The Great Depression: A Job at Ford's

Unabomber: The Secret History

An overview on the actions, hunt and capture of Ted Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber.

The Great Depression

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.

Shellmound

“Shellmound” is the story of how one location was transformed from a sacred center of pre-historic cultures to a commercial mecca for modern people. What began as a Native American burial ground three thousand years ago, was transformed first into an amusement park, and later an industrial age paint factory. Now, the tainted ancient soil sits beneath the glittering lights of Banana Republic, Victoria’s Secret, and the AMC movie theaters. “Shellmound” examines the decisions made during the recent toxic cleanup, excavation, and construction of the Bay Street mall through the eyes of the city of Emeryville, the developer, the archaeologists, and the native Californians who worked on the site.

Journeys from Berlin/1971

An epic meditation on psychoanalysis, the Baader-Meinhof, feminism, and pre-revolutionary Russia.

Yosemite: The Fate of Heaven

A documentary about Yosemite National Park.

Land of Gold

California history unfolds along with the making of an opera in Jon Else‘s entrancing documentary. Returning to the work of composer John Adams and librettist/director Peter Sellars, the subjects of his film Wonders Are Many, Else peeks behind the curtain as the pair prepare their collaboration Girls of the Golden West for its 2017 San Francisco Opera premiere. Ostensibly a look at the nuts-and-bolts of production from informal rehearsals to glittering opening night, the documentary also investigates the Gold Rush era that inspired the show. Soprano Julia Bullock is mesmerizing, as the opera’s star and the film’s narrator, employing passages from a real-life diary to make vivid the boom-and-bust of a rapacious time.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Rust Never Sleeps

Concert film covering Neil Young's October 22 1978 concert performance at the Cow Palace with nearly 20 songs (including two versions of "Hey Hey, My My," his nod to the punk movement), acoustic and electric (with long-time companions Crazy Horse), dating back to his Buffalo Springfield days ("I Am a Child") and continuing through popular solo numbers like "Cinnamon Girl" and the extended "Like a Hurricane."

The Day After Trinity

Through interviews with Manhattan Project scientists and newly declassified archival footage, this documentary examines the life of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his leadership of the Manhattan Project. The film traces the development and testing of the first atomic bomb and follows Oppenheimer’s later opposition to nuclear proliferation during the early years of the Cold War.

Fruitvale Station

Oakland, California. Young Afro-American Oscar Grant crosses paths with family members, friends, enemies and strangers before facing his fate on the platform at Fruitvale Station, in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009.

The Times of Harvey Milk

Harvey Milk was an outspoken human rights activist and one of the first openly gay U.S. politicians elected to public office; even after his assassination in 1978, he continues to inspire disenfranchised people around the world.

Off the Wall

Pseudo-documentary showing footage shot by a television crew studying the life of a young, middle-class drifter named John Little, a fellow who describes himself as "the last of the hippies."

Sing Faster: The Stagehands' Ring Cycle

With its four operas, seventeen-hour running time and months of rehearsal, Wagner's "Ring Cycle" is a daunting undertaking for any opera company. Jon Else goes backstage to show this rare event entirely from the point of view of union stagehands at the San Francisco Opera.

Arthur and Lillie

A film about Arthur and Lillie Mayer, 89 and 86 years old and still young. Arthur can remember being taken to the first movie show in America, in 1895; Lillie was among the first American suffragettes. Arthur Mayer reminisces about his famous publicity stunts for Paramount, his Broadway horror film theatre, and beginning the importation of great European films with Rossellini's Open City. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Soundtrack for a Revolution

Tells the story of the American civil rights movement through its powerful music - the freedom songs protesters sang on picket lines, in mass meetings, and in jail cells as they fought for justice and equality. Features new performances of the freedom songs by top artists; archival footage; and interviews with civil rights foot soldiers and leaders. Freedom songs evolved from slave chants, from the labor movement, and especially from the black church. Music enabled blacks to sing words they could not say, and it was crucial in helping the protesters as they faced down brutal aggression with dignity and non-violence. The infectious energy of the songs swept people up and empowered them to fight for their rights. This film celebrates the vitality of this music.

Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?

Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? is a 1977 documentary film about Dorothy and Bob DeBolt, an American couple who adopted 14 children [12 at the start of filming], some of whom are severely disabled war orphans -- in addition to raising Dorothy's five biological children and Bob's biological daughter. The film won an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1978. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2007.

The Island President

Follows the globe-trotting journey of President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, the lowest-lying country in the world, who, after bringing democracy to his country, takes up the fight to keep it from disappearing under the sea.