Documentaries for Summer Viewing

A polar bear cub named Nanu and seal pup named Seela are wonderful ambassadors to show the need to protect the Arctic from the global warming that's meling the ice cap and depriving these two charismatic creatures of their natural (and harshly beautiful) habitat. Meet Nanu and Seela up close and personal, and find out whether they and their extended family of arctic creatures can survive the thaw this summer and in coming years?

Majestic scenery sets the stage for this expression of concern about the future of fresh water on Earth. Essential to human existence, most of our fresh water supply, now under control by several large multinational corporations, is constantly diminished due to pollution, privatization and corporate greed, and wastefulness. Experts predict if we continue to abuse our water resources, Earth will become uninhabitable and humankind will become extinct. It's not just about finding a nice place to swim. Learn how grass roots groups are working to reverse the trend, and join in.

All across the nation, kids on courts in school grounds, pubic parks and backyards are shooting hoops. Maybe their not in training for the annual Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic, held in NYC in September, but they can take inpsiration from the documentary about the first-ever shoot-off and the amazingly athletic teens who took part in it. All the young players in the film are prime prospects for eventual NBA stardom and theirs is game that's really worth watching.

Filmmaker Nati Baratz's Unmistaken Child takes you to remote regions of Nepal and Tibet, and provides you with a front row seat for a rare and intimate look at the processes and arcane rituals observed by Tibetan Buddhists as they search for the reincarnation of a recently deceased Lama. Mesmerizing, transcendentally colorful, with an otherworldly soundtrack.

If you can't attend summer camp yourself this year, go vicariously via [i]Girls Rock![i], an exuberant documentary that follows four eight- to 18-year-old lasses through their lively, inspiring experiences at the Portland, Oregon-based Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls, where they're taught both music and self-esteem. Good times!

Venture forth to rural Bishopville, an impoverished Lee County, South Carolina town where Mr. Pearl Fryar, a self-taught gardener, has changed the physical landscape, social outlook and local economy by creating a magical topiary garden that attracts tourists from around the world. The garden is delightul, and so is the extraordinary gardner, A Man Named Pearl.

Follow six blind Tibetan teenagers who, guided by seven-summit blind mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer and a team of Americans, set out to climb the Lhakpa Ri peak of Mount Everest. A thrilling adventure. Could your courage match theirs?

In this great travel adventure, two ordinary guys from Queens, NY, set out to follow the route taken by Marco Polo, the great 13th Century Venetian explorer who ventured as far as China in search of knowledge and treasures that he brought home, significantly expanding the European world view. Francis O’Donnell, a former Marine, and Denis Belliveau, a photographer, took a pact not to quite their journey before finishing it. They wanted to know whether Polo did, indeed, visit all the places and see all the sites he wrote about. The trip took two years of solid adventure, and resulted in this exciting documentary.

In downtown Los Angeles, the South Central Farmers, a group of dirt-poor Mexican Americans took a track of urban ruin and turned it into an Eden--only to see the flora they so lovingly planted and tended be bulldozed by a selfish land owner. This film is about their dignity, determination and their fight to preserve their garden--and what they've done to recover from its loss.

Taking you to various nations around the globe, Disarm. is an in depth study and status report about the worldwide humanitarian effort, one which is within reach of realization, to ban the manufacture, trade, stockpiling and deployment of all landmines, and the removal and destruction of all landmines that are still buried in fields and forests around the globe. This documentary has a lot of explosive field action--like that you'll see in The Hurt Locker, about a unit of American soldiers disarming landmines in Iraq, or other narrative features about war and its aftermath.