S1.E5 ∙ Post Mortem

Experts agree that the chances of a major earthquake ripping through Southern California in the coming 30 years may be as high as 90%. If you and your family are to survive, you'll need to know what to do to prepare you home for an earthquake, how to drop, cover, and hold on during an earthquake, and how to live without electricity, running water, or emergency first responders for up to three days afterward.

A short documentary of the environmental impacts of shopping with disposable bags.

Inspired by the bizarre world she witnessed around her while growing up in a wealthy village in war-torn Lebanon, Rozy Sarkis's documentary Image Matters (2012) explores the country's culture of cosmetic surgery. The film focuses in particular on popular Lebanese soap opera actress Marinelle's quest to resist the effects of aging by transforming her face. As she struggles with the dangers of the operation and the complications that ensue, the background features a hub of female family members, each riddled with their own anxieties about their appearance. This family drama plays out against a broader backdrop of considerable social upheaval and instability.

Soul Tenders shares the lives of nine women. They grow medicinal plants in rural and urban gardens. They sit in a circle under the moon, helping nature turn the wheel of the year. They sing together and dance and drum to restore sacredness to the land, which has been depleted. They embrace the sacred in the simple beauties of each day. Living in paradise, you live rich. Love becomes the easy choice. You create no hatred. There are no enemies. The Earth depends on these women and their work to sustain Her life force. They live from a deep understanding that we are not separate from the planet which is our Home. As they dance with the elemental forces, they tend the soul of the world.

La Vida y Los Muertos is a visually rich film that captures the beauty, the joy, the sadness and the magic of the Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico. From elaborately decorated graves, to frightening demon dancers, to lavish home altars, and enormous sand paintings, the film takes you on a journey through the city of Oaxaca and five nearby villages during the days of the festival. Wandering through the festively decorated streets, homes and graveyards is like passing through hundreds of private conversations between those that are living and those that have passed on. Like the festival itself, the film comes alive as the music dances and interacts with the imagery in a joyous celebration of life.