Related Guides
Film databases & catalogs
- Ethnographic Video Online, Volume I-II: Foundational Films This link opens in a new window
Contains classic and contemporary ethnographies, documentaries and shorts from every continent, providing teachers visual support to introduce and contextualize hundreds of cultural groups and practices around the world.
- Kanopy This link opens in a new window
Kanopy is a provider of documentaries, training films, and theatrical releases available as streaming video. Clips from the videos can be embedded in presentations or shown in class. Films in the Boston University Libraries catalog are licensed to Boston University for educational and research use only, for BU students, faculty, and staff.
- BU Libraries Search This link opens in a new window
BU Libraries Search provides a single place to search for a wide variety of research material provided by the library. Resources covered by the search includes books and eBooks, journals, scores and sheet music, video and audio recordings, and other physical and electronic items held by the library. Coverage encompasses materials relating to the prehistoric and antique world through to the present.
- Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window
Academic Video Online delivers more than 67,000 titles spanning a range of subject areas including anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, and more. It includes documentaries, films, demonstrations, and other content types.
Browse Films
- Holding Ground : The Rebirth of Dudley Street. Holding Ground is at once a cautionary tale of urban policies gone wrong and a message of hope for all American cities. In 1985, African-American, Latino, Cape Verdean, and European-American residents in Roxbury, MA united to revitalize their community. The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative went on to gain national recognition as residents fought to close down illegal dumps, gain unprecedented control of land from City Hall and create a comprehensive plan to rebuild the fabric of their community. Through the voices of committed residents, activists and city officials, this moving documentary shows how a Boston neighborhood was able to create and carry out its own agenda for change.
- Gaining Ground : Building Community on Dudley Street In the midst of the economic meltdown, Gaining Ground explores the innovative, grassroots organizing efforts of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) in Boston. DSNI was created 25 years ago when the community had been devastated by bank redlining, arson-for-profit and illegal dumping, and has become one of the preeminent models for community-based change. Over the course of two years, we watch a new generation of leaders working to prevent foreclosures and bring jobs and opportunities for young people to one of the city's most diverse and economically challenged neighborhoods.
- Metropolis (streaming via Kanopy) METROPOLIS takes place in 2026, when the populace is divided between workers who must live in the dark underground and the rich who enjoy a futuristic city of splendor. The tense balance of these two societies is realized through images that are among the most famous of the 20th century. Lavish and spectacular, with elaborate sets and modern science fiction style, METROPOLIS stands today as the crowning achievement of the German silent cinema.
- Citizen Jane : battle for the city t is a timely tale of what can happen when engaged citizens fight the power for the sake of a better world. Arguably, no one did more to shape our understanding of the modern American city than Jane Jacobs, the visionary activist and writer who fought to preserve urban communities in the face of destructive development projects.
- Make no little plans : Daniel Burnham and the American city " ... reveals the fascinating life and complex legacy of architect and city planner Daniel Hudson Burnham. In the midst of late nineteenth century urban disorder, Burnham offered a powerful vision of what a civilized American city could look like, one that provided a compelling framework for Americans to to make sense of the world around them"
- Sprawling from Grace: The Consequences of Suburbanization Eye-opening documentary that explores the ravages of American suburban sprawl. Features commentary from such notable politicians as Bill Clinton and Michael Dukakis, as well as experts on environmentals issues such as Randy Udall of CORE
- Hutong: Alleyways of China in Contemporary Beijing As Beijing prepares for the 2008 Olympics, most of the hutong - the city's small traditional dwellings and the network of lanes and alleys formed by them - are being demolished to make room for skyscrapers. This program, part of the CAPITALS OF TRADITION, CITIES OF CHANGE, explores social and cultural changes in historical Beijing, as seen in the lives of a few ordinary citizens who still live in the hutong. The program also includes computer models of the designing of ancient Beijing City.
