David Krakauer Movies
Directed by filmmaker Louis Schwartzberg, America's Heart and Soul traverses across thousands of miles of American soil in an effort to showcase not just the beauty of the land, but the very soul of the United States -- its people. Exploring groups from American Indians to generation-spanning farming families, Schwartzberg endeavors to capture the stories of an extremely diverse population in hopes of displaying their common American dreams and values. Billed as a celebration of the country as told by its people, the documentary also includes the stories of several steel workers, car-show attendees, religious figures, and over 20 other unique individuals. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- 1997
In 1990, Judith Helfand was helping to research a documentary on DES (diethylstilbestrol), a drug that between 1947 and 1971 was prescribed to help prevent miscarriages. After DEA studies revealed that the drug caused cancer in the off-spring of mothers who took it, DES was removed from the market. Helfand's mother took the drug and it is during her work on the film that Judith is discovered with cervical cancer and undergoes a radical hysterectomy. After her traumatic experience, Judith tried to take over the filmming of the DES film, but later decided to make her own after the money ran out. This documentary, filmed over a five year period, is the result. It follows her through sometimes painful discussions with her mother, visits to support group meetings and through her discovery that pharmaceutical companies may have known about the drug's potentially deadly side-effects in the 1940s. Worse, yet, she learns that the old research raised serious doubts as to the drug's effectiveness, something patients were not told. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
The Radical Jewish Culture movement flowered in the East Village of lower Manhattan during the early '90s, and embodied a successful attempt to link Jewish work in the creative arts (such as music, painting and sculpture) with extreme leftwing social activism. With her 1997 documentary Sabbath in Paradise, German filmmaker Claudia Heuermann pulls from several resources, including interviews with the movers and shakers in this movement and electrifying concert clips, to weave together a portrait of this exciting ethno-cultural phenomenon. Participants include: Jon Madof, Jamie Saft, Steve Bernstein, Shanir Blumenkranz and many others. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
