Films for the Humanities & Sciences (Firm)

The Day of the Dead is Mexico's most important fiesta. In the city of Pátzcuaro, Mexico, local residents await and discuss the festival with great anticipation. This program highlights their activities leading up to, during, and following Dia de los Muertos, offering plenty of Spanish lessons in the process. Because locally made foods, drinks, and souvenirs are often a big part of the holiday, viewers of the program will find ample opportunity to...

This program paints a controversial picture of the events of September 11, 2001. It describes how the attacks on the United States have been elevated to a sacred, near-religious level - and that to challenge the orthodox view, regardless of the quality of the contrary arguments, is considered blasphemy and to be rejected.

In today's Peru, a country scourged by unemployment, political violence, and drug trafficking, the ability of the women to face the worsening societal and economic crisis is cause for admiration. This program looks at the noble efforts of city women in general, as they prepare community meals, work at menial jobs to support families, run employment workshops, and provide counseling for abused women, pregnant teenagers, and refugees fleeing war in...

From its pre-Roman origins to its 21st-century status as a truly global city, Barcelona has given birth to an array of beautiful landmarks. This program gives students an information-rich tour of the Catalonian capital. With visually dynamic footage devoted to the buildings of Antoni Gaudi, the program introduces viewers to Casa Mila, Sagrada Familia, Parq Guell, and other works. Explorations of the Eixample grid pattern, the 1929 International Exhibition...

Part one of this program, presented against a backdrop of Gothic architecture and pre-Raphaelite art, asks whether religion and science can coexist in a post-Darwinian world. Are Creation and Evolution mutually exclusive? Part two focuses on the questions raised by the global movement toward social equality. Must Christianity adapt to survive, and if so, do issues like female priests and homosexuality threaten to rob it of its scriptural authority?...

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation, as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons." WHO estimates that 140 million women and girls around the world have experienced it, including 101 million in Africa. This episode explores the efforts to treat female circumcision as...

Aside from doctors and dentists, there is a wide range of health service occupations, from paramedics on the "front lines" of accidents and illness to therapists assisting a patient's full recovery. This program looks at the required training, qualifications, and licensing for emergency medical technicians, pharmacists, physical therapists, and dental hygienists. The video also points out the differences between a dietetic technician and a dietician...

This video demonstrates how to drive and remove nails like a pro while explaining how to work with wood screws-from pre-drilling, to countersinking and plugging, to increasing their holding power.

In contrast to empiricist and rationalist traditions, existentialism proposes an order-less world, vaguely hostile, where people choose their character and goals, have an obligation only to be "authentic," and may only observe the truth (reality) in moments of anxiety. In this program, world-renowned author and professor Bryan Magee and University of California, Berkeley, philosopher Herbert Dreyfus trace the roots of existentialism from Edmund Husserl's...

Vincent van Gogh is perhaps the most mythologized artist in the history of art and his tragic life is ingrained in the popular imagination. Active as an artist for only ten years he completed 1250 paintings, before succumbing to mental illness and taking his own life in July of 1890. Van Gogh was a deeply spiritual man and began painting after witnessing the desperate poverty of the agricultural communities of Holland and Belgium. He developed a highly...