Esoteric Tube » Mainstream

Welcome to Lagos

Viola — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 12:23:03 +0000

A fantastic three part observational documentary series which explores life at the sharp end of one of the most extreme urban environments in Africa and the world: Lagos, Nigeria.

Watch above or:
Download torrent

Food, Inc

Viola — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:37:55 +0000

The current method of raw food production is largely a response to the growth of the fast food industry since the 1950s. The production of food overall has more drastically changed since that time than the several thousand years prior. Controlled primarily by a handful of multinational corporations, the global food production business – with an emphasis on the business – has as its unwritten goals production of large quantities of food at low direct inputs (most often subsidized) resulting in enormous profits, which in turn results in greater control of the global supply of food sources within these few companies.

Health and safety (of the food itself, of the animals produced themselves, of the workers on the assembly lines, and of the consumers actually eating the food) are often overlooked by the companies, and are often overlooked by government in an effort to provide cheap food regardless of these negative consequences. Many of the changes are based on advancements in science and technology, but often have negative side effects.

The answer that the companies have come up with is to throw more science at the problems to bandage the issues but not the root causes. The global food supply may be in crisis with lack of biodiversity, but can be changed on the demand side of the equation.

Watch above or:
Download torrent
Buy the DVD

Earthlings

Viola — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:30:50 +0000

A feature length documentary about humanity’s absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called “non-human providers.” Using hidden cameras and never-before-seen footage, earthlings chronicles the day-to-day practices of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit.

Watch above or:
Download torrent
Buy the DVD

Islam: Empire of Faith

Viola — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:51:09 +0000

Between the fall of Rome and the European voyages of discovery, few events were more significant than the rise of Islam. Within a few centuries, the Islamic empires blossomed, projecting their power from Africa to the East Indies, and from Spain to India. Inspired by the words of the Prophet Muhammad, and led by caliphs and sultans, this political and religious expansion remains unequaled in speed, geographic size and endurance.

Islam: Empire of Faith is narrated by Ben Kingsley. The three-hour program tells the spectacular story of the great sweep of Islamic power and faith during its first 1,000 years, from the birth of the Prophet Muhammad to the peak of the Ottoman Empire under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. Historical re-enactments and a remarkable exposition of Islamic art, artifacts and architecture are combined with interviews of scholars from around the world to recount the rise and importance of early Islamic civilization. Increasingly, scholars and historians are recognizing the profound impact that Islamic civilization has had on Western culture and the course of world history.

Watch above or:
Download torrent
Buy the DVD

Cracking The Maya Code

Viola — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:09:33 +0000

The ancient Maya civilization of Central America left behind a riddle: an intricate and mysterious hieroglyphic script carved on stone monuments and painted on pottery and bark books. Because the invading Spanish suppressed nearly all knowledge of how the script worked, unlocking its meaning posed one of archaeology’s fiercest challenges. Until now.

Watch above or:
Download torrent
Buy the DVD

Blood Coltan

Viola — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:20:51 +0000

Coltan.

A dull black mineral. Used in consumer electronics products such as cell phones, DVD players, computers and games consoles. The main supply is found in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country where the war has made more than 3 and half millions of dead these last years. Coltan is very often illegally mined by children and smuggled by militias from neighbouring as Rwanda.

To many, and after a recent UN report, this raises ethical question akin to those of conflict diamonds. Owing to the difficulty of distinguishing legitimate from illegitimate mining operations, several manufacturers have decided to forgo central African coltan altogether, relying on other sources. But do they really do? There is little way to prove the tantalum used in our cell phones and laptops is not from Congo.

Watch above or:
Download torrent

Children Underground

Viola — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:30:45 +0000

The film follows a group of abandoned adolescent street children who live in the Romanian subway system. The street kids are encountered daily by commuting adults, who pass them by in the station as they starve, swindle, and steal, all while searching desperately for a fresh can of paint to get high with.

One of the children director Edet Belzberg follows is Cristina Ionescu. At first this child may seem to be a young man, but you later find out that girls have to become hard and boyish in order to survive. The film explores the lives of these children, who are shown fighting, abusing themselves, and becoming addicted to inhaling a spray paint called Aurolac.

Watch above or:
Download torrent
Buy the DVD

Encounters at The End of The World

Viola — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:04:38 +0000

Werner Herzog takes his camera to Antarctica where we meet the odd men and women who have dedicated their lives to furthering the cause of science in treacherous conditions. A scientist studies neutrinos, which are everywhere, yet elusive; he likens them to spirits. A researcher’s nighttime performance art includes contorting her body into a luggage bag. A survival guide teaches his students to survive white-out conditions by wearing cartoon-face buckets over their heads. Animal researchers milk mother seals as part of their study. Volcanologists offer advice on what to do when a volcano erupts. A pipefitter shows us the anomaly in his hands that he says are a sign he descended from Atzec royalty. A former Colorado banker drives what he has christened Ivan the Terra Bus. An underwater diver shows his colleagues DVDs of apocalyptic sci-fi films like Them! (1954). And – though Herzog declares he’s not “making another film about penguins” – we meet a penguin researcher who answers the filmmaker’s questions about homosexuality and insanity in his subjects. We also meet an individualist penguin, who breaks away from the other birds to run toward the mountains, facing certain death.

Watch above or:
Download torrent
Buy the DVD

Prostitution Behind The Veil

Viola — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:42:32 +0000

Minna and Fariba are neighbours and good friends. They support one another. Both have to live under the pervasive curtailment of women’s rights and the double standards of today’s Iranian society. They make a living walking the streets looking for men. They have a choice between leaving their small children at home alone or bringing them along when they have sex with men.

The film is a sympathetic portrait of the two women, exploring their day-to-day life and the workings of prostitution in a country that bans it and prosecutes adulterers, sometimes with the penalty of capital punishment.

Many of the clients find a way to buy sex and still comply with Muslim law: they marry the women in what is called ‘Sighe’, a temporary marriage sanctioned in Shia Islam. Sighe can last from two hours up to 99 years. Both Minna and Fariba enter into Sighe with clients, and Fariba is in a Sighe marriage with a neighbour, Habib, that lasts six months. Giving his perspective on temporary marriage, Habib says that Sighe is a way to help poor women, it is an act of mercy in the name of Allah.

The film follows the two women for more than a year. It describes their middle-class backgrounds and their submission to treacherous men and drugs. We see how Fariba manages to quit drugs and prostitution, only to find herself temporarily married to a man who will not let her leave the house.

The film is narrated by the director, Nahid Persson, who fled Iran 20 years ago. Her commentary adds her perspective and contextual information to the film’s events. An element of the film is the difficulties faced by a female director shooting a film. Filming prostitution in the street was hard and dangerous, as is evident in the film. The director has to submit to the same restraints as the film’s two women in a ludicrously patriarchal society marked by religious restrictions, oppression of women, and social decline. The story of Minna and Fariba mirrors the greater story of Iranian society.

Watch above or:
Download torrent
Buy the DVD

The End of America

Viola — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:37:32 +0000

From award-winning filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern (The Devil Came on Horseback and The Trials of Darryl Hunt) comes this provocative and expertly crafted film, THE END OF AMERICA, based on The New York Times best seller by the same name. In a stunning indictment of sweeping policy changes during the Bush years, author Naomi Wolf (The Beauty Myth) makes a chilling case that American democracy is under threat.

Investigating parallels between our current situation and the rise of dictators and fascism in once-free societies, Wolf uncovers a number of deeply unsettling similarities—from the use of paramilitary groups and secret prisons to the targeted suspension of the rule of law. With this galvanizing call to arms based on her recent book, she urges regular citizens to take back our legacy of freedom and justice.

Watch above or:
Download torrent
Buy the DVD