2012 New Releases Catalogue October - Learningemall.com

Item no. : AC01920186
Format : DVD (Closed Captioned)
Duration : 81 minutes
Audience : Grades 7-Adult
Copyright : 2012
Price : USD 295.00
ROCK THE BOAT
By Thea Mercouffer
Paris has the Seine, London has the
Thames, and Los Angeles has the
concreted 51 mile L.A. River. Rock the
Boat is an entertaining look at the history
and impact of the L.A. River – made
famous in Hollywood movies – and how
cities might reimagine and reclaim their
once-natural resources to benefit urban
areas today.
When a government agency decides that
the derided waterway is not worthy of
environmental protection, a biologist
becomes a whistle blower, a writer trades
pen for paddle, and together with others
they change the course of history in a local
battle with national significance.
For the past hundred years we've built our
cities and roads, factories, dams and
agricultural centers wherever we've
wanted to, our engineering often
triumphing over the natural lay of the land,
more balanced design and even common
sense. With climate change and an
impending worldwide water crisis, we are
now forced to examine the impact on
nature of our urban lifestyle. Nowhere is
this battle better illustrated than in Los
Angeles – a dream city turned into
nightmare sprawl. And nothing epitomizes
man's efforts to reshape the face of the
earth better than the L.A. River: used,
abused and forgotten, it is now at the
center of a major vision to transform this
hermetically-sealed metropolis into a more
sustainable model city for the 21st century.
With striking images of the L.A. River,
insightful interviews and a soft spot for
humor, Rock the Boat documents the
intrepid fight to renew the river and the city
itself, and affirms the power of committed
individuals to jump-start that change.
Reviews
"George Wolfe's simple act of boating
on the LA River becomes a political
movement. This film tells the story
with wit and aplomb, sheds light on
the ridiculous, and reminds us that we
all have the power to do what we
know is right." - Wild & Scenic Film
Festival
"Rock the Boat looks at the river's
past, with its years of neglect and
mismanagement, and at its very real
dream of a future with an optimistic
heart and a realistic eye." - Richard
Pearce, co-producer "Food Inc."
"The film is amazing! It was refreshing
to watch activism end with a positive
outcome, not only for the community,
but for our natural resources. " -
Alexis Oliar, Executive Director,
Mountain Area Preservation
Awards
People's Choice Award, Wild &
Scenic Film Festival
ISLA Earth Award, Catalina Film
Festival
Best Feature Film, FILManthropy Film
Festival
Item no. : NR01920189
Format : DVD (Closed Captioned)
Duration : 54 minutes
Audience : Grades 8-Adult
Copyright : 2012
Price : USD 195.00
ROOM TO BREATHE
By Russell Long
Inner city schools across the nation are in
serious trouble. In many cities, about half
of high school students drop out, and a
similar percentage of teachers leave after
just five years in the profession.
ROOM TO BREATHE explores one
promising solution that has been tested in
several dozen public schools – a
self-regulatory technique called
mindfulness that increases kids' focus and
concentration, self-awareness and
impulse control.
The film presents a hopeful story of
transformation, following a young
mindfulness teacher, Megan Cowan, as
she spends several months attempting to
teach the technique to troubled kids in a
San Francisco public middle school that
tops the district in disciplinary
suspensions.
Confronted by defiance and contempt,
Cowan at first runs into substantial
difficulties in the classroom. But under her
guidance, the students begin to learn the
technique and eventually use it to take
greater control over their lives, decrease
stress, and better focus in class and at
home.
Based on the experiences depicted in the
film, as well as results at other schools and
independent academic studies, the
mindfulness technique appears to have
broad potential to significantly improve
kids' social interactions with peers and
adults, to reduce bullying and violence,
and to improve academic performance
and graduation rates.
Reviews
"Room to Breathe tells the story of a
special school community that has the
courage to try something positive,
enriching and innovative to support
their students. The principles learned
through the Mindfulness sessions -
focus, respect, calmness,
introspection - will be of great lifelong
value to the students, and, to the
teachers and parents who support
them." - Mary Jane Burke,
Superintendent of Schools, Marin
County
"Room To Breathe is a beautifully
crafted documentary and a must-see
for anyone who cares about
educating kids to be caring and
responsible citizens in the 21st
Century. More importantly, the
practice of mindfulness in schools is
truly the next frontier in education
reform. We will never close the
relentless achievement gap without
this kind of intervention. It's
contemporary, relevant, evidence
based, and it is working!" - Lisa
Villareal, Program Officer, Education,
The San Francisco Foundation
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Learning Rendezvous Limited
Email: inquiry@learningemall.com Websites: http://www.learningemall.com & http://www.learningemall.com.hk
"This is a meaningful, moving, and
gutsy film that gives hope in the face
of adversity. This film provides a
powerful glimpse of what is possible
when mindfulness is offered in a
skillful manner to our youth in their
schools." - Philippe Goldin, PhD,
Department of Psychology, Stanford
University
Item no. : TC01920190
Format : DVD (Closed Captioned)
Duration : 55 minutes
Audience : Grades 11-Adult
Copyright : 2012
Price : USD 250.00
ANCIENT
CULTURES
PEOPLE OF A FEATHER
By Joel Heath
The Inuit of the Hudson Bay are in a fight
for survival of their way of life. For
centuries, they hunted and relied upon the
Eider duck for its down feathers and food.
But starting in the early 1990's the duck
population dropped significantly.
Biologist and filmmaker Joel Heath spent
seven winters in the Artic researching the
Inuit and the causes for the declining bird
population. Featuring Heath's
groundbreaking footage, People of a
Feather takes viewers deep into the
worlds of both the Inuit and the Eider duck.
Scenes of modern day Inuit families are
juxtaposed with re-creations from their
ancestors' traditions, providing an in-depth
look into one of our continent's oldest
civilizations and the modern challenges
they face. From a wooden shelter on the
Arctic shore, Heath filmed the Eider ducks
as never before, witnessing their graceful
dives below the ocean for food, as well as
the impact of changing ice on their
population.
Heath discovers the disappearance of
Eider birds is a barometer for
environmental shifts, largely caused by the
massive hydroelectric dams that power
eastern North America. Manipulating the
flow of water from the dams is altering
Arctic sea currents, thus changing the ice
flows and migration patterns of the birds
and fish.
People of a Feather reveals the dynamic
ecological and cultural connections
between the Inuit, animals and their Arctic
sea ice environment, one of the world's
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