FILM, VIDEO, DVD: ALPHABETICAL LISTINGS

Film, Video, DVD: M

Made in the Bronx           ED-122
30 min / color / 1981 / SUL / 16mm
Middle school through adult
This is a film about creativity. Filmmaker Susan Fanshel has captured the important moments from an intensive 2-week workshop in dance, music, poetry, and the visual arts that was held for urban community leaders who work with children. Art is presented not as a luxury or a supplementary enrichment program; instead, it is seen as essential to rebuilding the human spirit. This film is a valuable tool for any individual who works with young children.

Magdalena Abakanowicz           WA-269
9 min / color / 1982 / AFA / 3/4"vc
High school through adult
In this moving video portrait, Polish-born contemporary sculptor Magdalena Abakanowicz talks about the organic sources of her figurative work. She traces her search for personal forms of expression, leading to the realization that her imagination would not conform to existing movements. “I always had the necessity of dreaming, and of putting these dreams into objects,” she says. “I never tried to reproduce nature, but the forms belong, in a certain way, to nature.” Examples of Abakanowicz’s fiber sculpture and clay work from 1957 to 1982 are shown.

Magdalena Abakanowicz: Inside Outside           WA-544
45 min / color / 1999 / ARK / VHS
High school through adult
This video is an overview of Abakanowicz’s career, techniques, and her indelibly haunting, sculptural forms with commentary by the artist/sculptor. There is archival footage of an avant-garde film she shot in the 1960s, working in her studio and directing the process in a metal foundry in Italy. It includes work that resides in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Magic in the Sky           WA-369
56 min / color / 1981 / NFBC / VHS
Middle school through adult
Magic in the Sky investigates the impact of television on the Inuit people of the Canadian Arctic. The program also documents the establishment of the first Inuit-language television network, which began broadcasting to 6 Inuit communities in December 1980. The Inuits’ efforts to create an indigenous television network mirrors the struggle of any culture trying to preserve its unique identity. Recommended for social studies and mass communications classes.

The Magic Lantern Movie           ED-120
9 min / color / 1976 / CS / 16mm
Middle school through adult
Centuries before movies or television were invented, audiences in Europe and America were enchanted by a simple image-projecting device called the Magic Lantern. This film traces the Magic Lantern’s history and shows slides depicting travel scenes, familiar stories, jokes, and tricks. The influence of the Magic Lantern is directly seen in a 1903 film by Georges Melies that illustrates the dynamic changes in the film industry at the beginning of this century.

The Magic of Dance
59 min each / color / 1983 / TIMEL / 16mm
High school through adult
The 6 programs in this series view the popular art form of dance through the eyes of the late prima ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn. Dame Margot takes us on location to the world’s oldest and loveliest theaters where ballet was born-the Paris Opera House, the Monte Carlo Theatre, the Court Theatres of Copenhagen and Stockholm, and the Palace of Versailles.

1. The Scene Changes           MOD-1
Margot Fonteyn discusses her own experiences in the world of dance, pointing out the dominance of the ballerina in the 1930s and the emergence of the great male dancers of the 1960s and 1970s. Her story is illustrated by some of the world’s greatest dancers performing some of the era’s most enduring dances: Swan Lake, Top Hat, Pierrot Lunaire, and The Sleeping Beauty.

2. The Ebb and Flow           MOD-2
Just as Italian and French dancers in the 19th century went to Russia to establish their reputation, so in the 20th century Diaghilev reversed the flow by bringing Les Ballets Russes to live and work in Western Europe. More recently in the United States, George Balanchine established a whole new tradition of American ballet. This film includes unique footage of Anna Pavlova, as well as Mikhail Baryshnikov, dancing Petrushka.

3. What Is New           MOD-3
In almost every age the world of dance has produced its own pioneers, leading dancers and choreographers who have experimented with new styles and new forms. In this segment, Margot Fonteyn presents the work of many great dance pioneers, from the commedia dell’ arte in 17th-century Italy to Martha Graham in 20th-century America.

4. The Romantic Ballet           MOD-4
In 1832, the most famous ballerina in the world was Marie Taglioni. One of the first ballerinas to dance on the tips of her toes, she epitomized the Romantic Age. Fonteyn traces the story of the Romantic Ballet and its great exponents. By mid-century, however, there were new styles: the waltz, the can-can, the music-hall in its prime. It was left to the Russians to revive the Romantic Age in 1909 when they brought Les Sylphides to Paris.

5. The Magnificent Beginning           MOD-5
The first real ballet school was founded by King Louis XIV of France in 1669. Dame Margot tells the story of Louis’ own love of dancing and how it led from the courtly dances of 17th-century France to the worldwide phenomenon of ballet that we know today.

6. Out of the Limelight-Home in the Rain           MOD-6
In her last program, Fonteyn explores the dancer’s life. The rigors of ballet class, the rehearsals and preparations, and finally the moment of judgment when it’s “out in the limelight” and on with the performance. The series ends with a complete performance of Frederick Ashton’s ballet Marguerite and Armand, which was inspired by Dumas’s tragic love story La Dame aux Camelias. It is performed by the partnership for which it was created: Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev.

The Magic Orchard           ED-224
16 min / color / 1987 / PFI / 16mm, VHS
Elementary school through adult
This beautiful Czech animation is based on an Asian fairy tale about a group of poor desert dwellers whose village is pillaged by a band of marauding horsemen. When the villagers find a pot of gold as they work the field, they decide to use the treasure to buy provisions. They send a man out with the gold, but when he returns he has only a feather, for he has used the gold to buy freedom for a flock of caged birds. But all is not lost. The feather has magical powers that save the day when the marauders return. An excellent stimulus for painting and drawing classes as well as for groups interested in Asian culture and folklore.

The Magic Tree           ED-50
10 min / color / 1977 / TEXFLM /16mm, VHS
Preschool through adult
In this haunting tale from the Congo, a homely, unloved boy leaves his family for a lonely river voyage. In a river clearing he comes upon a magic tree, a princess, and a secret paradise. But he loses them all when he breaks his vow of secrecy by revealing the mystery of the magic tree. The angular shapes and rhythms of the Congo enhance this dramatic, moody tale.

Magic Wool           ED-391
28 min / color / 1995 / CG / VHS
Middle school through adult
Off the coast of central Chile lies Isla Negra, where a group of Chilean peasant women embroider beautiful tapestries of wool on flour sacks depicting colorful images from their daily lives. Initially inspired by a local mentor over 20 years ago, these women are today recognized internationally as folk artists whose work has been exhibited throughout the world. In interviews, the women discuss their creative methods and inspiration, and the economic and social changes brought about by their tapestry making. This celebration of the creativity and industry of ordinary women features numerous samples of their work and is accompanied by an original Chilean music score.

The Magical Worlds of Joseph Cornell            WA-630 NEW!
Time length variable/2004/ DVD and CD-ROM
College through adult
This is a rare collection of films, box constructions, collages, and publications by this country’s most recognized surrealist, Joseph Cornell. There are 9 short films on DVD including Rose Hobart (1936), Centuries of June (1955), and Nymphlight (1957). An amazing CD-ROM interactively allows the viewer to explore the boxes’ exteriors and interiors in multi-dimensional views as if actually looking at them on display.

Magritte: The False Mirror           WA-129
22 min / color / 1971 / FI / 16mm
High school through adult
A world of dream images is explored in this film about the Belgian artist René Magritte. The camera returns repeatedly to several of his canvases, and his own words are often cited, revealing the wit and cynicism that permeated his thoughts. Although Surrealist notions of ambiguity, the double image, and the dreamlike are captured, interpretation of Magritte’s symbolic images is avoided.

Making Masterpieces: A History of Painting Technique NEW!
27 min ea, 6 parts/2004/ DVD
College through adult
A six-part series analyzing the history of painting technique that is both generally historical and specifically instructive.

1. Pigments: From Lascaux to Picasso            MM-1
This part explains how artist’s colors are made and applied by charting the development of various families of pigments. Pigments prepared from natural sources and derived from industrial processes are closely studied. Applying color to cloth making, glass staining, and printing are included.
2. Painting on Architectural Surfaces            MM-2
A detailed background of fresco painting, including the application process, subject matter and painting technique, is given via specific examples from various architectural sites. The film concludes with a brief discussion of mural painting at mid-century, particularly noting the media used and the mural’s purpose.
3. Painting on Portable Media            MM-3
This part outlines the evolution of painting on portable media and its impact on art. The assembly of wood panels and the preparation of canvases is discussed while noting the subject matter common to each. Identifies the advantages of the canvas as a preferred medium and how canvas provides artistic freedom.
4. The Painters Studio: Art Workshop, Art Laboratory            MM-4
This part covers a variety of subjects associated with the painter’s studio such as models, apprentices and artistic training. The evolution of the studio from guild to academy and then to private workspace is chronicled and evaluated. Relates how the studio changes with technology and how each artist makes the studio their own.
5. Drawing: Perspectives on Line and Form            MM-5
The importance of drawing lies in its flexibility – studies of space, perspective, light and shade, and mood. The evolution of tools for drawing are addressed and studied, from ink on papyrus to graphite and white pencil on paper. Focus is placed on the necessity of drawing as a base for all artists and art mediums while also giving praise for drawing as a medium of its own.
6. Brushstrokes: The Painter’s Touch            MM-6
This part highlights how the artist creates the mood for a painting while also displaying their own artistic personality. The influence of various paint media and brushes on brushstroke and the artist’s ability to use brushstroke to manipulate the medium is emphasized.

The Making of a Live TV Show           ED-105
26 min / color / 1977 / PFP / 16mm
Middle school through adult
A fascinating behind-the-scenes view of the annual Emmy Awards show, directed by Charles Braverman. Months of planning and rehearsal are condensed into a 26-minute documentary, culminating in a revealing triple-split screen that shows rehearsal, live broadcast, and the director in the control booth. The film captures the tension, pressure, and excitement behind the production of a live television show.

The Making of a Storybook: Mary Calhoun           AT-65
17 min / color / 1992 / CTC / VHS
Elementary school through adult
Storyteller Mary Calhoun, author of such popular books as Cross-Country Cat, Hot-Air Henry, and Audobon Cat, shares glimpses of her life and work as she visits with a class of young students. By telling some of her most favorite never-before-published stories, she helps the children to better understand and relate to the writing process of a storybook.

Mali: Ancient Crossroads of Africa           ED-515
60 min / 2002 / VM / VHS
Elementary school through adult
Join Richard Woodward, Curator of African Art for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Cheick Oumar Diarrah, Mali’s ambassador to the United States, and Virginia educators as they discuss Mali’s past and present with a focus on the Virginia Standards of Learning objectives for social studies. Then view a classroom oral history program in the tradition of Mali’s Griots (royal musicians who preserve the history of the culture through song and dance). The program ends with a powerful performance of traditional songs and stories presented by Djimo Kouyate, a West African Griot and lineal descendant of Balla Fasseke Kouyate, the Griot who advised Mali’s legendary founder, king Sundiata Keita. From the Va. D.O.E. Hour.

Mali: The Music of Life         ED-457
60 min / 1997 / FFH / VHS
Middle school through adult
This program features the music of Mali, where every musician is a poet who uses a fusion of traditional style and modern rhythm to tell a story. Traditional instruments are combined with modern counterparts to create songs that praise guests and leaders and urge young people to preserve cultural values and stand up to oppression. Two prominent women singers discuss their careers.

Malick Sidibé: Portrait of the Artist as a Portraitist NEW!
8 min/2006/ DVD
Middle school through adult
In this short but sweet video, Malick Sidibé comments on his career as Mali’s best known photographer of people. His portraits are shot formally in studio as well as out in the world. Many of his photos are shown as he discusses how his pursuit with camera in hand provided him a doorway to experiencing life. The images reveal the joy and exuberance of Mali‘s independence of 1960 and youth’s embrace of popular culture.

Mama Benz: An African Market Woman           ED-364
48 min / color / 1992 / FL / VHS
Middle school through adult
The colorful markets of Africa are often dominated by strong older women. They control price and determine who can buy their goods. These imperious women rule the market and are treated with deference. Thanks to their business acumen, they have amassed a great deal of wealth, which they often spend on material possessions. These women are affectionately referred to as Mama Benz. Why? Because each one has as her trademark a prized possession, a chauffeured Mercedes Benz. This film focuses on one woman who presides over the cloth market in Lome, Togo. She is a lavishly dressed matron with a fully staffed mansion who proudly travels the rutted dirt roads in her limousine. Despite her success, Mama Benz has not become too grand for the hurly-burly of the marketplace. Every day she takes her accustomed place in the stall, surrounded by gloriously colorful textiles, and haggles with her customers. The other market women look up to her. Perhaps one day they too will attain her success and become a Mama Benz.

The Man and the Giant           ED-291
8 min / color / 1978 / PFI / VHS
Middle school through adult
The Man and the Giant is a nonnarrated Inuit legend presented in live action, with a soundtrack of traditional Inuit throat singing. A hunter stalking game in a barren landscape is captured by a giant and taken to his cave, where he is left while his unknown captor lies down to rest. Events take an unexpected turn when the hunter manages to free himself and changes from victim to aggressor. The alien sights and sounds presented in the film, along with the unusual and compelling soundtrack, present a story in which man’s actions seem to be propelled by primeval forces.

Man Who Dances: Edward Villella           PE-20
54 min / color / 1980 / DC / 16mm, VHS
Middle school through adult
This Emmy Award-winning film shows Edward Villella, a premiere dancer with the New York City Ballet, at a critical point in his career. Following Villella in rehearsals with Balanchine, giving lectures, dancing with Patricia McBride, this beautiful film documents the dedication of a great dancer. Along the way, viewers are treated to spectacular ballet as Villella performs with the New York City Ballet works such as the Rubies section of Jewels and the pas de deux from Tchaikovsky’s Glinkiana.

The Man Who Drew Bug-Eyed Monsters           WA-510
59 min / color / 1994 / CG / VHS
High school through adult
This fascinating and entertaining documentary celebrates the work of Reynold Brown, one of the most acclaimed movie poster artists of the 1950s and early ‘60s. His work colorfully encapsulated the nation’s postwar social climate-atom bomb tests and radiation fallout, civil defense propaganda films, families glued to TV sets, witnesses testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, the flying saucer craze, drive-ins, and, of course, bug-eyed monsters running amuck on our movie screens. Brown’s compelling posters for films, such as Attack of the Fifty-Foot Woman, This Island Earth, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Tarantula, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon, are illustrated, while art critics, curators, and B-movie producers discuss Brown’s work in an art historical and social context. This video explores the profound influence Brown and other poster artists had on America’s national identity.

The Man Who Planted Trees           WA-326
30 min / color / 1988 / DC / VHS
Middle school through adult
This award-winning program, narrated by Christopher Plummer, combines the beautiful animation of Frederic Back with the lyrical words of French author Jean Giono. It is the touching parable of a heroic shepherd who devotes untold years to transforming a deserted and windswept wasteland into a vast forest oasis-planting one acorn at a time. In the early 20th century, through two world wars, the shepherd Bouffier anonymously and peacefully continued in his single-minded, visionary purpose to beautify and restore life to a once-thriving community. In the end the narrator tells us, “The world is a better place to be because of Elzeard Bouffier, the man who planted trees.” Highly recommended for film animation and ecology classes. 1987 Academy Award, Best Animated Film.

The Man Who Stole Dreams           ED-269
11 min / color / 1989 / IFB / 16mm
Middle school through adult
In this animated parable about the value of dreams, young Sarah, her brother Tony, and the people of their village begin to lose their colorful dreams. One by one, they disappear, and the villagers are left tired and grouchy. One night, a sign appears at the edge of town advertising a new store that sells dreams at bargain prices! An evil dream-merchant has stolen the dreams, and is trying to sell them back. Sarah discovers that the dreams, once freed from their boxes, can be saved from the merchant by holding fast to them. Highly recommended to young audiences as an inspiration to develop independent opinions and values, this program is also recommended for classes in language arts, art, film, and psychology.

Mandy’s Grandmother           ED-146
30 min / color / 1978 / PFI / 16mm
Preschool through adult
This film by Barbara Bryant, starring Maureen O’Sullivan, is based on the children’s book by Liesel Moak Skorpen. The story tells how Mandy and her grandmother overcome their false expectations of each other and learn to share a mutual appreciation and love. As they strive to bridge the gap of generations and cultures that divide them, they build a loving, mutually supportive relationship that leaves plenty of room for all their differences. American Film Festival Finalist; 1979 Academy Award Nominee.

Manga World
52 min/ 2005/ DVD
College through adult
Filmed in Japan, this program pushes beyond the stereotypes to objectively examine the history of manga, how manga are drawn, and manga’s influence on Japanese life as illustrated by cosplay bars, where people dress up as their favorite characters; manga kissa, 24/7 manga cafés; and Comicket, the twice-annual comics market that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors. The program also introduces viewers to a cross-section of mangaka icons: Vagabond creator Takehiko Inoue; Naoki Urasawa, author of The Pushman and Other Stories; Jiro Taniguchi; Yoshihiro Tatsumi; and Kan Takahama.

Many Moons           ED-372
10 min / color / 1992 / CF / VHS
Preschool through adult
From the Caldecott Medal-winning book by James Thurber comes the tale of Princess Lenore, who falls ill and needs the moon to be well again. None of the king’s advisers can figure out a way to get it for her, and each has a different explanation for why it is impossible. It is the court jester who asks the right questions and realizes that the princess has had the answers all along.

Marc Chagall           WA-250
55 min / color / 1985 / FI / VHS
High school through adult
For nearly 80 years, Marc Chagall captivated generations of art lovers and frustrated his critics. This film portrait, made shortly before his death in 1985, takes the viewer on a journey through time and place to study the life and career of this enigmatic artist. Chagall began his life in a Jewish ghetto in Russia. Breaking away from the restrictions of his background, he moved to Paris, where he met artists such as Matisse, Leger, and Dufy. There he also began to create the distinctive Surrealistic style that was to become his trademark.

Marcel Duchamp in His Own Words           WA-155
34 min / color / 1982 / MOMA / 16mm, VHS
High school through adult
Marcel Duchamp was a pioneer and leader of Dadaism, one of the most influential art movements of the 20th century. In 3 segments this film deals with Duchamp’s paintings, his ready-made objects, and his assemblages. Filmmaker Lewis Jacobs approaches Duchamp through images that reflect the artist’s energy and humor. Using extensive documentation of Duchamp’s work, photographs, and film footage of the artist, Jacobs creates a visual complement to Duchamp’s fascinating commentary.

The Margot Fonteyn Story           PE-32
90 min / color / 1989 / FI / VHS
High school through adult
Margo Fonteyn. The very name conjures up images of grace and beauty. This former prima ballerina of Britain’s Royal Ballet looks back, with candor and humor, on her youth and her 45-year professional career. Dance notables Frederic Ashton, Robert Helpman, Rudolph Nureyev, Anton Colin, and Ninette de Valois speak about Fonteyn, as many excerpts from ballets she performed are shown. This program gives the viewer a chance to see the woman behind the image who reveals surprising facts about herself and her life as the wife of a revolutionary Panamanian diplomat.

Maria: Indian Pottery of San Ildefonso           AT-13
27 min / color /1971 / AA, CRYS / VHS, DVD
Middle school through adult
This film explores the technique and the stylistic development of New Mexican Pueblo pottery. Maria Martinez, the best-known potter of the region, began producing pottery based on an ancient prototype found on the Pajanto Plateau in New Mexico. Later she trained her family and friends in the craft. The pottery was marketed in Santa Fe, and its commercial success raised the standard of living of the poverty-striken Pueblos. The process of pottery making is followed, from the initial hand-coiling stage through the final firing.

The Mark of the Maker: Twinrocker Handmade Paper           AT-46
28 min / color / 1991 / MFV / VHS
Middle school through adult
This documentary, on making paper by hand, examines the reasons why we are compelled to create by hand and why we value handmade items. Set in the small town of Brookston, Indiana, the program introduces Kathryn and Howard Clark, who began their careers as a printmaker and a mechanical engineer. In 1972, they built Twinrocker-the first hand paper mill built in America built since 1929. The process of making paper by hand is demonstrated, as well as the reasons various artists use handmade paper. There is something in this program for every aspiring craftsperson, artist, and small businessperson.

Mark Tobey Abroad           WA-128
30 min / color / 1973 / PFI / 16mm
Middle school through adult
Mark Tobey Abroad is a warm and personal portrait of the life and work of the 20th-century, Swiss-born artist Mark Tobey. As the artist discusses his own work and that of others, from the Old Masters to Pablo Picasso, his keen wit enlivens his critiques of paintings and reveals the same spirit that characterizes his work.

Marketing the Myths           ED-101
25 min / color / 1977 / PFI / 16mm, VHS
Middle school through adult
Marshall McLuhan once remarked that today’s television commercials are a modern version of ancient hieroglyphs, revealing much about our culture. Advertising mirrors the way we see ourselves and others-our appetites, ambitions, dreams, and desires. Marketing the Myths is an international collection of 24 television commercials assembled to facilitate study of the mythology of modern society and how this mythology can be manipulated by television advertisers.

Martha Graham in Performance         PE-61
3 films; 30 min ea; 1 cassette / 1957-61 / KUL / VHS, DVD
College through adult
This is a fascinating collection of three short films made by and starring the legendary master of artistic modern dance, Martha Graham--a must for all who are interested in creativity. In black & white.

A Dancer’s World (1957) In this Peabody award-winning film, Miss Graham introduces each individual in her dance company who help her demonstrate the challenge and beauty of expression through movement. Graham talks passionately and directly to the camera as she takes the viewer into her dressing room, into the studio, and into the spirit of dance itself. Night Journey (1961) Miss Graham’s retelling of the Oedipus myth. She dances as Jocasta with Paul Taylor as Tiresais. Musical score by William Schuman and sets designed by Isamu Noguchi. Directed by Alexander Hammid. Appalachian Spring (1958) Miss Graham’s delightful interpretation of the classic Aaron Copland symphony that uses American Shaker melodies with sets by Isamu Noguchi.

Martin the Cobbler           ED-226 27 min / color / 1980 / BBF / 16mm
Elementary school through adult
Will Vinton’s magical clay animation brings to life this charming tale about Martin, a Russian cobbler who lives alone, has lost all interest in life, and only wants to die. Eventually, however, Martin discovers new meaning in his life by meditating on some truths about love and friendship. The film is based on a story by Leo Tolstoy and is narrated by Alexandra Tolstoy, his granddaughter. Appropriate for language arts, literature, art, and film classes, as well as for general audiences.

Mary Cassatt: A Brush with Independence         WA-577
57 min / 2002 / HV / VHS
High school through adult
This is the life story of an extraordinary woman, Mary Cassatt, who became the only American painter to be asked to join the French Impressionists in the 1800s. She defied tradition, her paintings and drawings of the daily life of women captivated Edgar Degas, and she became a driving force behind women’s suffrage. This biography is complemented with many of her beautiful artworks.

Maskmaking Introduction           ED-432
35 min / color / 1991 / CRYS / VHS
Elementary through middle school
Carol Sivin, expert author of the book Maskmaking, demonstrates techniques for using basic materials to make a variety of masks for children and early teens. Types of masks include: Paper plates, aluminum pie tin, corrugated cardboard, domino, balloon, paper bag, headband, and clay masks with some historical examples from different cultures.

Masks from Many Cultures           ED-433
21 min / color / 1992 / CRYS / VHS / DVD
Middle school through adult
This overview of masks includes images of more than 100 masks from diverse cultures from around the world. The examples are combined with sequences of actual dances and festivals where masks are worn. Among many others, masks are shown from Africa, Bali, Bolivia, China, Guatemala, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Tibet, and a special segment about New Orleans Mardi Gras with a Dominican Republic artist.

Master Weavers of the Andes           WA-149
15 min / color / 1978 / EBEC /16mm, VHS
Middle school through adult
Peruvian weavers have kept their ancient craft alive for many centuries in isolated villages on the slopes of the Andes Mountains. In tracing the origins of the lively designs and special weaving techniques to the Incas and other pre-Columbian civilizations, this film projects the cultural pride of the weavers whose art has long been a vital part of family and village life in Peru.

Masters of Animation: USA, Canada            ED-477
84 min in three 28 min segments / 1986 / VHS
College through adult
This overview of United States and Canadian cartoon animation spotlights major 20th century animators who generally work outside of Hollywood's mainstream. Works shown include the Hubley's 1950s modernistic Rooty Toot Toot and Voyage to Next. Other animators include Barrie Nelson, Bob Blechman, Will Vinton, SamWeiss, Joanna Priestley, Norman McLaren, Caroline Leaf, Don Arioli, Co Hoedman and many more.

Masters of Animation: Japan; Computer Animation            ED-476
84 min in three 28 min segments / 1986 / VHS
College through adult
This history features in segment 1 an overview of 20th century Japanese conventional animators such as Kinoshita, Tsukioka, Yusaki, Kawamoto, Tezuka, and Kuri. Then segment 2 and 3 dwell on early pioneering computer animators such as Hourcade, Borenstein, Abel, Halas, and Donner and show how computer technology of the day was opening up new advancements in space research, medicine, architecture, and the arts.

Masters of Illusion           WA-385
30 min / color / 1991 / NGA / VHS
Middle school through adult
This video about vision and illusion focuses on the discovery of perspective and the development of visual tools that create the magic of illusion. The opening setting, a special effects studio in Hollywood, underscores the fact that the extraordinary effects we are accustomed to seeing in films, such as Star Wars, are based on principles established more than 500 years ago by Renaissance masters such as Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael. This program examines artistic and scientific discoveries of the Renaissance, using special effects to illustrate dramatically how many of the great masterpieces were created.

Masters of Modern Sculpture
58 min each / color / 1978 / BFI / VHS
High school through adult
Produced and directed by Michael Blackwood, this series focuses on the principal accomplishments of 20th-century sculptors. The artists speak for themselves, on- and off-camera. In addition, historical film footage, voice recordings, and photographs of early-20th-century artists and of lost works have been used to help reconstruct many remarkable sculptural achievements.

1. Pioneers           MMS-1
Narrated by George Segal. Reviews the work of sculptors Rodin, Degas, Maillol, Lehmbruck, Matisse, Picasso, Lipchitz, and Brancusi.

2. Beyond Cubism           MMS-2
Narrated by George Rickey. Reviews works by sculptors Tatlin, Pevsner, Duchamp, Man Ray, Miro, Calder, Moore, Hepworth, and Tinguely.

3. The New World           MMS-3
Narrated by Mary Miss. Reviews the work of sculptors David Smith, Louise Nevelson, John Chamberlain, Mark di Suvero, George Segal, Claes Oldenburg, Edward Kienholz, Christo, and Tony Smith.

Masterworks of D.W. Griffith: Selected Biograph Shorts
2 volumes / 1992 / VHS
High school through adult
These are essential collections of early short films by the man who realized the artistic potential of motion pictures, D.W. Griffith. Working for the Biograph Film Co., Griffith developed the art of film narrative. His techniques, the visual language of cinema, are still in use to this day. Vol. 1 includes: Corner in Wheat (1909), The New York Hat (1912), and The Mothering Heart (1913). Vol. 2 includes The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) and The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (1913).

Vol.1, 1909-1913 (8 films, 118 min total)            DW-1
Vol.2, 1912-1913 (7 films, 117 min total)            DW-2

Masterworks of Western Art series
60 min ea, 8 parts/ 1994/ VHS High school through adult Filmed at many of the finest museums on both sides of the Atlantic, this dazzling eight-part series critically examines 48 masterpieces of Western art. Historical information and comparisons to other period paintings promote a deep appreciation and understanding of how styles developed within the major schools of art and how works of art respond to the context of their time. Extreme close-ups reveal the brush strokes invisible in art book illustrations. Detailed enough for high-level course work yet accessible enough for survey classes, each timeless program is an outstanding showcase of artistic virtuosity.

The Italian Renaissance            MWA-1
The Northern Renaissance            MWA-2
The Baroque Period            MWA-3
Expressionism            MWA-4
The Impact of Cubism            MWA-5
Dada and Surrealism            MWA-6
Realism in Twentieth-Century American Painting            MWA-7
Abstract Expressionism and Pop: Art of the '50s and '60s           MWA-8

Masterworks through the Ages           WA-457
23 min / color / 1993 / Lucerne / VHS
Elementary school through adult
Every art historical era develops its own painting style, a unique look that epitomizes a time and place. Each has its favorite subjects and techniques. In this basic survey of masterworks of European painting, viewers learn how to identify the characteristics of each era and the major works of each art style.

Mathematics and Art           WA-434
14 min / color / 1991 / ALT / VHS
Middle school through high school
Both artists and mathematicians are interested in describing aspects of the world in which we live. This program shows how various mathematical principles, such as patterns, lines, triangles, and reflections, can be applied to art. The connection between art and geometry is discussed, and viewers learn that numbers and mathematical formulas can be used to create beautiful artistic pieces on the computer. Suggested Classroom Activity: Make a list of geometric shapes and ask students to assign expressive adjectives to them. Then do self-portraits using the shapes to define personalities.

Matisse: A Sort of Paradise           WA-198
30 min / color / 1969 / AFA / 16mm
High school through adult
Taking its title from Henri Matisse’s famous statement, “When I started to paint, I felt transported into a sort of paradise,” this film documents the gathering of paintings from all over the world for a major retrospective exhibition of Matisse’s work held in London in 1968. The film commentary, based on the artist’s own words, reflects the idyllic quality of his imagery.

Matisse Centennial at the Grand Palais           WA-93
50 min / color / 1971 / MAL / 16mm
High school through adult
A unique record of the Matisse exhibition held at the Grand Palais in Paris, 1970, on the occasion of the artist’s 100th birthday. The film highlights many of the 250 paintings, collages, and sculptures including some 20 paintings on loan for the first time from the Soviet Union, and footage of Matisse at work on the Dominican Chapel at Vence, France.

Matisse in Nice           WA-397
28 min / color / 1986 / NGA / VHS
High school through adult
In 1917, Henri Matisse chose to leave the comfort and critical acclaim he had achieved in Paris to live in Nice. There he settled in a modest hotel room on the French Riviera and began to create paintings unlike any he had previously produced. Over the next 13 years, the painter responded profoundly to the Mediterranean and the constancy of its light. At the same time that Matisse depicted the open landscape around Nice, he explored the privacy of richly patterned interiors. These interiors gained greater importance when Matisse introduced the female nude into them, inaugurating his famous odalisque series. Although the canvases explored in this video are different in subject, they all reveal Matisse’s obsession with light and its ability to influence the composition of a painting.

Matisse: Voyages           WA-388
58 min / color / 1989 / AA / VHS
High school through adult
“I do not paint things, but the relationship between them,” Henri Matisse said of his work. He gave absolute freedom to color, letting it control all other components of painting-transforming the ordinary image into a work of art. Interiors, the studio, the home became magic places filled with color and light. This program highlights the development of Matisse’s greatest works from his early canvases, to his involvement with the Fauvist movement, through his later pieces. It also explores the inspiration and renewed vigor the artist found in travelling the world.

Matthew Barney: The Cremaster Cycle         WA-585
58 min / 2003 / BPI / VHS
College through adult
Take a personally guided tour with Matthew Barney and art critic Michael Kimmelman through the massive installation of Barney’s major work: The Cremaster Cycle at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The art ambitiously combines painting, sculpture, performance, sound, and video in a most daring and surprising creation that inhabits and merges with the unorthodox gallery space. Barney has dramatically risen in the art scene with a postmodern vision that is fresh and indelible.

The Matthew Jones House: A Case Study of Historic Preservation           WA-523
42 min / color / 1994 / USCE / VHS
High school through adult
The Matthew Jones House in Fort Eustis, VA dates back to the 18th century and represents an irreplaceable cultural resource rich in architectural artifacts. This program documents its preservation, including a reading of the house by architectural historians from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the history of its ownership, reconstruction and stabilization efforts by the National Park Service, and animated recreations of the three period homes. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spearheaded this project, and has made an important contribution to our understanding of the diverse history of our nation.

Maurits Escher: Painter of Fantasies           WA-140
26 min / color / 1970 / CORF / 16mm
Middle school through adult
The works of Maurits Escher are a curious blend of fact and fancy, with mirror images and interlocking figures flowing from symmetrical shapes. In this film, Escher discusses his personal philosophy and style while the camera explores such works as Day and Night and Ascending and Descending.

Max & Dave Fleischer: The Fathers of Movie Animation          ED-447
27 min / 1997 / FFH / VHS
College through adult
Long before Walt Disney created his west coast cartoon empire, The Fleischer brothers had been producing animated cartoons in New York City. This film shows their pioneering role in the development of movie animation in a concise history of the art form during the early decades of the 20th century. Winsor Mc Cay’s Little Nemo (1910) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are shown along with excerpts from the Fleischer’s Betty Boop, Popeye, and Superman cartoons, and the feature-length Gulliver’s Travels.

Max Ernst           WA-390
90 min / color / 1991 / AA / VHS
College through adult
One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, Max Ernst (1891-1976) believed that aesthetic quality was irrelevant to art and concentrated on creating symbols, often portraying men and women as birds or machines. As a means of inspiration, he experimented by rubbing, scraping, and smearing paint to find images to use in his paintings. This program focuses on the period between 1941 and 1952, when Ernst lived in the United States. Using photographs, film footage, and tape recordings of Ernst himself, it details the influence of the Arizona desert and the Hopi Indians on his work.

Maxfield Parrish           WA-542
26 min / color / 1998 / CH / VHS
High school through adult
Having one of the most recognizable and beautiful illustration styles of the twentieth century made Maxfield Parrish's works among the most reproduced of all. This biography traces his life and influences from childhood and underscores his importance in the commercial arts, flirting often with the fine arts, with over 100 brilliant images from his body of work.

May Sarton: Writing in the Upward Years           WA-436
30 min / color / 1992 / TNF / VHS
High school through adult
This program explores the themes associated with aging and the creative process, focusing on the art and life of author May Sarton. The video features scenes of the poet reading selected works in which she has "chartered the waters" of her own aging. In interview segments, Ms. Sarton speaks candidly about her health problems and how she has learned to cope with the challenges brought on by the aging process. Augmented by archival photographs, the dramatic readings and candid interviews provide a rare and intimate portrait of a journey into older age.

Maya Deren: Experimental Films         EX-2
6 films; 76 min total; 1 cassette / 1943-1959 / MYSTIC / VHS
College through adult
Maya Deren was one of the most important avant-garde filmmakers of mid-20th century. This is a collection of her most fascinating works infused with both a sense of the surreal and her own personal vision and often drawing from the realm of dance.

Meshes of the Afternoon (14 min, 1943, w/music) “…the stuff of which (the mind) composes its night and day dreams in the forms of its desires and despairs.” -MD. In collaboration with her husband, Alexander Hammid.
At Land (15 min,1944, silent) “The curious dislocation of the individual in a suddenly and actually relativistic world, and her inability to cope with its fluidity or to achieve a stable adjusted relationship to its own elements.”-MD
A Study in Choreography for Camera (4 min, 1945, silent) “The movement of a dancer creates a geography that never was. With a turn of the foot, he makes neighbors of distant places.”-MD
Ritual in Transfigured Time (15 min, 1945-6, silent) “…all art derives from ritual. Being a film ritual, it is achieved not in spatial terms alone, but in terms of Time created by the camera.”-MD
Meditation on Violence (12 min, 1948, w/music) “The Wu-tang school of boxing derives from philosophical concepts in the Book of Changes. The emphasis is on life as an on-going meta-morphosis, a continuous alternation between negative and positive.”-MD
The Very Eye of Night (15 min, 1952-9, w/music) “It is a ballet of night, entirely in the negative, in which the dancers are constellations which orbit and revolve in the night sky.”-MD

Maya Lin: A World of Ideas            WA-619
55 min / 2003 / VHS, DVD
High school through adult
Best known for designing the moving Viet Nam Memorial in Washington, D.C. and the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, Maya Lin has created so much more: architecture, sculpture, earth works, as well as memorials. This candid, in-depth conversation with Bill Moyers reveals her inspirations, her Asian-American heritage, and profound respect and love for the natural environment while showing her creations.

Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision         ED-451
83 min / 1994 / VF / VHS
High school through adult
Artist, architect, sculptor Maya Lin, daughter of Chinese immigrants, amazed the country with her stark, original, and powerful Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. while a 21 year-old undergraduate at Yale. This film tells the gripping story behind the Vietnam Memorial and explores a decade of her other public works. (May be borrowed only by teachers in a school.)

Mayans: Apocalypse Then           ED-275
26 min / color / 1989 / BARR / VHS
Middle school through adult
Why did the Mayans stop recording their deeds in A.D. 900? As this visually captivating documentary suggests, it would be as if some future archaeologist discovered that our newspapers ceased to be printed in the year 2000. Through examination of the remnants of ancient Mayan cities such as Tikal, Copan, and Uxmal, scholars are attempting to determine what caused the collapse of one of the world's greatest civilizations. Recommended for classes in history, social studies, world cultures, art history, and architecture.

The Meaders Family: North Georgia Potters           AT-24
31 min / color / 1978 / AFA / 16mm, VHS
High school through adult
Cheever Meaders, crusty patriarch of the Meaders clan, headed the family's pottery business in Cleveland, Georgia. In this film he is shown creating the family's wares, the style and production of which have remained the same since 1893. Members of the family discuss and demonstrate each step of the pottery-making process-from digging clay and grinding it in a mule-driven mill to throwing, glazing, and firing the large crocks and pitchers for which the Meaders are renowned.

The Meaning of Food
120 min in 3 parts on 1 disk / 2005 / DVD
Middle school through adult
In this popular PBS series, Chef/host Marcus Samuelson travels across America exploring who we are through what and how we eat. Pt. 1, Food and Life, examines the symbolic importance of food. Pt. 2, Food & Culture, explores how food delineates the different cultures that make up the American Melting Pot. Pt. 3, Food & Family, looks at the complex way food defines families.

Media Only           ED-339
47 min / color / 1992 / CG / VHS
High school through adult
This is a behind-the-scenes look at the media coverage of the 1992 Republican National Convention where, for one week, 15,000 members of the working press-including print and broadcast journalists-crowded into Houston's Astrodome complex. Featuring interviews with the journalists themselves, the video shows the operations of national and international news-gathering organizations through the daily activities of photojournalists, newspaper and magazine reporters, and TV and radio broadcasters. By shifting the focus from the political convention itself to the media professionals assigned to cover it, Media Only offers an informative, revealing, and sometimes humorous look at the nature of contemporary journalism.

Media Probes
30 min each / color / 1982 / TIMEL / 16mm
High school through adult
This lively and informative film series explores the role of mass communication in our culture as it takes a close look at how various major media forms are created and how they affect our thoughts and feelings about our world. Each half-hour program combines documentary, animated, and dramatic segments into a fast-paced magazine format.

1. Photography           MP-1
Cheryl Tiegs introduces 5 people who make their living behind the camera: photo-essayist Bruce Davidson; Pulitzer Prize-winner David Kennedy; New York Daily News photojournalist Mary DiBiase; commerical photographer Michael O'Neill; and wedding photographer Gil Amaral.

2. Design           MP-2
Virtually every object in the man-made environment has been fashioned not only to serve a function but also to carry a message. Fashion designer Bill Blass, host of this segment, shows how clothes make a statement about the people wearing them. Viewers also learn tricks of the trade from graphic designer Milton Glaser and product designers Michael and Morison Cousins.

3. TV News           MP-3
Host John Cameron Swayze, television's first national anchorman, examines how the drive for ratings has led to some dazzling newsroom marketing tactics.

4. Political Spots           MP-4
Blending wit and information, this program is a primer on the techniques used by today's political media makers. It offers a sampling of media spots from across the country, representing several political parties and many levels of government.

5. Language           MP-5
We may not think of language as a mass medium-but it is a powerful one. This probe into the impact of language on culture includes a rehearsal and performance by the National Theater for the Deaf, a look at the unprecedented influence that the women's movement has had on the newest Barnhart Dictionary, and a seminar with the world's authority on abusive language. Entertainer Victor Borge is the host.

6. Soundaround           MP-6
In this exploration of our sound environment, viewers meet U. V. Musico, president of Muzak, whose "stimulus" programming practices are contrasted with the experimental music of Obie-winning composer Elizabeth Swados. There's a light-hearted look at the impact of the telephone on our lives, along with a discussion of the demographic marketing theories of radio programming.

7. Soap Operas           MP-7
Here, we are taken behind the scenes to witness the prodigious effort process that yields a daily television serial, in this case ABC's All My Children. Actress Ruth Warrick guides viewers through the creative evolution of a dramatic scene. This program also examines the unique relationship that exists between some 35 million viewers and their favorite serials.

8. Computers and the Future           MP-8
Combining documentary techniques with dramatic vignettes, this program explores our growing relationship with communications technologies such as interactive computers, cable television, and video discs. The program explores the possible effects of these new media forms on the ways in which we live, work, and play.

The Medici and the Library: Manuscripts and Printed Books in Renaissance Florence           WA-358
30 min / color / 1989 / ARTSA / VHS
College through adult
This production takes viewers on a tour of the Laurentian Library in Florence, designed by Michelangelo in 1524. The program discusses the contributions of the great Renaissance bibliophiles, Cosimo the Elder and Lorenzo the Magnificent, and their interest in the writings of early Greece and Rome. The exquisite craftsmanship of Renaissance scribes is revealed in the beautiful books and manuscripts they created.

The Medici and the Palazzo Vecchio: The Florentine Republic and Ducal Florence WA-354
30 min / color / 1989 / ARTSA / VHS
College through adult
Standing at the very heart of Florence, the Palazzo Vecchio, begun in 1298 and completed during the 16th century, has been one of that city's most visible symbols. This program chronicles the history of the structure, its building plan, its rooms, and its decoration over two centuries. The role played by the powerful Medici family in the political, cultural, and social development of Florence is discussed in depth.

Medieval Drama: From Sanctuary to Stage         ED-516
48 min / 2000 / FFH / VHS
College through adult
This video traces the development of medieval dramas from Hildegard von Binger’s musical morality play Ordo Virtutum (The Ritual of the Virtues) to the seminal morality play Everyman. It distinguishes between mystery and morality plays, as well as describes the impact of the Reformation on the mystery play in England, and traces the influence of these plays on William Shakespeare.

The Medieval Manuscript: Art and Function           WA-422
20 min / color / 1986 / FFH / VHS
Middle school through adult
This program looks at how medieval manuscripts came into being: how illuminations were accomplished and what materials were used, how scriptoria functioned, and which titles were selected. Also explained is how the combinations of artistic talent and imagination, religious devotion, and intellectual integrity played such a crucial part in the survival of Western culture.

Medieval Women           WA-311
23 min / color / 1989 / IFB / VHS
High school through adult
Utilizing illuminated manuscript paintings as sources, Dr. Joyce Salisbury, medieval historian at the University of Wisconsin, answers the question "What was daily life like for women in the Middle Ages?" Salisbury discusses the medieval notion of women as saints or sinners, and the reality of life as it actually existed and was portrayed in manuscripts such as The Book of Hours of the Duc de Berry. Recommended to complement studies in medieval art history, history, and literature.

Medoonak the Stormmaker           ED-229
13 min / color / 1975 / IFB / 16mm
Elementary school through adult
A Micmac Indian legend is colorfully interpreted in mime, dance, and narration by actors of the Mermaid Theatre of Wolfville, Nova Scotia. In elaborate costumes and masks, they tell how Medoonak, reckless ruler of the winds and the seas, was persuaded to quiet his magical wings and thus calm the churning waters so that Micmac fishermen could catch food for their starving people. An excellent film for mask-making and dance activities.

Meishu: Travels in Chinese Art
55 min each / color / 1988 / FI / VHS
Middle school through adult
This landmark 3-part series combines art history and travelogue and features a remarkable journey through China. Hosted by renowned art historian Edmond Capon, viewers examine issues that have shaped today's China: the problems of communication caused by its vast size; the erratic and invariably difficult contacts with other cultures and ideologies; and the symbols and unique spirit reflected in the art.

1. Canal Boat to History           MEI-1
From Shanghai, Edmund Capon journeys north to the very cradle of Chinese civilization. He examines the 3 peaks of Chinese culture, the Bronze Age, the Han Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty, and looks at their distinctive artistic achievements.

2. China and the World           MEI-2
Edmund Capon looks at China's cultural evolution through 2,000 years of trading and commercial contacts and considers some of the ideological influences that entered the country from the outside world.

3. The Chinese Identity           MEI-3
In this final episode, Capon takes viewers to selected locations that embody the real and distinctive character of the country: the Forbidden City in Beijing; a classic Chinese garden; and the greatest of the sacred mountains, Huangshan, inspiration for the great Chinese painters. He also visits the great calligrapher Huang Maozi and Jingdezhen, the home of Chinese porcelain.

Memories of Monet           WA-190
28 min / color / 1984 / BD, CHRYS / 16mm, VHS
High school through adult
This sensitive and informative film sheds new light on Monet's work between the years 1889 and his death in 1926. The film blends superb views of Monet's gardens at Giverny with his paintings, as narrator Claire Bloom evokes the friendship between this French Impressionist master and American artist Lilla Cabot Perry. Based on Perry's memoirs, the film also includes works by Camille Pissarro, James A. McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, and Berthe Morisot. Blue Ribbon, 1985 American Film Festival.

The Merchants of Cool         ED-499
55 min / 2001 / PBS / VHS
College through adult
This hard-hitting PBS Frontline report delves into teenage consumer culture. As never before, corporations have studied and targeted the current generation to sell them everything they desire: pre-packaged rebellion, anger, style, and sexuality. Methods include hiring teens to get onto chat rooms and surreptitiously promote products. The marketers stay in a constant search, called “cool-hunting”. Needless to say, many social behavior questions worthy of discussion are raised.

Metal Dimensions: Bertoia           WA-76
10 min / color / CINEMA / 16mm
Middle school through adult
Harry Bertoia, a contemporary American sculptor whose welded structures evolve directly from nature, is profiled in this informative film. Bertoia is seen at work in his studio, sketching ideas for a sculpture, building maquettes, and welding the final work.

Metropolitan Cats           ED-155
24 min / color / 1984 / CORF / 16mm, VHS
Middle school through adult
From ancient Chinese bronzes to the Broadway stage, cats have long inspired the artist's imagination. Award-winning director Robin Lehman presents an affectionate celebration of 4,000 years of cats as portrayed in the collection of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The voices of the Metropolitan staff are guides for a close-up look at paintings and carvings from Japanese, Persian, Islamic, Egyptian, European, and American artists. Live-action footage of cats adds to the fun as the staff members offer their interpretations of the paintings based on their experiences with cats in their lives.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A World of Art NEW!
50 min /2004/ DVD
High school through adult
It extends for a 1/5 of a mile along New York’s 5th Avenue, was founded in 1870, has 2 million objects of art, and covers 5000 years of human history. This is a fascinating and concise overview of the “Met” that displays an array of its endlessly dazzling works in high definition with vivid commentary by director and curators. Just as astonishing, this video captures the beauty of the building and galleries themselves.

Michael Cardew           ED-243
29 min / color / 1983 / BARR / VHS
Middle school through adult
This intimate portrait of English master potter Michael Cardew, taped just 5 months before his death, communicates his impressive presence, the quiet energy with which he pursued his craft, and the basic philosophy that guided his life and work. Filled with images of Cardew at work, the program shows the character of the potter who was full of irony, humor, contradictions, and singleness of purpose.

Michael Naranjo           WA-465
30 min / color / 1994 / CTC / VHS
Middle school through adult
Native American sculptor Michael Naranjo discusses the creative process in this engaging interview conducted by Willa Shalit of the College of Santa Fe, New Mexico. This inspirational artist recounts how the loss of his eyesight and use of one arm during the Vietnam War resulted in his renewed interest in sculpting. He shares with viewers the story behind 2 of his works and recalls his amazing experience in Florence, Italy, where he was raised on a scaffold and permitted to touch-to see with his hands-Michelangelo's David.

Michelangelo: Artist and Man         WA-566
50 min / 1994 / A&E / VHS
High school through adult
Michelangelo’s masterpieces of sublime beauty are what other artists through the centuries have aspired and still do. Yet, in a world where art flourished only with patronage, Michelangelo was caught between the conflicting powers and whims of the Medici family in Florence and the Papacy in Rome. This video from A&E’s Biography series explores his recognized genius, but how it took a toll on his personal life.

Michelangelo I and II           WA-315
70 min / color / 1968 / RC / VHS
College through adult
This award-winning, authoritative documentary is introduced as "...an interpretation and critical analysis of the artistic language of Michelangelo presented in visual and cinematic terms." An exhaustive spectrum of works, revealed from all angles, illustrates Michelangelo's use of movement as a compositional device in sculpture, painting, and architecture.

The Middle Ages
20 min / color / 1987 / FI / VHS
Middle school through adult
What was it like to live in the Middle Ages? This video series draws upon studies of medieval writings, art, and architecture to accurately re-create and interpret events and lifestyles in Britain during the 13th and 14th centuries.

1. The Castle           MA-1
In 1066, the Duke of Normandy built the first wooden castle on English soil, as a military stronghold. Later castles, usually made of stone, were built for protection, but also served as home to important individuals, their families, and servants. During a castle tour, we learn all its special functions.

2. The Church           MA-2
The Church was the most powerful political entity in the Middle Ages. This film explains how the Church carried out many functions, including hospital care, charitable activities, and education.

3. The Town           MA-3
What were the aspirations of young townspeople in medieval times? Follow a young man through his apprenticeship to a master carpenter, and learn what his responsibilities will be to the guild he hopes to join.

4. The Traders           MA-4
The wool trade was one of the most lucrative enterprises of the Middle Ages. This program discusses medieval trade ventures, focusing on the complex interrelationships of individuals, communities, and countries involved in the cultivation and merchandising of wool.

5. The Peasant's Revolt           MA-5
This dramatic reenactment illustrates the daily difficulties faced by medieval peasants. In the 14th century, an impoverished man named Watt Taylor led a group of desperate people in a march on London to plead with their king for relief from crushing taxes. Unsatisfied with the king's reply, the peasants killed two of his ministers. The revolt was brutally suppressed, and peasants were forced to return to their harsh existence.

Midnight Ramble           WA-466
60 min / color / 1994 / PBS / VHS
High school through adult
This documentary recounts the little-known story of a remarkable independent film industry outside of Hollywood that produced nearly 500 movies for African-American audiences between 1910 and 1940. These "race movies" were often shown at segregated screenings, many of them after hours. They are called "midnight rambles" and provided black moviegoers with positive role models rather than the stereotypical characters depicted in Hollywood. The story of this forgotten chapter in America's movie history focuses on black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, a controversial director who wrote and directed more than 40 features. Using recently discovered films and interviews with black actors and critics who worked in the race movie business, Midnight Ramble explores the rise and decline of a unique film industry.

Mies         AR-6
59 min / 2003 / BPI / DVD
College through adult
Father of the International Style, Mies van der Rohe set the pace and defined modern architecture from the early 20th century Bauhaus to his eventual exit from Nazi Germany to the USA and his final residence at the Armour Institute in Illinois. Rare filmed interviews give extraordinary insight into his philosophical efforts to achieve an “absolute Platonic, pure minimalism” and prove that “less equals more”. Most all of his famous buildings are discussed including the Barcelona Pavilion and the Seagram’s tower.

The Mikado           PE-25
150 min / color / 1986 / FI / VHS
High school through adult
This stunning version of Gilbert and Sullivan's classic comic opera, directed and choreographed by Brian McDonald, was a major hit of Canada's Stratford Shakespearean Festival in 1986. Cloaked in the guise of a Japanese musical drama, The Mikado spoofs Victorian English society. The plot involves a lowly tailor's incredible rise from prisioner in a country jail to the rank of Lord High Executioner.

Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World
60 min each / color / 1992 / FI / VHS
High school through adult
By exploring the values and the different world perspectives that hold many tribal societies together, this 10-part series aims to stimulate reflection on today's industrial society. Host David Maybury-Lewis interviews threatened indigenous peoples to discover why so much is at stake in the modern world and what can be learned from tribal societies as we all approach the next millennium.

1. The Shock of the Other           ML-1
Maybury-Lewis begins the series with a visit to the Xavante tribe of central Brazil. Here he explains the need to find balance between cultural diversity and our desire to be like one another. Next he journeys into the heart of the Amazon to unravel the mystery of a small tribe called the Mashco-Piro who remain hidden from the outside world.

2. Strange Relations           ML-2
This episode explores how marriages in tribal societies from the valleys of Nepal and the plains of Niger contrast with the uncertainties that characterize Western marriages. Tribal marriages may challenge Western ideas and sensibilities, and yet be moral in the tribal world.

3. Mistaken Identity           ML-3
While Western societies strive to answer the question of individual identity, tribal cultures define identity by the myths and rituals of their society, by the people who rear them, and by an organic continuum to which they belong. This episode explores views of life and death through scenes that contrast the family life of an abortion counselor in Canada with a boy's initiation into manhood in a Brazilian Xavante tribe, and a young girl's attempted suicide with an Indonesian Sumba tribesman's relationship to his dead relatives.

          4. An Ecology of Mind ML-4
The Makuna of Colombia pass their sophisticated ecological awareness and belief in the harmony of nature from generation to generation through complex myths and rituals. Some tribal people's views contrast with the evolutionary ideas handed down to the modern world from the Bible and from 19th century Darwinian theory.

5. The Art of Living           ML-5
In tribal cultures, where they have no word for art or artist, views of life and death are traditionally expressed in everyday dances, clothes, sculptures, paintings, and rituals. Travel to the Wodaabe tribe of Niger and the Dogon peoples of Mali to witness the ways they celebrate life and death with acts of beauty. Then meet a North American artist who shows his way of connecting his art to the meaning of life and death.

6. Touching the Timeless           ML-6
The Huichol people of Mexico take their annual pilgrimage to collect peyote, the sacred food of the gods. A Navajo medicine man invites the spirits into his world through sand painting, chanting, and "walking in beauty." In these ways tribal cultures seek to elevate their lives from the ordinary world into the extraordinary.

7. A Poor Man Shames Us All           ML-7
This program takes viewers from a New York ad agency to the jungles of Indonesia and the plains of Kenya. Our Western views of wealth and economic needs have created a society of strangers in the midst of material riches, while tribal cultures such as the Weyewa of Indonesia and the Gabra of Kenya create economies of dependency on others and measure wealth through people, not possessions.

8. Inventing Reality           ML-8
In Western society, science and magic seem to be opposing views of reality. The certainties of science can combine with natural conceptions of physical disease both in the tribal world and in the thinking of Western medical science, as seen in the Huichol Indian villages of Central Mexico and a cancer treatment center in Canada

9. The Tightrope of Power           ML-9
This episode invites the viewers to contrast the Western forms of state to the tribal practice of democracy through consensus. Witness the struggles of the Objibwa-Cree and Mohawk Indian tribes against the Canadian federal government and understand how their visions of the world can help define democracy, pluralism, and the state.

10. At the Threshold           ML-10
David Maybury-Lewis returns to the Xavante tribe in the jungles of Brazil to review the primary wisdoms that tribal people offer to our modernized world. This program looks at several tribal cultures and reflects on how they have kept a firm sense of belonging and being at home, wherever they find themselves.

Mill Times         ED-504
60 min / 2002 / PBS / VHS
Middle school through adult
Based on the acclaimed book Mill, by David Macaulay, this PBS production combines live-action with animation in a detailed history of textile mills in the New England region of this nation. The animated segments tell the story of the first mill in the USA, opened in Rhode Island by Samuel Slater. The live-action segments, hosted by Macauley, guide the viewer through the technological changes that transformed the making of textiles into a key component of the late 18th century Industrial Revolution.

Mind over Matter: Six Conceptual Artists at the Whitney           WA-371
58 min / color / 1990 / BFI / VHS
College through adult
The exhibition Mind over Matter, held at New York's Whitney Museum in 1990, brought together the work of 6 artists in their 30s who share a strong predisposition to rationalized art making: Ashley Bickerton, Ronald Jones, Nayland Blake, Liz Larner, Tishan Hsu, and Annette Lemieux. On a day that the museum is closed, the 6 artists look at and discuss the exhibition with curator Richard Armstrong and critic Bruce Ferguson. Questioned about their work on display, they offer insights about their different approaches to conceptual art.

Mindscape           ED-106
8 min / b&w / 1976 / PFP / 16mm
Middle school through adult
A painter steps into the landscape scene he is painting and begins a journey. Along with the painter, the viewer enters a world of memories and dreams. The journey is strewn with symbols and fueled by images that shift across the screen. The images in this film by Jacques Drouin were created by manipulating 240,000 pins on a perforated screen. Art teachers may find the film stimulating for classes in scratchboard illustration, etching, or black-and-white photography.

Ming Garden           WA-253
28 min / color / 1983 / FI / VHS
High school through adult
The installation of a Ming-style courtyard garden at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is thoroughly documented. When it opened in 1980, the garden was the first permanent cultural exchange between the People's Republic of China and the United States. The film shows the unique collaboration between American workers and a team of 21 craftsmen, 5 engineers, and one chef from Suzhou, China. The techniques involved in the construction of these gardens were largely unknown in the West before this exchange took place.

Minnie the Moocher and Many Many More           PE-27
55 min / color / 1981 / FRIF / 16mm
High school through adult
The Harlem jazz clubs of the 1930s and 1940s with their jive talk, jitterbug, and zoot suits were a hotbed of dazzling entertainment during a period that is fondly recalled by Cab Calloway in his famous song "Minnie the Moocher." Through rare archival footage and the use of "soundies"-film clips produced for video jukeboxes in the late 1930s-Calloway leads a nostalgic tour through the famous Harlem clubs: the Yeah Man, the Savoy, Tillie's Chicken Shack, and the world-famous Cotton Club. Legendary performances are shown: Fats Waller doing "The Joint is Jumping"; Dorothy Dandridge singing "Easy Street"; Bill "Bojangles" Robinson hoofing to "Let's Scuffle." Also seen are Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, and, of course, Calloway himself.

Modern Ballet           PE-3
29 min / b&w / 1960 / NET / 16mm
Middle school through adult
This film discusses and illustrates trends in ballet which began around 1940. Choreographer Anthony Tudor and dancers Nora Kaye and Hugh Laing appear in the film, demonstrating both traditional and more modern dance techniques. Tudor discusses mid-20th-century changes in subject and mood that were introduced into modern ballet and the reasons for retaining certain traditional steps and positions. Released in 1960, this film is of particular interest to students of dance history; the trends that it discusses are not contemporary but they serve as a background to today's dance trends.

The Modern Movement in Architecture: Air, Light, and Utopia         AR-3
53 min / 2000 / FFH / VHS
College through adult
This video provides an overview of the evolution of the modern movement in Europe between the world wars. Featuring video sequences of the major building and some vintage footage, the video explores the ideologies that were related to a conscious attempt to build in an ahistorical and austere style.

Moko Jumbie: Traditional Stilt Walkers           PE-37
15 min / color / 1991 / FL / VHS
Elementary school through adult
"Dancing spirit" is the English translation of moko jumbie-the 10-foot-high stilt walkers who appear at street festivals in New York City, at Carnival celebrations in the Caribbean, and during religious ceremonies in West Africa. Wearing special costumes and masks that add to their mystery, the moko jumbie are both feared and revered. Because of their great height, they are seen as all-powerful figures. This unique film shows the art, craft, dance, and history of the moko jumbie. It explores the moko jumbie costume and dance movements, as well as their West African origins.

Mole and the Telephone           ED-59
7 min / color / 1974 / PFI / 16mm
Preschool through adult
Mole comes out of a hill one day and discovers the earpiece of a telephone. The animal is confused about what it might be and tries all kinds of things to get a response, including sprinkling it with water! That finally gets some results-the telephone starts to cough!

Molly's Pilgrim           ED-194
24 min / color / 1985 / PFI / 16mm
Middle school through adult
Based on the children's book of the same title by Barbara Cohen, Molly's Pilgrim is the story of a young Russian Jewish immigrant girl and how she overcomes the insensitivity of her classmates and gains acceptance in her new American environment. As part of a class assignment, Molly makes a Pilgrim doll that looks like a Russian immigrant. She explains to the class that her mother had told her that Jewish Russian immigrants are Pilgrims too, because they come to America for religious freedom, just like the original Pilgrims. Suggested Classroom Activities: Discuss with students why certain ethnic groups have come to America; have students create their own Pilgrim dolls, based on their ethnic background.

Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase           ED-327
9 min / color / 1992 / PFP / VHS
Middle school through adult
Using the innovative technique of clay painting, artist and filmmaker Joan Gratz takes the viewer on an entertaining and colorful journey through the development of modern art. Starting with brilliant landscapes and haunting self-portraits, this animated film leads the viewer through the many important schools of art of this period, from Impressionism, Cubism and Surreal-ism through contemporary Pop Art and Hyperrealism. Featuring some 55 paintings and 35 artists from van Gogh to Warhol, the program shifts seamlessly from image to image, making this artistic presentation as emotionally gripping as it is fascinating.

Mondrian         WA-553
20 min / 1992 / TV / VHS
College through adult
This video traces in detail the development of Piet Mondrian’s art and career, illuminating its crucial turning points, from his first steps as a landscape painter, his transition to iconic minimalism, and his last years in New York where he died in 1944. Most of his major works are featured.

Monet’s Garden at Giverny         WA-578
60 min / 2000 / CRYS / VHS,BR> High school through adult
This beautiful and fascinating video will transport you into the garden where the great Impressionist painter, Claude Monet, spent the second half of his life and career. It is a tour through the estate following the full year cycle of the garden and all the colors and flowers that moved Monet to create his most famous paintings, the “water lilies”. One section discusses the similarities and differences with traditional gardens in Japan. A joy for artists and gardeners alike.

Monet in London           WA-181
18 min / color / 1974 / AFA / 16mm
High school through adult
Claude Monet's devotion to "the fog that gives London its fullness" brought him to the Savoy Hotel during the winters of 1899 and 1901; from his 5th-floor room, he began a series of hundreds of paintings of the Waterloo and Charing Cross Bridges-the Thames Series-finishing them in Paris and exhibiting them there in 1904. This film makes good use of slow dissolves and Monet's own words to trace 3 motifs from one canvas to the next.

Monotypes and Monoprints         AT-70
41 min / 2001/ CRYS / VHS
Middle school through adult
Printmakers Nick Capaci and Jonde Northcutt demonstrate how singular artworks are created by combining printmaking, painting, and drawing. This step-by-step video follows the creation of monotypes and includes a discussion of the artist’s finished work.

Monsieur René Magritte           WA-258
60 min / color / 1978 / FI / VHS
College through adult
René Magritte (1898-1967) hardly fits the stereotype of the temperamental artist. He lived a quiet life, finding inspiration in his everyday surroundings. This film portrait takes us to a small Belgian town to visit his house and to other places that fired his imagination: Brussels, Paris, casinos, and racecourses-all familiar scenes that he managed to portray as new and strange. Archival film footage featuring conversations with Magritte helps to illuminate this well-known Surrealist.

Monticello: Home of Thomas Jefferson          ED-444
47 min / 1995 / VHS
High school through adult
The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation produced this beautiful video portrait of Monticello and Thomas Jefferson. It provides a biography of Jefferson woven with the stages of the construction of Monticello complete with architectural renderings. Then it takes the viewer on a detailed tour of the house and follows its history after Jefferson’s death up to the present day.

Montparnasse Revisited
55 min each / color / 1990 / FI / VHS
Mature audiences, college through adult
Between 1900 and World War II, the cafes and studios of Montparnasse overflowed with energy and creativity. Achieving universal fame as the place to break with tradition, this trendy Parisian district drew artists, writers, and musicians from around the world. This 10-part series captures the vitality of those halcyon days through archival footage, magnificent color coverage of the era's art, and irreplaceable 1960s interviews with the Montparnasse masters and their friends, models, and lovers.

1. The Brilliant Years (1900-1914)           MONT-1
The early years of Montparnasse heralded the arrival of writers and artists who shared youth, idealism, and the desire to break with artistic conventions. Poet Guillaume Apollinaire became the conscience of the pre-World War I era, and Picasso and Andre Derain led a radical new art movement that swept across Paris and Europe. In this first program, Russian artist Zadkine, the art dealer Kahnweiler, and other contemporaries recall the impact Cubism had on Montparnasse. Sonia Delaunay describes the construction of the Eiffel Tower as seen through the eyes of her artist-husband, Robert Delaunay. Capturing turn-of-the-century Paris with serene, classical photography, footage from Eugene Atget's early documentary work forms a marked contrast to the shocking modernity of the era's burgeoning art forms.

2. Artists at War (1914-1918)           MONT-2
While artists and writers like Apollinaire, Braque, and Leger left for the unknown horrors of World War I, foreigners like Faujita, Picasso, and Modigliani stayed behind in Paris. In this program, memories of Montparnasse's revelry and relative prosperity contrast sharply with the writing from the front, which reflected the chaos and carnage of war. Poet-artist Jean Cocteau describes his education under Picasso, Stravinsky, and Satie, as well as the rivalries in their shared artistic community. Other witnesses of the era speak of the renewed spirit of artistic rebellion during the war, the enthusiastic reception of Dadaist art in New York, and the arrival of writers Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, and Ezra Pound in Montparnasse.

3. Face to Face with Giacometti           MONT-3
Swiss-born Alberto Giacometti came to Paris after World War I and stayed until his death in 1966. For many, his brilliant Surrealist paintings and sculptures were matched by his exceptional personal qualities. This program presents Giacometti in a 1963 interview, filmed at Giacometti's studio on the rue Hyppolite Maindron. Surrounded by the lean and long sculpted figures that are his trademark, this reclusive genius speaks frankly about his compulsion to work, his doubts, and his dreams.

4. A Life in the Day of Man Ray           MONT-4
In an extensive interview filmed in 1961, Man Ray discusses his fellow artists of the Dada and Surrealist movements in Paris and the United States. Through conversations and Man Ray's portrait photography, we meet painter Max Ernst, Ray's friend for over 20 years; Salvador Dali, photographed when his mustache was still "timid"; and many beautiful female models, all rumored to have been Ray's mistresses. The American painter and photographer also shares his personal vision-his fascination with man-made objects, mathematical models, and the validity of the camera. Combining reminiscence, anecdote, and visual material, this program reports insightfully on the life, work, and times of Man Ray.

5. Who Is Modigliani?           MONT-5
In 1917, an outraged police chief ordered 5 oil paintings, all nudes, removed from a Paris art gallery. It was the only one-man exhibition Modigliani ever held. Two years later the controversial Italian painter was dead at the age of 35, and the legends began to grow. This program delves into the conflicting views of Modigliani's all-too-brief life in Paris. Being painted by Modigliani, says a former model, was "like having one's soul laid bare." His paintings, which seem to caress female figures, reflect Modigliani's love of women. From this moving account of a defiant genius, a highly romantic, tragic figure emerges.

6. The Man Behind Picasso: Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (1884-1976)           MONT-6
In an extraordinary interview, filmed in the 1960s, Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler talks candidly about his personal involvement with some of the greatest artists of this century. Known as the friend and promoter of the Cubists, the German-French art dealer began representing Picasso in 1907 and remained his lifelong friend. Contrary to old-style dealers who pushed to sell, Kahnweiler emphasized the quality of the art and allowed his artists a freedom of expression that endeared him to all he represented.

7. Ghosts at the Banquet (the Twenties)           MONT-7
The decade following World War I marked a time of new freedoms in Montparnasse, when creative people in all fields and tourists from across the globe declared the Parisian artists' colony the center of the world. This program takes us back to the great parties and masked balls with their extravagant decor, wild reputations, and androgyny. Writers and painters of the era recall the emergence of Dadaism and Surrealism, and the acceptance they enjoyed in the creatively fertile, dizzying 1920s. British actress Diana Rigg comments on the group of women who rejected traditional female roles and-as lovers, models, and artists-added a heady sensuality to the liberated atmosphere.

8. Songs and Sentiments           MONT-8
In the 1930s the famous Babino Theatre drew audiences from all walks of life with an eclectic program of singers, dancers, jugglers, comics, and magicians. This unpretentious theatrical form delighted Montparnasse, and, on benefit nights, members of the artistic colony would even join in the act, forsaking the smell of oil paint for the smell of greasepaint. This program recalls the heyday of the music hall, with its lavish decor and egalitarian atmosphere. Interviews with Montparnasse artists; sound recordings of feted singers Kiki, Damia, Georgius, and Mayol; and a look at later stars like Josephine Baker and Maurice Chevalier explain the popularity of this boisterous brand of entertainment.

9. The Composers           MONT-9
In the depths of World War I, 6 composers forged a friendship in Montparnasse that would create an explosion of new talent in French music. Each of Les Six-Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Germaine Talleferre, Louis Durey, Georges Auric, and the Swiss-born Arthur Honegger-followed an individual musical path, yet the group remained united by a strong mutual affection. This program incorporates rare archival material with stories and memories recalled by these revered musicians. Along with contemporaries like Jean Cocteau, they describe their rare bond, their eccentric mentor Erik Satie, and the crowded studios and bars where high society rushed to hear them perform.

10. Soutine the Obsessed           MONT-10
In the years before World War I, no country contributed more artists to Montparnasse than Russia. Perhaps as enticing as artistic camaraderie or fame, Montparnasse offered an abundance of food. For Chaim Soutine, born near Minsk, the image of food overflowing in Paris' markets and restaurants engraved itself on his soul and art. This program studies his paintings of herring and bloody oxen, along with his intriguing, anguished character studies. Throughout his work bold strokes and color dominate, and ugliness and touching beauty coexist. Through interviews with Soutine's fellow Russian painters, friends, and patrons, we learn about Soutine's extreme poverty, his kinship with the charismatic Modigliani, and the brutal self-criticism that drove him to tear up finished canvases.

Moonbird           ED-170
10 min / color / 1970 / PFP / 16mm
Elementary school through adult
In this magical animated adventure, 2 young boys armed with a bird cage, candy, a shovel, and a rope sneak out of their house in the dark night, hoping to catch the elusive moonbird. The film successfully captures the essence of childhood fantasy games while sensitively exploring the trials of sibling rivalry. Moonbird, by John and Faith Hubley, is an excellent stimulus for acting-out activities as well as watercolor and paper collage projects.

Morris Louis         WA-584
40 min / 2003 / RP/ VHS
College through adult
Now recognized as an original master of modern painting, Louis died in 1962 just on the threshold of major notoriety. His unique method of pouring translucent acrylic paint on large canvasses produced the beautiful “veils”, “unfurleds”, and “stripes” that pervade quiet dignity and inner illumination. This biographical overview uses many photos and interviews with people close to him, including his widow.

The Morning Spider           ED-107
22 min / color / 1976 / PFP / 16mm Preschool through adult In this tale of a hardworking but inept spider, mime Julian Chagrin's talents are enhanced by imaginative costumes and vivid colors. During one 24-hour period, the spider encounters a gang of mosquitoes, a centipede whose night-long effort to remove his shoes ends just as the sun is rising, a beautiful blue fly he captures but cannot bring himself to eat, and a magnificent red spider, with whom he finds his romantic destiny.

Moses Supposes His Toeses Are Roses           ED-379
10 min / color / 1993 / CTC / VHS
Preschool through adult
Storyteller and artist Nancy Patz narrates 2 of her most beloved children's picture books in this engaging collection of American and English rhymes. Join the fun by trying to say the tongue twisters, such as "The Tooter Who Tooted the Flute." Then sing along with "Moses Supposes His Toeses Are Roses" and "I Saw Easu Kissing Kate." This lively video will enchant children of all ages.

Moses: The Creation of an Heroic Sculpture           AT-35
15 min / color / 1986 / IFB / 16mm
High school through adult
The University of Kansas commissioned sculptor Elden Tefft to create a massive figure of Moses, based on the school seal, to stand outside the School of Religion. The film follows the tedious process of bronze casting, from the creation of the original maquette through the final casting in the foundry. Besides revealing the subtleties of the creative process, this program is an excellent introduction to the complicated process of lost-wax casting.

Mountain in the Mind           WA-242
28 min / color / 1986 / MIA / 3/4"vc
High school through adult
Chinese born landscape painter Wucius Wong visits a well-known Minnesota landmark, Minnehaha Falls. He returns to his studio, where he re-creates the scene from memory. This film is recommended for drawing and painting classes and for anyone interested in Chinese art and culture.

The Movies Begin
Varied times / black and white / 1994 / KINO / VHS/DVD
Mature audiences, high school through adult
The genesis of the motion picture medium is vividly re-created in this unprecedented series of the cinema's formative works. More than crucial historical artifacts, these films reveal the foundation from which the styles and stories of the contemporary cinema would later arise.

1. The Great Train Robbery and Other Primary Works (75 min)           MB-1
Eadweard Muybridge's primitive motion studies (1877-85) begin this series, immediately defining the compound appeal of cinema as both a scientific marvel and sensational entertainment. The works of Louis Lumiere (1896-97) follow, showing cinematic glimpses of commonplace sights that were, in fact, arranged for the camera. Included also are Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery (1903), Ferdinand Zecca's The Golden Beetle (1907), and Georges Melies' A Trip to the Moon (1902). Some of Thomas Edison's Kinetoscopes (1894-1896), including the notorious first screen kiss, show the low-art origins of cinema. A collection of mechanized peep shows from Biograph Mutoscope are also presented, causing social crusaders of the times to denounce the evils of film!

2. The European Pioneers (58 min)           MB-2
Two brothers in France, August and Louis Lumiere, dominated world film production and distribution in cinema's infancy. Louis invented the Cinematographe, a camera, film processor, and projector in one. With this machine the brothers shot 1-minute "actualities," ordinary sights that were transformed into a mystifying spectacle of light and motion. The British instrument maker Robert W. Paul devoted 15 years to motion pictures, ranging from Lumiere-inspired actualities to experiments with stop motion. Other inventive artists also are represented in this volume, including James A. Williamson, whose 1901 short Stop Thief! is considered the source of the subsequent development of the chase film.

3. Experimentation and Discovery (93 min)           MB-3
The first 10 years of the moving picture saw the greatest amount of experimentation and development. Ranging from the ingeniously creative to the boldly audacious, the films represented in this volume offer a sampling of the primitive masterworks that allowed the technical novelty of cinema to so quickly flourish into an artistically expressive medium. Some titles shown are Cecil Hepworth's How It Feels to Be Run Over and Explosion of a Motor Car (1900); G. H. Cricks' A Day in the Life of a Coalminer (1910); Charles and Emile Pathe's Peeping Tom (1901); Ferdinand Zecca's History of a Crime (1901); and marvelous works from the Edison Manufacturing Co., such as the first known advertising film and Edwin S. Porter's The Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906).

4. The Magic of Melies (103 min)           MB-4
Decades before the term "special effects" was coined, audiences of the newborn cinema were witnessing spectacular screen illusions, courtesy of the medium's first master magician: Georges Melies. This collection of his works offers an unparalleled view of Melies' career. From his astounding employment of double exposure, makeup, editing, and theatrical trickery to the mesmerizing insight in the social context of his work, Melies was a cinematic genius. Titles included in this volume are The Eclipse (1907), Long Distance Wireless Photography (1908), Impossible Voyage (1904), The Mysterious Retort (1906), The Black Imp (1905), and a documentary view of the filmmaker's life entitled Georges Melies: Cinema Magician.

5. Comedy, Spectacle, and New Horizons (85 min)           MB-5
By 1907 the cinema's initial growing pains had subsided, and fairly distinct generic categories of production were established. This last volume examines some of the integral works that begin to reflect the modern day cinema-punctuated with authentic hand-tinted lantern slides used during early theatrical exhibition. Included are examples of visual comedy (Pathe Freres' The Policeman's Little Run), social satire (Alice Guy Blanche's Making of an American Citizen), broad epics (D.W. Griffith's The Girl and Her Trust), and the dazzling animations showcased in the Vitagraph Company's Winsor McCay and His Animated Pictures.

Mr. Jefferson and His University           ED-434
58 min / color / 1993 / FFH / VHS
High school through adult
This documentary looks at the school in Charlottesville he designed-both the structures and the learning concepts that comprise the University of Virginia. The originality of his thought and his astonishing achievements in architecture are brought to light along with a reexamination of some of the myths that have grown up around the man.

Mud and Water Man           AT-42
50 min / color / 1973 / AFA / VHS
Middle school through adult
Filmed on location in England and Africa, Mud and Water Man is the story of the world-renowned Cornwall potter, Michael Cardew. In humorous and candid interviews, heard over scenes of the diligent potter at work, Cardew discusses his extraordinary working life, which took him to Ghana and Nigeria to train native potters to use modern machinery. This fiery potter will delight viewers with his forthright statements and his nimble mastery of the potter's wheel.

Muir Woods: For Generations to Come           ED-294
15 min / color / 1991 / CTC / VHS
Middle school through adult
Muir Woods, 15 miles northwest of San Francisco, California, is one of America's most beautiful national monuments. This inspiring video tells the story of Muir Woods and William Kent, who donated the original acreage of the park to the people of the United States. The camera takes a poetic tour of this magnificent 560-acre park, lingering longest on the towering coastal redwoods for which the park is so well known. Appropriate for art classes studying the natural world, as well as for social studies and environmental classes.

Multi-Cultural Diversity: Celebrate!           ED-394
30 min / color / 1996 / CTC / VHS
Middle school through adult
This wonderful program explores the cultural diversity within America by visiting various ethnic festivals throughout the country. Such events as the Invitational African-American Rodeo, the Native American Pow Wow Trail, the Scottish Highlands Festival, the Monte Vista Crane Festival, and the Day of the Dead festival are featured. By glimpsing these celebrations, we learn how each culture contributes a portion to make America the magnificent melting pot that it is.

Murals of Aztlan           WA-156
22 min / color / 1981 / BRON / 16mm
High school through adult
This film documents an exhibition of murals painted by 9 Chicano street artists working at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles. The murals reflect a cross-section of themes and styles, while the film captures the delightful interaction between the public and the artists at work.

Museum: Behind the Scenes at the Art Institute of Chicago           ED-86
28 min / color / 1979 / AFA / 16mm
High school through adult
This film celebrates the centennial of the Art Institute of Chicago. In the film, various curators are asked questions about acquisitions, installations, and exhibitions. Their candid answers are intercut with shots of lively activity behind the scenes to give a comprehensive view of an art museum as it functions on a daily basis.

Museum Careers           ED-217
26 min / color / 1983 / SI / 3/4"vc
Middle school through adult
This program provides an introduction to the wide range of museum professional specializations, through interviews with the staff of the Smithsonian Institution. Prepared by Jane Glaser of the Smithsonian for students, career counselors, and museum personnel.

The Music of Man
57 min each / color / 1983 / TIMEL / 16mm
High school through adult
In this series, hosted by violinist Yehudi Menuhin, 8 documentaries explore the role of music, primarily in Western society, from ancient rhythms to punk rock. Although not strictly a history of music, the series progresses chronologically, starting with the beginnings of man's consciousness of sound and tracing the instinct for music-making through the present day.

1. The Quiver of Life           MOM-1
Music began at least 35 centuries ago when Earth's first musicians blew sounds on hollowed-out animal bones. The evolution of our musical heritage is explored here as we learn about traditions of the first great civilizations of China, Japan, Sumeria, and Greece. We hear primeval rhythms of Africa and see recent discoveries of prehistoric instruments.

2. The Flowering of Harmony           MOM-2
In the growth of music from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance came a blending of many voices. Medieval plainsong of the Christian Church was the basis for Europe's unique contribution to music, the development of a reliable notation system, and harmony. The music of Perotin, Dufay, Cabezon, and Gabriel is featured in this program.

3. New Voices for Man           MOM-3
At the height of the Italian Renaissance, the madrigal was so well developed by Gesualdo and others that a drama set to music by Monteverdi, for the Court of Mantua, became the first opera, a form of entertainment instantly popular throughout Italy and beyond. Corelli created the sonata form and introduced the concerto, with Venice becoming the musical capital of Europe. Violin-making reached its finest form in Italy with Stradivari and Guarneri.

4. The Age of the Composer           MOM-4
Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert established music as an accessible and popular art in Western society. Bach's work embodied a golden age of harmony in music; Mozart evoked human passion with grace and elegant restraint; Beethoven announced the composer as creater of his own personal idiom; Schubert addressed the inner feelings of man.

5. The Age of the Individual           MOM-5
With Western industrialization and the Romatic Age came the modern grand piano and the huge symphony orchestra, enabling the soaring performances by great solo virtuosi-Paganini, Chopin, and Liszt-to inspire an impassioned, emotional response. Verdi was the cultural hero of a new Italy; Brahms looked to the folk roots of music for inspiration; Wagner cut Western music loose from its harmonic moorings; Tchaikovsky gave musical form to nationalism; the waltzes of Strauss embraced the Continent.

6. The Parting of the Ways           MOM-6
In America, the synthesis of cultures and musical forms created a new music-the songs of Stephen Foster, the ragtime rhythms of Scott Joplin, the marches of John Philip Sousa. The Victorian Age ushered in concert hall melodramas and parlor pianos. Sheet music, the movies, the player piano, and the phonograph shaped musical tastes. In Europe, old conventions were fragmented by the Impressionism of Debussy and the splendors of Strauss and Mahler. Stravinsky advanced the revolution with his Rite of Spring.

7. The Known and the Unknown           MOM-7
Between the Great Wars, music absorbed new elements. Jazz swept across continents with musical ambassadors like Louis Armstrong and Count Basie, while George Gershwin brought it into theaters and concert halls. Aaron Copeland developed a mature American music and Martha Graham, a new dance form. Radio and sound movies popularized all forms of music, so that giants such as Kreisler, Toscanini, and Stokowski could co-exist with Hollywood, the big bands, and exotic music of other lands.

8. The Sound of Unsound           MOM-8
The 20th-century explosion of music, impelled by the long-playing record, the transistor radio, and color television, took Western music from early jazz into folk, rock, and electronic idioms. We hear a Duke Ellington medley, steel drums, Elvis Presley's rock-and-roll, Bob Dylan, and punk rock. Interspersed are the musical contributions of Fauré, Britten, and Scriabin, among others. Bartok is presented as an uncompromising artist who never lost touch with his roots in the earth and in the people.

Music of the Spheres           ED-112
10 min / color / 1977 / PFP / 16mm
High school through adult
Based on the ancient Greek conception of the universe as one vast and complex musical instrument, "the 7-stringed lyre of Apollo," this film uses synthesized images and live-action photography to connect abstract cosmic images with the world we know. Flowing, hypnotic movements of form and color create a mesmerizing visual experience, another level of reality in which the music fuses with the images to become an integral whole. This film is an excellent stimulus for creative writing classes.

The Music Rack           AT-9
20 min / color / 1968 / ACI / 16mm
Middle school through adult
This film follows artist-craftsman Wendell Castle through the design and production of a music rack by the lamination process. The film strikingly illustrates the distinctiveness of Castle's woodworking, which has achieved widespread recognition.

My Hands Are the Tools of My Soul           WA-114
54 min / color / 1978 / TEXFLM / 16mm, VHS
Middle school through adult
This film presents a dazzling selection of American Indian art from among the best collections in the country, together with a series of performances by a mask maker, a potter, and a sand painter, and by singers and dancers of ritual and ceremony. The film is permeated by the Indian sense of the harmony in nature and the intimate relationship between man and his environment.

The Mystery of Nefertiti           WA-118
46 min / color / 1975 / IU / 16mm
High school through adult
This film documents a 6-year effort by a team of archaeologists to reconstruct the design of the Egyptian temple of Queen Nefertiti, which was built some 3,500 years ago. In 1965, Ray Winfield Smith discovered that there were 35,000 carved sandstone blocks stored in warehouses and strewn haphazardly about the outskirts of Karnak in Egypt. Smith, along with several other researchers, painstakingly coded and marked the face of each block, then used a computer to organize and "assemble" the blocks. The film discusses what this project has revealed about Egyptian history, art, and culture.

The Mystery of the Cave Paintings           WA-515
15 min / color / 1996 / LUC / VHS
Elementary school through adult
Charming animation illustrates this intriguing story of important discoveries made by young people. Who could believe that the paintings little Maria found in caves near her home in Altamira, Spain, in 1879 were 14,000 years old? Through the years, other caves with paintings were discovered. Then, during World War II in Lascaux, France, the young boy, Marcel Raidat, discovered spectacular hidden caverns and paintings over 30,000 years old! These are true adventures depicting wonderful peer-group identification for students.

The Mystery of the Frozen Bones           WA-516
15 min / color / 1995 / LUC / VHS
Elementary school through adult
Beautifully illustrated, this fact-based story begins in ancient China, where ivory was a prized material for creating works of art. It was a mystery how the ivory was made or what it was or where it came from. Some people thought ivory was the tooth of a large underground mole, while others believed ivory came from elephants or walruses. Finally, a Siberian hunter solved the mystery when he stumbled upon the remains of a mammoth frozen under the ice.

The Mystery of Picasso            WA-651 NEW!
75 min/1955/ DVD
High school through adult
One of the greatest art documentaries ever made captures the exhilarating moment of creativity of the 20th century’s greatest artist Pablo Picasso. French film director Georges Clouzot (Diabolique, Wages of Fear) persuaded his friend, Picasso, to draw with colored inks and oils on stretched paper while he filmed the image develop from other side. The master creates 20 mesmerizing works. Casual comments between the two prove fascinating. In French with easy-to-read English subtitles.

Myth and Metaphor in Society: A Conversation with Joseph Campbell and Jamake Highwater           ED-355
70 min / color / 1993 / CG / VHS
College through adult
Joseph Campbell (1904-1987), the world's foremost authority on mythology and author of many books on the subject, and Jamake Highwater, a leading contemporary writer and cultural commentator, were close friends for the last 10 years of Campbell's illustrious life. This program, filmed in 1986 at the Native Arts Festival in Houston, was one of Campbell's last 2 public presentations, both under the auspices of festival director Jamake Highwater, appearances that Campbell often called his best. Stimulated by Highwater's provocative inquiries, Campbell deals with a wide variety of subjects, including the relationship of myth and society, the relationship of myth and the arts, and the ways that myths differ from culture to culture and yet retain a repertory of central human themes.

Myth, History, and Drama           PE-56
26 min / color / 1989 / FFHS / VHS
High school through adult
The remains of ancient theaters are spread across the territory of Greece, haunted by the shadows of Homer and the myths that fill the epics and the tragedies performed there. This program visits these classical ruins to glimpse the glory that was once attained in the performances held in them. Journey to a theater built on a high acropolis; venture to an amphitheater in a major city of the Achaean League; view the theater of ancient Psophis, scene of Euripides' Alcmeon in Psophis; and finally, see the smallest theater preserved at a site renowned in Homeric times.

Myth of the Pharaohs           WA-240
12 min / color / 1971 / AIMS / 16mm
Middle school through adult
Much of our knowledge of ancient Egypt comes from the tombs of the pharaohs. The animation in this unusual film is based on paintings from these tombs. In the process, we are introduced to Egyptian mythology, as well as to the symbolic life of a typical pharaoh: from his birth and achievements, to his death and final judgement before the gods. Especially recommended for social studies classes and for language arts classes studying myths. Blue Ribbon, American Film Festival.

The Mythic Camera of Frank Hurley NEW!
53 min/2004/ DVD
High school through adult
Experts have argued whether Frank Hurley was a master of photography or a conjurer of reality; this dichotomy is used to highlight the evolution of his creative career. Hurley survived Shackelton’s amazing attempt to go to the South Pole to photograph Antarctica then Palestine and then his home of Australia seeking out mythical stories. He would manipulate the photos in artistic manners to increase the emotional impact.

The Mythology of Star Wars
55 min / 1999 / DVD
Middle school through adult
Bill Moyers' relaxed talk with George Lucas shines a bright light on the complexity behind the concepts of the Star Wars series of movies. With clips from Star Wars episodes scattered throughout the entire interview, George Lucas explains his creation of dense but simple themes that have affected his life and fans' lives.

This way to Educational Resources