Ellen Giffard

An epic yarn spanning most of the 18th century, the series follows Franklin's career from humble beginnings in Boston to international superstardom: first as a scientist and revolutionary, and then as a founding father and America's first diplomat to France.

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To commemorate the first century of American filmmaking, the American Film Institute embarked on a celebration of America's greatest movies from the first 100 years of American cinema — 1896-1996.

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Dramatic documentary about the birth of the American Republic and the struggle of a loosely connected group of states to become a nation.

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Based on eight years of continued prosperity, presidents and economists alike confidently predicted that America would soon enter a time when there would be no more poverty, no more depressions -- a "New Era" when everyone could be rich. But when reality finally struck, the consequences of such unbound optimism shocked the world.

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Docudrama about the debate surrounding New York State's ratification of the United States Constitution. Historical figures wear modern dress and use familiar language to help today's audience understand firsthand the forces that shaped this country two hundred years ago. The argument, characters, passions and debating points are historically accurate, but the language and the medium of the debate is modern in form. Present day newscasters and commentators play themselves, reporting on the events of the 1780s as though they were occurring now.

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This film is made up of three segments that share no plot but have a general thematic relationship. In the first segment, Virginia and her three children are left by her shiftless husband and she is courted by an old beau who is now divorced. In the second, a divorced woman reacts to some unexpected revelations from her aged father. In the third, a childless, middle-aged social worker is swept into an affair with a young cab driver and finds herself pregnant.

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Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith, two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, are the sole inhabitants of a Long Island estate. The women reveal themselves to be misfits with outsized, engaging personalities. Much of the conversation is centered on their pasts, as mother and daughter now rarely leave home.

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The Maysles profile a poor white Georgian family struggling to survive with the realities of thirteen children.

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This Oscar-nominated documentary follows Christo and Jeanne-Claude as they conceive and execute Valley Curtain, an immense orange fabric installation stretched across a Colorado mountain pass. Filmed in a direct-cinema style, "Christo’s Valley Curtain" observes the negotiations, engineering challenges, and collective labor that shape the artwork, revealing the process itself as an essential part of the final creation.

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PBS' premier science series helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines. Along the way, NOVA demystifies science and technology, and highlights the people involved in scientific pursuits.

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In its brief fifteen minutes, this illuminating film cleverly presents the history of light, from Genesis to Thomas Edison's invention of the light bulb and the development of machinery for its mass production. Exploring the ways in which sun, light and darkness have been represented in the artifacts and legends of world cultures, as well as tracing the development of artificial illumination, L*I*G*H*T is a tribute to Edison and a celebration of the inventive spirit that characterized the Industrial Revolution.

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In its brief fifteen minutes, this illuminating film cleverly presents the history of light, from Genesis to Thomas Edison's invention of the light bulb and the development of machinery for its mass production. Exploring the ways in which sun, light and darkness have been represented in the artifacts and legends of world cultures, as well as tracing the development of artificial illumination, L*I*G*H*T is a tribute to Edison and a celebration of the inventive spirit that characterized the Industrial Revolution.

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An epic yarn spanning most of the 18th century, the series follows Franklin's career from humble beginnings in Boston to international superstardom: first as a scientist and revolutionary, and then as a founding father and America's first diplomat to France.

Open details →

To commemorate the first century of American filmmaking, the American Film Institute embarked on a celebration of America's greatest movies from the first 100 years of American cinema — 1896-1996.

Open details →

Docudrama about the debate surrounding New York State's ratification of the United States Constitution. Historical figures wear modern dress and use familiar language to help today's audience understand firsthand the forces that shaped this country two hundred years ago. The argument, characters, passions and debating points are historically accurate, but the language and the medium of the debate is modern in form. Present day newscasters and commentators play themselves, reporting on the events of the 1780s as though they were occurring now.

Open details →