From renowned filmmaker Amy Greenfield, this critically acclaimed modern adaptation of Sophocles’ classic tragedy combines dance and narrative to tell the story of Antigone, who risks her own life to arrange the burial of her brother Polyneices. The treachery surrounding his death and the threatening behavior of King Creon provide the drama that motivates this daring interpretation of the classic story. Bonus material includes an extensive interview with Classics scholar Dr. Marianne McDonald.
The Golden Gate Bridge is an iconic structure. An engineering masterpiece. A triumph of human ingenuity and muscle over the elements. A symbol of San Francisco, the West, freedom – and something more, something almost spiritual but impossible to describe.
More people choose to end their lives at the Golden Gate Bridge than anywhere else in the world. The sheer number of deaths there is shocking but perhaps not altogether surprising. If one wants to commit suicide, that is, there is an eerie logic in selecting a means that is almost always fatal and a place that is magically, mysteriously beautiful.
The director and crew spent all of 2004, an entire year, looking very carefully at the Golden Gate Bridge, running cameras for almost every daylight minute, and filming most of the two dozen suicides and a great many of the unrealized attempts. In addition, the director captured nearly 100 hours of incredibly frank, deeply personal, often heart-wrenching interviews with the families and friends of these suicides, with witnesses who were walking, biking, or driving across the bridge, or surfing, kiteboarding, or boating underneath it, and with several of the attempters themselves.
THE BRIDGE offers glimpses into the darkest, and possibly most impenetrable corners of the human mind. The fates of the 24 people who died at the Golden Gate Bridge in 2004 are linked together by a 4 second fall, but their lives had been moving on parallel tracks and similar arcs all along.
Looming behind these stories is the Golden Gate Bridge itself, a monument that mirrors our highest aspirations and our lowest natures. We are uncomfortable with the grim realities suicide forces us to confront. We’d rather not see the mentally ill; we’d prefer suicides to be invisible — or at least to take place quietly in hotel bathrooms, barns, dorm rooms and closets.
THE BRIDGE is a visual and visceral journey into one of life’s gravest taboos.
“One of the most moving and brutally honest films about suicide ever made…
remarkably free of religious cant and of cozy New Age bromides. Eerie and indelible.”
-Stephen Holden, New York Times
“4 Stars (Highest Rating)…brave and unflinching, unshakably haunting and deeply mysterious.
I doubt I’ll forget it until the day I die.”
-Jim Emerson, Chicago Sun Times
“An essential piece of journalistic filmmaking: It de-romanticizes the idea of suicide by italicizing it in all its bleak, brutal reality, while making palpable the tortured predicament of those left behind.”
-Jan Stuart, New York Newsday
“The Bridge is both a beautiful film and a disturbing one, and the connection between those two characteristics makes it the most disquieting of documentaries.”
-Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
“Undeniably powerful.” -Variety
“The real item under consideration here is the movie itself, and the bottom line is that it lands in a humane place. The overall effect of the film is broadening. To see it is to dread the bridge jumps and to come away with a feeling of compassion and empathy.”
-Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
“A serious, wrenching and oddly poetic documentary.”
-Lou Lumenick, New York Post
“A brutally discouraging spectacle, presented without a hint of sensationalism, and perhaps it is the film’s eerie placidity that makes the sudden fatalities, so devoid of drama, all the more disquieting.”
-Rossiter Drake, San Francisco Examiner
The Altered Consciousness Collection (Hofmann’s Potion, FLicKeR, Hippie Masala) box set of award-winning documentaries explores the frontiers of human consciousness and the iconic pioneers who opened the doors of perception. From early LSD research and hypnotic “dream machines” to the transformational powers of Eastern spirituality, The Altered Consciousness Collection reveals the sub-culture of enlightenment seekers who influenced a generation.
The Altered Consciousness Collection Product Information
Grade Level: AP, College and University Subjects: Culture Studies, Sociology Set: 3 DVDs Total Running Time: 224 minutes Educational Prices: (includes Public Performance Rights)
College / University: $489.00
Library / High School: $299.00
Note: If you are unable to pay via PayPal, please contact info@alivemindeducation.com or call us at 212-398-3112 to order this title.
For public exhibition inquiries please contact us for more details!
Last year nearly 400,000 women in the United States got breast implants. At a time when more women than ever are making this choice, fewer voices than ever seem to be asking “Why?” And fewer still are asking “Are they safe?” Absolutely Safe takes an open-minded, personal approach to the controversy over breast implant safety. Ultimately, Absolutely Safe is the story of everyday women who find themselves and their breasts in the tangled and confusing intersection of health, money, science, and beauty.
At its heart, Absolutely Safe is driven by the experience of the filmmaker’s own mother. Diagnosed in 1974 with breast tumors, Audrey Ciancutti underwent a double mastectomy with silicone-implant reconstruction surgery. A year later, her implants ruptured, and soon after, her health steadily declined. Like thousands of other women, Audrey believes her debilitating illnesses—joint pain, chronic fatigue, scleroderma– are linked to her breast implants; however, most doctors and researchers deny this link. Among the debate by plastic surgeons, toxicologists, attorneys, implant manufacturers, whistle blowers, government officials and activists, Absolutely Safe introduces more everyday women like Audrey who make choices about their breasts in our appearance driven culture.
Even though the FDA recently lifted its restrictions on silicone implants and approved them for wide-scale use, many serious questions remain regarding breast implant safety. However, Absolutely Safe reveals that the conversation on implant safety is far more complex than simple pros and cons. Rather, the real conversation, the most important conversation—with the most difficult and challenging questions—rests with viewers themselves, as all individuals in our culture ultimately face this confusing intersection of choice, risk, money, beauty, and health.
Absolutely Safe sparks this long overdue cultural conversation.
“Absolutely Safe offers women of all ages a unique set of perspectives about the true risks and benefits of breast implants. We listen to women tell their stories, we hear from plastic surgeons with opposing views about the safety of these devices, and we witness illuminating footage from several public hearings conducted by the Food and Drug Administration. It is the perfect antidote to ads and TV shows that now routinely mislead women into thinking that these devices have been proven to be safe.”
-Judy Norsigian, Co-Author and Executive Director, Our Bodies Ourselves
“This moving and disturbing film follows the journeys of two women, one seeking to have her leaking implants removed, the other seeking to have breast augmentation. Interspersed with these tales we meet plastic surgeons both for and against the surgery; women who have suffered mightily due to their silicone implants, including the filmmaker’s mother; and members of the FDA committee who decide whether or not to allow silicone back on the market. All along the viewer feels powerfully the impact pressures to be beautiful have and have had on American women. Breast implants clearly “solve” the problem while introducing myriad new ones. Absolutely Safe should be mandatory viewing for every woman considering surgery. Watching the brutal extraction of failed implants from a patient’s chest wall should be enough to give anyone pause. And the young mother who decided to get implants shares with us her loss of breast sensation. A sense of sadness lingers over the scene. This film makes starkly clear that the female sense of inadequacy is not an individual phenomenon. Institutionalized sexism affects all of us. Destroying our health seems to be an acceptable solution. Absolutely Safe bravely challenges the status quo.”
-Diana York Blaine, Ph.D., The Writing and Gender Studies Program, University of Southern California
“Harrowing, human, and persuasive, Absolutely Safe is an important and beautifully made piece that explores the sometimes deadly and disfiguring consequences of breast implants. Full of nuanced observations, the film chronicles the experience of women who are in various stages of either choosing to get breast implants, or to have them removed. Absolutely Safe is a story that must be told and absolutely must be seen”.
-Rob Moss, Director of Secrecy and The Same River Twice
“We were interested in this film as breast implants have become the most popular elective surgery in Israel in the last few years. It has also become affordable to almost everyone. We believe in educating our viewers as to all aspects of these types of surgeries and this film sheds a light on the possible dangers that are involved in these surgeries.”
-Daphna Israeli, YES Network, Israel
“Our screening and panel discussion of Absolutely Safe was the best attended gender-related programming we’ve had in the history of the University of Texas at Dallas, with approximately 120 students in attendance. Our students loved this program. Absolutely Safe explained the science behind the controversy over the safety of breast implants, but put a human face on all those statistics and research. The white-coated doctors and scientists in the film made their points, but students also went along on the journeys of two women—one getting breast implants and one getting her ruptured implants removed. This film engaged our students, who had over an hour of questions and comments after the screening. They left the program (in their own words) “enlightened,” “angry,” “disgusted,” “appalled,” and–above all—wanting to talk some more about women’s health, ideals of beauty, and the health risks of implants. And they did — to their roommates, their girlfriends, their mothers, and their friends, among others. This is just an amazing, powerful film for engaging students with issues of gender, power, and health policy. “
-Erin Smith, Associate Director, Gender Studies Program, University of Texas, Dallas
“Absolutely Safe is an insightful, moving, and necessary look at the effect of silicone implants on women’s lives. By offering a variety of perspectives Carol Ciancutti-Leyva is able to capture the complexity of this controversial topic. Absolutely Safe should be mandatory viewing for any woman contemplating implants.”
-Kimberly Sedgwick, Co-Founder and Director of Red Tent Sisters, Toronto, Canada
“Showing Absolutely Safe on campus was the best thing I did for Boston College students this year. The film is a harrowing warning to the dangers of breast implants, as well as a captivating look at the social and political dynamics that shape the controversy of implants in our society. I applaud Carol for making and sharing such an important film, and I strongly encourage everyone to see it!”
-Lauren Brown, Women’s Studies Program Boston College
Video Librarian Review
March-April 2009, Volume 24 Issue 2
Absolutely Safe
Rating: 3 out of 4 Stars - Recommended!
In this day and age, breast implants are thought to be “absolutely safe,” a claim that filmmaker Carol Ciancutti-Leyva examines in this thought-provoking documentary. As Ciancutti-Leyva notes at the outset, her mother Audrey chose augmentation after a mastectomy in the 1970’s, a time when the procedure carried greater risks (and before saline became an alternative to silicone). Over the years, Audrey experienced ruptures, joint pain, and chronic fatigue, eventually speaking before an FDA Safety Hearing in 2003 (her testimony is included here). Filmed over a 10-year-period, Absolutely Safe looks at five decades of implant technology, while interviewing women such as former exotic dancer Wendi, who has her silicone implants removed after experiencing health problems, and young wife Denee, who gets implants in order to boost her self-confidence–even though her husband thinks she looks just fine (the film includes some graphic operating-room footage of the procedures for both women). As a toxicologist notes here, these “devices” (as the medical profession refers to them) can leak heavy metals–such as tin, zinc, and platinum–difficult for the body to expel. Offering opinions on both sides, other interviewees include plastic surgeons, a Dow Corning executive, an FDA spokesperson (who cautions that “nothing is free of risk”) and satisfied breast implant customers. Veteran documentarian Jennifer Fox (An American Love Story, Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman) served as executive producer for this documentary, which offers an admirable balance between the personal and the scientific. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)
"The film juxtaposes footage ....with discussions of “soul force,” defined as the spiritually-motivated, nonviolent forms of resistance associated with Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., among others. A solid discussion starter, Fierce Light is recommended."
-Video Librarian September/October 2009
"...The Gates makes clear that a lot of folk found Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Central Park enterprise both beautiful and moving. Recommended.
-Video Librarian September/October 2009
"Narcissistic or not, the breakthroughs experienced by some of the participants seem real enough, although Morgan neglects to disclose how much individuals paid for the privilege. The Workshop is recommended for academic human sexuality studies."
-Video Librarian September/October 2009
Subscribe to RSS
The Golden Gate Bridge is an iconic structure. An engineering masterpiece. A triumph of human ingenuity and muscle over the elements. A symbol of San Francisco, the West, freedom – and something more, something almost spiritual but impossible to describe.
Last year nearly 400,000 women in the United States got breast implants. At a time when more women than ever are making this choice, fewer voices than ever seem to be asking “Why?” And fewer still are asking “Are they safe?” Absolutely Safe takes an open-minded, personal approach to the controversy over breast implant safety. Ultimately, Absolutely Safe is the story of everyday women who find themselves and their breasts in the tangled and confusing intersection of health, money, science, and beauty.