Accent on the Offbeat

The Beatles First US Visit uniquely chronicles the inside story of the two remarkable weeks when Beatlemania first ignited America. The pioneering Maysles Brothers who filmed at the shoulders of John, Paul, George and Ringo, innovated an intimate documentary style of film-making which set the benchmark for rock and roll cinematography that remains to this day.

The Maysles profile a poor white Georgian family struggling to survive with the realities of thirteen children.

The landmark documentary about the tragically ill-fated Rolling Stones free concert at Altamont Speedway on December 6, 1969. Only four months earlier, Woodstock defined the Love Generation; now it lay in ruins on a desolate racetrack six miles outside of San Francisco.

Second in the series by the Maysles brothers documenting the monuments/sculptures of Christo, whose art projects are landscape-scaled, and more "pop" performance art designed to question how we relate to art in the public sphere, especially when it's as oblique, non-political (at least, that is what he would claim), and neutral as running a fence through a landscape.

Journalists from all over America meet Marlon Brando in a New York hotel room to interview him about his new film, Morituri. Seeing this as an opportunity to let the legendary actor promote the film, they find Brando unwilling to talk about it, instead he is more interested in larking about and turning on the charm when being interviewed by a former winner of the Miss USA competition.

'With Love from Truman' portrays an intimate meeting with renowned author Truman Capote. As a reporter interviews him in his beachfront home, Capote shares his "self-regarding" personality through hip philosophy and calculated jokes. He offers insights in an endearingly raspy voice about his latest book, 'In Cold Blood', which Capote declares to be part of a new genre, the "non-fiction novel." Just as the Maysles brothers' direct cinema classics turn real stories into narratives, Capote's non-fiction novel makes an effort to turn reality into art. In Cold Blood is based on first-hand accounts of an actual murder. The author affectionately discusses his coverage of the subsequent trial and his intriguing relationship with the two young killers. Capote claims it is the spontaneity of life that compels him to portray reality, but it is his own fresh energy and startling sense of humor that keep us intrigued.

Jessye Norman Sings Carmen is a gripping vérité study of the famous dramatic soprano’s approach to mastering Bizet’s heroine in recording sessions with Seiji Ozawa and the Orchestre National de France. Musical segments include performances of three arias and the great duets between Carmen and Don José

Told in the Maysles’ intimatible style, IBM: A SELF PORTRAIT captures the future corporate juggernaut at an early stage of their development. The emphasis here is on the human ingenuity behind the technology industry-- the colorful technicians and executives working together to create a future design for living.

The Empire Builder is America’s busiest long-distance train route, running from Chicago to Seattle. Throughout these corridors sit runaways, adventurers, and loners – a myriad of passengers waiting to see what their journey holds. A touching and honest observation, co-directed by the iconic Albert Maysles, In Transit breathes life into the long commute, and contemplates the unknowns that lie at our final destination.

The Beatles First US Visit uniquely chronicles the inside story of the two remarkable weeks when Beatlemania first ignited America. The pioneering Maysles Brothers who filmed at the shoulders of John, Paul, George and Ringo, innovated an intimate documentary style of film-making which set the benchmark for rock and roll cinematography that remains to this day.

Renowned documentarian Susan Froemke takes viewers through the history of the Metropolitan Opera via priceless archival stills, footage, and interviews (with, among many others, the great soprano Leontyne Price).

Jessye Norman Sings Carmen is a gripping vérité study of the famous dramatic soprano’s approach to mastering Bizet’s heroine in recording sessions with Seiji Ozawa and the Orchestre National de France. Musical segments include performances of three arias and the great duets between Carmen and Don José

An exclusive musical comedy event showcasing the antics of the entire cast and crew of the hit Broadway show The Producers. Includes exclusive candid behind-the-scenes footage, 14 song performances, and much more, all hosted by Mel Brooks.

An engrossing behind-the-scenes quasi-documentary as 10 hopefuls vie for a spot on the Met's roster.

From the Montana Rockies to the wheat fields of Kansas and the Gulf of Mexico, families who work the land and sea are crossing political divides to find unexpected ways to protect the natural resources vital to their livelihoods. These are the new heroes of conservation, deep in America's heartland.

Our healthcare system is broken. Potent forces fight to maintain the status quo in a medical industry created for quick fixes, rather than prevention; for profit-driven, rather than patient-driven, care. Healthcare is at the center of an intense political firestorm in our nation's capital. But the current battle over cost and access does not ultimately address the root of the problem: we have a disease-care system, not a health-care one. After decades of opposition, a movement to introduce innovative high-touch, low-cost methods of prevention and healing is finally gaining ground.

This heartbreaking documentary depicts the extreme poverty of an African-American family and their Mississippi Delta school district. LaLee's Kin takes us deep into the Mississippi Delta and the intertwined lives of LaLee Wallace, a great-grandmother struggling to hold her world together in the face of dire poverty, and Reggie Barnes, superintendent of the embattled West Tallahatchie School System. The film explores the painful legacy of slavery and sharecropping in the Delta.

In March 1987, pianist Vladimir Horowitz embarked on an extraordinary project. For the first time in 35 years, he agreed to record with a symphony orchestra in a studio. He chose the conductor, Carlo Maria Giulini, the orchestra, the La Scala Philharmonic, and the location, the Abanella recording studio of La Scala in Milan. Horowitz steadfastly refused to allow the month-long sessions to be filmed, until the evening before the last scheduled session when he unexpectedly changed his mind. His manager, Peter Gelb, immediately telephoned Albert Maysles and Susan Froemke in New York, the co-filmmakers of "Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic." That same night, the Maysles film crew flew from New York.

Documentary showing the return to his native Russia of Mstislav Rostropovitch, includes extensive performance footage and coverage of political and personal matters for the cellist.

A contrarian and wickedly funny man, "The Education of Gore Vidal" explores Vidal's extraordinary life and work, joining him at his cliff-side villa in Ravello, Italy.

She came to the New York City Ballet as a teenager from Ohio and captured the heart and soul of the great Mr. B, inspiring the seminal ballets of her era and setting off a star-crossed love triangle as fevered and bizarre as anything in THE RED SHOES. As the greatest ballerina of her time looks back on her amazing career in Anne Belle and Deborah Dickson's intimate portrait, the on-stage triumphs and backstage turmoil come to vivid life.

Created from footage captured during the filming of the PBS series Carrier, explores the struggle waged by three men in various stages of fatherhood to serve their country while living and working in the harsh environment of an aircraft carrier, and constantly thinking of the loved ones they left behind.

They're Jewish, they're grandmothers, and they're lesbians. But they're also so much more, as you'll find out in Deborah Dickson's powerful and intimate documentary. Ruth Berman and Connie Kurtz first met in Brooklyn in 1959, both young married women raising their young children. Becoming fast friends, they soon both moved with their families near Coney Island, where they became active community leaders. Then, in 1974, something incredible happened - they fell in love.

This heartbreaking documentary depicts the extreme poverty of an African-American family and their Mississippi Delta school district. LaLee's Kin takes us deep into the Mississippi Delta and the intertwined lives of LaLee Wallace, a great-grandmother struggling to hold her world together in the face of dire poverty, and Reggie Barnes, superintendent of the embattled West Tallahatchie School System. The film explores the painful legacy of slavery and sharecropping in the Delta.

An intensely personal exploration of an explosive issue -- abortion in America. Wrenching first-person narratives from seven decades of women, each one facing an unplanned pregnancy -- and the dreadful decision that no one wants to make. Both pro-life and pro-choice, both out front on the picket line and inside the clinic, these women's stories turn politics into heart-searing drama: a pregnant 17-year-old and her pro-life mother whose conflict unfolds in front of the camera; a 22-year-old who became a pro-life protester when she learned that her mother nearly aborted her; an unhappy mother-of-two who's expecting a third when her marriage suddenly hits the rocks; a 71-year-old grandmother who still grieves for her mother, an early victim of illegal abortion. In this fusion of past and present, the history of abortion is the history of women -- told at a time in America when yesterday's back-alley abortions may be the only choice left for tomorrow.

A sculptor creates memorials to five extinct North American bird species.

"Frances Steloff: Memoirs of a Bookseller" is a wonderfully dynamic portrait of an American cultural heroine. Now 100 years old, Frances Steloff was the founder and force behind the renowned Gotham Book Mart of New York City, a center for avant-garde literature and literati since 1920. She began with only $100 and thirty books and she modestly recalls her role in the bookstore's past.

Documentary about conceptual artist Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude's attempt to "wrap" the Pont-Neuf in Paris.

Six of George Balanchine's finest stars, Maria Tallchief, Mary Ellen Moylan, Melissa Hayden, Allegra Kent, Merrill Ashley and Darci Kistler pay a moving tribute to the legendary choreographer and tell how he shaped them as dancers and influenced their lives.