THE POLIO CRUSADE
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7 @ 8:00PM & 12:00AM
Discover the story of the dreaded disease that gripped the nation in fear, leaving thousands paralyzed. The film weaves personal accounts of polio survivors with the story of the ardent crusader who tirelessly fought against it.
400 YEARS OF THE TELESCOPE
SATURDAY, AUGUST 13 @ 8:00PM
Beautifully photographed in 4K digital cinematography, the film is a visually stunning chronicle of the history of the telescope from the time of Galileo, its profound impact upon the science of astronomy, and how both shape the way we view ourselves in the midst of an infinite universe.
The film features interviews with leading astrophysicists and cosmologists from the world’s renowned universities and observatories, who explain concepts ranging from Galileo’s act of revealing the cosmos with a simple telescope, to the latest discoveries in space, including startling new ideas about life on other planets and dark energy” a mysterious vacuum energy that is accelerating the expansion of the universe.
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THE BUDDHA
SUNDAY, AUGUST 17 @ 7:00PM & 11:00PM
This documentary for PBS by award-winning filmmaker David Grubin and narrated by Richard Gere, tells the story of the Buddha’s life, a journey especially relevant to our own bewildering times of violent change and spiritual confusion. It features the work of some of the world’s greatest artists and sculptors, who across two millennia, have depicted the Buddha’s life in art rich in beauty and complexity. Hear insights into the ancient narrative by contemporary Buddhists, including Pulitzer Prize winning poet W.S. Merwin and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Join the conversation and learn more about meditation, the history of Buddhism, and how to incorporate the Buddha’s teachings on compassion and mindfulness into daily life.
SUNDAY, APRIL 11 @ 2:00PM
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of America’s fastest-growing religions and, relative to its size, one of the richest. Church membership, now at over 12 million and growing, sweeps the globe. But from the moment of its founding in 1830, the church has been controversial. Within a month, it had 40 converts and almost as many enemies. In the early years, Mormons were hated, ridiculed, persecuted and feared. Yet in the past several decades, the Mormon church has transformed itself from a fringe sect into a thriving religion that embraces mainstream American values; its members include prominent and powerful politicians, university presidents and corporate leaders.
NATURE | MOMENT OF IMPACT
HUNTERS & HERDS
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6 @ 6:00PM & 10:00PM
The natural world is filled with “moments of impact” – the split seconds when animals come into contact with each other and the world around them. Previously these moments were too fast or too hidden for us to see. But now new camera technologies reveal what’s behind these remarkable moments, and cutting edge animations illustrate the “inside story” of animal bioengineering that allows each moment of impact to take place.
Eyes on the Prize
Mississippi: Is This America? 1963-1964
Bridge to Freedom 1965
THURSDAY, APRIL 15 @ 7:00PM & 12:00AM
Eyes on the Prize is an award-winning 14-hour television series produced by Blackside and narrated by Julian Bond. Through contemporary interviews and historical footage, the series covers all of the major events of the civil rights movement from 1954-1985.
Series topics range from the Montgomery bus boycott in 1954 to the Voting Rights Act in 1965; from community power in schools to “Black Power” in the streets; from early acts of individual courage through to the flowering of a mass movement and its eventual split into factions.
When Eyes on the Prize premiered in 1987, The Los Angeles Times called it “an exhaustive documentary that shouldn’t be missed.” The series went on to win six Emmys and numerous other awards, including an Academy Award nomination, the George Foster Peabody Award, and the top duPont-Columbia award for excellence in broadcast journalism.
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MLK: A Call to Conscience
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31 @ 6:00PM
The program explores the relevance of King’s anti-war position to the current U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the significance of the Nobel Peace Prize, an honor bestowed upon both King and President Barack Obama.
Tavis Smiley Reports MLK: A Call to Conscience is based on dozens of hours of interviews with King’s friends and with scholars who study his legacy, including:
Dr. Vincent Harding, drafter of the “Beyond Vietnam” speech
Clarence Jones, King’s legal advisor
Dr. Cornel West, a leading expert on race in America
Dr. Susannah Heschel, daughter of activist Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
Dr. Clayborne Carson, director of the King Institute at Stanford University
Marian Wright Edelman, Organizer for the Poor People’s Campaign with King
RAT ATTACK
SATURDAY, AUGUST 6 @ 6:00PM & 11:00PM
Once every 48 years, forests of the bamboo known as Melocanna baccifera go into exuberant flower in parts of northeast India. And then, like clockwork, the event is invariably followed by a plague of black rats that spring from nowhere to spread destruction and famine in their wake. For the first time on film, NOVA and National Geographic capture this massive rat population explosion in the kind of vivid detail not possible in 1959, when the last invasion occurred.
VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC
MONDAY, MARCH 29 @ 6:00PM & 10:00PM
In this provocative, thorough examination of the final months of the war, American Experience looks at the escalation of bloodletting from the vantage points of both the Japanese and the Americans. Despite warnings that his country, brought to its knees by the conflict, might erupt in a Communist revolution, Emperor Hirohito believed that one last decisive battle could reverse Japan’s fortunes. From the U.S. capture of the Mariana Islands through the firebombing of Tokyo and the dropping of the atomic bomb, Victory in the Pacific chronicles the dreadful and unprecedented loss of life and the decisions made by leaders on both sides that finally ended the war.
CLEVER MONKEYS
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 @ 6:00PM & 9:00PM
Just how smart are monkeys? Their innate curiosity leads them to try new things, but it’s their culture – the passing of information from one generation to the next – that teaches them much of what they know. Their young learn by reaching out with their hands to experience the world around them, grasping new objects, slowly piecing together an understanding of their society. They learn from their families how to find food, communicate, recognize kin, even use tools, medicine, and language. It is these familiar actions that make monkeys so fascinating to humans. We can see ourselves in their faces, our nature in their actions.