Related Films
The story of two men who were accused of intending to firebomb the 2008 Republican National Convention, is a dramatic tale of idealism, loyalty, crime and betrayal.
This provocative film lifts the veil on a radical environmental group that the FBI calls America’s "number one domestic terrorism threat."
The Most Dangerous Man in America
Forty years ago, a whistleblower's daring act of conscience led directly to Watergate, President Nixon’s resignation and the end of the Vietnam War.
Filmed in Yemen and Guantánamo, The Oath interweaves the stories of Abu Jandal, Bin Laden's former bodyguard and Salim Hamdan, a man facing war crimes charges. Watch now »
Imagine being picked up off the street, told you have committed a murder you know nothing about and then finding yourself sentenced to 20 years in jail. Watch now »
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
In this intimate biography, Kunstler's daughters seek to recover the real story of what made their late father one of the most beloved, and hated, lawyers in America.
All Films in This Topic
The Most Dangerous Man in America
Forty years ago, a whistleblower's daring act of conscience led directly to Watergate, President Nixon’s resignation and the end of the Vietnam War.
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
In this intimate biography, Kunstler's daughters seek to recover the real story of what made their late father one of the most beloved, and hated, lawyers in America.
Over the course of a school year, two public school principals with unique styles and similar passions make a difference in the lives of their students.
When is it right to kill? In the midst of war, is it right to refuse? Eight U.S. soldiers, some whom have killed and some who have said no, reveal their inner moral dilemmas.
What happens if you get sick and are one of 47 million Americans without health insurance?
The story of Alexander Pushkin, whose audacious, comical exploits against totalitarianism find him facing the hostility of the police and the consternation of his family.
This is democracy — Japanese style: the story of a man plucked from obscurity by the ruling political party to run for a critical city council seat. Watch online now!
Renowned sculptor John Houser has a dream: to build the world's tallest bronze equestrian statue for the city of El Paso, Texas.
The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández
In 1997, U.S. Marines patrolling the Texas-Mexico border as part of the War on Drugs shot and killed Esequiel Hernández Jr.
Forget the pie charts, color-coded maps and hyperventilating pundits. What's the street-level experience of voters in today's America?
Tony Kushner, whose epochal Angels in America begins a revival run in New York this week, is one of the country's leading playwrights — and one of its fiercest moral critics.
How far would you go to stop a war? The Camden 28 recalls a 1971 raid on a draft board office by activists protesting the Vietnam War and its effects on urban America.
In the small town of Libby, many hundreds are sick or have already died from exposure to asbestos, a notorious industrial toxin that many Americans consider long banned or under control.
Working alone in Iraq over eight months, filmmaker Laura Poitras takes an unforgettable journey into the heart of war-ravaged Iraq in the months leading up to the January 2005 elections.
In 1990, an unknown candidate named Alberto Fujimori rode a wave of popular support to become the president of Peru. He fought an all-out war on terror against the guerilla organization Shining Path, and won. Ten years later, accused of kidnapping, murder and corruption, he fled Peru to his native Japan, where he was in exile for four years.
The Academy Award-nominated film covers the turbulent campaign of Cory Booker, a 32-year-old Rhodes Scholar running for mayor of Newark against a four-term incumbent.
In 1972, Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman to run for president. Her wit, spirit and charisma reminds all Americans of their power as citizens.
Freedom Machines takes a new look at disability through the lens of assistive technology.
Asking what the politics are that launched George W. Bush to national office, award-winning filmmaker Paul Stekler takes his camera to Texas for a lively, behind-the-scenes look at a pair of 2002 elections — one for state representative in a district that includes Lyndon Johnson's hometown, and a polarizing race for governor.
When documentary filmmaker Richard Kassebaum learned that his younger brother, Bill, a rancher and country lawyer, had decided to run for the Kansas House of Representatives, he left Los Angeles and spent seven weeks on the campaign trail chronicling his brother's first run for public office.
The shocking hate-based attempted murders of two Mexican day laborers catapult a small Long Island town into national headlines, unmasking a new front line in the border wars: suburbia.
What are the chances that a former prostitute could be elected a Member of the Parliament of New Zealand by a conservative, rural district? What if that person were also a transsexual? The odds may seem daunting, but Georgina Beyer did it.
During his 60-year career as an activist, Rustin formulated many of the strategies that propelled the movement. But his open sexuality forced him to remain in the background.
New Hampshire’s “Live Free or Die” motto acquires tense contemporary meaning when abortion politics play out in a quiet New England town.
In December 1997, Julia Hill climbed a 1000-year-old redwood tree vowing to not come down until it was saved from being clear-cut.
Political asylum — who deserves it? Who gets it? With unprecedented access, filmmakers Michael Camerini and Shari Robertson enter the closed corridors of the INS to reveal the dramatic real-life stage where human rights and American ideals collide with the nearly impossible task of trying to know the truth.
What does it take to be a perfect candidate in a cynical age? A Perfect Candidate Is an up-to-the-minute critique of our campaign process — and a twisted journey into the underbelly of american politics.
It's baptism by fire when a political underdog takes on the closest thing to American royalty. Get a behind-the-scenes look at modern politics in this 1996 POV Classic. Watch now »
Textile workers recall with pride the long- suppressed story of the General Textile Strike of 1934 when 500,000 Southern mill laborers walked off their jobs.
A quirky look at the Iran-contra affair through the exploits of an eloquent and off-beat minister who ends up in jail when big-time politics come to a small town in Indiana.
A Chinese journalist returns to her homeland to retrace the underground railroad that helped the last of China's most wanted Tiananmen Square leaders escape to freedom.
Michael Moore embarks upon a filmic odyssey to meet General Motors Chairman Roger Smith and convince him to visit Flint, Michigan for a first-hand look at how massive layoffs had devastated the local economy.
Filmmaker Michael Moore revisits his now famous hometown in a new film, Pets or Meat: The Return to Flint.
In Louisiana, Mardi gras and elections run neck and neck as the number one pastime. Here is a cast of characters only Louisiana could produce: Huey P. Long, his excellency, the dictator of Louisiana; Uncle Earl K. Long, committed to an asylum while he was still governor; and Jimmie Davis singing his farewell speech to the state legislature.
Filmmakers Pamela Cohen, Catherine Ryan and Monona Wali profile a female guerrilla leader in El Salvador's rebel army.
For 99 years, the residents of Salamanca, N.Y. have rented the land under their homes for an average of $1/year form the Seneca Indians, under the terms of a lease imposed by Congress. Now, as the lease is about to expire, a century of bad business must be renegotiated. Chana Gazit and David Steward's film captures the unfolding drama as the survival of an American town and justice for the Senecas appear to be in conflict.
After years of witnessing first hand the horrors of guerrilla wars, Israeli-born producer Ilan Ziv traveled to Chile, the Philippines and the West Bank to explore the development of "People Power" and to reexamine his own long-held belief in the necessary evil of violence to overthrow repressive governments.
In 1986, three women convicted of politically-motivated nonviolent offenses were transferred to a secret, subterranean prison where they were kept in constantly-lit near isolation, watched 24 hours a day and strip-searched routinely for nearly two years. The women were not imprisoned in Turkey or Iran or Chile, but in Lexington, Ky.
During the late 1970s, tens of thousands of men, women and even children were abducted by the right-wing military government in Argentina. While most of the population was terrorized by these actions, a small group of mothers of the disappeared began staging weekly demonstrations to demand that their children be released and the kidnappers be brought to justice.
Based on the autobiography of Nicaraguan author Omar Cabezas, Fire From the Mountain is the lyrical, earthy, sometimes humorous account of the author's political journey from student activist to guerrilla to government official.
Explore
Better This World examines some of the controversial issues surrounding the FBI's use of informants in grassroots political organizations. How much do you know about the FBI's vast network of spies? Take our quiz and find out.
Related Film: Better This World
The case against Daniel McGowan is made when an ELF member decides to work with the FBI as an informant. How much do you know about the FBI's network of spies?...
Arson as a Form of Protest Additional Video
Interview and archival footage recounts the stories of the arsons set by the Earth Liberation Front (ELF).
Is it Terrorism? Additional Video
People on all sides of the case weigh in on whether or not the ELF arsons constitute terrorism.
From Occupy Wall Street Protester to Live Documentarian
Thorin Caristo, an amateur cameraman, joined the Occupy Wall Street movement on Day One as a protester, but he was quickly persuaded to join its media team. Now livestreaming videos around the clock from Zuccotti Park, Caristo lets us in on how he's documenting a burgeoning social-media uprising.
From the POV Archive: Five Documentaries About Protest Movements
Put the "Occupy Wall Street" protests into perspective with this list of documentary films that chronicle past protest movements in the United States from the POV/PBS archive.
'New Muslim Cool' Producer Celebrates Eid at State Department with Hillary Clinton
Kauthar Umar (New Muslim Cool) tells POV about her Washington, D.C., experience and reaction to a screening of Fordson, another documentary that breaks down stereotypes about being Muslim in America.