S1.E2 ∙ Gender and Identity

EVO: Ten Questions Everyone Should Ask about Evolution is about biological evolution, the environment, and how the extraordinary diversity of living things came to be. Its story is told through interviews with preeminent scholars including some of the originators of modern evolutionary thought, who answer ten basic questions about evolution. The film is engaging and thought-provoking, and an original jazz-infused score by composer Sheila Silver compliments the gorgeous footage and elegant style of award-winning filmmaker John Feldman. EVO was designed for the high school biology classroom but has also become a film for the budding environmentalist in all of us.

One in ten families in the D/FW are is affected by a family member who has a disability. 92% of Texans with intellectual disabilities do not receive any form of state aid. The Soaring Eagle Center was created with one question in mind: What can we do about it?

Women who have lived at least half a century invite us into their kitchens where they each prepare a recipe that reminds them of their family. As they roll out pie dough, fry tempura, or assemble tamale pie, they reflect upon food, lives lived, and lessons learned. This documentary explores the connection between food and narrative, reminding us that our memories and taste buds are often stirred together.

A former hippie-turned-messiah, his wife, and their son - a wunderkind artist, writer, and inventor - flee the conservative Bulgarian society on their chaotic Noah's Ark constructed inside a crumbling basement in downtown Sofia. He Who Travels Alone examines this family over the span of a decade, offering an intimate look at their self-imposed exile into eccentricity and their dogged pursuit of spiritual growth.

When society strips you of your voice, can you hope for a second chance? One woman's extraordinary journey out of the darkness. Auckland 'outsider artist' Susan King stopped talking when she was four. Her grandmother recognized the little girl's talent for drawing and kept her supplied with colored pencils and paper. For 20 years Susan expressed herself in thousands of artworks filled with playfulness, curiosity and terror. Then she stopped drawing. Her pictures were carefully packed away into boxes. She had 20 years of silence before she drew again. Now, the dealer world has discovered Susan's art Brut. A 2009 Sydney show has garnered international demand with an ethical quandary for the family who can only guess at Susan's wishes.

The documentary focuses on a female character and her strive to understand how is it that arranged marriages have worked. She starts with interviewing her own parents who have been blissfully married for 40 years. Her curiosity and the love of all those interesting stories that occurred during an arrangement leads her to interview many more couples. Her discoveries highlights the commonalities between these couples which from which she gains wisdom and understanding of these ancient traditions.