Filmed over a 6-month period during the COVID lockdown, Urban Owl follows the growth of three great horned owlets high in a eucalyptus tree in a San Francisco park where the adults have nested for many years. A hillside trail across from the nest allows an unusual birds-eye view of their growth and development. We watch them transform from tiny white puff balls to young fledglings learning to fly and hunt for themselves.
Filmmaker Mark Lipman’s work takes a new turn toward the natural world with “Refuge,” an observational film recorded in a wildlife sanctuary in California’s Central Valley, home to hundreds of thousands of migrating waterfowl.
Filmed over three years, “Refuge” begins at sunrise with the return of geese from foraging overnight in nearby rice fields, safe from hunters.
Winner of multiple audience awards, States of Grace intimately captures the profound transformation of a revered physician and her family in the wake of a life-changing accident. The San Francisco Chronicle calls the film “brave [and] refreshingly unsentimental” and audiences across the country have been moved by this inspiring story of perseverance and resilience.
Chapters for easy reference. Spanish Subtitles. Closed Captioning. English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired. Audio Description for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Running time : 75 mins
Arc of Justice traces the remarkable journey of New Communities, Inc. and the struggle for racial justice and economic empowerment among African Americans in southwest Georgia.
22 minutes Special features: Closed Captions with English and Spanish Subtitles
Streets of Dreams tells the stories of inspiring grassroots activists in communities of color around the U.S. who are using community land trusts (CLTs) to preserve the affordability of their homes, prevent displacement and shape the future of their communities.
15 minutes. Special Features: Closed Captions, with English and Spanish subtitles.
Foreclosures. Unemployment. Childhood poverty. All these problems have hit American communities hard during the Great Recession. Gaining Ground, a follow-up to the award-winning documentary Holding Ground (1996), shows how one diverse Boston neighborhood has managed to stem the tide against enormous odds.
58 minutes. Special Features: Closed Captions, Spanish/Dutch/French subtitles, four video modules excerpted from the film with Closed Captions and Spanish subtitles.
An in-depth look at name-calling and bullying in middle schools today, told entirely from a youth perspective.
35 minutes. Special features: director’s interview and chapter-by-chapter version of the film corresponding to the curriculum guide.
Discussion guide is free with institutional purchase. Order extra copies.
In their own words, elementary school-age kids describe the many shapes that families take in today’s diverse world.
35 minutes. Available in English and Spanish.
Discussion guide is free with institutional purchase. Order extra copies.
The groundbreaking film that addresses anti-gay prejudice and explores how teachers can include discussions about LGBT people in their elementary and middle school classrooms.
78/37 minutes, plus follow-up documentary, It’s Still Elementary. Special features: .pdf curriculum guide, Spanish subtitles and closed captions.
Discussion guide is free with institutional purchase. Order extra copies.
The inspiring story of three diverse U.S. cities that have created community land trusts to preserve affordable housing and empower neighborhood residents.
36 minutes. DVD includes Spanish and English subtitles and a 2008 epilogue featuring the status of the CLTs 10 years later.
An inspiring documentary that shows how residents in Boston’s Dudley neighborhood organized to transform a devastated, burned-out area into a national model for community revitalization.
56/11 minutes. Special features: Viewer’s guide, companion guide, Spanish and Russian versions.
Free discussion guide: Download PDF
A personal, experimental documentary that began as a memorial to Mark Lipman’s father and evolved into a moving exploration of grief and depression, the vagaries of memory and the veneer of family normalcy.
38 minutes.
A fascinating look into the conversations of nine women who gather together for a weekend to talk about their sexuality. (A companion piece to Finding Our Way.)
45 minutes.
A rare glimpse into men’s experiences of their sexuality assembled from the frank discussions that take place at a weekend retreat.
41 minutes.
Free discussion guide
Produced with Emerge, a men’s counseling organization in Massachusetts, this was the first documentary to examine the problem of wife abuse through the man’s experience of it.
21 minutes.
Free discussion guide
