Independent Television Service

A riveting examination of masculinity, sexism, and homophobia in hop-hop culture. Delivering a self-described "loving critique" of rap music, director Byron Hurt - a former star college quarterback, longtime hip-hop fan, and now gender violence prevention educator - pays tribute to the power and creativity of hip-hop while challenging the rap industry to take responsibility for glamorizing destructive, deeply conservative sterotypes of manhood. ...

Award-winning filmmaker Byron Hurt offers a fascinating exploration of the soul food tradition, its relevance to black cultural identity, and its continuing popularity despite the known dangers of high-fat, high-calorie diets. Inspired by his father's lifelong love affair with soul food even in the face of a life-threatening health crisis, Hurt discovers that the relationship between African-Americans and dishes like ribs, grits, and fried chicken...

Examines the life and legacy of African American poet, memoirist, and civil rights worker Maya Angelou, from her upbringing in the Depression-era South to her work with Malcolm X in Ghana to the recitation of her inaugural poem for President Bill Clinton. Includes Angelou's own words woven together with archival photographs and videos as well as interviews with Angelou's friends and family.

Explores the conflicts over land use in Woodford County, Kentucky, from the perspectives of five participants: a developer, a farmer turned developer, a reluctant farmer activist, and two anti-growth activists. Presents the attempt of one community in the Bluegrass region of central Kentucky to reconcile the conflicting notions of progress, preservation, individual and community rights, and the American way.

"The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution is the first feature length documentary to explore the Black Panther Party, its significance to the broader American culture, its cultural and political awakening for black people, and the painful lessons wrought when a movement derails. Master documentarian Stanley Nelson goes straight to the source, weaving a treasure trove of rare archival footage with the voices of the people who were there: police,...

"Karen Skloss explores the meaning of family through a personal journey to understand both the legacy of her birth and the non-traditional family she created by co-parenting with her ex-boyfriend. As an unwed teenager, Skloss's mother went to a home for unwed mothers and gave her up for adoption in 1975. Now as the pair reconnects, Karen contemplates her relationship with her own daughter, Jasmine. Young, pregnant, single and unprepared, the daughter/director...

Documentary providing an intimate portrait of Iraqis living under U.S. occupation. The principal focus is Dr. Riyadh, an Iraqi medical doctor, father of six, and Sunni political candidate who is an outspoken critic of the occupation but passionate about the need to establish democracy in Iraq. As his waiting room is filled daily with patients suffering the physical and mental effects of ever-increasing violence, Dr. Riyadh struggles to understand...

Tells the extraordinary story of a postal clerk and a librarian who managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history with very modest means.

The program documents a year in the life of Mariachi Halcon, a top-ranked competitive high school mariachi band in the rural ranching town of Zapata, Texas. Using the band and its music as a lens, this spirited documentary focuses on Mexican-American teenagers pursuing excellence and finding strength in themselves, as well as a connection to their cultural heritage.

An exploration into lesbian adolescence in the 1960's as told through a dramatization, archival footage and interviews of adult lesbians.