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Description
Allan Wilson, a groundbreaking researcher and a lightning rod for controversy, revolutionized science and galvanized the scientific community through his quantitative biochemical approach to the history of evolution. Drawing upon the insights and recollections of those who knew Wilson best, this program-narrated by paleoanthropologist Tim White, codiscoverer of the hominid "Lucy"--Correlates milestones of his remarkable career with his enduring contributions...
Description
Comatose after a car accident, Paul Nadler defied medical prognoses that he would never walk or talk again. This award-winning program illustrates his recovery from severe brain trauma and his return to a highly physical and creative lifestyle. Using the innovative visual approach Nadler developed as a television director, the film allows the artist to explain his frustrations and goals in his own unique manner while interweaving the commentary of...
Description
Wealthy nations have sent vast amounts of monetary, medical, and food assistance to Africa. Yet much of the continent remains mired in poverty, famine, and bloodshed. Challenging viewers to rethink traditional humanitarian approaches, this film follows four young Americans as they experience firsthand the scope and intractability of Africa's suffering. From Cairo to Cape Town, viewers are taken across war-torn, famine-ridden, and AIDS-ravaged countries...
Description
The world breaks every one, Ernest Hemingway wrote in A Farewell to Arms, "and afterward many are strong at the broken places." This program applies those sentiments to the Great Depression and what it taught many Americans about creativity and survival. A multitude of well-known cultural figures-including Mickey Rooney, Jerry Stiller, Ray Bradbury, Phyllis Diller, and other artists and entertainers-share vivid memories of the period, accompanied...
Description
Religion in Bali is marked by rituals of high artistry aimed at harmonizing the forces of darkness and light, as this program shows. Ancestor worship, karma, and other key concepts are illustrated through lavish, rare, high-definition footage of a cremation ceremony-considered a joyous prelude to reincarnation-a birth ceremony, a puberty rite, and a wedding. A priest explains the interplay between humans and the spirit world, with input from scholar...
Description
In 2003, the Beaudry family left their comfortable middle-class home to backpack across the world. A year after their adventure, Samuel Beaudry took another journey-one that left his wife, Maryse Chartrand, with shocking questions. How could a life-loving person take his own life? When mourning exhausts itself, what comes next? Can a family survive suicide? This documentary, originally planned as a record of the global trek, is Maryse's quest to understand...
Description
DNA testing has become a standard tool in genealogical research, but it takes more than saliva swabs and lab reports to truly understand one's ancestry. In this program, two young New Zealanders of Polynesian descent undergo DNA sampling, wrestle with the surprising results, and then embark on a journey of discovery, searching for their roots across the Pacific and into Asia. Their voyage-by land, sea, and air-traces in reverse the steps their ancestors...
Description
The elaborate rituals and timeless pageantry of Bali make the island unforgettable for visitors, yet few really understand what lies behind the dances, the costumes, and the ceremonies. With gorgeous, high-definition footage this program delves into the spiritual beliefs at the heart of Balinese traditions. Viewers observe the powerful Barong dance, in which participants fall into a trance and are later revived by mantras, and witness a frenetic invocation...