Loading titles…
Documentary
Taboo on Screen investigates the many ways taboos are presented and received in popular filmmaking. It explores a variety of films that attempt to shed light on the shunned, fringe, and uglier aspects of the human condition - successfully or not.
Lately, sex scenes have been the subject of quite a bit of malaise online. Whether it's because they're uncomfortable, exploitative, or downright "unnecessary" these scenes tend to cause quite a stir. But does that mean we should get rid of them altogether? We explore the online backlash to Sam Levinson's controversial show, The Idol, as well as the decades-long disappearance of the sex scenes from mainstream film.
The Me Too era pushed us to rethink our favorite sex scenes. And since then, Hollywood has course-corrected and introduced intimacy coordinators to encourage safer practices on set. So why it is we're still icked out by sex on screen? Let's unpack the great cultural forces that have led to this current sexless moment and asks: are sex scenes more necessary than we think? Honey, get the bolt cutters. It's time to escape from horny jail.
If there was ever a filmmaker willing to "go there," it's Todd Solondz. But how is it that Todd Solondz is able to ostensibly "go there," stooping to the lowest depths of humanity, and make us laugh while doing it? This episode explores the way Solondz uses dark humor to shock his audiences, comment on the human condition, and (almost) get away with it.
Everyone is always asking, "Will someone think of the children?" Yet this question never seems to benefit... actual children. In light of the recent moral panic over the 2020 Netflix film Cuties, we are once again debating whether depiction equals endorsement. Cuties is much like another highly controversial film, Pretty Baby, in the way it poses uncomfortable truths about the exploitation of young girls. In this episode, we discuss these two films, their mark on the culture, and if they're worthy of redemption. If 2023 was "the year of the girl", maybe these once maligned films are more important than ever.
For as long as time itself, people have tried to separate art from obscenity. Yet John Waters had made it the goal of his career to do just the opposite. Waters and his unruly band of misfits he calls Dreamlanders practically invented shock humour. And their "bad taste trilogy" is every bit as grotesque, vile, offensive, and obscene, as it promises. In fact, Waters' films are so completely and proudly devoid of morals that they sometimes verge on unforgivable. So why do we consider them art?
Cannibalism. A word that makes us shiver in our boots. From Hannibal Lecter to Leatherface, we're used to seeing cannibalism in horror movies. But one movie, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, brought cannibalism back to its Shakespearean origins. This exquisite 1989 art house film elevated our tastes, and pushed us to consider, who is not a cannibal?
Self
From tunnels to towers, artillery sites, resistance nests and communication centers, Nazi Germany left their footprint throughout the world. To this day, silent remains still exist, sentinels guarding clues about plots that Hitler was unable to carry out. The collapse of the Third Reich left as many secrets as it did relics. Still today, remnants of the Nazi's schemes lie concealed in structures scattered across the globe. Skeletons of projects give way to mysteries. Conspiracies abound about science fiction scenarios. The Nazis were nothing if not methodical, and a deeper look reveals even darker plans. From tunnels to towers, artillery sites and communication centers; the remains of these schemes lie waiting to reveal truths about the Fuhrer's tactics and dreams in Secret Nazi Bases. What did Hitler have planned?
Gosia Duszak unveils her direct written communications with Swaruu of Erra, a Taygetan from the Pleiadian star system. Sharing information and knowledge in various areas of human and extraterrestrial reality in order to give back to the people the knowledge obscured on Earth for millenia. Through these conversations Swaruu uncovers the potential of souls to evolve and escape the 3D matrix that was imposed upon 5D Earth more than 12,500 years ago as the result of an interstellar war, and maintained by the manipulated human collective mind.
A weekly Emmy-nominated television program dedicated to educating, entertaining and connecting the community to the engaging stories and people behind their food by profiling local food treasures and highlighting the passionate and hardworking individuals responsible for the burgeoning “Good Food Movement.”
Joanna is determined to spend her summer working at Wildlife Aid, one of the UK's leading wildlife hospitals, learning how she can help. With no special treatment, Joanna first must pass the 'smell test', starting with mucky cage and pen cleaning but hoping to progress to animal triage training, helping in the vet room and going out on rescues and releases.
This devil of a man plunges the viewer into the very heart of the Voltaire whirlwind, that incandescent mind who shook his century. The series follows his meteoric rise, his exiles, his battles and flashes of genius, in a Europe still tightly bound by absolutism. We discover an unbowed, charming, formidable man whose pen makes ministers, kings and fanatics tremble. Between glittering salons, damp prisons and passionate loves, Voltaire crosses the Age of Enlightenment like a meteor. Each episode reveals a confrontation, a flight, a victory wrested through the sheer force of intellect. Carried by elegant direction and a sweeping, novelistic energy, the series paints a vibrant portrait of a fighter for freedom. A journey into the life of a man who never stopped thinking, loving and provoking.
Real Sex is a documentary television series broadcast on and a production of HBO. As its name implies, Real Sex is a sexually explicit "magazine" which "explores sex '90s style." Real Sex explores human sexuality, from the latest sexual fads to casual sex festivals and home production of pornographic movies. The show typically explores three to four topics each episode. Segments are separated by street interviews with random people, relating to the episode's topics. Episodes of the show investigate RealDolls, "Swingstock," a cunnilingus seminar, a perpetual sex machine for women, and lovemaking in chocolate. The last Real Sex episode aired in 2009. Older episodes as well as "best-of" episodes are frequently re-aired during late nights on HBO. It spawned a spin-off series called Pornucopia.
