2006 Notable Videos for Adults
The ALA Video Round Table Notable Videos Committee has compiled its 2006 list of Notable Videos for Adults. The selections were made during the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio.
The winning titles are:
Born Into Brothels. 85 min. ThinkFilm, DVD or VHS, $29.99.
Website: http://www.kids-with-cameras.org/bornintobrothels/
This tribute to the transformative power of art shows a western photographer befriending a group of children growing up in a brothel in Sonagachi, India
Busting Out. 57 min. Bullfrog Films, DVD or VHS, $250.00.
Busting Out is a humorous and touching exposition of western culture's obsessions with breasts.
Control Room. 84 min. Lion's Gate Studio, DVD, $19.98.
Website: http://www.noujaimfilms.com
This informative documentary challenges the negative Western view of the Arab cable network Al-Jazeera and explores the concept of what constitutes objective journalism.
The Corporation. 145 min. Zeitgeist Films, DVD, $29.99.
Website: http://www.thecorporation.com/
Diagnoses the ‘pathological' actions of many modern day corporations and documents their damaging global effect upon the environment and violations against human rights.
Girlhood. 82 min . Wellspring, DVD, 24.98
Liz Garbus follows two Baltimore inner-city teenagers through the juvenile justice system and witnesses the divergent paths they take.
Lost Boys of Sudan. 87 min. New Video, VHS: $39.95, DVD: $26.95
Website: http://www.lostboysfilm.com/
A bittersweet documentation of two Sudanese refugees taking part in an American resettlement program as they struggle to match their high expectations with workaday realities.
My Architect: A Son's Journey . 116 min. New Yorker Films, VHS: $24.95, DVD: $29.95. Website: http://www.myarchitectfilm.com/
Nathaniel Kahn, illegitimate son of renowned architect Louis I. Kahn, undertakes to discover his father's work and understand the secretive, baffling personal choices he made.
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan. 210 min. PBS, DVD, $29.99.
Website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/dylan/index.html
A rich portrait of the enigmatic early years of America 's seminal troubadour, including never-before-seen footage justifying Dylan's standing as a preeminent artistic legend.
Ryan. 94 min. National Film Board of Canada, DVD, $99.00.
Website: www.nfb.ca/ryan/
Ryan presents the troubled life of an animated film prodigy. The creator utilizes digital animation techniques to innovate and literally explode the talking head documentary.
Shipbreakers. 42 min. Cinema Guild, DVD $250.00.
Shipbreakers documents the scrapping of cargo ships in India and reveals the human and ecological impact of Third World labor.
this black soil . 58 min. Bullfrog Films, DVD or VHS, $250.00.
Traces the accomplishments of a grassroots social justice organization as several visionary women revitalize their rural community.
Waging a Living. 85 min. Filmakers Library, VHS. $195.00.
This compelling film profiles four members of the working poor over the course of three years.
Notable Video for Adults, 2006, committee members:
- Cecilia Hurt, chair, Decatur Public Library;
- Steve Brantley, University of Illinois at Chicago ;
- Fang Gu, California State University , Sacramento ;
- Blane Halliday, Collier County Public Library;
- Vicki Nesting, St. Charles Parish Library, Louisiana;
- Meghann Matwichuk, University of Delaware ;
- Jeff Pearson, University of Michigan;
- Marc Sober, Enoch Pratt Free Library;
- Monique Threatt, Indiana University;
- Sue-Ellen Beauregard, consultant, Booklist , Chicago, IL.