S4.E5 ∙ Episode #4.5

In Leipzig East German people are protesting for freedom, civil rights, and democracy. Party officials prepare to resort to violence in a state which suppresses its own citizens and keeps them under constant surveillance. Nameless individuals overcome their fears in solidarity, which marks the beginning of the end of the East German state.

The American public school system hangs in the balance. High-stakes testing and corporate reformers tipped the scales toward a culture of learning that favors standardization over innovation. Schools closed. Teachers fired. Students denied a culture of social, emotional and intellectual growth necessary to inspire lifelong learning. Defies Measurement ignites the topic of public school education in an insightful, new way. The documentary is framed around the story of students, parents and teachers at Chipman Middle School (where I was a teacher). It features home movies, still photographs, news stories and extensive interviews with renowned experts in national education and education policy. From high-stakes testing to corporate agendas, Defies Measurement aims to educate its audience about the damaging effects of education reform and to inspire action.

The recovery of a silent feature film from 1924, banned by the Italian fascism, reveals the path of the Waldensians, a medieval heretic movement that became the world's first protestant church. During the last decades, the Waldensians had struggled the Vatican around issues like gay marriage and euthanasia. The documentary is a mirror's game between reality and representation, between the medieval Waldensians and actual communities with different languages in Italy, Argentina, Uruguay and the United States, wondering why the waldensian heresy has resisted for more than eight centuries.

Drama documentary about how the Israeli Air Force obtained the plans for the French mirage fighter planes through jet engine designer Alfred Frauenknecht,

A Montreal-based theater troupe is working tirelessly to put on a play. The challenges they face are also a part of the usual drama behind any live show. There's the backstage politics, the forgotten lines, the missed cues, the romances and the rivalries. But for this troupe, the stakes are a bit higher - each cast member faces intellectual, developmental and mental health disabilities, ranging from Down syndrome to autism to schizophrenia.