POV

by Elizabeth Westrate

Premiere: August 3, 2004

Prior to the 20th century, most Americans prepared their dead for burial with the help of family and friends, but today most funerals are part of a multimillion-dollar industry run by professionals. A Family Undertaking explores the growing home-funeral movement by following several families in their most intimate moments as they reclaim the end of life, forgoing a typical mortuary funeral to care for their loved ones at home.

by Barbara Sonneborn, Janet Cole

Premiere: January 4, 2000

Exploring the meaning of war and loss with Vietnamese and American widows into a vivid testament to the chilling legacy of war.

by Maren Monsen

Premiere: July 21, 1998

When does life become a fate worse than death? In this age of medical "miracles," increasing numbers of doctors, patients and their families are forced to face this question.

by Michael Smith

Premiere: June 24, 1997

An excruciatingly tender look at the frayed lives of the family and friends of Jesse Rahim Hall, a promising young hip hop artist from East Oakland, California killed in a drive-by shooting.

by Freida Lee Mock

Premiere: November 27, 1996

The Vietnam War Memorial was one of the most controversial monuments of its time. Thrust in to the eye of the storm was architect-sculptor Maya Lin, whose design for the memorial was chosen when she was a 21-year-old college student. Withstanding bitter attacks, she held her ground with clarity and grace.

by James Toback

Premiere: August 6, 1991

Whether the subject is sex, death, madness or God, The Big Bang never lets up in its weird and wonderful search for the meaning of it all.

by Grover Babcock, Andrew Takeuchi

Premiere: July 10, 1990

Cryonics — the freezing of human beings after death for future revival — is the focus of this off-beat film by two science buffs-turned-film-majors. With commentary from Timothy Leary, a theologian and skeptical scientists, On Ice is alternately deadpan and dead serious.

by Errol Morris

Premiere: August 30, 1988

On the surface, this is a somewhat unusual film about pet cemeteries and their owners. But then it grows much more complicated and bizarre, until in the end it is about such large issues as love, immorality, failure, and the dogged elusiveness of the American Dream.

by Michal Aviad

Premiere: July 4, 1988

"There's nobody that's not going to get old — unless they die," says Enola Maxwell at the beginning of this engaging and refreshing film. Through the eyes of six women, aged 65-75, we are treated to a variety of new perspectives on aging, along with such complex and emotional subjects as changing body image, sexuality, family life and dealing with death.