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Baghdad ER
Produced and directed by 11-time Emmy Award-winner Jon Alpert, this 64-minute verite documentary takes an unforgettable look inside the 86th Combat Support Hospital (CSH), the U.S. Army's premier medical facility in Iraq and former site of one of Saddam Hussein?s elite medical facilities. Shot over two months in the summer of 2005, the film puts a human face on the war's cold casualty statistics, as doctors and nurses fight to save the lives of wounded soldiers who are Medevaced (helicoptered) in a numbingly routine basis.
Jon Alpert
Matthew O'Neill
Also Directed by Jon Alpert
This revealing portrait of Cuba follows the lives of Fidel Castro and three Cuban families affected by his policies over the last four decades.
With footage shot in the center of Egypt's Tahrir Square from the beginning of the battles to the climax of the celebration, audiences experience first-hand the people-powered revolt that brought down a dictator and changed Egypt forever.
A rare look inside Cuba’s LGBT community, this compelling film follows the efforts of Mariela Castro, daughter of President Raúl Castro, as she champions LGBT social reforms and acceptance of diversity.
In a war that has left more than 25,000 wounded, ALIVE DAY MEMORIES: HOME FROM IRAQ looks at a new generation of veterans. Executive Producer James Gandolfini interviews ten Soldiers and Marines who reveal their feelings on their future, their severe disabilities and their devotion to America. The documentary surveys the physical and emotional cost of war through memories of their "alive day," the day they narrowly escaped death in Iraq.
Documentary about the Rikers Island prison. If you're arrested in New York City and can't make bail, you'll be sent to Rikers Island--a mammoth holding facility for 17,000 men and women awaiting trial. TV journalist Jon Alpert spent ten months filming there, coming away with a graphic and unblinking portrait of life inside America's largest jail complex, including a moving look at the human faces behind the statistics.
This Emmy Award-winning documentary tells the stories of six "ordinary" people who live or work along New York City's Third Avenue, which runs for sixteen miles through Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, cutting through the complex social strata of the city to reveal wildly different economic and ethnic subcultures. The subjects speak for themselves, offering candid glimpses into the disparate worlds of a junkyard dealer who steals cars, a Bowery bum and the wife he abandoned, a welfare mother living in a condemned building with her five children, a male prostitute, a devout Puerto Rican factory worker, and an aging Italian barber and his wife. Called "a triumph of its kind" by The Washington Post, this unsentimental portrait of the uncommon lives of common people is a subjective sociological study of survival in urban America.
Auto racing is an obsession in Anderson, Indiana. Even with local auto factories closing down and jobs being lost, the town's residents continue to flock to the local speedway every Friday night--and its drivers continue to pour their dwindling resources into their Thundercars. Emmy(R)-winning filmmaker Jon Alpert presents this look at this passion for racing in rust-belt America. Since the closing of a GM plant and the loss of 33,000 jobs, the once-thriving town of Anderson now stands witness to empty factories, shuttered stores and abandoned home--but also to packed houses at Anderson Speedway where people put their troubles on hold to watch the cacophony of screeching tires and crashing metal as drivers vie for Thundercar supremacy.
This is Jon Alpert's portrait of his father's struggles with growing old and nearing the end of life.
A look at the distressing circumstances for millions of children living in orphanages and other institutions around the world as J.K. Rowling's LUMOS foundation works to reunite them with family members or place them in foster homes.
Junior Rios started using heroin when he was 15. Now 29 and the father of three children, Junior's habit costs $200 a day. When he isn't getting high, he is climbing over rooftops and through the burned-out buildings of the South Bronx, stealing what other thieves have overlooked to keep his habit going. His meager diet consists of coffee-soaked bread.
Also Directed by Matthew O'Neill
With footage shot in the center of Egypt's Tahrir Square from the beginning of the battles to the climax of the celebration, audiences experience first-hand the people-powered revolt that brought down a dictator and changed Egypt forever.
A look at the varied new ways Americans are choosing to both find meaning and celebrate life as it comes to an end.
A look at the distressing circumstances for millions of children living in orphanages and other institutions around the world as J.K. Rowling's LUMOS foundation works to reunite them with family members or place them in foster homes.
A look at the Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Boot Camp Program, which allows young inmates undergo a strict six-week course in order to learn from their past mistakes and make a better future for themselves.
It has been called "the saddest acre in America." It is also one of the most sacred. Section 60 in Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place for young men and women who died fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. This emotional documentary filmed entirely in Section 60 provides intimate glimpses of family and friends who have come to honor their loved ones.
Redemption is a documentary about New York City's canners - the men and women who survive by redeeming bottles and cans they collect from curbs, garbage cans and apartment complexes. You've seen them combing through the trash, but never got to meet them. The film is an unexpected and intimate look at post-industrial gleaners, struggling at the edge of our society.
With more than 50 million Latinos now living in the United States, Latinos are taking their seat at the table as the new American power brokers in the world of entertainment, business, politics and the arts. As Latinos’ influence in American society has soared, they have entered mainstream American culture, and the proof is in the music. Executive produced by legendary music mogul Tommy Mottola, THE LATIN EXPLOSION: A NEW AMERICA features a dazzling array of artists at the center of Latino cultural power and influence, including Marc Anthony, Emilio Estefan Jr., Gloria Estefan, José Feliciano, Eva Longoria, George Lopez, Jennifer Lopez, Los Lobos, Cheech Marin, Ricky Martin, Rita Moreno, Pitbull, Romeo Santos, Shakira, Thalía and Sofía Vergara. Narrated by John Leguizamo.
Follows the struggle of 138 mostly immigrant workers who strike to save their jobs at a famous bakery in the Bronx when a private equity firm buys the bakery and demands wage cuts of up to 30%.
On May 12, 2008, a catastrophic earthquake hit Sichuan Province in rural China, killing nearly 70,000 people, including 10,000 children. In town after town, poorly constructed school buildings crumbled, wiping out classrooms filled with students, most of them their parents' only child. But when grieving mothers and fathers sought explanations and justice, they found their path blocked by incompetence, corruption and empty promises.
A father exits prison and tries to integrate with his two children and girlfriend while living in a halfway house and on parole.