Multicultural Resources

In 1996, Ry Cooder went to Cuba, rediscovering talents of Cuba's foremost folk musicians, and then making a recording selling millions and earning a Grammy Award. Cooder now returns to Cuba with filmmaker Wim Wenders to reveal the stories, personalities, and music of the performers who collaborated on that recording. Includes live performances in Amsterdam and at Carnegie Hall.

A languid look at the Gullah culture of the sea islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia where African folk ways were maintained well into the twentieth century, one of the last bastions of these mores in America.

Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes provides a riveting examination of manhood, sexism, and homophobia in hip-hop culture. Director Byron Hurt, former star college quarterback, longtime hip-hop fan, and gender violence prevention educator, conceived the documentary as a "loving critique" of a number of disturbing trends in the world of rap music. He pays tribute to hip-hop while challenging the rap music industry to take responsibility for glamorizing destructive, deeply conservative stereotypes of manhood.

This three-part program documents the rise and growth of Islam throughout the world, from the birth of Prophet Muhammad in the 6th century through the peak of the Ottoman Empire 1000 years later. Discusses the impact of Islamic civilization on world history and culture.

In Not Just a Game, the powerful documentary based on his bestselling book A People’s History of Sports in the United States, Dave Zirin argues that far from providing merely escapist entertainment, American sports have long been at the center of some of the major political debates and struggles of our time.

Experimental filmmaker Godfrey Reggio explores the intersection of primitive cultures and the industrial world in this documentary, chronicling the everyday lives of people living and working in impoverished countries, where modern life is fraught with difficulty. The film spans the globe, from a massive gold mine in Brazil, to small villages in Africa, to a Nepalese temple, and is accompanied by a frantic score from minimalist composer Philip Glass.