Films with: Reid, Vernon

There are Jews here

An intimate look at four once thriving American Jewish communities now fighting for survival. In Latrobe, PA we witness the closing of the synagogue through the story of longtime member Mickey Radman who keeps the doors open long enough for the Bat Mitzvah of the shul's oldest member's granddaughter. In Butte, MT, we meet the indefatigable Nancy Oyer who tries to maintain her community while struggling with her personal health. In Laredo a young interfaith couple is torn between reviving their fading community or moving to a thriving one in San Antonio that can nurture the spiritual growth of their young family. And, in a twist, we meet a Los Angeles family who takes up Dothan, Alabama's bold offer to provide Jews up to $50,000 to relocate to Dothan's Jewish community.

DVD 13063

Through a lens darkly black photographers and the emergence of a people /

Inspired by Deborah Willis's book, Reflections in Black, Through a Lens Darkly, casts a broad net that begins with filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris's family album. It considers the difference between black photographers who use the camera to define themselves, their people, and their culture and some white photographers who, historically, have demeaned African-Americans through racist imagery. The film embraces both historical material (African-Americans who were slaves, who fought in the Civil War, were victims of lynchings, or were pivotal in the Civil Rights Movement) and contemporary images made by such luminaries as Roy DeCarava, Gordon Parks, and Carrie Mae Weems. The film is a cornucopia of Americana that reveals deeply disturbing truths about the history of race relations while expressing joyous, life-affirming sentiments about the ability of artists and amateurs alike to assert their identity through the photographic lens.

DVD 10904

Twelve disciples of Nelson Mandela

"Confronted with the death of his stepfather, director Thomas Allen Harris embarks on a journey to understand the man who raised him, Pule Benjamin Leinaeng ("Lee") - an ANC foot-soldier who sacrificed his life for the freedom of his country. As part of the first wave of South African freedom fighters, Lee and his comrades left their homeland in 1960 to broadcast to the world the brutality of apartheid and to raise support for the African National Congress ("ANC") and its leaders, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo. This film is an intimate tale about an African-American family, the anti-apartheid movement and the quest for reconciliation between a father and son."--IMDb.com.

DVD 8989