across Europe to the shores of North Africa; and from Spain across Greece and the Middle East to the borders of Asia. It would embrace hundreds of languages and religions and till its many cultures into a rich soil from which Western civilization would grow. Rome would become the world’s first and most enduring superpower.

Covers six weeks of the lives of Sasha Politkovsky, a prominent TV journalist, and his family. Chronicles the events of 1990 as glasnost and perestroika lift the lid of totalitarianism in the Soviet Union.

Japan blossomed into its Renaissance at approximately the same time as Europe. Unlike the West, it flourished not through conquest and exploration, but by fierce and defiant isolation. And the man at the heart of this empire was Tokugawa Ieyasu, a warlord who ruled with absolute control. This period is explored through myriad voices-- the Shogun, the Samurai, the Geisha, the poet, the peasant and the Westerner who glimpsed into this secret world.

Combining rare archival footage with interviews recorded forty years after the event, this documentary tells the story of the Women’s Emergency Brigade during the 1936–37 General Motors sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan. While national attention focused on the men occupying the factories, women—auto workers and the families of strikers—organized food supplies, picket lines, and public demonstrations that helped sustain the historic labor victory. The film highlights their long-overlooked role in the American labor movement.

The second atomic bomb blast over Nagasaki in August 1945 has become known as "the forgotten bomb." Less than five months later, the U.S. military staged an all-star football game on a killing field in Nagasaki, amid lingering radiation levels.. Why was the game played there? And why does the Nagasaki bombing provide so many lessons and warnings for us today as nuclear dangers proliferate?

EDDY'S WORLD is a fascinating portrait of a 98 year old working toy inventor. Best known for the iconic "chattering teeth" and 800 classic toys, he shares his passion for creativity and his philosophies of life and aging. Eddy lives in a retirement community and we follow him through his daily routine - working on new models in his garage machine shop, writing short stories on his computer, creating translucent lithophane portraits with his new 3D printer., walking and exercising. Eddy began designing toys on the Batfish Submarine during World War II. He is an endearing story teller who believes that optimism and new ideas keep him young and healthy.

BRIDGING THE DIVIDE tells the little known story of Tom Bradley, the first African American mayor elected in a major U.S. city with an overwhelmingly white majority. In 1973, his extraordinary multi-racial coalition redefined Los Angeles, transformed the national dialogue on race, and set the foundation for sustainable interracial coalitions that encouraged elections of minority candidates nationwide, most notably President Barack Obama. The film brings into sharp focus issues of police brutality in minority communities and the challenges of police reform. BRIDGING THE DIVIDE is the story of the pressures which face our cities, the politics of race and the complexities of coalitions in a changing America.

Narrated by Rosanne Cash and featuring music from Bruce Springsteen, this timely film connects the paths of two American icons—songwriter Woody Guthrie (who penned "This Land is Your Land") and novelist John Steinbeck (who wrote "The Grapes of Wrath")—as they forged a bond in a campaign to ease the suffering of migrants in California, and their legacy today.

In 1934, famed writer and socialist Upton Sinclair swept the Democratic primary for governor of California, leading a mass End Poverty movement. To defeat him that fall, his opponents created one of the dirtiest, and most influential, campaigns in U.S. history, and Hollywood took its first all-out plunge into politics.