Knock Down the House

A triumphant political underdog story, Knock Down the House profiles four Democratic candidates as they run for office during the 2018 U.S. mid-term elections. Each are outsiders who lack the sharply honed savvy of the professional politicians they're running against. Each are fighting to gain momentum by building formidable grassroot movements. And each are female. The film benefits from its uncanny sense of foresight. While not all of the profiled candidates enjoy victories on election night, each is a vital player in a blossoming political revolution. Their drive, ambition, and common folk demeanor transcend the results of a single election; they speak to a growing activism that could redefine the establishment. Early in the film, it becomes clear that the obvious star is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year old Bronx-born bartender who feels compelled to place herself on the high wire of mainstream politics to fight for her beliefs. A democratic socialistic who was an early and impassioned supporter of Bernie Sanders, she ultimately became the youngest person elected to Congress. As the filmmakers follow her every move on the campaign trail - while she shakes hands and shares her gift of comforting relatability - it's easy to see why. The other candidates featured in the film include Paula Jean Swearengin, a single mother from West Virginia who ran against incumbent Senator Joe Manchin, Amy Vilela, a Medicare for All enthusiast who runs for a congressional seat, and Cori Bush, a nurse who campaigns for the U.S. Congress in Missouri. Political unknowns who are initially underfunded and under resourced, these women are clearly poised for a David and Goliath battle to win their states. Each were motivated into politics by the failings of their predecessors to enact meaningful change in the arenas of health care, gun violence and the environment. Knock Down the House shows viewers where their passions originated, their struggles to maintain sanity in a vicious election cycle, and the real-life consequences their families have suffered from their broken government. But it also revives faith in the power and promise of a political system that should and can be a function of the people and for the people.

Silicon Valley's Online Slave Market

Up to 90% of households in Kuwait employ domestic workers. A government law passed in 2015 guaranteed these workers new rights, including one day off from work each week. In the aftermath of this new legislation, their employers became disgruntled by the limitations that were now imposed upon them. This marked the birth of a new industry boom – an online community where domestic workers are sold and exploited like slaves. In Silicon Valley's Online Slave Market, BBC News Africa goes undercover to explore the inner workings of this criminal enterprise. This new form of human trafficking is made possible with the use of popular apps endorsed by major companies like Google, Facebook, Instagram and Apple. Under this black market system, a domestic employee is susceptible to repulsive abuses. If they dare to quit their jobs, they can be imprisoned. In order to expose this corrupt network hiding in plain sight, the documentary crew launches an ambitious undercover sting operation. Two reporters take to these apps and pose as a couple in need of a full-time domestic servant. They browse internet listings for human beings which run alongside apartment rentals and used car sales. Candidates are not presented as merely providers of professional services; once hired, they essentially become the buyer's property. The undercover team meets with a seller who offers up a 16-year old girl who has been taken from her home in Guinea, West Africa. Much of the film consists of their quest to save this vulnerable underaged girl from a horrendous fate. They enlist the assistance of local authorities and social workers, capture the nefarious activities of the slave trade with their hidden cameras, speak with additional victims who have barely escaped years of abuse, and work to hold the world's most popular social media providers accountable for their role in this crisis. Silicon Valley's Online Slave Market is a sobering account of the indignities suffered by those who are helpless in the whirl of this popular online slave trade. The documentary crew's mission to save one girl from these perils injects the film with a tremendous sense of urgency.

Effortless Action: The Art of Spontaneity

You often hear athletes and other artists discussing those singular moments when they find themselves "in the zone". It's a state of being where you are at one with your surroundings and purposeful in your intentions. Achieving this level of synergy with the world around you requires a deep understanding of your mind and body, and of the mini universe that exists within you. Effortless Action: The Art of Spontaneity outlines the principles of the Wu wei concept that can help us all achieve this plateau of elevated consciousness and being. The martial arts embrace these principles in their truest iteration, though they have been frequently muddied by concepts of victory and accomplishment. The ultimate goal is to achieve the art of living effortlessly without ego. It isn't about a flagrant display of power, physical strength, and brute force. Instead, it is concerned with the blunting of one's sharpness; that is, the softening of a personality in order to achieve humility, compassion, respect and honor. The film focuses primarily on the imbalances between our yin and yang. Yin deficiencies lead us on a path of stress and anxiety in our constant need to prove ourselves. The film urges us all to overcome our intellect, rethink our criteria for personal success, and eliminate our foolish desires to control life and time. Discussions of diet come into play, especially the role that sugar plays in squandering our innermost spiritual energies. Filmmaker Jason Gregory advocates for a kind of psychic detoxification - a starving of one's mind from all internal and external stimulation - as found in his book Fasting the Mind. We must learn to embrace the power of inertia. Essentially, the film argues that the act of "being in the zone" should not be considered a momentary pursuit; it is, in fact, our natural state. The film attempts to teach us the methods for destroying the intellectual and societal vices that keep us from achieving this state of being. A sequel to the similarly intriguing The Art of Effortless Living, Effortless Action: The Art of Spontaneity makes complicated concepts digestible for a general audience, and offers a series of lessons and practices that can greatly enhance our quality of life.

George Washington Carver: An Uncommon Life

Raised in slavery, George Washington Carver persevered to become one of America's most renowned scientists and environmentalists. That extraordinary arc is explored in the informative and inspiring documentary George Washington Carver: An Uncommon Life. The film touches upon the highlights and challenges of Carver's life with great compassion and perceptiveness. With the help of noted scholars across a variety of fields, viewers not only gain a sense of Carver's titanic accomplishments, but of the personal obsessions that drove them into existence. Following his freedom from slavery as a young man, Carver grew up as "the orphaned child of a despised race". He developed an early and deep love of nature that would define his later life. He recognized a feeling of divinity in his natural surroundings and made it his mission to harvest the elements to create a better life for others. Treasuring mindfulness and wastefulness, he found his ultimate freedom when he indulged his insatiable sense of wonder and curiosity. He was enlisted by Booker T. Washington to serve as a Professor of Agriculture at Tuskegee University in Alabama, a position he maintained with great pride for nearly a half a century. His arrival in the South forced him to question his preconceptions of the region, instilled in him a renewed sense of purpose, and opened his eyes to exploring new dimensions in farming. Through his work, he revolutionized the field of agriculture and, in the process, improved the lives of lower-income African American farming families. He lived by the motto that "service defines success". At his center, he was a conservationist whose ideas were ahead of their time.

Breathtaking K2: The World's Most Dangerous Mountain

It stands ominously before its challengers at over 28,000 feet. The warriors who dare to scale its paralyzing crevasses want to touch the same clouds that hover slightly above its peak. Itќs an obsession that borderlines on the spiritual. The odds are stacked against them - in the past century, only 400 hundred souls have managed to reach the top. The distance between their ambitions and desired success is vast. They could run out of breathable air, reach the point of no return, and perish before they have a chance to secure safe ground. The gorgeously photographed Breathtaking K2: The World's Most Dangerous Mountain captures each moment of their perilous quest. Located on the border between China and Pakistan, the K2 mountain has become a mythical symbol of humankind's desire to reach the heavens, challenge their mettle and prove themselves worthy of any obstacle. The ability to overcome the potential for death makes these climbers feel more alive than ever before. But the challenges are substantial as one out of every four people who reach the mountain top die. The film follows a large group of explorers as they set up camp for their journey up the mountain. The figure at the center of the film is seasoned climber Adrian Ballinger. Ballinger and his trusted companions have their work cut out for them. Altitude sickness can strike anytime. The severity of the weather can be unpredictable. The threat of the elements can inspire flared tempers and profound self-doubts. Accompanied by highly trained Eddie Bauer mountain guides, the climbers have set an additional challenge for themselves. They're attempting the climb without the use of supplemental oxygen. Achieving their goals with the security of oxygen tanks is rare, but nearly unheard of without them. They exist on a razor's edge between victory and doom with each passing minute. The higher they climb, the greater their uncertainty for success. Breathtaking K2: The World's Most Dangerous Mountain is a lavish feast for the eyes as the cameras ascend across the pristine white slopes and deepest blue skies. With every painful stride, we share the unique perspective of each climber and - by extension - their breathless desire to rise above the insurmountable.

Thorium: The NASA Story

The solaces and necessities of our day by day presence couldn't be satisfied without the utilization of vitality. However, our reality is in a consistent condition of emergency with regards to vitality holds. Aeronautics designer Kirk Sorensen accepts he's revealed an answer that is cleaner, more effective and fairly more questionable than the tremulous vitality sources we as of now depend upon - a rich, normally happening and vitality thick radioactive component called Thorium. The new full length narrative named Thorium: The NASA Story underpins one part of Sorensen's proposed arrangement by sketching out its value in the quest for space colonization, and afterward tying it back to its down to earth applications here on Earth. Painstakingly gathered from a progression of viral video sources and recently created film by Gordon McDowell, the film makes scaring logical ideas effectively justifiable to the layman. To start with, it builds up the job that vitality plays in space travel and investigation by reviewing a progression of historic NASA missions including Explorer 1, New Skylines and the Mars Investigation Meanderer Mission. The triumphs and deficiencies of every one of these missions can be followed back to their use of intensity. The further we travel past the sun, the more clumsy our sun oriented and battery-controlled vitality sources become. Subsequently, a considerable lot of NASA's loftiest aspirations - including their longing to investigate underneath the ice of Jupiter's moon Europa - remain slowed down in the applied stage. As indicated by Sorensen, who worked for NASA for longer than 10 years, atomic force could change all that. The film utilizes the case of the immensely famous book and film The Martian as a representation of its contention. In the event that his strategic fueled by atomic vitality, the hero would have little trouble bridging the outside of Mars and saddling the planet's assets for food and food.

Square One

Square One mounts a full-throated defense of Jackson against the fees of pedophilia that plagued him within the latter a part of his life and career. The centerpiece of the film lies in its debunking of the initial allegations made against Jackson in 1993. If those allegations are often disproven, the film seems to be arguing, then the next charges against Jackson must be dismissed also . to help during this endeavor, filmmaker Danny Wu has assembled a series of never-before-aired statements from case witnesses, and new interviews with figures in Jackson's clique , including his nephew and 3T band member Taj Jackson. The 1993 case never made it to court. Instead, Jackson paid his accuser - Jordan Chandler - a sum of $15 million to prevent the case in its tracks. The film suggests that the case originated from a bitter litigation between Chandler's parents. In an attempt to achieve full stewardship over his son also as a hefty payout, the daddy drummed up false charges against Jackson and worked feverishly to teach his son to verify these allegations through false testimony. The film damns many of the central players during this sad drama, also because the circus players who roamed on its periphery. The non-stop media coverage of the case led to often misleading, and always sensationalist headlines. A few interviews are offered that support the film's hypothesis that Jackson was wrongfully accused, including conversations with the legal secretary for prosecutor Barry Rothman and, curiously, a series of fans who visited Neverland Ranch. The film also tackles additional controversies associated with the tabloid frenzy surrounding Jackson, including the scrutiny he received from his rare skin condition and therefore the findings from the five search warrants that were administered on his properties. Square One is clearly the work of a lover on a mission, but it's produced with tons urgency and keenness . Viewers will need to decide for themselves if the insights contained within the film effectively disprove the initial accusation from 1993, or build a compelling case for the dismissal of the extra allegations that followed.

Project MKUltra: The CIA’s Mind Control Operation

Project MKUltra (or MK-Ultra), also called the CIA mind control program, is the code name given to a program of experiments on human subjects that were designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, some of which were illegal.[1][2][3] Experiments on humans were intended to identify and develop drugs and procedures to be used in interrogations in order to weaken the individual and force confessions through mind control. The project was organized through the Office of Scientific Intelligence of the CIA and coordinated with the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories.[4] Code names for drug-related experiments were Project Bluebird and Project Artichoke.[5][6] The operation was officially sanctioned in 1953, reduced in scope in 1964 and further curtailed in 1967. It was officially halted in 1973. The program engaged in many illegal activities,[7][8][9] including the use of U.S. and Canadian citizens as its unwitting test subjects, which led to controversy regarding its legitimacy.[7](p74)[10][11][12] MKUltra used numerous methods to manipulate its subjects' mental states and brain functions. Techniques included the covert administration of high doses of psychoactive drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals, electroshocks,[13] hypnosis,[14][15] sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as other forms of torture.[16][17] The scope of Project MKUltra was broad, with research undertaken at more than 80 institutions, including colleges and universities, hospitals, prisons, and pharmaceutical companies.[18] The CIA operated using front organizations, although sometimes top officials at these institutions were aware of the CIA's involvement.[19] Project MKUltra was first brought to public attention in 1975 by the Church Committee of the United States Congress and Gerald Ford's United States President's Commission on CIA activities within the United States (also known as the Rockefeller Commission). Investigative efforts were hampered by CIA Director Richard Helms' order that all MKUltra files be destroyed in 1973; the Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission investigations relied on the sworn testimony of direct participants and on the relatively small number of documents that survived Helms's destruction order.[20] In 1977, a Freedom of Information Act request uncovered a cache of 20,000 documents relating to project MKUltra which led to Senate hearings later that year.[7][21] Some surviving information regarding MKUltra was declassified in July 2001. In December 2018, declassified documents included a letter to an unidentified doctor discussing work on six dogs made to run, turn and stop via remote control and brain implants.

The Fire Breather: Donald Trump

Can nothing stop Donald Trump? On his journey to securing the Republican party nomination for the next President of the United States, he has been plagued by never-ending waves of negative publicity; the level of which might sink the other candidate with ease. Now, his messages of anger and words of condemnation against various minority groups have inspired a series of volatile and often violent incidents at his rallies. Yet his poll numbers and victories throughout the first season keep escalating. The new documentary short titled the hearth Breather, produced by CBC News as a part of their acclaimed The Fifth Estate series, takes a biased, but thoughtful look behind this unprecedented phenomenon. From the start of his campaign Trump was severely underestimated by officials and pundits in the establishment, many of whom are still reeling from the extent to which his message has resonated with voters across the country. With insights from several interview subjects, including esteemed NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw and Rolling Stone political writer Matt Taibbi, the film attempts to identify the core of Trump's appeal. His first asset is his celebrity. He is already a familiar face to many tens of millions of Americans, and his reality television experience makes him ideally suited to the increasingly surreal and vapid political circus. His most valuable distinction, however, is his ability to tap into the fears and anger of the nation's disenfranchised; the citizens who feel powerless over financial constraints and the growing threat of terror. The film contends that Trump's rhetoric has inflamed widespread support of racial and religious intolerance among those who are most susceptible to his message. This is apparent in his expressed views on immigration reform, his encouragement of civil disobedience during public events, and his call to impose a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. As despicable or offensive as these tactics might appear to Trump's detractors, there's no doubt in their effectiveness in the modern political arena. The Fire Breather peels back the curtain to reveal the inner workings of an outsider who has outplayed even the foremost deeply embedded political elites.

Beyond and Back

Beyond And Back is a 1978 documentary released by Sunn Classic Pictures that deals with the subject of near death experiences. This was one of the first movies to explore this subject and pose the question "Is there life after death". The feature film was narrated by Brad Crandall and claimed to have used actual accounts of what researchers now refer to as near-death experiences or NDE's. Generally speaking, a patient who has experienced an NDE has clinically "died" (lost some or all vital signs) but then has been revived through the use of modern medical technology or procedures (such as CPR). Some people who have experienced an NDE have given very vivid accounts of their experiences which, in turn, has caused some in the medical field to take interest and initiate research projects into the phenomenon. For example, when Ernest Hemingway was a young soldier serving in World War I, he was badly wounded by an exploding shell during a battle. He claimed to have felt his soul leave his body, fly around for a bit, and then he returned. The famed author later drew upon this actual experience in his novel A Farewell to Arms. Many others told of going through a long dark tunnel and seeing a bright light at the other end that they knew was a divine being. They spoke of seeing a review of their entire lives and knowing that they were being given a second chance to return to their former lives. This feature further revealed a study that the producers claimed had been done by scientists involving terminal patients. These dying people were said to have been placed on a special bed attached to a sensitive scale. Doctors determined that in each case there was a loss of a few ounces at the exact moment of death. The doctors were said to have wondered if that could possibly have been the soul leaving the body.

The Roswell Incident

Documentary from Channel 4 shown in 1995 about the infamous 'UFO Crash' at Roswell in 1947. In the summer of 1947, there were a number of UFO sightings in the United States. Sometime during the first week of July 1947, something crashed near Roswell. W.W. "Mack" Brazel, a New Mexico rancher, saddled up his horse and rode out with the son of neighbors Floyd and Loretta Proctor, to check on the sheep after a fierce thunderstorm the night before. As they rode along, Brazel began to notice unusual pieces of what seemed to be metal debris, scattered over a large area. Upon further inspection, Brazel saw that a shallow trench, several hundred feet long, had been gouged into the land.

What the Bleep Do We Know!?

This hard-to-describe movie, which combines talking-head documentary footage with a fictional narrative, attempts to explain quantum physics in terms most audiences can understand. The extent to which it succeeds will largely be the extent to which a viewer grasps the complex theories being addressed in those terms. Does matter exist? Does time flow in one direction? This documentary is a radical departure from convention. It demands a freedom of view and greatness of thought so far unknown, indeed, not even dreamed of since Copernicus. It's a documentary. It's a story. It's mind-blowing special effects. This film plunges you into a world where quantum uncertainty is demonstrated - where neurological processes, and perceptual shifts are engaged and lived by its protagonist - where everything is alive, and reality is changed by every thought.

Ring of Power

Although geographically separate, the city-states of London, the Vatican, and the District of Colombia are one interlocking empire called Empire of The City. The flag of Washington’s District of Colombia has three red stars, one for each city-state in the three city empire. This Corporate Empire of three city-states controls the world economically through London’s inner-city, militarily through the District of Colombia, and spiritually through the Vatican. From the mystery religions of ancient Egypt to the Zionist role in 9/11, Ring Of Power unrevises 4000 years of revisionist human history with never - before - seen revelations. Ring Of Power puzzles together the pieces of a giant puzzle into one BIG PICTURE documentary series. ABOUT THE PRODUCER: The Producer is an experienced, award winning documentary filmmaker who, as a child, learned that her father was a member of the secretive cult of Freemasonry. She recalls many arguments between her parents over her father's secret meetings and the exclusion of women from the brotherhood. The Masonic ring that her father wore had been passed down from father to son over the generations. When she asked her father about the meaning of the letter "G" and the compass and square on his ring, she got no response. As an adult, she decided to investigate. That investigation grew into four years of intensive research into the identity and history of the diabolical globalists who she calls the "Ring Of Power". Their goal is one World Empire and one world ruler.

Esoteric Agenda

The more humanity strays from its’ origin, the more we deny our bond with nature, the farther from perfection we become. We are the only creatures on the planet that use symbols in reference to something else. This documentary shows that we use symbols for absolutely everything the mind can conceive of. There is at least one word or icon or gesture to insinuate everything our five senses can detect and then some. But along with this beautiful gift comes a flaw. Most people are unwilling to seek and create their own interpretations of these symbols. Instead, they blindly submit to preconceived definitions and connotations given by sources unknown. Because of this, many things have been predetermined in our understanding of life without our knowledge. Words can be perverted and used to manipulate rather than to inform. Symbols can be used to segregate rather than unite. And those given the responsibility and authority to disseminate information to the public possess the ability to do with it as they choose.

Dan Aykroyd Unplugged on UFOs

2001 was a real space odyssey for me. Instead of flying on a spaceship to the moon, Jupiter, or beyond the solar system, I met Dan Aykroyd for the first time to talk about UFOs. That's when I knew I had to sit him down in front of the camera, just let him talk about the truth and make a documentary film out of it. Because if I didn't no one would believe we had this amazing conversation. In this long conversation with Dan Aykroyd about UFOs, I thought it was like Einstein was hiding inside of a comic genius, just so that if he told us the real truth he wouldn't have to believe it. If Einstein had told us UFOs were real, would we have believed *him*? He never spoke about it. But Dan Aykroyd speaks about UFOs as if he were a full professor on the subject. Hollywood star Dan Aykroyd, who is a believer in the existence and government cover-up of alien life-forms, hosts this look into the phenomenon of UFO sightings. Akroyd shares his personal experiences in this field and also discusses recent findings with author and UFOlogist David Sereda. DAN AYKROYD UNPLUGGED ON UFOS features UFO footage as well as testimonial material from Astronaut Gordon Cooper and others, including former president Ronald Reagan.