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. If you'd like to suggest a new filmography or ask that an existing one be updated, please contact mediaservices@american.edu.
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.
For more information take a look at the Streaming Video Guides and Browsing Collections.
War on the family: Mothers in prison and the children they leave behind. 2010. 1 videodisc (48 min.). "[F]irst person narratives, coupled with analysis from passionate advocates, paint a devastatingly clear picture of the effects imprisonment has not only on the women who are locked away, but also on the children who have been left behind"--Publisher's website. DVD 8050
Welcome to Warren: Inmates and guards on life in prison. 2004. 1 streaming video file (31 min.). Most prison documentaries focus on the inmates. This sobering program features guards and prisoners alike, giving the viewer two interpretations of life at Ohio's Warren Correctional Institution. From the smallest detail-how cellmates rig a shabby partition around their toilet-to the cynicism and frontline sociology with which the corrections officers analyze their surroundings, the video clearly elucidates the effects of prolonged monotony and confinement on the human spirit. As one officer puts it, Eight hours a day, I'm locked up here too.For discussions of the American criminal justice system and its dehumanizing elements, this is a strong catalyst. Opening scene contains brief nudity. (31 minutes). Streaming video
What can we do about violence? 1995. 1 streaming video file (56 min.). In the Ventura School, California's showcase juvenile prison, inmates discuss how drugs and alcohol, lack of family support, and gang involvement have influenced their lives. The program also looks at Adult Time For Adult Crime, a program in Dade County, FL, which sends more kids to adult court than any other county in the U.S. Those who prosecute, defend, and judge young offenders explain how our society has come to the point where the age of the defendant is no longer a mitigating factor-and how 14-year-olds are being sentenced to life behind bars. But there are alternatives to that kind of traditional sentencing of young, violent offenders which are explored in a report from the Last Chance Ranch, a work-study lockup rooted in firm discipline, treatment, and rehabilitation. (56 minutes). Streaming video
What I want my words to do to you. 2003. 1 streaming video file (80 min.). In this classic program from the POV series, playwright Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues) leads 15 female inmates-most convicted of murder-through a series of exercises and intimate discussions, enabling them to delve into and expose their most terrifying realities as they grapple with the nature of their crimes and their own culpability. The documentary culminates in an emotionally charged prison performance of the inmates' writings by acclaimed actors Mary Alice, Marisa Tomei, Glenn Close, Rosie Perez, and Hazelle Goodman. An outgrowth of Ensler's workshop at Bedford Hills Correctional Center, What I Want My Words to Do to You is a breathtakingly candid portrait of life behind bars. Distributed by PBS Distribution. (80 minutes). DVD 1378 and Streaming video
When kids get life. 2007. 1 videodisc (90 min.). The United States is one of the only countries in the world that allows children under 18 to be sentenced to life without parole. This program profiles the cases of five juveniles sentenced in Colorado to life in prison without the possibility of parole. It explores whether juveniles should receive sentences that, in effect, end any possibility of life outside of prison. DVD 3150
When the bough breaks-- children of women in prison. 2001. Filmakers library online. 1 online resource (57 min.). What happens to children when their mothers are incarcerated? In prisons throughout the United States, 80% of all female inmates are incarcerated for non-violent offenses, and 80% are mothers of vulnerable children. This sensitive documentary is an up -close look at children coping with their mother's incarcerations. The children lay bare their longings and their desire for love. Each story illustrates policy gaps between the judicial and social service systems that are supposed to serve them. More than 250,000 children in the U.S suffer daily being separated from their mothers. They are often left in the custody of extended family members where their needs are misunderstood, where poverty prevails and where they suffer emotional neglect and abuse. These children are six times more likely than their peers to end up in prison. Indeed the system of justice perpetuates the very problems it seeks to prevent.When the Bough Breaks -- Children of Mothers in Prison is a powerful reminder that the system must be changed if these children are to have an emotionally healthy future. Streaming video
Women's prisons: Old problems and new solutions. 2001. 1 streaming video file (47 min.). Once solely a realm of punishment, some prisons now offer choices intended to educate, empower, and, ultimately, liberate. This program goes inside three women's prisons in the U.S. and Canada, contrasting old and new correctional philosophies. Key differences between the countries' systems are noted, such as the level of tolerance for sexual relationships between inmates. Interviews with the women poignantly highlight their struggles with drugs, suicide, motherhood, and physical and sexual abuse. The warden of the Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women, the District Director of the Burnaby Correctional Centre for Women in British Columbia, and other prison officials discuss giving a second chance to women who often never had a first. (47 minutes). Streaming video
Young criminals, adult punishment. 1996. 1 streaming video file (22 min.). As crimes committed by youngsters become progressively more violent, the criminal justice system must decide whether harsh sentences given out to adult criminals, including capital punishment, should also apply to violent young offenders. This ABC News Nightline examines the issue through the eyes of young criminals, their families, and attorneys, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials. Herbert Hoelter of the National Criminal Justice Commission examines the various state laws governing juvenile punishment. He suggests rehabilitation for kids who commit violent crimes but do not fall into the category of super-predatorswho may never benefit from rehabilitation. (22 minutes). Streaming video
Zimbardo speaks The Lucifer effect and the psychology of evil. 2008. 1 streaming video file (127 min.). Philip Zimbardo has spent decades researching the transformation of character that occurs when generally good people are led to engage in evil actions. In this lecture, Zimbardo discourses on theories of conformity, prejudice, aggression, social influence, and antisocial behavior. Topics include the permeability of behavioral boundaries; the nature of evil and its societal consequences; Zimbardo's Lucifer Effect; the Abu Ghraib atrocities, a recent example of evil in action; blind obedience as demonstrated by Stanley Milgram's experiments and by the Jonestown mass suicide; anonymity as an enabler of evil action, as illustrated by the Ku Klux Klan; Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment; dehumanization as demonstrated by Albert Bandura's experiments and by the Rwandan genocide; how systems create evil, as illustrated by the Holocaust and the lynching of African-Americans; heroism as an antidote to evil; and more. A Q&A session follows. Viewer discretion is advised. (2 hours 7 minutes). Streaming video