Titles Available as of July 2022
This is a selective list of streaming video holdings in the American University Library. Streaming guides are created by doing multiple keyword searches in the library catalog to capture as many titles on a topic as possible. For complete up-to-date streaming holdings, please refer to our streaming catalog.
Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-Fat team up for a period drama set in 19th Century Thailand. The action turns on the character of Anna Leonowens, a British governess who is employed by the Royal Siamese court during the reign of King Mongkut (1851-68) to look after the King's many children. Soon after she arrives in this exotic country, Anna finds herself engaged in a battle of wits with the strong-willed ruler.
Around India With a Movie Camera
Features some of the earliest surviving film from India as well as travelogues, intimate home movies and newsreels from British, French and Indian filmmakers.
Through a revolutionary technology that unlocks his genetic memories, Callum Lynch (Michael Fassbender) experiences the adventures of his ancestor, Aguilar, in 15th Century Spain. Callum discovers he is descended from a mysterious secret society, the Assassins, and amasses incredible knowledge and skills to take on the oppressive and powerful Templar organization in the present day.
A romantic action-adventure set in northern Australia prior to World War II, AUSTRALIA centers on an English aristocrat (Kidman) who inherits a ranch the size of Maryland. When English cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn cattle driver (Jackman) to drive 2000 head of cattle across hundreds of miles of the country's most unforgiving land, only to still face the bombing of Darwin, Australia by the Japanese forces that had attacked Pearl Harbor only months earlier. With his new film, Luhrmann is painting on a vast canvass, creating a cinematic experience that brings together romance, drama, adventure and spectacle.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL follows a group of British retirees who decide to "outsource" their retirement to less expensive and seemingly exotic India. Enticed by advertisements for the newly restored Marigold Hotel and bolstered with visions of a life of leisure, they arrive to find the palace a shell of its former self. Though the new environment is less luxurious than imagined, they are forever transformed by their shared experiences, discovering that life and love can begin again when you let go of the past.
In this comedy for grown-ups, Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson portray three men from different walks of life, each facing unique personal challenges. The one thing they share is an uncommon passion for... bird watching. In the biggest competition of their biggest year, they undertake an unforgettable trek through North America, fall in and out of love, engage in hilarious and bizarre adventures, and form friendships that will last a lifetime.
THE DARJEELING LIMITED starring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman is an emotional comedy about three brothers re-forging family bonds. The eldest, played by Wilson, hopes to reconnect with his two younger siblings by taking them on a train trip across the vibrant and sensual landscape of India.
They call it The Endless Summer: the ultimate surfing adventure, crossing the globe in search of the perfect wave. From the uncharted waters of West Africa, to the shark-filled seas of Australia, to the tropical paradise of Tahiti and beyond, these California surfers accomplish in a few months what most people never do in a lifetime: they live their dream.
In EVERYONE'S HERO, a young boy (Jake T. Austin) finds himself at an extraordinary crossroads: He has a chance to be a hero - and make a difference against incredible odds - or he can play it safe. With faith in himself instilled by his family, he teams up with a sassy young girl (Raven-Symone) and some off-the-wall sidekicks and embarks on a sometimes perilous, often funny, cross-country quest. In the process, he restores his family's honor, befriends the world's biggest sports superstar, and reveals the hero within. Christopher Reeve was the original director on this computer-generated animated feature, the late actor-director's dream project.
After years of no contact with his Uncle Henry, London banker and bond trader Max Skinner learns that Henry has died intestate, so Max inherits a château and vineyard in Provence.
GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL recounts the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune -- all against the back-drop of a suddenly and dramatically changing Continent.
Jack Black is bigger than ever... as Gulliver, a perpetual underachiever and wannabe travel writer at a New York newspaper. When he finally makes an effort to actually venture out the city to write a travel piece, a storm-tossed voyage lands him on an island inhabited by tiny folks called Lilliputians. After a rocky beginning, the gargantuan Gulliver becomes an inspiration to his new six-inch-tall friends. He brings them modern-day wonders like a PDA and music video game -- while they help him kick it old-school during his travels through this unforgettable world.
In her startling, exquisitely shot Hello Photo, documentarist Nina Davenport turns the conventions of the travelogue inside out. She takes us to India and abandons us there, leaving us to believe what we see through her eyes. Her movie replicates the experience of being a traveller and thus a voyeur, of taking in sights without necessarily understanding their meaning.
Traveling alone, internationally acclaimed photographer and filmmaker Raymond Depardon spent six years, along with his long-time partner and collaborator Claudine Nougaret, creating an extraordinary travel journal. Interspersed with his journey are remarkable glimpses from his archives, including an unforgettable meeting with Nelson Mandela. Intimate, compelling, revelatory, Journal de France offers a unique portrait of a country and its landscapes, an overview of a truly momentous career, and a fascinating résumé of the art of photography over the past half century.
It's summer break and college freshman Lewis Thomas (Walker) has decided to embark on a cross-country road trip to pick up the girl of his dreams, Venna. But Lewis' romantic hopes hit a detour when he stops on the way to rescue his older brother, Fuller, who goads him into playing a practical joke on a lonely trucker, over a CB radio. Now, that trucker, an unseen and terrifying force known only by his CB handle, Rusty Nail, wants the last laugh... and revenge.
In an incredible twist of fate, a Scottish doctor (James McAvoy) on a Ugandan medical mission becomes irreversibly entangled with one of the world's most barbaric figures: Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker). Impressed by Dr. Garrigan's brazen attitude in a moment of crisis, the newly self-appointed Ugandan President Amin hand picks him as his personal physician and closest confidante. Though Garrigan is at first flattered and fascinated by his new position, he soon awakens to Amin's savagery - and his own complicity in it. Horror and betrayal ensue as Garrigan tries to right his wrongs and escape Uganda alive.
Inspired by the life of T. E. Lawrence and his autobiography The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, David Lean's film tells the epic story of the English intelligence officer who led the Arab uprising against the Ottoman Empire between 1916 and 1918.
Based on the best-selling novel by Yann Martel, is a magical adventure story centering on Pi Patel, the precocious son of a zookeeper. Dwellers in Pondicherry, India, the family decides to move to Canada, hitching a ride on a huge freighter. After a shipwreck, Pi is found adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a 26-foot lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, all fighting for survival.
Tells the story of the Hoovers, one of the most endearingly fractured families ever seen on motion picture screens. Together, the motley six-member family treks from Albuquerque to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, California, to fulfill the deepest wish of 7-year-old Olive, an ordinary little girl with big dreams.
An inspirational adventure, based on the true story of Ernesto Guevara and Alberto Granado, whose thrilling and dangerous road trip across Latin America becomes a life-changing journey of self-discovery.
A lavish train ride through Europe quickly unfolds into the thrilling mystery of thirteen strangers stranded on a train, where everyone's a suspect. One man must race against time to solve the puzzle before the murderer strikes again.
Anything can happen on Nim's Island, a magical place ruled by a young girl's imagination. It is an existence that mirrors that of her favorite literary character, Alex Rover - the world's greatest adventurer. But Alexandra, the author of the Rover books, leads a reclusive life in the big city. When Nim's father goes missing from their island, a twist of fate brings her together with Alexandra. They rely on the steadfast courage of their fictional hero, Alex Rover, to inspire them to save the day. Based on the award-winning book by Wendy Orr, NIM'S ISLAND is a funny, high-energy adventure with a heartfelt twist.
It is only now, on the roof of the world, in the bareness of the Tibetan plateau, that we observe how these adventurers survive the challenges imposed by this long and difficult road. We taste their meals prepared over open log- fires with what is available, visit their caravanserais and share their rest in the open sky. From the sub-tropical South, it is a journey made of twelve long months: six to reach our goal Lhasa, and six for the return. Some of the horse drivers we encounter have made this epic journey more than twenty times in their lives. Lhasa, Holy Grail of Buddhism, is also an extraordinary platform of exchange between China and India, on either side of the Himalayans. It is here where the Chinese horse drivers end their journey and where others take over the prized tea to carry it further, to India, Nepal, Pakistan, Persia, Russia and other far away countries.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
A day-dreamer escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of fantasies filled with heroism, romance and action. When his job along with that of his co-worker are threatened, he takes action in the real world embarking on a global journey that turns into an adventure more extraordinary than anything he could have ever imagined.
SIDEWAYS tells the story of Miles, a failed novelist, and his soon-to-be married friend Jack, a washed-up actor. To salute the remains of their youth, the two men take one last road trip in the week before Jack's wedding.
Travel the world to investigate the mysteries behind some of the most impressive and puzzling migrations. Watch the intricacies of placing the first radio transmitter on a butterfly and what this triumph of miniaturization may reveal. Follow ingenious scientists tracking elusive elephant seals in the dark and frigid depths using a "daily diary" - an advanced tagging device with sensors that monitor temperature, speed, and light - designed especially to find out what these creatures do during the annual ten months they disappear beneath the ocean surface. And meet a man whose life mission has been to study and advocate for the elephants of Africa, only to have historic floods destroy almost everything he has.
A group of unlikely traveling companions find themselves on the same stagecoach to Cheyenne. They include a drunken doctor, a bar girl who's been thrown out of town, a professional gambler, a traveling liquor salesman, a banker who has decided to embezzle money, a gunslinger out for revenge and a young woman going to join her army captain husband. All have secrets but when they are set upon by an Indian war party and then a family of outlaws, they find they must all work together if they are to stay alive.
In the South American jungle, supplies of nitroglycerine are needed at a remote oil field. The oil company pays four men to deliver the supplies in two trucks. A tense rivalry develops between the two sets of drivers on the rough remote roads where the slightest jolt can result in death. Winner of a BAFTA Award, the Palme d'Or and Special Mention Prize at Cannes Film Festival.
With the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother, Cheryl Strayed has lost all hope. After years of reckless, destructive behavior, she makes a rash decision. With absolutely no experience, driven only by sheer determination, Cheryl hikes more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, alone.
'In the vein of “Under the Tuscan Sun”, James (Ethan Peck) quits his jobs and finally follows his dream. A great play inspires him to go on a journey of self-discovery, which leads him to Spain. There, James meets beautiful Veronica (Elsa Pataky) as well as the playwright who changed his life. Quickly, James gets tangled in a web of desire, love and broken trust. Featuring Marcia Gay Harden.