Films with: Portman, Rachel

Belle

Although Dido Elizabeth Belle, an eighteenth-century English woman of mixed race, is raised in privilege by her aristocratic great-uncle and his wife, she is denied a proper social standing because of her skin color. But when Dido falls in love with a young idealist lawyer who aspires to create positive change, she finds herself caught between two worlds.

DVD 13020

Beloved

After Paul D. finds his old slave friend Sethe in Ohio and moves in with her and her daughter Denver, a strange girl comes along by the name of "Beloved". Sethe & Denver take her in and then strange things start to happen.

DVD 3777

Dog's purpose

It shares the soulful and surprising story of one devoted dog who finds the meaning of his own existence through the lives of the humans he teaches to laugh and love.

DVD 12238

Duchess

Chronicles the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. She was reviled for her extravagant political and personal life. She was a vibrant beauty and celebrity of her time. Georgiana is trapped in an unhappy marital triangle with her husband and his live-in mistress. She falls passionately in love with Earl Grey, an ambitious young politician, and the affair causes a bitter conflict with her husband and threatens to erupt into a scandal. Now she must face an agonizing choice between her hopeless but passionate love affair or her responsibilities as a duchess.

DVD 6316

Grey Gardens

Based on the life stories Edith "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale and her daughter, Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale who are the eccentric aunt and first cousin of Jackie Onassis. They were raised as Park Avenue débutantes, but withdrew from New York society. They took shelter at their Long Island summer home called 'Grey Gardens.' As their wealth and contact with the outside world dwindled, so did their grasp on reality. They were reintroduced to the world when international tabloids learned of a health department raid on their home. At that point, Jackie swooped in to save her relatives.

DVD 6861

Human stain

Coleman Silk is a respected professor at a New England college who suddenly finds his life unraveling after a comment he makes about some African-American students is misinterpreted as a racial slur. As the scandal heats up, Nathan Zuckerman, a writer researching a biography of Silk, begins to dig deeply into Silk's life. Eventually, matters are made worse when Coleman's affair with a young married janitor named Faunia Farley is exposed. But amid the controversy, Silk must struggle to keep his greatest secret, a secret he's held for the majority of his life, from becoming made public.

DVD 6256

Legend of Bagger Vance

The protagonist of this metaphysical fable is Rannulph Junah, Southern aristocrat and World War I hero. In a tournament in Savannah, he defeats two golf pros by following the teachings of his guru, Bagger Vance, a black mystic serving as his caddie.

DVD 2037

Manchurian candidate

When his army unit is ambushed during the first Gulf War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw saves his fellow soldiers just as his commanding officer, Major Ben Marco, is knocked unconscious. Using the incident for political gain, Shaw eventually becomes a vice-presidential nominee, but Marco is haunted by dreams of what really happened in Iraq. As Marco investigates, the story begins to unravel. He begins to figure that the entire unit was kidnapped and brainwashed as part of a plot to get Shaw into the White House. Now the Manchurian Global corporation appears desperate to stop him from finding out.

DVD 9577

Nicholas Nickleby

Nicholas becomes the head of the family when his father dies unexpectedly. Keeping watch over his mother and his sister Kate becomes an even greater challenge when Nicholas discovers that his father lost the family fortune due to ill-advised investments. Without a shilling to his name, Nicholas turns to his wealthy but unforgiving Uncle Ralph for help.

DVD 3965

Race

Jesse Owens' quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history launches him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler's vision of Aryan supremacy.

DVD 11665

Score

The film brings Hollywood's elite composers together to give viewers a privileged look inside the musical challenges and creative secrecy of the world's most international music genre: the film score. A film composer is a musical scientist of sorts, and the influence they have to complement a film and garner powerful reactions from global audiences can be a daunting task to take on. Includes interviews with contemporary film composers and others in the motion picture industry.

DVD 12401

Their finest

Set in 1940 London, the story is an ode to how women played a major role in boosting national morale during the Blitz of London in the second World War.

DVD 12322

To Wong Foo, thanks for everything, Julie Newmar

En route from New York City to Hollywood for a drag queen beauty pageant, Noxeema, Vida and Chi Chi are stranded in a tiny Midwestern town when their 1967 Cadillac breaks down. When their glitz and glamour wake up the sleepy local citizens, the stage is set for an outrageously funny weekend.

DVD 1977

War of the buttons

No stones in slingshots. No skirmishes too late in the day. They're rules of war for the youngsters of two neighboring Irish villages. And here's another rule: if you spit-shake on something, you better follow through. Kids will be kids. But sometimes they, in their own fanciful ways, will be adults. It's a winning tale in which buttons are the spoils of a would-be war.

DVD 9824