Films with: Gardner, Robert

African carving a Dogon Kanaga mask /

Examines the ceremonies and rituals surrounding the Kanaga mask. Shows the ritual of carving the mask and presents parts of the ceremony in which the mask is used to release the spirit of a dead man.

DVD 7973

Caroline Leaf & Mary Beams

Caroline Leaf's animated work springs from her expert storytelling and pioneering animation techniques. One significant contribution to filmmaking is her technique of manipulating sand on a light-box, which she began as a student at Harvard. She later worked as an animator and director at the National Film Board of Canada. Her film The street garnered an Academy Award nomination in 1976. On this episode, she screens the remarkable The owl who married a goose: an Eskimo legend and parts of The street and The metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa which were works-in-progress at the time. Mary Beams' hand-drawn films carry themes of memory, erotic fantasy and feminism. She taught animation at Harvard from 1972 to 1977, and by 1988, she was a partner in Media Ink, Inc., with a weekly animated political spot on NBC's Sunday Today show. She has also taught at the University of South Florida and Northern Illinois University. Here, she screens The tub, Solo film, Going home sketch-book, Piano rub, and her work-in-progress, Quilt film.

DVD 4746

Cities of light the rise and fall of Islamic Spain /

Traces the history of Islamic Spain. Tells how in Southern Spain the Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together and thrived, and the seeds of the Renaissance were sown, but within a few centuries the fragile union of these people dissipated and the time of tolerance was lost forever.

DVD 5345

Dead birds

A photographic and ethnographic study which was sponsored by the Peabody Museum, from February 1961 to November 1963, of the Dani, a people dwelling in the Grand Valley of the Baliem, high in the mountains of western New Guinea.

DVD 5611

Forest of bliss

A film without voiceover commentary, involves the viewer in an intense encounter with daily life in Benares, India's most holy city, from one sunrise to the next. It looks at specifics, and but also opens itself to larger concerns such as the eternal cycles and metamorphoses of water and earth, flesh and wood and fire, wind and the spirit.

DVD 7976

Nuer

Presents the most important relationships and events in the lives of the Nuer, Nilotic people in Sudan and on the Ethiopian border. Demonstrates the vital significance of cattle and their central importance in all Nuer thought and behavior.

DVD 4970

Ricky Leacock

From his first film Ricky Leacock has been obsessed with capturing on film the feeling of "being there," which has led him to technological innovations and breakthrough films that fueled the emerging "direct cinema" movement. In this interview Leacock demonstrated super-8 sync technology and screened excerpts from his films Republicans: the new breed, Queen of Apollo, and rare footage of Indira Gandhi.

DVD 4747

Time Life's Lost civilizations

This Emmy-Award winning series for Outstanding Informational Series features original location cinematography in 25 countries, taking the viewer around the world on an incredible journey from ancient Mesopotamia to modern Tibet.

DVD 3522