Nicholas Kristof
The Great American Lie is a documentary film that examines how a US value system built on the extreme masculine ideals of money, power and control has glorified individualism, institutionalized inequality, and undermined the ability of most Americans to achieve the American Dream. The main topic of this film is arguably one of the most important issues of our time: social and economic immobility. Inequality has been on the rise in America for more than three decades. Middle and low income wages have remained stagnant or decreased while top earners have seen their wages increase 135% since 1979. Today, the top .1% of Americans owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%. This film is incredibly timely because of the staggering state of inequality today, but this film is also important because it is new. By bringing the unique perspective of gender to this story, this film expands the conversation around the causes and solutions to America's inequality and division.
PBS series documentary based on a book of the same name that argues the oppression of women worldwide is the "paramount moral challenge" of our time.
Mukhtaran Mai was an ordinary woman living in a small village in Pakistan until her extraordinary courage turned an ugly incident into international news and made her a role model for women in the Middle East. Mukhtaran's younger brother became involved with a girl from a neighboring village, and when tribal leaders learned of the boy's indiscretion, they decided both he and his family should be punished. While the boy was beaten and sexually assaulted by men from the neighboring tribe, they didn't stop there -- they also gang raped Mukhtaran, with the complicity of her father and uncle. Under such circumstances, most Muslim women in Pakistan are expected to kill themselves to separate themselves from the shame the assault places on their families, but Mukhtaran refused to do so -- she reported the crime to the police and insisted that the men who attacked her be brought to justice, including a holy man who was involved in the rape.
My Favorite Neoconservative offers a rare glimpse of intimate Washington politics through a unique father-daughter relationship. The main character is the filmmaker’s father, Edward Luttwak, who makes a living as a military strategist. He devised the air campaign of the first Iraq War; his life was threatened on the nightly news by the notorious terrorist, Abu Nidal. The film tells a father-daughter story with a massive military and political twist.
