Unit One: Active and engaged citizenry

*Pete Seeger- The Power of Song: Interviews, archival footage and home movies are used to illustrate a social history of folk artist and activist Pete Seeger.

Big River Man: Follows Martin Strel as he attempts to cover 3,375 miles of the Amazon River in what is being billed as the world's longest swim.

Mississippi Burning: Two FBI agents with wildly different styles arrive in Mississippi to investigate the disappearance of some civil rights activists.

Ghosts of Mississippi: The widow of murdered civil rights leader Medger Evers and a district attorney struggle to finally bring the murderer to justice.

Freedom Summer (American Experience): over 10 memorable weeks in 1964 known as Freedom Summer, more than 700 student volunteers from around the country joined organizers and local African Americans in a historic effort to shatter the foundations of white supremacy in what was one of the nation’s most viciously racist, segregated states. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/freedomsummer/

Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation:Explores the music scene in Greenwich Village, New York in the 60's and early 70's. The film highlights some of the finest singer/songwriters of the day.

The Yes Men Fix the World:is a screwball true story about two gonzo political activists who, posing as top executives of giant corporations, lie their way into big business conferences and pull off the world's most outrageous pranks.

Long Road to Justice: On Nov. 8 1946, Viola Desmond stood up against a racially segregated movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Her courageous stand, 9 years before Rosa Parks' action, was a seminal event in Canada's civil rights movement.

Journey to Justice: pays tribute to a group of Canadians who took racism to court. They are Canada's unsung heroes in the fight for Black civil rights. Focusing on the 1930s to the 1950s, this film documents the struggle of 6 people who refused to accept inequality. Featured here, among others, are Viola Desmond, a woman who insisted on keeping her seat at a Halifax movie theatre in 1946 rather than moving to the section normally reserved for the city's Black population, and Fred Christie, who took his case to the Supreme Court after being denied service at a Montreal tavern in 1936. These brave pioneers helped secure justice for all Canadians. watch it here: https://www.nfb.ca/film/journey_to_justice

Unit Two: Ideologies and Me

*Promises: follows the journey of one of the filmmakers, Israeli-American B.Z. Goldberg. B.Z. travels to a Palestinian refugee camp and to an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, and to the more familiar neighborhoods of Jerusalem where he meets seven Palestinian and Israeli children.

*The Tillman Story: Pat Tillman never thought of himself as a hero. His choice to leave a multimillion-dollar football contract and join the military wasn't done for any reason other than he felt it was the right thing to do. The fact that the military manipulated his tragic death in the line of duty into a propaganda tool is unfathomable and thoroughly explored in Amir Bar-Lev's riveting and enraging documentary

Unit Three: Classical Liberalism to Modern Liberalism in Politics

The F Word: Who Wants to be a Feminist? http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/video.html?ID=1827955896:Canadian documentary celebrates the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day by asking feminists to take a stand.

The Trap: We Will Force You to Be Free: focusses on the concepts of postivie and negative liberty introduced in the 1950s by Isaiah Berlin.

Kissed by Lightning: a remarkable tale of spiritual awakening, set in the deepest winter in the woodlands of Canada. The film is multi-dimensional and multi-layered; it’s a love story symbolically based on the 14th Century Iroquois legend of Peacemaker and Hiawatha. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EjJdmr5fOs&disable_polymer=true

Unit Four: Contemporary Political Liberalism

BIG IDEAS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD: Tony Benn looks at how the concept of democracy developed and spread across the world over the centuries from its beginnings in Ancient Greece. Particularly considers the impact of extending the vote to more people in 19th century Britain and the state of democracy in 20th century Britain.

Democracy 4 Dummies: by Sophia Male shows curious cynics and aspiring politicians how to run for office with little or no money. Full of laughs and satirical commentary, this election adventure will teach you a lot about campaigning and leave you thinking, "If these guys can do it, so can I!"

Unit Five: Liberalism and Economics

The One Percent: is a 2006 documentary about the growing wealth gap between America's wealthy elite compared to the overall citizenry. It was created by Jamie Johnson, an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune

PBS: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: http://video.pbs.org/video/1817898383/?starttime=3190000

Made in Bangladesh (Fifth Estate): http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/2013-2014/made-in-bangladesh

The Commanding Heights: 6 hours long! attempts to trace the rise of free markets during the last century, as well as the process of globalization. Go here for clips: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/hi/story/index.html

The Motel Kids of Orange County: A documentary that explores the world of children who reside in discounted motels within walking distance of Disneyland, living in limbo as their families struggle to survive in one of the wealthiest regions of America. The parents of motel kids are often hard workers who don't earn enough to own or rent homes. As a result, they continue to live week-to-week in motels, hoping against hope for an opportunity that might allow them to move up in the O.C.

Mon oncle Antoine: examines life in the Maurice Duplessis-era Asbestos region of rural Québec prior to the Asbestos Strike of the late 1940s. Set at Christmas time, the story is told from the point of view of a 15-year-old boy coming of age in a mining town. The Asbestos Strike is regarded by Québec historians as a seminal event in the years prior to the Quiet Revolution. (brief nudity alert!).

Commond Ground- Defending the Public Sector: is a resource to help students examine government policies that increasingly support greater privatization of public services. It explores the impact of this trend on services, workers and society. The film documents these policies and processes through the lenses of unionized workers and cooperative ventures. The critique centers on the public sector workers in Alberta and juxtaposes policies and events here in Alberta with those in the state of Wisconsin, where the public sector has been severely diminished. watch it here: https://vimeo.com/70209334

Unit Six: The Rejection of Liberalism

Syrian Children on the Frontline: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyeVVbN8S6g

Forbidden Voices: Their voices are suppressed, prohibited and censored. But Yoani Sánchez, Zeng Jinyan and Farnaz Seifi are not frightened of their dictatorial regimes. These fearless women stand for a new, networked generation of modern resistance fighters. In Cuba, China and Iran their blogs shake the foundations of the state information monopoly - putting their lives at risk thereby.

The Other Dream Team: covers the inspirational story of the 1992 Lithuania national basketball team and their journey to the bronze medal at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The film not only looks at the Lithuanian team but also at the broader historical events. The fall of the Soviet Union allowed Lithuania to reestablish its independence and enter the Olympics as an independent country.

Bezhin Meadow: is 1937 Soviet film directed by Sergei Eisenstein. It tells the story of a young farm boy whose father attempts to betray the government for political reasons by sabotaging the year's harvest and the son's efforts to stop his own father to protect the Soviet state, culminating in the boy's murder and a social uprising. The film is based on the life of Pavlik Morozov, a young Russian boy who became a political martyr following his death in 1932, after he denounced his father to Soviet government authorities and subsequently died at the hands of his family. Pavlik Morozov was immortalized in school programs, poetry, music, and in film.

Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia: 1979 British television documentary film written and presented by the Australian journalist John Pilger: http://johnpilger.com/videos/year-zero-the-silent-death-of-cambodia

Unit Seven: Illiberalism

Profunc: Enemies of the State (The Fifth Estate ): Conceived in the early days of the Cold War, the top-secret plan called "Profunc" was to be enacted if Canadian national security was threatened. The fear was stoked by the outbreak of the Korean War, which looked as if it might become the precursor to WW3. http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/2010-2011/enemies-of-the-state

Eight Fire (CBC): With its energetic pace and stunning HD landscapes, 8TH FIRE propels us past prejudice, stereotypes and misunderstandings, to encounters with an impressive new generation of Aboriginal Canadians who are reclaiming both their culture and their confidence.

http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/Shows/Doc+Zone/8th+Fire/Full+Episodes/

Les Ordres (known in the United States as: Orderers) is a 1974 Quebec historical drama film about the incarceration of innocent civilians during the 1970 October Crisis and the War Measures Actenacted by the Canadian government of Pierre Trudeau.

Action: The October Crisis of 1970: feature-length documentary looks at those desperate days of October 1970 when Montreal awaited the outcome of FLQ terrorist acts. Using news reports and clips from the time, the film reflects upon the October Crisis and reveals the relief, dismay and defiance people felt when the Canadian army stepped in. Watch it here: https://www.nfb.ca/film/action_the_october_crisis_of_1970

Surviving Eugenics is a 44-minute documentary about the history and ongoing significance of eugenics, made for classroom and community use. Anchored by survivor narratives from the province of Alberta in Canada. https://eugenicsarchive.ca/film/

Unit Eight: The Cold War: Battle of Ideologies

Children: Forty years ago Romania's former dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, introduced a "forced breeding" policy - compared by some to the Nazi's eugenics programme - to create a new generation of true socialists.

White Light Black Rain: looks at the reality of nuclear warfare with first-hand accounts from those who survived and whose lives were forever changed by the atomic bomb.

Why We Fight: Is American foreign policy dominated by the idea of military supremacy? Has the military become too important in American life? Jarecki's shrewd and intelligent polemic would seem to give an affirmative answer to each of these questions.

Fog of War: A film about the former US Secretary of Defense and the various difficult lessons he learned about the nature and conduct of modern war.

Unit Nine: Contemporary Challenges and Opportunities of Liberalism

The Age of Stupid: A future archivist looks at old footage from the year 2008 to understand why humankind failed to address climate change.

Surviving Progress: about the risks we pose to our own survival in the name of progress; connecting financial collapse, growing inequality and global oligarchy with the sustainability of mankind. Based on the lecture by Ronald Wright titled, A Short History of Progress.

*Escape from Suburbia: Gregory Greene address the coming energy crisis caused by peak oil. He outlines potential solutions with interviews with individuals from across the continent who were brave enough to challenge their communities toward change.

The Trap: What Happened to Our Dreams of Freedom?: focuses on the concepts of positive and negative liberty introduced in the 1950s by Isaiah Berlin. Curtis briefly explained how negative liberty could be defined as freedom from coercion and positive liberty as the opportunity to strive to fulfill one's potential.

Disclose.tv - The Trap 3 We Will Force You To Be Free [BBC]

My Doukhobor Cousins: My Doukhobor Cousins is a quest by three modern-day cousins to solve the mystery of their roots and find answers to questions that have puzzled them throughout their lives. Why did the adults around them speak Russian in hushed tones? Why did people keep disappearing? Why were RCMP officers keeping constant watch over their communities? All through their youth, Janice Benthin and her cousins, Lance and Marilyn, were kept ignorant of the events that shaped the lives of their relatives, members of the Sons of Freedom Doukhobors.

http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol11/no6/mydoukhoborcousins.html