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Chinatown: Immigrants in America

Produced by DCTV in response to what its makers saw as distorted media portrayals of New York City’s Chinatown, "Chinatown: Immigrants in America" (1976) offers an unvarnished portrait of an immigrant community confronting poverty, labor exploitation, and cultural displacement. Directed by Jon Alpert and Yoko Maruyama, the film documents restaurant, garment, and service workers enduring low wages and unsafe conditions while struggling to build lives in America.

Chinatown: Immigrants in America

NR 1976
Double Headed Eagle: Hitler's Rise to Power 1918-1933

Presents a unique and disturbing look at the rise of the Nazi party. The documentary, directed by Lutz Becker, attempts to remain as objective as possible, serving as a neutral observer of the years 1918 through 1933 in Germany. Via newsreel footage and clips of features from the era, the film offers a kaleidoscopic view of the many elements that fueled the rise of the Socialist Nationalist Party, including post-WWI poverty. Hitler occupies a central place in the documentary.

Double Headed Eagle: Hitler's Rise to Power 1918-1933

8.4 1973
Scharnhorst Women’s Initiative

Women counselling women. Five thousand renters live in the satellite settlement of Scharnhorst near Dortmund. More than thousand of them are women living alone or with their children. A large percentage of them are on welfare. They need help in asserting their rights vis-à-vis the social welfare authorities. This documentary uses the point of view of a 26-year-old single mother of two to document the commitment of the women’s initiative. “In the group, I realised that I am not the isolated case I always thought I was.”

Scharnhorst Women’s Initiative

NR 1979
Archive / Ling-An Society

This documentary directed by Chang Chao-Tang (張照堂) captures a pivotal cultural moment in 1977 Taiwan. As traditional performing arts faced the pressures of modernization, professor Chiu Kun-liang (邱坤良) led a group of university students to apprentice under the masters of the historic Ling'an Society, learning "zidixi" (子弟戲)—a form of grassroots, self-organized folk opera troupe tradition. Breaking down the boundaries between academia and vernacular culture, this “cultural action” culminated in a series of open-air public performances. The film functions more as an archival record, preserving fragments of the troupe’s world: the process of stage makeup, the youthful faces of the performers, and fleeting scenes from outdoor stage performances. Through raw and evocative imagery, Chang captures the sweat, rhythms, and fervent idealism of a younger generation attempting to revive the fading sounds and social spirit of Beiguan opera from the ground up.

Archive / Ling-An Society

NR 1977
Paradise Now

At least forty films have been made about the Living Theatre; it remained to the American underground filmmaker Sheldon Rochlin (previously responsible for the marvellous Vali) to make the 'definitive' film about one of the most famous of their works, Paradise Now, shot in Brussels and at the Berlin Sportpalast. Made on videotape, with expressionist colouring 'injected' by electronic means, this emerges as a hypnotic transmutation of a theatrical event into poetic cinema, capturing the ambiance and frenzy of the original. No documentary record could have done it justice.

Paradise Now

5.0 1970
My Whole Life Long

Mein ganzes Leben lang (My Whole Life Long) (1971) is an East German documentary directed by Annelie and Andrew Thorndike. The film chronicles the life of Hermann Dünow, who reflects on his personal experiences and memories. Through interviews and archival footage, the documentary explores themes of memory, identity, and the passage of time, offering a window into individual history within the broader context of German society. The film provides an intimate portrait of Dünow’s life, capturing the complexities of personal narrative against the backdrop of mid-20th-century Germany.

My Whole Life Long

10.0 1971
As The Wheel Turns

A "spiritual" soap opera, dealing with blackmail and bisexuality. The camera refuses to manipulate, but is rather an interested spectator. The plot unfolds organically (rather than mechanically) as the actors (through the vehicle of skeletal storyline and spirited, and inspired, improvisation) begin to absorb the feelings and traits of the characters they are portraying. An experiment within the narrative tradition, and a critique and extension of the possibilities within that form. Inspired by the early narrative films of Andy Warhol.

As The Wheel Turns

NR 1973
Lovemaking

A delicate and arousing treatment of lovemaking. Its mode is simple and classical, combining technical mastery and personal restraint. The image is vivid subtle and ambiguous while the sound is sharp and clear. Barlett's film, in the judge's opinion, most closely approximated their idea of what is an erotic film should be – an imaginative, suggestive, artistic, non- clinical evocation of the sexual act. – Bruce Conner, Maurice Girodias, Arthur Knight: judges at the First Ever Erotic Film Festival 1970

Lovemaking

NR 1971
Up To and Including Her Limits

Up To and Including Her Limits extends the principles of Jackson Pollock's action painting. Schneemann is suspended from a rope harness, naked and drawing; her moving body becomes a measure of concentration, the sustained and variable movements of her extended drawing hand creates a dense web of strokes and marking. This video captures the concentration and raw intensity of Schneemann's presence and use of her own body. The piece was edited by Schneemann in 1984 from video footage of six performances: the Berkeley Museum, 1974; London Filmmaker's Cooperative, 1974; Artists Space, NY, 1974; Anthology Film Archives, NY, 1974; The Kitchen, NY, 1976; and the Studio Galerie, Berlin, 1976.

Up To and Including Her Limits

NR 1976
Report on Nicaraguan Revolution

UCLA Student Film, Preserved by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Documentary about the Sandanistas, the Nicaraguan Revolution, and their supporters in the United States. Features interviews with organizer Julio Virseños, Alex Palacios (Nicaraguan Representative to the Organization of the American States Human Rights Commission), and footage of protests in McArthur Park. It also includes news footage and excerpts from "Patria Libre O Morir," a film made about the Sandanistas in 1978.

Report on Nicaraguan Revolution

NR 1979