The Best of WQED

Television was still a pretty new concept back in 1953 when a group of like-minded leaders got together and decided that what Pittsburgh needed was its own community-owned educational television station. It would be the first one in the country. One year later, WQED Pittsburgh was on the air and making broadcast history. The Best of WQED showcases some of t he station's earliest programs including "The Children's Corner," with Josie Carey and Fred Rogers. Rare archival footage and photographs take viewers on a journey through the early days of television and reintroduces them to the people and programs that became part of the lives of thousands of Pittsburghers. The Best of WQED is hosted by WQED Cooks' Chris Fennimore and features seldom-seen footage of everyone from Art Rooney Sr. to Martha Graham to early Rick Sebak to the Great TV Auction.

Ruth Lyons: First Lady of Television

Even though her program was only seen in four Midwestern cities, Ruth Lyons presided over America's highest-rated daytime TV talk show for nearly two decades! This documentary draws upon rare and previously undiscovered footage, along with comments from associates and admirers to create a portrait of an outspoken, multi-talented woman who became one of the most beloved and influential figures in TV history. Featuring the Recollections Of: Carol Channing, John Davidson, Phyllis Diller, Phil Donahue, David Letterman, Johnny Mathis, Peter Nero, Bonnie Lou, Nick Clooney, Oscar Robertson and many others, along with archival audio and video of Ruth Lyons' 50-50 Club.

Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project

Marion Stokes secretly recorded television 24 hours a day for 30 years from 1975 until her death in 2012. For Marion taping was a form of activism to seek the truth, and she believed that a comprehensive archive of the media would be invaluable for future generations. Her visionary and maddening project nearly tore her family apart, but now her 70,000 VHS tapes are being digitized and they'll be searchable online.

TGV, 30 ans de vitesse

Tour Eerie Erie

A short collection of local legends and ghost stories about Erie, Pennsylvania, and its surrounding areas. Produced by and aired on WQLN Channel 54 Erie.

Living It Up

A recently laid off steel mill worker in a little seaside town starts losing his wife to a local TV anchor.

Mamá es boba

Palencia, Spain, late 1990s. While Gema and Toribio, who live in their own cloud of precarious happiness, always smile stupidly as if they have to apologize for something they have not actually done, their little son Martín suffers, every day at school, an unbearable ordeal, tragic but also comical, that they, a peer of daydreaming simpletons, are unaware of.

Paint

Carl Nargle, Vermont’s #1 public television painter, is convinced he has it all: a signature perm, custom van, and fans hanging on his every stroke… until a younger, better artist steals everything (and everyone) Carl loves.

God Versus Aliens

God Vs Aliens is a controversial documentary by filmmaker/musician Mark Christopher Lee that delves into the potential impact of first contact with extraterrestrials on global religions and the role of AI. Featuring exclusive interviews with renowned UFO experts, including Nick Pope (UK's Ministry of Defense) and Professor Avi Loeb (Harvard University), the film explores evidence from ancient texts and the Bible regarding previous visitations. Addressing recent revelations by DOD whistleblowers, the documentary highlights interviews with UFO abductee Tony Topping, who claims a variety of alien types exist and Avi Loeb claiming that extraterrestrials may send AI drones rather than 'manned' vehicles, to make 'first contact' with AI systems on Earth.

Lex Barker - Westernheld und Playboy

He is the most sought-after man in Europe in the 1960s. Lex Barker embodies the flawless hero in his films and, as Old Shatterhand, becomes a role model for generations of fans. Revered in Europe, misunderstood and almost forgotten in his native America. But who was this American who rode through Yugoslavia in a leather costume for the European audience? In 1973, Lex Barker died of a heart attack on the streets of Manhattan in New York. But no one recognizes the man who was Tarzan in Hollywood. Nobody knows him or cares about that he, as Winnetou's friend, is revered as an icon in Europe. Lex Barker's European western adventures are just a footnote in American film history. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death, the documentary tells the story of one of the most beautiful men who ever flickered across Europe's cinema screens, for whom European cinema proved to be a stroke of luck and for whom a failed Hollywood career took him via Italy to Germany.

The ABCs of Book Banning

In recent years, more than 2,500 books have been removed from school districts around the US, labeled as banned, restricted, or challenged, and made unavailable to millions of students. By no accident, the themes targeted are the usual scapegoats of the American Right—LGBTQ+ issues, Black History, and women’s empowerment—impeding the power of future generations to develop their own thoughts and opinions on critical social issues. By weaving together a lyrical montage of young readers and authors, THE ABCs OF BOOK BANNING reveals the voices of the impacted parties, and inspires hope for the future through the profound insights of inquisitive youthful minds.

VistaVision Visits Norway

This short travelogue, visiting Norway, was shot in VistaVision.

Loriot 100

Documentary about German comedian Loriot alias Vicco von Bülow, who would have been 100 years old in 2023.

The Barber of Little Rock

Explores the racial wealth gap in America through the story of People Trust, a homegrown community bank in Little Rock, Arkansas, working to uplift a community that has been largely excluded from the financial engines that create wealth.

Zindagi Zindabaad

It is always been said that "Addiction to Life is more stronger than an Addiction to Drugs". Zindagi Zindabaad takes us to the deep insights of five individual lives who are chained into the misery of addiction and how these very individuals break free from these chains to live a clean and more realistic colorful lives.

Liliu

Solo, a young Samoan interpreter entrenched in the colonial court system, is suddenly challenged when the High Chief Nua is called to the stand. Defending the charge of trespassing, Nua illuminates a path of righteousness for the young man.

Two on K2

Follow Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and her husband Ralf Dujmovits as they try to summit the K2, Gerlinde's last remaining peak for completion of the "Crown of the Himalayas".

Maki-e by Kazumi Murose - Beauty Beyond Time

Kazumi Murose was designated a holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property for his maki-e art by the Japanese government in 2008. He followed in the footsteps of his father, urushi artist Shunji Murose, and studied under such modern urushi masters as Gonroku Matsuda and Yoshikuni Taguchi. They taught him to “learn from people,” “learn from objects,” and “learn from nature.” This advice became the basis of the processes Murose employs in the quest to produce works in new materials. In addition, he learns from traditional Japanese lacquerwork by conserving cultural works and incorporating their materials and techniques into his contemporary pieces. This film presents how Murose achieves this, his views on creating works, and how he shares and passes on the values of Japanese urushi work, both at home and abroad. It is a meticulous record of the method and spirit behind the creative endeavors of Kazumi Murose, an urushi artist living in the present day.

Take-Off

A biographical film about the life of the great Russian scientist, inventor of rocket technology and the founder of theoretical astronautics — Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the hard spiritual work of the thinker, overcoming the stagnation of the surrounding and dramatic events of his family life.