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FILM LIBRARY: HEALTH

Critical Condition
by Roger Weisberg

What happens if you fall sick and are one of 47 million people in America without health insurance? "Critical Condition" by Roger Weisberg ("Waging a Living," P.O.V. 2006) puts a human face on the nation's growing health care crisis by capturing the harrowing struggles of four critically ill Americans who discover that being uninsured can cost them their jobs, health, home, savings, even their lives. Filmed in vérité style, "Critical Condition" offers a moving and invaluable expose at a time when the nation is debating how to extend health insurance to all Americans. A production of Public Policy Productions in association with Thirteen/WNET New York and American Documentary | P.O.V.

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Freedom Machines
by Jamie Stobie and Janet Cole

"Freedom Machines" takes a new look at disability through the lens of assistive technology. The experiences of a group of unforgettable people let us re-examine ideas about ability and disability grounded in our culture and attitudes. Engineers, designers and users challenge barriers inherent in our built environments, and reveal the gap between the promises of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and everyday reality for 54 million Americans with disabilities. Whether mainstream technology or extraordinary inventions such as stair-climbing wheelchairs, "Freedom Machines" reveals both the power and limitations of technology to change lives. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) co-presentation.

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Lesson Plan

In the Family
by Joanna Rudnick

How much would you sacrifice to survive? When Chicago filmmaker Joanna Rudnick tested positive for the "breast cancer gene" at age 27, she knew the information could save her life. And she knew she was not only confronting mortality at an early age, but also was going to have to make heart-wrenching decisions about the life that lay ahead of her. Should she take the irreversible preventive step of having her breasts and ovaries removed or risk developing cancer? What would happen to her romantic life, her hopes for a family? "In the Family" documents Rudnick's efforts to reach out to other women while facing her deepest fears. A co-production of Joanna Rudnick, Kartemquin Films and Independent Television Service (ITVS).

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Libby, Montana
by Drury Gunn Carr and Doug Hawes-Davis

Nestled below the rugged peaks of the Northern Rockies in Montana — as iconic a representation of America's "purple mountain majesties" as one can find — lies the worst case of community-wide exposure to a toxic substance in U.S. history. In the small town of Libby, many hundreds of people are sick or have already died from asbestos exposure. "Libby, Montana" takes a long working day's journey into a blue-collar community, and finds a different reality — one where the American Dream exacts a terrible price.

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Love & Diane
by Jennifer Dworkin

"Love & Diane" is a frank and astonishingly intimate real-life drama of a mother and daughter desperate for love and forgiveness, but caught in a devastating cycle. During the 1980's, a crack cocaine epidemic ravaged many impoverished inner city neighborhoods. As parents like Diane succumbed to addiction, a generation of children like Love entered the foster care system. Shot over ten years, the film centers on Love and Diane after the family is reunited and is struggling to reconnect. Now eighteen and a mother herself, Love must reconcile her anger and confront the ways in which her mother's past mistakes haunt her life. Diane, in turn, makes new choices for herself, seeking to break the treadmill of addiction and poverty. Powerful and immediate, "Love & Diane" is an epic film that shatters stereotypes and offers hope amidst seemingly impossible odds. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) co-presentation.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Lesson Plan

Maquilapolis [city of factories]
by Vicky Funari and Sergio De La Torre

Just over the border in Mexico is an area peppered with maquiladoras: massive factories often owned by the world's largest multinational corporations. Carmen and Lourdes work at maquiladoras in Tijuana, where each day they confront labor violations, environmental devastation and urban chaos. In this lyrical documentary, the women reach beyond the daily struggle for survival to organize for change, taking on both the Mexican and U.S. governments and a major television manufacturer. A co-production of the Independent Television Service (ITVS).

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Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit P.O.V. Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Refrigerator Mothers
by David E. Simpson, J.J. Hanley & Gordon Quinn

A mid-century medical nightmare is revealed in "Refrigerator Mothers." Autism is one of today's fastest growing disorders, affecting 1 in 500 people. It is now known to be a neurological condition, but from the 1950s through the 1970s the medical establishment mistakenly believed it had found the root cause of the disorder: poor mothering. Doctors presumed that the often obsessive behaviors of autistic children — rigid rituals, speech difficulty, self-isolation — stemmed from their mothers' emotional frigidity. Refrigerator Mothers explores the traumatic legacy of blame, guilt and self-doubt suffered by a generation of women who were branded "refrigerator mothers." An Independent Television Service (ITVS) Co-presentation.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

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Downloadable materials:
Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

The Smith Family
by Tasha Oldham

The Smiths of Salt Lake City may have America's most common surname, but their story is anything but ordinary. With two boys, a dog, a nice house and a strong commitment to the Mormon Church, Steve and Kim Smith believed they had achieved the American dream. But after nine years of marriage, shattering revelations of betrayal came — enough to test the strongest bonds of faith and love. When Steve confessed to infidelities with men, and they both find they are HIV+, Kim makes an unlikely choice. "The Smith Family" is a searing account of one family's struggle to preserve family and faith, while redefining forgiveness in the face of daunting tragedy.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

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Downloadable materials:
Lesson Plan

State of Denial
by Elaine Epstein

"State of Denial" reveals the human experience behind one of the world's greatest tragedies — the AIDS epidemic in South Africa. With five million people infected and nearly two thousand new infections occurring daily, South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world. The film takes viewers into the lives of six people struggling to survive with HIV in the face of social stigma, a severe lack of access to lifesaving treatments, and their president Thabo Mbeki's controversial denial of the connection between HIV and AIDS. A film of quiet outrage, "State of Denial" weaves the personal with the political in an uplifting portrait of ordinary people struggling to survive.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List

West 47th Street
by Bill Lichtenstein and June Peoples

Mental illness is a topic rife with stereotypes and misunderstanding. Made with depth and compassion, "West 47th Street" is an intimate cinéma vérité portrait of four people struggling to recover from serious mental illness. They've all come to Fountain House, a renowned rehabilitation center in New York City's Hell's Kitchen. Over three years, the film follows its subjects as they deal with drug regimens, health issues, group homes and work programs with courage and humor. Epic in scope, "West 47th Street" offers an unprecedented window onto the lives of people who are often feared and ignored, but seldom understood. An Active Voice Selection.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

Work with this film:
Buy the Film | Visit P.O.V. Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide

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