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Anthropology and Sociology

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Stories We Tell

   2012    Culture
Polley is both filmmaker and detective as she investigates the secrets kept by a family of storytellers. She playfully interviews and interrogates a cast of characters of varying reliability, eliciting refreshingly candid, yet mostly contradictory, answers to the same questions. As each relates their version of the family mythology, present-day recollections shift into nostalgia-tinged glimpses of their mother, who departed too soon, leaving a trail of unanswered questions. Polley unravels the paradoxes to reveal the essence of family: always complicated, warmly messy and fiercely loving.
Stories We Tell explores the elusive nature of truth and memory, but at its core is a deeply personal film about how our narratives shape and define us as individuals and families.

Cooked: Air

   2016    Culture
Of the four elements, air is the most elusive because we can't see it. There's something very magical about it. One of the ways we transform food is by getting air into it. Think of the soufflé, think of the loaf of bread. These things are elevated by the fact that they now contain air. They're ethereal. Visit food labs and Moroccan fields as Michael Pollan delves into the science of bread-making and the nature of gluten.
Series: Cooked

One of Us

   2017    Culture
The film explores the opaque world of Hasidic Judaism through a cadre of fascinating characters. Through unique and intimate access over the span of three years, acclaimed observational filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady delve into the lives of three brave individuals who have recently made the decision to leave the insular ultra-orthodox community at the expense of all else, including relationships with their family members and--in one case--their personal safety.
With a sensitive and compassionate eye, One of Us chronicles the achingly cinematic journey of people in search of a personal freedom that comes only at a very high cost.

Fyre

   2019    Culture
The Fyre Festival was billed as a luxury music experience on a posh private island, but it failed spectacularly in the hands of a cocky entrepreneur. Fyre smolders with agonizing tension when that party in paradise goes awry, but this slickly assembled documentary reserves its greatest horror for damning observations about the dangers of wealth.

Kid 90

   2021    Culture
As a teenager in the 90s, Soleil Moon Frye carried a video camera everywhere she went documenting her group of friends as they grew up in Hollywood and New York City. Frye spent four years going through footage she had shot and used hundreds of hours of films to build an intimate look at young Hollywood starlets growing up in the 1990s.
David Arquette, Balthazar Getty, Brian Austin Green, Stephen Dorff, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Danny Boy O'Connor, Heather McComb appear in the film, while Harold Hunter, Justin Pierce, Jenny Lewis, Sara Gilbert, Charlie Sheen, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, Corey Feldman, Michael Rapaport, and Jonathan Brandis appear in the film through footage shot by Frye.

Cooked: Fire

   2016    Culture
As he tries his hand at baking, brewing and braising, acclaimed food writer Michael Pollan explores how cooking transforms food and shapes our world. In the first espisode, with help from Aboriginal hunters and a barbecue pit master, Pollan shows how fire shaped human gastronomy, and weighs our duty to the animals we eat.
Series: Cooked