First Run/Icarus Films > American Studies

New name, new look, new featured films

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:21:19 GMT

First Run / Icarus Films is now Icarus Films, and we've updated our web site to reflect the name change. We've also featured new films on the home page, so please come have a look.

New Geography RSS Feed

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 06:59:38 GMT

We've added a new RSS feed for Films on Geography. Subscribe to it to get news and updates with latest releases for this subject.

For the Bible Tells Me So

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:53:13 GMT

Is it possible to reconcile homosexuality and biblical scripture? How five very average, very Christian, very American families of faith handle the realization of having a gay child.

Made Over in America

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:51:37 GMT

In a culture where bodies seem customizable, how do we perceive body image, and how are desires for a better self influenced by reality television and the makeover industry?

The Paper

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:50:47 GMT

A year in the life of one of the country's biggest college newspapers, Penn State's The Daily Collegian, as it struggles with declining circulation and difficult choices about how to represent its diverse readership.

The Prize of the Pole

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:50:21 GMT

Robert Peary's quest to plant an American flag at the North Pole came with enormous, and sometimes unacknowledged, costs. Now his great-grandson wants to set the record straight.

The Sixth Side of the Pentagon

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:49:54 GMT

Chronicle of the 1967 Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam protest march on the Pentagon by documentary essayist Chris Marker.

Teeth

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:49:03 GMT

An amusing but informative look at the psychological, social and economic issues surrouding the modern American obsession with straight, white teeth.

Judith Butler

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 01:40:06 GMT

An up-close and personal encounter with this influential theorist and author of the best-seller Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity.

The Camden 28

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 05:57:10 GMT

A story of the "Catholic Left" and the anti-Vietnam War movement - priests and lay people who risked jail to break into draft boards and destroy government records.

Notes on Marie Menken

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 06:00:39 GMT

<br> The story of the "mother of avante-garde film" -- the influential experimental filmmaker who inspired artists such as Stan Brakhage, Andy Warhol, and Kenneth Anger.

Unborn in the USA

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 05:58:29 GMT

Inside the pro-life movement. A riveting story told with more than 70 exclusive interviews with pro-life activists, and seldom-seen archival footage.

The Photographer, His Wife, Her Lover

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 06:14:17 GMT

A complex tale of art world profit, deception and crime, framed by O. Winston Link's stunning iconic photographs of the last of the American steam locomotives.

Playing the News

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 06:13:33 GMT

Does the convergence online of current affairs (like the Iraq war) and computer games herald the future of news and entertainment? And if so, is it dangerous, or a new way to reach a young audience?

Sacco and Vanzetti

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 06:12:33 GMT

The definitive examination of one of the most famous court cases in American history, and a timely reminder of the fragility of our liberties in times of crisis.

They Chose China

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 06:11:26 GMT

Academy Award-nominated documentarian Shuibo Wang tells the controversial story of American POWs who after the Korean War refused repatriation, and stayed in China.

Robert, Mary, and Katrina

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 01:33:47 GMT

The astounding and surprisingly humorous story of how an elderly couple faced and survived Hurricane Katrina.

To Be Seen

Wed, 11 Jan 2006 03:26:44 GMT

A lively study of visual culture, and an exploration of an age-old urban cultural phenomenon, street art. What is art's role in the context of public space and urban culture?

America's Brutal Prisons

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:32:36 GMT

Exposes the violence occurring inside prisons throughout America, where prisoners are routinely abused, even tortured, by prison guards.

Clara Lemlich

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:31:43 GMT

The story of the young, Jewish, Ukrainian-born woman who in 1909 sparked the 'Uprising of the 20,000' -- the first massive strike of New York City garment workers.

The Human Hambone

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:30:24 GMT

Celebrates the use of the human body as an instrument, and traces the roots of body music back to 18th-century American history, when African slaves were forbidden to use drums, and so resorted to the body itself as a percussive instrument.

My American Family

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:28:04 GMT

70-year-old Gaetano Merenda and his son (the filmmaker) travel to America for a reunion with relatives whose ancestors came from their small town in southern Italy more than a century ago.

One Bright Shining Moment

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:27:20 GMT

Retracing George McGovern's doomed presidential campaign of 1972, this film asks: could the ultimate political defeat of the American Century, also have been its high watermark?

Selling Sickness

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:23:21 GMT

Explores the unhealthy relationships between society, medical science and the pharmaceutical industry as it promotes not just drugs but also the latest diseases that go with them.

Cul de Sac

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:19:57 GMT

An allegory for a working class suburb in decline, this film investigates the story of Shawn Nelson, who stole a tank and went on a rampage through the residential streets of Clairemont, CA.

Dreamland

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:16:22 GMT

Takes a sharp but disarming approach in examining the romance of gambling, and reveals the decidedly unromantic reality.

An Empire of Reason

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:07:46 GMT

What it would have been like if television had covered the ratification process of the US Constitution in 1781.

From The Other Side

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:05:50 GMT

With technology developed for the military, the INS has stemmed the flow of illegal immigration in San Diego. But for the desperate, there are still the dangerous deserts of Arizona, where renowned filmmaker Chantal Akerman shifts her focus.

Fundi

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:04:27 GMT

Friend and advisor to Martin Luther King, FUNDI reveals the instrumental role that Ella Baker played in shaping the American civil rights movement.

I Am Somebody

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:03:17 GMT

1969 hospital workers struggle in Charleston, South Carolina.

An Injury To One

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:02:30 GMT

Reconstructs the long-forgotten murder of union organizer Frank Little in Butte, Montana, and draws a connection between the unsolved murder of Little, and the attempted murder of the town itself.

Middletown

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:01:32 GMT

This classic series, created by Emmy and Academy Award winner Peter Davis, explores both the continuity and the change embodied in the people and institutions of one Midwestern community: Muncie, Indiana.