Documentary Educational Resources - Subject / Arts / Artist Profiles / All Films

Thabyay

Mon, 6 Apr 2026 10:20:24 GMT

Set against one of the world's deadliest yet least-covered conflicts, Thabyay: Creative Resistance in Myanmar examines how creativity becomes both a tool and a lifeline under a brutal military junta: how songs, poems, paintings, and grassroots cultural events can be as potent as any weapon. The film also traces the moral and emotional journey of non-violent leaders forced to decide whether to endorse armed struggle, while still holding onto a vision of a peaceful, inclusive Myanmar.

The film profiles four figures working at the intersection of art, activism, and armed struggle: Susanna Hla Hla Soe, painter and government-in-exile minister, whose canvases document the impact of war on women and children; Maung Saungkha, poet and free-speech advocate turned commander of the first Bamar ethnic army; Phoe San, musician and composer who uses sound to sustain revolutionary spirit and support trauma recovery; and Thet Swe Win, human rights activist whose "artivist" gatherings mobilize the collective power of creative expression against repression.

Through intimate portraits and on-the-ground footage, Thabyay captures a movement that refuses to surrender its humanity, asking what is lost, and what might be gained, when non-violent leaders are pushed toward armed struggle in a war the world has largely chosen to ignore.

This is the latest work by Jeanne Hallacy, a documentary filmmaker with over two decades of engagement with social and human rights issues in Southeast Asia, particularly Burma and Thailand. Her filmography charts a sustained commitment to the region's most urgent stories, from Burma Diary (1997) and Mercy (Meddah) (2002) through This Kind of Love (2015), Sittwe (2017), Mother, Daughter, Sister (2018), and Padauk: Myanmar Spring (2021).

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

HUMAN Int'l Documentary Festival, Norway, 2026

City College of San Francisco, USA, 2026

University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2026

FRAME, Thailand, 2025

Reconference: CREA's Global Conference, Nepal, 2025

University of Bielefeld, Germany, 2025

Asia Pacific Social Forum, Thailand, 2025

National Chengchi University, Taiwan, 2025

George Washington University, Washington, DC, 2025

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A Long Way Home

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 13:50:23 GMT

A Long Way Home
Buy Now: $320.00

A Long Way Home takes us on a fascinating journey into both the grim days of recent Chinese history and the dazzling cultural scene in present-day China. The film centers around five of the most significant representatives of contemporary Chinese counterculture: the visual artists the Gao Brothers, the choreographer and dancer Wen Hui, the animation artist Pi San and the poet Ye Fu. With bravery and subversive wit, they each shed light on the social problems in their country from their unique perspective. Their vision is of a democratic and humane civil society, and, increasingly, their struggle seems as relevant for the world today as it is for China.

Extras:

Interview with Luc Schaedler at Dharamshala International Film Festival (4:45 min)
Ye Fu - On Writing His First Poems (3:30 min)

Wen Hui - Are You A Proletarian? (2:30 min)
Pi San - On Leaving the Country (1 min)
Pi San - Blow Up School (original Kuang Kuang clip) (7:45 min)
Gao Shen - On His Long Way Home (1:30 min)

Selected Screenings
Nomination Prix de Soleure, Nomination für Swiss Film Award, Solothurner Filmtage, Switzerland, 2018

EPOS Intl. Art Filmfestival, Tel Aviv (Israel), 2020

Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels, France, 2019
42e Festival des films du monde Montréal, Canada, 2018
Dharamshala International Film Festival, India, 2018
Innsbruck International Film Festival, Austria, 2019

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Screening Room Collection: Animation Series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Screening Room Collection: Animation Series
Buy Now: $1,960.00

Screening Room was a 1970s Boston television series that for almost ten years offered independent filmmakers a chance to show and discuss their work on a commercial (ABC-TV) affiliate station. The series was developed and hosted by filmmaker Robert Gardner (Dead Birds, Forest of Bliss), who was Chairman of the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies and Director of the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard for many years.

The Screening Room Animation Collection includes the following episodes:

Robert Breer (color, 75 min, 1976/2005)

Since the 1950s, American animator Robert Breer has been well-known for his films exploring shape, color, perspective and motion. In November 1976, he appeared on the program to Recreation, A Man and His Dog Out for Air, 69, Gulls and Buoys, Fuji, and Rubber Cement.

George Griffin (color, 71 min, 1976/2006)

Independent animator George Griffin has dedicated himself to the pursuit of animation as an art form. In October 1976, he appeared on Screening Room to show and discuss his animation work.

John & Faith Hubley (color, 64 min, 1975/2005)

Academy Award winning husband and wife John and Faith Hubley worked as a team over many years to set standards for creative animation. They appeared on Screening Room in April 1973 to discuss and screen their films.

Derek Lamb (color, two DVDs 75 min/75 min, 1973 & 1975/2008)

In a remarkable career spanning more than four decades, Academy Award winning director, producer, and animator Derek Lamb contributed to over two hundred film and video productions. He appeared on Screening Room in June 1973, and returned for a second visit in September 1975.

Caroline Leaf & Mary Beams (color, 75 min, 1975/2005)

Academy Award nominee Caroline Leaf's animated work springs from her expert storytelling and pioneering animation techniques. Accomplished animator Mary Beams' hand-drawn films carry themes of memory, erotic fantasy and feminism. Both women visited Screening Room in July, 1975.

Jan Lenica (color, 80 min, 1973/2005)

In addition to being a celebrated experimental animator, Jan Lenica (1928-2001) was a multi-talented artist known for his poetic and surreal graphic art in many forms. He appeared on Screening Room in April, 1973.

Suzan Pitt (color, 71 min, 1975/2005)

Independent animator and painter Suzan Pitt, whose surreal and psychological films have gained her worldwide acclaim, continually pushes the boundaries of the animated form, sometimes working with live actors or using animation in opera stagings. She appeared on Screening Room in July, 1975.

John Whitney, Sr. (color, 68 min, 1972/2005)

Abstract computer animator, inventor and digital pioneer John Whitney, Sr. (1917-1995) is widely considered the "father of Computer Graphics." He was a guest on the inaugural episode of Screening Room in November, 1972.

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Screening Room Collection: Documentary Series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Screening Room Collection: Documentary Series
Buy Now: $1,960.00

The Screening Room Documentary series includes the following episodes:

Les Blank (75 min, 1975/2005) Known for his films about indigenous southern music and various other topics, award-winning filmmaker Les Blank, along with music writer Peter Guralnick, appeared on Screening Room in January 1973 to discuss his recent work and screen several films, including footage from a then work in progress.

Emile de Antonio (79 min, 1973/2005) watch a preview One of America's most influential political and avant-garde filmmakers Emile de Antonio, along with visual anthropologist Edmund Carpenter, appeared on Screening Room in June 1973 to screen and discuss excerpts from his films.

Robert Fulton (two DVDs, 83 min/72 min, 1973 & 1979/2005)

Extraordinary non-fiction filmmaker and gifted aerial cinematographer Robert Fulton appeared on Screening Room in April 1973 and returned for a second visit in April 1979.

Hillary Harris (two DVDs, 75 min/76 min, 1973 & 1979/2007)

In March 1973, Oscar-winning filmmaker Hilary Harris visited Screening Room to screen and discuss his pioneering films as well as footage from a work-in-progress about New York City. He visited again in January 1979 to screen his recent films, and to demonstrate his sound mixer and image generator designs.

Peter Hutton (72 min, 1977/2005)

Peter Hutton's contemplative, meticulously composed films, primarily minimalist, silent portraits of cities and landscapes, have been shown at important festivals in major museums across Europe and the United States. He visited Screening Room in March 1977.

Ricky Leacock (64 min, 1973/2005)

One of the main figures of the "direct cinema" movement, Ricky Leacock visited the program on June 15, 1973, with Al Mecklenburg and Jon Rosenfeld, to demonstrate super-8 sync technology and screen excerpts from his films, as well as rare footage of Indira Ghandi.

Alan Lomax (75 min, 1975/2005)

Alan Lomax spent over six decades working as a musicologist, author, record producer, filmmaker, concert promoter, singer, photographer, and network radio host to promote knowledge and appreciation of the world's folk music. He appeared on Screening Room in August 1975 to discuss the theory of Choreometrics and show the film Dance and Human History.

Richard P. Rogers (76 min, 1975/2007)

Renowned producer and director of nonfiction films Richard P. Rogers (1944-2001) appeared on Screening Room in June 1975 to show and discuss his films and some excerpts.

Jean Rouch (64 min, 1980)

Considered one of the most influential documentary makers of the twentieth century, Jean Rouch appeared on Screening Room in July 1980 and screened Les Maitres Fous (Mad Masters) as well as several film excerpts.

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Screening Room Collection: Experimental Series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Screening Room Collection: Experimental Series
Buy Now: $1,960.00

The Screening Room Experimental Collection includes the following episodes:

Bruce Baillie (color, 72 min, 1975/2005)

One of the founders of the San Francisco avant-garde film movement, Bruce Bailie's works are in the Library of Congress collection and are considered national treasures. He appeared on Screening Room in April 1973.

James Broughton (color, 75 min, 1977/2005)

Often called "the father of West Coast independent cinema," James Broughton (1913-1999) considered himself to be, first and foremost, a poet. He visited Screening Room in April, 1977.

Ed Emshwiller (color, 77 min, 1975/2005)

Ed Emshwiller started out as an abstract expressionist painter and an award-winning science fiction illustrator before becoming a major figure in avant-garde cinema and the experimental film movement of the 1960s and '70s. He visited Screening Room in July 1975.

Hollis Frampton (color, 74 min, 1977/2006)

A major figure in the American experimental film movement of the 1960s and '70s and a widely published theorist, celebrated American experimental filmmaker Hollis Frampton appeared on Screening Room in January 1977, to discuss his work and screen his films, as well as some excerpts and footage from a work in progress.

Standish Lawder & Stanley Cavell (color, 74 min, 1973/2005)

Professor of art history, photographer, and inventor Standish Lawder and distinguished philosopher Stanley Cavell visited Screening Room in January 1973. Here, Lawder demonstrates his home-made optical printer and screens his films as he, Gardner, and Cavell discuss the intellectual and psychological implications of his filmic manipulations.

Jonas Mekas (color, 75 min, 1975/2005)

Filmmaker, film critic, archivist, poet, lecturer and curator Jonas Mekas is one of the leading figures of American avant-garde film and video. He appeared on Screening Room in October 1981 to discuss the film preservation efforts of Anthology Film Archives and show and discuss his own work as well as that of other filmmakers, including Bruce Bailie, Maya Deren, and Joseph Cornell.

Yvonne Rainer (color, 74 min, 1977/2005)

In March 1977, honored avant-garde coreographer, dancer and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer appeared on Screening Room with film scholar and author Deac Rossell, to screen and discuss excerpts from her film Kristina Talking Pictures.

Michael Snow (color, 74 min, 1975/2005)

Canadian Michael Snow has worked in painting, sculpture, and music as well as film, where he has proved one of the most renowned and influential of all experimental filmmakers. He visited Screening Room in March 1977.

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Earl's Canoe

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:05:00 GMT

Earl's Canoe
Buy Now: $320.00

We meet Earl Nyholm, a member of the Ojibwe Nation, as he walks through the woods on Madeleine Island, Wisconsin. He's looking for just the right birch tree to select for the bark which will be used in the making of a traditional Ojibwe canoe. He talks about the respect that the Ojibwe People have for nature and for the spirit of the particular tree used in the making of a canoe following the traditions that had been handed down through the generations. We are told that this spot is a good one for building this canoe as Madeline Island was a sacred place and a center for the Ojibwe Nation in earlier times.

We watch the entire process from peeling the bark from the tree to shaping the form of the canoe with heavy rocks and then the elegant stitching together of the canoe's parts. Earl tells us that artists have always depicted birch bark canoes with the distinctive white pattern of the bark on the outside. This is a myth, as they are actually made with the white, outer bark of the tree, on the inside of the canoe. While the task is arduous the work proceeds step by step with the help of other members of the Ojibwe Nation.

The excellent camerawork allows us to see in great detail the ingenious process. While it is not as easy as going down to the local sporting goods shop and picking up an aluminum model, there is the sense of satisfaction knowing that the materials and the process are integrated with the natural environment and provide a spiritual link to the past.

This program is suitable for all ages and will be very useful for anyone interested in canoe making, in the preserving of a Native American craft, in teaching Native American Studies, and anthropology.

A Traditional Ojibwe Craft was produced for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies.

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François Pernet, Carpenter and Sculptor

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:53:00 GMT

François Pernet, Carpenter and Sculptor
Buy Now: $295.00

Like his grandfather and his father before him, François Pernet is a mountain peasant and works with wood. He trained as a carpenter and cabinet maker and owns the last water-powered sawmill still operating in French-speaking Switzerland. He and his wife have five children, two of their own, and three nephews adopted after the death of their parents in a car accident. So, to earn a living, he makes and carves cupboards and turns bannisters. In addition to his work, Pernet has become a sculptor as well. His bas-relief carvings, which have decorated local cafés, show various aspects of mountain life, including hunters, poachers, chamois and other animals.

Films in the Wood Crafts series

Armand Rouiller, Sledge-maker
Arnold Golay, Toy-maker

The Bapst Brothers, Carriers

Claude Lebet, Luthier

François Pernet, Carpenter and Sculptor
Joseph Doutaz & Olivier Veuve, Shingle-makers

A Little Corner of Paradise

Marcellin Babey, Turner
Michel Marlétaz, Cooper

Pink Mountain Sand

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Fully Awake

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:53:00 GMT

Fully Awake
Buy Now: $320.00

Hidden in the mountains of Western North Carolina, Black Mountain College (1933 - 1957) was an influential experiment in education that inspired and shaped twentieth century American art. Fully Awake: Black Mountain College is a documentary film that explores the college's progressive pedagogy and radical approach to arts education. Highly democratic and faculty-owned, the school promoted practical responsibilities and the creative arts as equally important components to intellectual development.

During WWII, Black Mountain College was a haven for refugee European artists such as Josef and Anni Albers who arrived from the Bauhaus in Germany. In the socially conservative 1940s and 50s, the college also became a refuge for the American avant-garde, (Franz Kline, John Cage, Buckminster Fuller, Merce Cunningham, Robert Creeley, Jacob Lawrence, Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, and M.C. Richards). Fully Awake explores how the confluence of this diverse community came together to create a unique educational model.

Through narration, archive photography, and interviews with students, teachers, historians, and current artists, Fully Awake investigates the development of this very special place - the site of Buckminster Fuller's first geodesic dome, John Cage's first 'happening', and the Black Mountain Review - and how its collaborative curriculum inspired innovations that would change the very definition of "art." Through probing the legacy of Black Mountain College, Fully Awake points to a progressive pedagogical model that can continue to inspire students today.

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Hanoi Eclipse

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:26:00 GMT

Hanoi Eclipse
Buy Now: $320.00

The documentary follows the challenges faced by the groundbreaking and controversial Vietnamese band Dai Lam Linh, while rehearsing and performing in their hometown of Hanoi. It shows how the band came together to create a unique form of popular music, which is both international in outlook and rooted in Vietnamese traditions and aesthetics.

Followed by scandal at every turn for their experimental sound and their use of sexually explicit lyrics, the band have dared to flout taboos and fight for their creative freedom. Shunned by state-run organizations and disliked by the Vietnamese censors, the band were only able to record their debut album because of support from the Centre Culturel Français de Hanoi. Dai Lam Linh's story of creative, political and financial struggle reveals what it is like to be a contemporary musician in a one-party state where cultural expression is tightly controlled.

Dai Lam Linh was established by the male composer, Dai, an ex-soldier who fought in the Second Indochina War (known as the "Vietnam War"), and two female singers, Lam and Linh. The film explores how Dai overcame the trauma of war by writing songs to honor the memory of the war dead and how the singers Lam and Linh embarked on an inner journey to discovery their extraordinary voices.

With vivid footage of the band working in the city of Hanoi, the film documents the process of recording Dai Lam Linh's debut album in 2009 and features an album-launch concert in the prestigious Hanoi Opera House.

“Barley Norton ...is to be highly commended for his wonderful work with the storyline, filming, interviewing and recording, and everything else it took to make this highly successful production. It is a very impressive musical journey, at times scary, noisy, funny, touching, thought-provoking, and always challenging, yet emotionally rewarding ... This is truly a remarkable documentary film, and I highly recommend it ... It is a film that all university music programmes should own, and that all music students should be required to see”
— Dale Olsen, Yearbook for Traditional Music

“Beautifully filmed, this is an important document not just about Dai Lam Linh's struggle to make the music they want to make, but also about the act of making art in Vietnam today. Since there are so few documentaries on contemporary culture in Vietnam, Norton is to be congratulated for opening a window into an intriguing musical culture”
— Songlines, The World Music Magazine

“Hanoi Eclipse… provides a well-researched and engaging look at music-making in contemporary Vietnam.”
— Jennifer Milioto Matsue, Asian Music

“The film will be of great value to those interested in international contemporary music and those interested in contemporary Vietnamese culture. It is also an invaluable contribution to the as yet small number of documentaries about contemporary Vietnamese society that are firmly grounded in in-depth research.”
— Lauren Meeker, Ethnomusicology

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Commendation - Intangible Culture Film Prize, RAI International Film Festival of Ethnographic Film, 2011
Open City Docs Fest, UK, 2012
Lifescapes South East Asian Film Festival, Thailand, 2012
Jean Rouch International Film Festival, Paris, 2011
Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival, Montreal, 2011
12th RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film, London, 2011
Vietnamese International Film Festival, 2011
San Francisco Diasporic Vietnamese Film Festival, San Francisco, 2011
British Forum for Ethnomusicology Conference, Falmouth, UK, 2011
Society for Ethnomusicology Conference, Los Angeles, 2010
EUROSEAS Conference (The European Association for Southeast Asian Studies), Gothenburg, Sweden, 2010

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Happy Collaborator

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:26:00 GMT

Happy Collaborator
Buy Now: $320.00

Hailed as the Johnny Appleseed of documentary film and known as "the father of public access," George C. Stoney (1916-2012) began his filmmaking career in 1946 after working in journalism for a time. Throughout his career, which spanned more than 60 years, he wrote, produced, and directed more than 200 films. Many are documentaries that illuminate social problems. His film All My Babies (1952) was chosen for the National Registry in 2006. This poignant documentary portrays the late George Stoney as a filmmaker, teacher of film, and media activist. We see clips from 17 films, interviews with collaborators who worked with the subject in front of and behind the camera, and intimate recordings with the subject himself.

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