To aid in the selection of videos for your class and research needs, we've created a large number of filmographies on many subject areas.
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This is a selective list of video holdings in the American University Library. Filmographies are created by doing multiple keyword searches in the catalog to capture as many titles on a topic as possible.
For complete, up-to-date holdings please search the library catalog search box on the Media Services homepage. (http://www.american.edu/library/mediaservices/) Finding Aids on the same page includes other subject oriented content.
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See also: Films for Teaching School of Communication Topics
Alexander Gardner: War photographer. 1993. Civil War journal: American history in video. 1 electronic resource (100 min.). Describes Gardner chronicling the war, especially the assassination of Lincoln (1st work). Views Brown's fanatical raid on Harper's Ferry (2nd work). Streaming video
Annie Leibovitz: Life through a lens. 2008. 1 videodisc (83 min.). An in-depth look at one of the most well-known photographers in the 21st century. From her childhood to her life at Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair, and her relationships throughout it all. Includes interviews with her subjects and Leibovitz herself. Not rated. DVD 5511
Arakimentari. 2005. 1 videodisc (75 min.). Further insight into understanding the life and mind of photographer Nobuyoshi Araki. DVD 4260
Bill Cunningham New York. 2011. 1 videodisc (84 min.). For decades, Bill Cunningham "has been obsessively and inventively chronicling fashion trends and high society charity soirées for the New York Times Style section in his columns 'On the Street' and 'Evening Hours.'" Presented "is a delicate, funny and often poignant portrait of a dedicated artist whose only wealth is his own humanity and unassuming grace"--Container. DVD 9117
Camera martyrs of Vietnam. 2001. Unsung heroes: American history in video. 1 electronic resource (ca. 50 min.). A & E presents the work of these unheralded professionals who recorded in pictures the Vietnam war. Some died, some got Pulitzer Prizes, but as a group they got no memorial until the book, Requiem was published. This program shows some of the photos from this book as well as recollections from some of these photographers. Streaming video
Captured light: The invention of still photography. 2004. 1 videodisc (50 min.). Artistic longing, scientific curiosity, and financial gain were key to the invention of photography. Discusses the camera obscura and camera lucida as aids to drawing, early chemical discoveries necessary to make a photographic image permanent, and the role of inventors such as Joseph Niepce, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre, and Fox Talbot. Early images such as heliographs, shadowgraphs, Calotypes, Daguerrotypes and the related processes to create these images required bulky equipment, the use of toxic chemicals, and long exposure times. Eventually, ingenious inventors created smaller cameras, refined photographic processes, developed better lens, and introduced flash photography. The continued development of photography and the influence of inventors such as Edwin H. Land and George Eastman resulted in 35 mm film, the Polaroid Land camera, and color photography. Comments on the metamorphosis of photography as a method for capturing portraits to a functional process to erotica to photography as an art as pioneered by Julia Margaret Cameron. Concludes with a short discussion of the transformation from still photography to moving pictures. DVD 4692
Daguerréotypes. 2011 1 videodisc (75 min.). Portraits of the shopkeepers along the Rue Daguerre, an average street in Paris, provide an informal investigation into French culture and society. After studying the different stores and what they sell, and interviewing the owners about their childhoods and marriages, the film concludes with a series of static "daguerreotypes," in the style of pioneer photographer Louis Daguerre. DVD 9187
Daido Moriyama: Stray dog of Tokyo. 2001. New people artist series: New people artist series. 1 videodisc (84 min.). Follow the charismatic photographer Daido Moriyama as he takes his first digital photos and observe his style of quick snapshots without looking in the finder. His stark and contrasting black and white images symbolize his fervent lifestyle. DVD 8813
Dalda 13. 1997. Filmakers library online. 1 online resource (23 min.). Although her powerful images of India have been seen around the world, Homai Vyarawalla's name never appears in the annals of photojournalism. Her professional identity, Dalda 13, derives from her birth in 1913, her marriage at thirteen, and the license plate on her first car which was DLD 13. In a country where women were submissive, Ms. Vyarawalla was toting a large camera on her sari draped shoulder, always pushing to where the action was. Her photographs documented the death of Gandhi, the visits of international dignitaries such as Ho Chi Minh, Queen Elizabeth, and Jackie Kennedy. Never at a loss for words, she shares her impressions of the luminaries she photographed. Although her first photographs were published under her husband's name, she soon became recognized as a familiar presence on the front line of events. She gave up her career out of frustration when security restrictions governing press photographers limited her access to "special angles." After retirement she burned all her negatives, believing no one was interested. This film, a long overdue tribute, suggests she was overlooked because she was Asian and a woman. Streaming video
Decoding photographic images. 2001. 1 streaming video file (27 min.). When setting up a shot, a photographer works with composition, lighting, and color to create a subliminal subtext that reinforces or even carries the meaning of his or her subject. This program illustrates how basic components of photography-line, shape, form, texture, balance, volume duality, point of view, depth of field, and perspective-contribute to an image's impact on the subconscious mind. Commentary is provided by Herb Zettl, author of the seminal Sight Sound Motion, and photographers Jo Whaley, Stephen Johnson, Larry Sultan, and Catherine Wagner. (27 minutes). Streaming video
Decoding photographic images. 2002. 1 videodisc (27 min.). The program focuses on how the basic components of photography--line, shape, form, texture, balance, volume duality, point of view, depth of field, and perspective--contribute to an image's impact on the subconscious mind. DVD 2815 and Streaming video
Documenting the face of America: Roy Stryker and the FSA/OWI photographers. 2008. 1 streaming video file (57 min.). Beginning in 1935, a group of New Deal-sponsored photographers roamed the American landscape, capturing the human face of the Great Depression. This film tells the story of the mammoth project, supervised by Roy Stryker of the Farm Security Administration and later made part of the Office of War Information. Viewers will encounter the poignant, iconic images and personal challenges of photographers Gordon Parks, Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Marion Post Wolcott, and other visionaries. Interviews with Parks, Louise Rosskam, and Bernarda Shahn-wife of painter and photographer Ben Shahn-shed light on a period in which artistic innovation formed a response to social and economic despair. (56 minutes). Streaming video
Eugene and Berenice: Pioneers of urban photography. 2008. 1 streaming video file (53 min.). Often called the father of modern photography, Frenchman Eugene Atget embraced a heartfelt realism that influenced generations of younger photographers-including an American, Berenice Abbott, who championed him in his later career and carried on his legacy. This program examines the work of both artists, juxtaposing Atget's Paris oeuvre with Abbott's views of New York, describing how their paths crossed amidst the Parisian avant-garde, shedding light on their unlikely connection to the surrealists, and helping viewers understand the aesthetic and personal bond they shared. Rare archival interview footage featuring Abbott is included, along with commentary from photographers working today. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (52 minutes). Streaming video
Europe after the fire: Albert Kahn's archive of the planet. 2008. 1 streaming video file (52 min.). Versailles, 1919: French banker Albert Kahn and his camera team are among the few photographers allowed inside the Hall of Mirrors for the treaty signing-an example of Kahn's uncanny talent for documenting change. This program focuses on Kahn's pictorial record of the war's aftermath and the challenges of securing a true peace across Europe. Zeppelin-borne aerial footage conveys the scope of the destruction, while grave-digging and burial scenes evoke the staggering numbers of combatants killed. Other events and subjects include the influx of foreign workers that filled France's labor void; the French occupation of the Rhineland; German breadlines and Paris dance-halls; and war monuments in London and Verdun. A BBC/Musee Albert-Kahn (Departement des Hauts-de-Seine-France) Co-production. (52 minutes). Streaming video
Frassanit: Battlefield photography then & now. 2005. The unknown Civil War: American history in video. 1 electronic resource (46 min.). Streaming video
Future remembrance: Phototgraphy and image arts in Ghana. 1998. Ethnographic video online. 1 streaming video (55 min.). Documentary about the role of photography, photographers and the art of image making in Ghana. Meet the photographers, sculptors and painters who tell us in their own words about the economic, social, cultural, aesthetic, and spiritual motivations of their work. Streaming video
Guest of Cindy Sherman. 2009. 1 videodisc (88 min.). "Paul H-O became a fixture of the New York art scene in the 1990s with his public access show GalleryBeat. Armed with a video camera, he attended art gallery openings, amusing some with his candid, witty assessments of their work, but also winning many fans. Among the latter was Cindy Sherman, the press-shy artist who is internationally acknowledged as one of the world's most gifted and significant visual talents. Cindy invites Paul to her studio for a series of exclusive interviews and through these videotaped encounters, he gains unprecedented insight into her artistic process and a romantic relationship blossoms. Their initial bliss ends when Paul finds himself wracked with anxiety about his own personality becoming subsumed by his role as Cindy's guest at the celebrity-studded openings and dinners she regularly attends." --from film's website. HOME USE COLLECTION DVD 8702
Hansel Mieth: Vagabond photographer. 2006. Filmakers library online. 1 online resource (54 min.). Hansel Mieth is the compelling tale of a pioneering woman photojournalist who created some of the most indelible images of mid-twentieth century America. Armed with convictions, perseverance, and talent, she carved out a career in the male-dominated world of photojournalism, eventually becoming a celebrated LIFE Magazine staff photographer, only the second woman to occupy that position. The film is narrated by Mieth in her own words. Mieth was a German working-class immigrant who arrived in this country in the midst of the Great Depression, having been denied the educational opportunities she craved. Throughout her career, she was accompanied by photojournalist Otto Hagel. Their tumultuous marriage and artistic collaboration spanned nearly five decades. They lived and documented the reality of the Depression, struggling themselves as migrant farm workers. Their photographs revealed a more intimate story of the Depression than those of official photographers. During the late 1930s and 1940s -- the golden age of pictorial magazines -- Mieth's and Hagel's images of strikers, criminals, scientists, cowboys, Native Americans, and countless others appeared in every major publication in America. Mieth was internationally acclaimed as one of the most courageous, principled, and influential photographers of her time. Her photographs stand as a testament to her humanity and to her unyielding commitment to social justice. Streaming video
Henri Cartier-Bresson. 2010. Arthouse films. 2 videodiscs (315 min.). Contains a series of documentaries about Henri Cartier-Bresson as well as five major works directed by him. HOME USE COLLECTION DVD 8320 and Streaming video
Henri Cartier-Bresson: Questions, not answers. 1994. 1 streaming video file (39 min.). In photography, you have to keep in the same line of sight your head, your eye, and your heart.After a lifetime of taking pictures of others, in 1994 Henri Cartier-Bresson finally agreed to step from behind the lens to be filmed. This landmark documentary about one of the 20th century's finest photographers brings viewers face-to-face with both the artist and the man as he touches upon topics ranging from the enigmatic quality of life, to his philosophy of and approach to photography, to the role of the unconscious in his art. Many of Cartier-Bresson's most memorable photos and some clips from films he directed are interspersed with both vintage and more recent footage of him in action. Time is also devoted to his marvelous drawings, a contemplative counterpoint to what he terms his reportage through film. (Portions in French with English subtitles, 39 minutes, b&w). Streaming video
Henri Cartier-Bresson: The impassioned eye. 2006. 1 videodisc (72 min.). A documentary on influential photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson filmed shortly before his death. Features interviews with Cartier-Bresson and a host of cultural luminaries, including Arthur Miller. HOME USE COLLECTION DVD 320
High heels and ground glass. 1993. Filmakers library online. 1 online resource (29 min.). This fascinating film portrays the life and work of five outstanding women photographers, born around the turn of the century, who perfected their craft in an era when photography was a man s domain. Using examples of their photography with clips from news of the day, their on-camera interviews are woven together to tell a story about life for professional women living in turbulent decades of the middle of the twentieth century. Gisele Freund, a reporter-photographer describes her harrowing escape from Nazi Germany with negatives taped to her body. Fashion photographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe recalls her evolution from a young art student to the creator of Harpers Bazaar covers. Maurine Loomis was a little known but highly successful photographer of Hollywood stars. Lisette Model, the teacher of Diane Arbus, reveals her method for making a successful photograph. Eiko Yamazawa practiced her art in Japan for over seventy years with the elegant eye of an abstract painter. These dedicated women share their successes and struggles with candor and warmth. Streaming video
Images in media. 1997. 1 streaming video file (28 min.). The pictures in our heads that define who we are and help us neatly categorize others are increasingly shaped by the newspaper, magazine, film, and TV images that bombard our senses. To convey a message quickly, these images often rely on stereotypes and primal reflexes that can foster in an audience an inordinate fear of violence, racial and ethnic prejudices, diminished self-worth, and even eating disorders as young women attempt to mimic the look of high-fashion models. This program is a behind-the-scenes look at the media's image-makers, from the first photographers to today's Madison Avenue wizards, and asks some disturbing questions about the self-selected few who hold a distorted mirror up to our society. (28 minutes). Streaming video
Images of glory. 1 streaming video file (57 min.). The Rocky Mountains were like the stairs of heaven after the last soul has ascended earth,said Fitz Hugh Ludlow. Said Sitting Bull of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Our young men rained lead across the river and drove the white braves back.This is the time of the Civil War in the East, the last of the Indian Wars, the final spike in the transcontinental railroad. Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt paint a mythical Eden, while pioneer photographers Eadweard Muybridge and Timothy O'Sullivan whet America's appetite for Western adventure. It is the beginning of the end of the Wild West.(57 minutes). Streaming video
Jerusalem cuts. 2008. 1 videodisc (54 min.). "One war, ten days, three stories: the Old City of Jerusalem, at the dawn of a new Middle East. For the Brits, it's the shameful end of 30 years Mandate. For the Jews, it's the birthday of their State. And for the Palestinians, it's a catastrophe. Only now, 60 years later, images can be shown from three opposing points of view, telling a whole new story." -- website. DVD 5900
Naked world. 2006. 1 videodisc [76 min.]. Traces controversial American photographer Spencer Tunick's year long journey 'Nude Adrift', a project photographing nudes in nine countries including Brazil, South Africa, Canada, Antarctica, Russia, Great Britain and Australia. HOME USE COLLECTION DVD 2565
Photographic storytelling. 2001. 1 streaming video file (27 min.). This program examines how photographers work with images to communicate stories and ideas and how viewers interpret those images. Message manipulation deriving from point of view, context, editing, superimposing, cropping, recoloring, and captioning are discussed. In addition, selective perception-seeing pictures through the filters of values and prejudices-is studied. Commentary is provided by Doug Nickel, curator of photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Joel Slayton, of the CADRE Laboratory for New Media at San Jose State University; Shanto Iyengar, director of the Political Communication Lab at Stanford University; and others. (27 minutes). Streaming video
Photography and the brain. 2001. 1 streaming video file (27 min.). How do photographic images evoke meaning and emotion? To understand that, viewers first need to understand how the eyes and brain process input from the visual world. After an overview of the biomechanics of vision, this program explains how proximity, similarity, and continuity affect perception; what light is and how lighting types and angles alter an image; and how color theory operates. Commentary is provided by photographers Dale Kistemaker, Catherine Wagner, Jo Whaley, and Larry Sultan. (27 minutes). Streaming video
Photography: making art and recording life. 2001. 1 streaming video file (27 min.). Once strictly considered a visual recording device, the camera has expanded beyond its documentational niche and made places for itself in the worlds of fine art, advertising, and news media as well. This program describes existing and emerging genres in the photographic arts, including documentary photography, portraiture, still life, commercial photography, and photojournalism. Commentary is provided by Steve Luker, formerly a creative director with ad agency Publicis & Hal Riney, and photographers Larry Sultan, Ed Kashi, Richard Barnes, Jo Whaley, Dale Kistemaker, and Catherine Wagner. (27 minutes). Streaming video
Picture perfect: The pomp and vision of Mathew Brady. 1995 Civil War journal: American history in video. 1 electronic resource (48 min.). Streaming video
Portraits and snapshots. 2001. 1 streaming video file (27 min.). Since the Civil War, portrait and snapshot photography have provided a visual history of life-and transformed society. This program explores how professional and amateur photographers capture the essence of people while considering the intensely personal nature of portraits and snapshots, their use as means of self-exploration and cultural narrative, and concerns involving their commodification and decontextualization. Commentary is provided by photographers Michael Collopy, Dale Kistemaker, Larry Sultan, Catherine Wagner, Richard Barnes, and Ed Kashi. (27 minutes). Streaming video
Richard Avedon: Darkness and light. 2002. 1 videodisc (87 min.). Focus on fashion and portraiture photographer, Richard Avedon. DVD 7238
Salvador. 2001. 1 videodisc (123 min.). In 1980, Richard Boyle, a veteran war photographer whose career needs a boost, heads for El Salvador to cover the civil war there. He forms an uneasy alliance with both guerrillas in the countryside who want him to get pictures out to the US press, and the right-wing military, who want him to bring them photographs of the rebels. After the murder of Archbishop Romero, the rape and murder of an American nurse and three nuns, and the death of a fellow journalist, Boyle attempts to escape El Salvador with his Salvadorean girlfriend Maria and her family. Feature film. DVD 1154
Strand: Under the dark cloth. 2002. 1 videodisc (81 min.). An overview of the life and career of photographer Paul Strand. Features Strand's most famous photographs, clips from his films, and interviews with his wife, friends, and collaborators. DVD 8440
Stryker's America: Photographing the great depression. 2007. 1 streaming video file (23 min.). Roy E. Stryker headed the Historical Division of the Farm Security Administration from 1935 to 1943. This program tells the story of how Stryker, a low-level federal bureaucrat with integrity and vision, managed a massive New Deal project to document the Great Depression. These photos-nearly 200,000 by both established and aspiring photographers, including Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks, Arthur Rothstein, and many others-became the defining statement of the era. Many signature images of poverty and hardship are included. Narrated by Beverly Brannan, curator of photography at the Library of Congress; Alan Fern, retired director of the National Portrait Gallery; and Peter Kuznick, professor of history at American University. (23 minutes). Streaming video
Teenage paparazzo. 2011. 1 videodisc (95 min.). An exploration of the tenuous relationship between celebrities and the people who make a living selling their images. After a chance encounter with a 13-year-old paparazzo, Austin Visschedyk, Grenier takes a step back to think about the celebrity- obsessed culture that has produced the boy. Adrian starts hanging out with the young photographer, learning the tricks of the trade, as well as what made the precocious teen want to spend his free time running around looking for celebrities. HOME USE COLELCTION DVD 9710
The adventure of photography: 150 years of the photographic image. 1998. 2 videodiscs (260 min.). "Conceived as an introspective journey that takes you from the first daguerreotypes to war photojournalism, from fashion spreads to the greatest contemporary artists, this program includes 1700 pictures, 300 artists, and will appeal to all photographers--amateur and professional alike. This is not only the history of an amazing art form, it is also the adventure of one century and a half during which photography has captured the image of the collective conscience"--Container. DVD 3651
The American image: 150 years of photography. 88. Images of the Masters. 1 videodisc (55 min.). Chronicles American history in photographs since the Civil War and also contains the artistic works of established photographers. DVD 9547
The Civilians' story: Albert Kahn's archive of the planet. 2008. 1 streaming video file (52 min.). In addition to documenting the Great War itself, Albert Kahn's team of photographers recorded the impact of the conflict on French civilian life. This program examines offerings from Kahn's Archive of the Planet, exploring both the propaganda value and the genuine emotional power in images of the war-torn French populace. French and Belgian refugees, ruined churches, and farms tended by women and the elderly are a few of the subjects rendered in exquisite and moving detail. Soissons smolders after a German retreat; Reims and its shattered cathedral hover on the edge of total destruction; and the Alsace region, Kahn's birthplace, regains its French identity. A BBC/Musee Albert-Kahn (Departement des Hauts-de-Seine-France) Co-production. (52 minutes). Streaming video
The color of war: Into the breach: Face to face. 2001. Color of war: American history in video. 1 electronic resource (45 min.). Combines color film and photos taken from government archives and private collections with first-person commentary from the combatants and the photographers who documented the struggle. Streaming video
The color of war: The price of war: Victory; aftermath. 2001. Color of war: American history in video. 1 electronic resource (132 min.). Combines color film and photos taken from government archives and private collections with first-person commentary from the combatants and the photographers who documented the struggle. Streaming video
The color of war: Why we fight: Fueling the fire. 2001. Color of War: American history in video. 1 electronic resource (45 min.). Combines color film and photos taken from government archives and private collections with first-person commentary from the combatants and the photographers who documented the struggle. Streaming video
The compassionate eye: Horace Bristol, photojournalist. 2007. Filmakers library online. 1 online resource (52 min.). Horace Bristol shot some of the most significant photographs of the 20th century, compelling images that have become icons of our past. He captured emotional moments, set against a backdrop of history in the making. Horace was among the first contributors to Life magazine, photographing migrant labor camps in a series that became the basis for The Grapes of Wrath. He circled the globe in World War II with Edward Steichen s Navy photography unit. He spent the postwar decade documenting the changing way of life in Japan and Asia, covering Emperor Hirohito, General MacArthur, Chiang Kai-Shek, Prince Sihanouk, and the wars in Korea. China, and Vietnam. His photographs countered the numerous stereotypes of Asian culture perpetrated at the time. Bristol s photographs were lost for forty years after he destroyed every print he could find in a terrible act of self-recrimination when his wife committed suicide in 1955. Incredibly, three footlockers containing over 3,000 of his negatives were discovered in 1995. Rock superstar Graham Nash, a photographer and collector himself, initiated the restoration of Bristol's life's work. At an advanced age, Bristol was recognized as one of the most important photographers of the 20th century, with work in major museums throughout North America. Streaming video
The end of a world: Albert Kahn's archive of the planet. 2008. 1 streaming video file (51 min.). As they built an unsurpassed visual archive of world culture, Albert Kahn and his photographers turned their attention to widely divergent locations. This program follows the maritime odyssey of Lucien Le Saint, circa 1922, as he captured on film the daily lives of Newfoundland cod fishermen, as well as expeditions into northwestern Africa. Images from Morocco and Tunisia focus on occupying French soldiers, the prostitutes they patronized, and larger changes in those societies, while pictures taken in Dahomey (now Benin) shed light on the symbiotic relationship between Catholicism and the Vodun religion. Viewers also learn about the Colonial Exhibition of 1931, Kahn's financial collapse, and the fate of his archive after his death in 1940. Contains brief nudity. A BBC/Musee Albert-Kahn (Departement des Hauts-de-Seine-France) Co-production. (51 minutes). Streaming video
The hungry eye: Walker Evans. 2000. 1 streaming video file (15 min.). The stark, deceptively simple photographs of Walker Evans have become a part of America's collective memory, forever capturing the places and faces of times long gone. In this program, NewsHour correspondent Ray Suarez outlines Evans' life while talking with Jeff Rosenheim, curator of photography at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Evans' close friend William Christenberry, about the late photographer's approach to his art, his collaboration with writer James Agee on Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, his love of advertising signage, and other topics. (15 minutes). Streaming video
The magic mirror. 1990. 1 streaming video file (26 min.). Using only the words of some of the great photographers, this program seeks to trace the life-line of the species(in the words of John Szarkowski of the Museum of Modern Art, New York). Selecting their own favorite photos from contemporary works back to 1839, the producers of this program trace the lineage of photography as art and present a glorious parade of great photographs drawn from the great museum collections of the world: the Musee d'Orsay, Paris; the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum, New York; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, Bath. (26 minutes). Streaming video
The photographers' war: The north. 2006. The unknown Civil War: American history in video. 1 electronic resource (46 min.). Streaming video
The photographers' war: The south. 2006. The unknown Civil War: American history in video. 1 electronic resource (46 min.). Streaming video
The photographers. 2000. 1 videodisc (56 min.). Photographers who have worked for National Geographic reflect on their art. DVD 8397
The real thing. 1 streaming video file (26 min.). This program looks at the results achieved when photographers were commissioned to reflect the world or certain aspects of it. It focuses on the Farm Security Administration (whose archives are held by the Library of Congress, Washington) which set out to document America in the 1930s. The program also visits the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, where photography forms an integral part of the collection; Chris Killip, winner of the 1989 Cartier-Bresson Award, who was commissioned to make a photographic record of a new Pirelli Tire factory in Ohio; and Clement Cooper, seen photographing the area in industrial northern England where he grew up. (26 minutes). Streaming video
The soldiers' story: Albert Kahn's archive of the planet. 2008. 1 streaming video file (50 min.). As World War I engulfed his country, Albert Kahn struck a deal with the French army: his team of photographers would capture images and footage that helped the war effort in exchange for direct access to militarized zones. A century later, this program presents the results-revealing the life and environment of the French soldier as recorded in Kahn's Archive of the Planet. The visual details of trench warfare and all its misery are combined with pictures from towns, hospitals, and barracks a few miles from the front-evoking the humanity of the ordinary fighting man as well as the appalling devastation wrought by the era's instruments of death. Contains graphic images of war wounds. A BBC/Musee Albert-Kahn (Departement des Hauts-de-Seine-France) Co-production. (50 minutes). Streaming video
The true meaning of pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia. 2003. 1 videodisc (ca. 71 min.). Shelby Lee Adams has been photographing the eastern Kentucky Appalachian mountain people for thirty years. Accused of perpetuating stereotypes, Adams is said to exploit her subjects. This documentary explores the controversy. DVD 814
Through the lens. 2004. 1 streaming video file (47 min.). A great photograph should speak for itself, but that doesn't mean there aren't great stories behind it. This program highlights the work of daring photographers who have captured images for National Geographic. Viewers are presented with a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of ten of the most exciting pictures from the magazine's recent history. Image locations range from icy mountains at immense heights to sweltering deserts below sea level. With offerings from photographers Tom Campbell, Greg Child, Karen Davies, and others, students learn what happened behind the lenses that captured some of the best adventure shots in recent memory. (47 minutes). Streaming video
Uncommon images: James Van DerZee. 1978. Filmakers library online. 1 online resource (21 min.). This is a touching portrait of one of the first and foremost photographers of black American life, who set up shop in Harlem at the beginning of the century and spent the next sixty years taking pictures there. His work is now recognized for its artistic and historic value, representing a fascinating record of the public and private life of the black community. Mr. Van DerZee, a man who loved deeply and experienced both joy and sorrow in his life, brings to his reminiscences the wisdom of a ripe old age. Streaming video
Vietnam's unseen war: Pictures from the other side. 2002. 1 videodisc (60 min.). Journey deep behind battle lines to experience a different side of the Vietnam War - the side seen only through the lenses of North Vietnam photographers. Renowned British photojournalist Tim Page travels back to the land where he nearly lost his life to meet with North Vietnamese war photographers, revealing remarkable, never-before-seen photos and personal stories long hidden by time and tragedy. DVD 870
War photographer. 2003. 1 videodisc (ca. 96 min.). James Nachtwey has been very close to the subjects he photographs and has been that way for over 20 years - a time period in which he has not missed a single war. Follow as James goes from Kosovo to the West Bank to Indonesia as he searches for pictures he can publish. This committed, shy man, is considered one of the bravest and most important war photographers of our time. DVD 717
What remains: The life and work of Sally Mann. 2008. 1 videodisc (80 min.). "What Remains returns to follow the creation of Mann's new seminal work: a photo series revolving around various aspects of death and decay. Never one to compromise, Sally Mann reflects on her own personal feelings toward death as she continues to examine the boundaries of contemporary photography. Shown at her home on her family farm in Virginia, she is surrounded by her husband and now grown children, and her willingness to reveal her artistic process as it unfolds allows the viewer to gain exclusive entrance to her world." -- back cover. DVD 4419
William Eggleston in the real world. 2005. 1 videodisc (84 min.). The film shows a deep connection between Eggleston's enigmatic personality and his groundbreaking work, and also reveals his parallel commitments as a musician, draftsman, and videographer. Eggleston at age 65 become an icon and inspiration to artists. DVD 1830