2012 New Releases Catalogue October - Learningemall.com

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
most threatened ecosystems, and is a call
to find energy solutions that work with the
seasons of the Earth's hydrological cycle.
Reviews
"For a movie that starts off talking
about ducks, People of a Feather
ends up negotiating nothing less than
man's place, and our role, in the
entire life cycle. It's an undeniably
elegant feat, and one that could very
well reframe the way you live the rest
of your life." - Vancouver Sun
"Poetic and artistic... a near mystical
mix of time-lapse Arctic landscapes,
marine-life photography, and
interwoven imagery of present-day
and historical Inuit life." - The Georgia
Straight
"Movie poetry at work…Astounding..
Compelling.. Entertaining" - The
Vancouver Observer
Awards
Best Film, Vancouver Critics Circle
Audience Choice, Best Environmental
Film, Vancouver International Film
Festival
Best Feature Documentary, LEO
Awards
Best Screenwriting, LEO Awards
Best Feature Film, Reel Earth, New
Zealand
Jury Award, Green Film Festival,
Seoul, Korea
Bronze and Silver World Medals for
DIRECTION
and
CINEMATOGRAPHY, New York
International TV and Film Awards
Environment Award, San Francisco
Ocean Film Festival
Item no. : PY01920188
Format : DVD (Closed Captioned)
Duration : 142 minutes
Audience : Grades 6-Adult
Copyright : 2012
Price : USD 295.00
ARCHITECTURE
DILLER SCOFIDIO +
RENFRO: REIMAGINING
LINCOLN CENTER AND THE
T
HIGH LINE
Director: Muffie Dunn & Tom Piper
Diller Scofidio + Renfro has long been at
the forefront of design. The
interdisciplinary design firm, founded in
1979, first stirred interest with its
provocative exhibitions of theoretically
based projects that blurred the boundaries
between art and architecture. In 1999,
Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio, the
firm's founding principals, were awarded
the prestigious "genius" grant by the
MacArthur Foundation, in recognition of
their commitment to integrating
architecture with issues of contemporary
culture.
With the almost simultaneous completion
of two large-scale projects in New York
City — the renovation of the High Line and
revitalization and expansion of Lincoln
Center for the Performing Arts — Diller
Scofidio + Renfro has galvanized the
public's attention. Between 2004 and 2011,
the firm, in collaboration with James
Corner Field Operations, converted the
derelict High Line railroad tracks on the
city's West Side (from Gansevoort to 30th
streets) into a sophisticated 1.5 mile
elevated urban park.
From early 2003 to 2010, DS+R
redesigned Lincoln Center's Alice Tully
Hall and the Juilliard School, built a
free-standing, grass-covered pavilion that
houses a destination restaurant (the
Lincoln) and a public lawn, and inventively
modified the public spaces connecting the
complex's existing buildings. As
architecture critic Martin Filler states in the
film, "Both the High Line and Lincoln
Center have had a really euphoric effect
on life in New York. So it's populism of a
very high order."
In this 54-minute documentary, intelligent
commentary from the architects is
complemented by remarkable
cinematography and interviews with New
York City planning commissioner Amanda
Burden and other civic figures. Critics and
theorists Mark Wigley, Anthony Vidler, and
Mr. Filler, offer insights into the firm's
history, previous completed projects, and
their unique process of reimagining the
public identities of two major New York
urban spaces.
Item no. : BR09270046
Format : DVD (Color)
Duration : 54 minutes
Copyright : 2012
Price : USD 150.00
ROBERT A.M. STERN: 15
1
CENTRAL PARK WEST AND
THE HISTORY OF THE NEW
N
YORK APARTMENT HOUSE
Director: Tom Piper
Even during the Great Recession of 2008,
one new apartment house in New York
City continued to set the bar for real-estate
prices: 15 Central Park West.
Designed by Robert A. M. Stern Architects,
the lavish, limestone-clad structure from
61st to 62nd streets is arguably one of the
most luxurious residential buildings to rise
in the city in decades. Stern deliberately
evokes the grand era of New York
apartments designed in the 1920s and
1930s, especially the intricately planned
architecture of Rosario Candela.
Stern, Dean of the Yale School of
Architecture, with his own practice in New
York, has written a series of books on the
history of New York City architecture, in
which the high-rise apartment house plays
a prominent part.
In this film shot in High-Definition, Stern
explains why apartment buildings of past
decades appealed to so many affluent city
dwellers and the lessons learned by
examining the houses' design and
construction.
Amenities of 15 Central Park West, such
as 14-foot-high ceilings, a private dining
room for the inhabitants, along with a
library and other communal spaces
represent a return to features of New York
City's earliest apartment buildings dating
to the 19th century.
Rounding out this exploration of the New
York City apartment house are brief
glimpses of certain modern residential
towers in lower Manhattan designed by
today's vanguard architects. In addition,
Elizabeth Hawes, author of New York,
New York: How the Apartment House
Transformed the Life of the City
(1869-1930)provides informative
socio-cultural observations about this form
of high-rise living.
Item no. : TY09270048
Format : DVD (Color)
Duration : 24 minutes
Copyright : 2011
Price : USD 150.00
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