In Pictures

New Videos | New Feature Films

Wow, there are a lot of new videos this time.  All those requests from earlier in the year (with some funding thanks to the Friends of the Hiram College Library) are starting to roll out on to the shelves, complete with full-cataloging.  (NOTE: If you want to see the advantages of full-cataloging, go into the Hiram College catalog and do a word search on Shakespeare and film.)  The number of videos this time almost has me re-thinking that this should be a monthly publication!

New Videos

Empires in the America: A Journey Back in Time (Film 972.018 Em731 2000 DVD) - Uses 3D graphics and animations to look at the Aztec and Inca empires.

The Taming of the Shrew (Film 822.33 Q3 1967 1999 DVD) - Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor star in this film version of the Shakespeare play.

This We Believe In Action: Implementing Successful Middle Level Schools (Film 373.23 T3489 2005 DVD) - Based on the National Middle School Association's (NMSA) position paper on the importance of the middle school concept, this DVD provides scenes from eight middle schools showing how some of the key concepts of middle schools have been implemented.  And don't forget the accompanying book of the same name.

Dream of Light (Film 759.6 L8814s 2000 VHS) - Award-winning documentary focusing on artist Antonio Lopez Garcia's efforts, over several weeks to paint the sun filtering through the leaves of a quince tree.

Hamlet (Film 822.33 S7 1990 2004 DVD) - Mel Gibson and Glenn Close star in this 1990 adaptation of the Shakespeare play.

Samurai Japan: A Journey Back in Time (Film 952.01 Sa499 2000 DVD ) - Part of the Lost Treasures of the Ancient World series, this video uses 3D graphics and animations to recreate Japan's monuments, pagodas, and temples to look at Japanese society at the time of the Samurai.

Multicultural Understanding (Film 305.8 M9192 2001 DVD) -  Looks at multicultural America and how we can all learn from each other.

The Celts: A Journey Back in Time (Film 936.4 C3321 2000 DVD) - Part of the Lost Treasures of the Ancient World Series, this video uses #d graphics and animation to look at Celtic culture.

Obedience (Film 303.36 Ob21 2000 DVD) - Film shot at Yale University in 1962 that shows Stanley Milgram's famous research on obedience to authority.  Shows the reactions of subjects ordered to administer increasingly severe electric shocks to another person, as well as the subjects' explanations of their actions.

Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time (Film 709.2 G579r 2004 DVD) - Looks at the creative process and the relationship between nature and art through the work of artist Andy Goldsworthy.

Kiss Me Kate (Film  782.14 K643 1953 2003 DVD) - Kathryn Garson, Howard Keel, and Ann Miller star in this musical based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.

Ancient India: A Journey Back in Time (Film 934 An222 2000 DVD) - Uses 3D graphics and animation to look Indian culture, including the Taj Mahal and the re-creation of an Indus Valley village of the Second Millennium BC.

The Changing Face of America and the World (Film 304.60973 C36283 2001 VHS) -  Examines the world's changing demographics and the effects of population changes on the United States.

The Secret Life of Geisha (Film 792.7028 Se252 2005 DVD) - This A&E program takes a behind the scenes look at the 400 year old Japanese cultural phenomenon.

Dark Age England: A Journey Back in Time (Film 942.01 D2484 2000 DVD) - Uses 3D graphics and animation to look at early English culture before 1066.

What Does it Mean to be White? The Invisible Whiteness of Being (Film 305.809 W5562 2004 DVD) - Derald Wing Sue interviews whites and non-whites on what it means to be white.  Examines how the sense of white privilege keeps whites oblivious to the opposite effect upon non-whites.

Richard III (Film 822.33 X5 1995 2005 DVD) - Ian McKellen, Annette Bening, and Maggie Smith star in this 1995 adaptation of the Shakespeare play.

Ancient China: A Journey Back in Time (Film 931 An221 2000 DVD) - Uses 3D graphics and animation to look at Chinese culture.  Includes a re-creation of a Chinese village from 7000 years ago, the famous terracotta army, and the Forbidden City.

Game Over: Gender, Race and Violence in Video Games (Film 306.487028 G145 2002 DVD) - The subtitle pretty much says it all as this video looks at computer games (a $6 billion a year industry) by asking questions related to violence, gender, and race within games and the effects on players.

Hindu Ascetics (Film 294.5447 H588 2005 DVD) - Examines the practices of India's holy men, including yogis, fakirs, and sadhus and how these rituals connect to ancient Hindu and Buddhist rituals.

Hamlet (Film 822.33 S7 1948 2000 DVD) - Laurence Olivier directed and starred (and won an Academy Award for Best Actor) in this version of the Shakespeare play.  The film also won the 1948 Academy Award for Best Picture.

Off the Straight and Narrow: Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Television (Film 306.766 Of21 2002 DVD) - A critical look at how gays are portrayed on television.

Further Off the Straight and Narrow: New Gay Visibility on Television, 1998-2006 (Film 306.766 F9846 2006 DVD) - Picks up, beginning in 1998,  the analysis of how gays are portrayed on television after the above title ends.

Shakti: The Power of Women (Film 305.4889143 Sh159 2005 DVD) - Looks at the power of women to create social and economic change in India.  Shakti is the Great Mother or supreme female deity in Hinduism.

Edward Said On Orientalism (Film 909.097671 Ed94 2002 DVD) - A video introduction to the work of Edward Said (best known for his book Orientalism), who argues Americans have a distorted view of the Middle East and of Arabs.

The Drama of Creation: Writers on Writing (Film 808.02 D790 2006 DVD) - A look at the creative process of writing with interviews and commentary from Neil Simon, August Wilson, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, and others.

Now With Bill Moyers: Kathleen Hall Jamieson on Political Advertising (Film 324.730973 N86 2004 DVD) - Moyers interviews medial and political analyst Kathleen Hall Jamieson (Dean, Annenberg School of Communication) as she looks at more than a dozen political commercials on TV.

Richard III (Film 822.33 X5 1955 2004 DVD) - Laurence Olivier directed, produced, and starred in this version of the William Shakespeare work.

Hamlet (Film 822.33 S7 2000 2001 DVD) - Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Venora and Julia Stiles star in this contemporary adaptation of the William Shakespeare work.

Lake Erie: Ohio's Great Lake (Film 977.12 L1485 2006 DVD) - A documentary that looks at Lake Erie and its impact on Ohio's history and economy. 

Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire (Film 952 J2711 2004 DVD) - Part of the PBS series Empires, this looks at Japan from the 16th to the 19th centuries when it was largely closed to Westerners.

New Feature Films

Ikiru (Feature Film Ik5 2004 DVD)- A look at life and death through the story of a Japanese bureaucrat dying of cancer.

Late Spring (Feature Film L343 2006 DVD) - A tale of love and loss in postwar Japan, in which a widowed father feels compelled to marry off his only daughter. 

Match Point (Feature Film M413 2006 DVD) - Woody Allen wrote and directed this tale of passion and intrigue as a former tennis pro tries to determine which girl to choose.  Stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Emily Mortimer, and Scarlett Johansson.

Memoirs of a Geisha (Feature Film M5192 2006 DVD) - Academy Award nominated story of a girl sold to a geisha house who becomes one of Japan's most famous geisha's.  Set in pre-war Japan, but with that war looming on the horizon.

The Fire Within (Feature Film F432 1992 VHS) - An early film from famed French director Louis Malle, the film looks at the last 48 hours in the life of an alcoholic playboy.  In French with English subtitles.

Forrest Gump (Feature Film F7703 2001 DVD) - Tom Hanks as the simple Forrest Gump who becomes involved in every major event of the 1960s.  The film won 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and is famous for the Tom Hanks's line "Life is like a box of chocolates . . . you never know what you're gonna get."

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Feature Film G938 1967 1998 DVD) - Groundbreaking film (for 1967) on interracial marriage.  Stars Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn (who won an Oscar for Best Actress), and Sidney Poitier.

Fargo (Feature Film F224 2005 DVD) - Written by the Coen brothers (Joel also directed, while Ethan produced), the film tells the story of a policewoman (played by Frances McDormand) investigating a series of crimes during an upper-Midwest winter.  Also stars William H. Macy.

Water (Feature Film W2911 2006 DVD) - Set in the 1930s when Britain ruled India, this film looks at Hindu traditions in a changing India by focusing on a group of shunned widows living in poverty at a temple (one of three choices for a Hindu widow at that time).  Directed by Deepa Mehta and starring Lisa Ray and Seema Biswas.

10 Things I Hate About You (Feature Film T250 1999 DVD) - Julia Stiles, heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Larisa Oleynik star in this contemporary comedy set in a high school and based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.