Complet America

"The Star-Spangled Banner" is known by all, treasured for its powerful melody and stirring lyrics. And yet, only about 40% of U.S. citizens know all the words. And even fewer know their meaning. Join us as we travel back to 1814, when Washington D.C. was under British attack during the "Second War of Independence," and the very bricks and mortar of American democracy were reduced to smoking rubble. We examine the battle that inspired witness Francis Scott Key to immortalize its final moments, then reveal how his poem transformed into an anthem.

A showcase for breathtaking shark behaviour, covering a wide variety of species across the coastal waters of the US.

The Kid America Club is an unconventional variety show that first started its sporadic broadcasts in 2002 on Manhattan Neighborhood Network Public-access television cable TV in New York City. In an interview with The Hour, Third Base, one of the primary characters, stated that the show "is about cartoons and acting crazy, and Frankie and Third Base, and Caruthers". The show centers on the character called Frankie, who lives in a small apartment in New York. His over-active imagination helps him cope with his boring life as a comic book writer. A grumpy, green monster called Third Base shares the apartment with Frankie. They watch fictional television shows including" A Better Tomorrow" - a soap opera set in post-apocalyptic New York featuring Donald Cumming - "Space Fight!" a star farce, and "TV-Plus Action News" featuring a reporter called Demurgatroid. Third Base's favorite show "Lil' Hipsters", a sitcom featuring a cast of hand-puppets. Frank Sisti Jr. who plays the character "Frankie" has described the show as similar to Sesame Street. Members of the Kid America Club include Frank Sisti Jr., Jeffrey Roberts, George Psillides, and Keir Kramlich, who began as an intern.

Renee Tajima-Peña takes to the road to investigate questions about Asian-American identity.

Through a secret program called the Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO), there was a concerted effort to subvert the will of the people to avoid the rise "of a Black Messiah" that would mobilize the African-American community into a meaningful political force. This documentary establishes historical perspective on the measures initiated by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI which aimed to discredit black political figures and forces of the late 1960's and early 1970's. Combining declassified documents, interviews, rare footage and exhaustive research, it investigates the government's role in the assassinations of Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, and Martin Luther King Jr. Were the murders the result of this concerted effort to avoid "a Black Messiah"?

As the campaign to force Jews out of Germany ramps up, the American government blocks efforts to help rescue many of these displaced persons, and Americans' antisemitism only seems to get worse.

Produced by Leonard M. Henny in cooperation with the Black Panther Party and American Documentary Films. Camera by Steven Lighthill and Leonard Henny. Editing by Kees Hin. Speech by Stokely Carmichael. Dancing by Uzozi Aroho Dancers and Company, Birth of Soul Dancers. Portrait of the struggle for black liberation, the African heritage of American blacks, the need to form a Black United Front in order to survive the threats of white racism in America and in the world today. The speech by Stokely Carmichael was given at the occasion of the merger between the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California, February 1968. The merger took place on the birthday of Huey P. Newton, Minister of Defense of the Black Panther Party, who was jailed for allegedly having killed a policeman. The speech ends with the famous: "Huey Newton will be set free, or else ...."

Co-made with Nisi Ariana

Based on A Few Days Full of Trouble by Reverend Wheeler Parker, Jr. and Christopher Benson, the feature doc will explore two parallel tracks of the Till story. One set in motion by the last four years of an FBI investigation with details never before revealed, including significant new revelations of the case and its discoveries. The traumatic memory of Parker Jr., last surviving witness to the crime and Till’s cousin, drives that investigation. The second track is a deep immersion into the latest, proprietary findings, as high schoolers prepare for a reenactment of the murder trial of two of Till’s killers, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam.

A team of experts will transform a house in poor condition into a comfortable and renovated home.

The Erie Canal is one of the earliest transcendent tales of the American experience and an endeavor first scoffed at as nothing more than a ditch with a dirt path running beside it. The Erie Canal became the nation’s first great technical innovation and a gateway to prominence. This one-hour documentary marks the bicentennial of the start of construction of the Erie Canal when surveyors and excavators began linking the young United States’ east to its west in 1817 and depicts how a young nation broke through with its first great crusade of ingenuity by willing an impossible-to-build, 363-mile man-made waterway to the American frontier.

600 Years of History in 6000 Seconds… History Will Never Be The Same! From Washington to Watergate, yea verily from the Bering Straits to Baghdad, from New World to New World Order – The Complete History of America (abridged) is a ninety minute rollercoaster ride through the glorious quagmire that is American History, reminding us that it’s not the length of your history that matters – it’s what you’ve done with it! The three cultural guerillas of the Reduced Shakespeare Company tackle such controversial questions as: Who really discovered America? Why did Abe Lincoln free the slaves? How many Democrats does it take to screw in a lightbulb? History is normally written by the winners… now it’s the RSC’s turn.

A Coronet Instructional Film highlighting America's diversity.

This absurdly pro-business film tells the story of a young man who learns a lesson about capitalism and how his town is dependent upon its factories for their way of life. Young Jerry happens upon a labor uprising outside one of the factories in his town and is seduced by the crowd and the fiery speaker. He is about to join in the mob violence when he is plucked from the melee by a policeman who knows his grandfather. The cop takes him home and his grandfather, who remembers the town back when it was "a vacant lot," tells Jerry the story of how the Manson company "built" their town.

A new battle for the soul of America is being driven by pastors and politicians on a crusade. Their central message is that the country's conservative Christian way of life is under threat, and American society is moving in the wrong direction. On the eve of the midterm elections, Barbara Plett Usher explores the impact of this growing movement on a critical moment in US politics.

An incredible resource for railroad and history buffs, Eastern Railroading looks at historic trains and railroads in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania Amish country, West Virginia, and Illinois in order to understand the emergence of railroads as a binding force in American history. With the help of interviews with historians and railroad experts, legends and folklore are explored as well as the mechanics and maintenance of locomotives. The collection of working locomotives in Pennsylvania's Amish country are particularly fun to see maintained and operated under 19th-century conditions. Special segments include passenger train history, the Pacific Railroad Act, commuter train operations, and the controls on Amtrak's EMD 103 super locomotive.

“Songs of America” shows the two on stage, in the studio and on a concert tour across a turbulent country. Their ambitious Bridge Over Troubled Water album had yet to be released and the glorious title song was heard here by the general public for the very first time. The program showed news clips of labor leader/activist Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, the Poor People’s Campaign’s march on Washington, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, JFK and Robert Kennedy and other events that were emblematic of the era. “Songs of America” was originally sponsored by the Bell Telephone Company, but the execs there got cold feet when they saw what they’d paid for—legend has it that they looked at the footage of JFK, RFK and MLK during the (powerful!) “Bridge Over Troubled Water” segment (approx 12 minutes in) and asked for more Republicans! (Not assassinated Republicans, just more Republicans...you know, for balance!) The special was eventually picked up by CBS.