NEW RELEASE: Neoliberalism is the dominant ideology of our time. But despite capturing both parties and governing virtually every aspect of our lives, it’s a term rarely mentioned in mainstream media and politics let alone explained or scrutinized. The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (And How it Came to Control Your Life), featuring bestselling author and activist George Monbiot, sets out to change that. The film combines Monbiot’s well-known clarity with striking visuals and infographics to provide a masterclass in what neoliberalism is, where it came from, who it benefits, and why it matters. Directed by Peter Hutchison & Lucas Sabean.

NEW RELEASE: In The Black Atlantic: Modernity & Double Consciousness, cultural studies scholar Paul Gilroy, one of the preeminent theorists of race and racism in the world today, discusses his landmark 1993 book of the same title. Gilroy argues against both essentialist and anti-essentialist views of blackness, rejecting ethnocentrism and nationalism on the one hand and ahistorical postmodernism on the other. In their place, he offers the transnational concept of the “Black Atlantic” – a vision of modern Black cultural identity that’s never simply African, American, British, or Caribbean alone, but instead the hybrid and highly contingent product of a shared diasporic history.

NEW RELEASE: Television Event, from award-winning filmmaker Jeff Daniels, tells the remarkable behind-the-scenes story of the making of the The Day After, a blockbuster 1983 ABC-TV movie about nuclear war that transfixed the nation and pressured U.S. and the Soviet leaders to return to the negotiating table and draw back their arsenals. At once darkly funny and deadly serious, Television Event is a superb and timely resource for educators and activists looking to raise awareness about the accelerating threat of nuclear war, the absurdity of current nuclear deterrence policy, and the inspiring history of the anti-nuclear movement.

Theaters of War blows the lid off a largely unknown, decades-long partnership between Hollywood, the Pentagon, and the CIA, exposing how the U.S. military has been allowed to shape the scripts of thousands of popular war epics and action movies. Featuring scores of clips from blockbuster films like Top Gun: Maverick, and incisive commentary from propaganda experts, media scholars, combat veterans, and industry insiders, Theaters of War is at once an explosive investigative piece, a riveting viewing experience, and a powerful educational tool for understanding how Hollywood shapes perceptions of U.S. militarism and war. Directed by Roger Stahl.

Our bestseller Requiem for the American Dream features the legendary Noam Chomsky on one of the defining issues of our time: accelerating economic inequality. Combining Chomsky’s rare explanatory powers with breathtaking visuals and stunning motion graphics, the film dissects a long line of government policies that have benefited corporations and the wealthiest Americans while destroying the American middle class and undermining the very functioning of democracy. At once an extraordinary teaching tool and a remarkable piece of cinema. Directed by Peter Hutchison, Kelly Nyks, and Jared P. Scott.

In Digital Disconnect, renowned media scholar Robert McChesney exposes how corporate capitalism has turned the internet against democracy. With breathtaking clarity, McChesney dissects how internet giants surreptitiously collect personal data and sell it to advertisers; how telecom monopolies collude with the national security state to advance mass surveillance programs; and how social media platforms filter people into ideological bubbles that prioritize partisan misinformation over real journalism. An invaluable and accessible introduction to the political economy of today’s digital media landscape.

In Advertising at the Edge of the Apocalypse, media scholar Sut Jhally makes the case that there’s no way to avert the coming climate catastrophe without first confronting the near-religious status of American consumerism and the immense cultural power of the advertising industry. Ranging from the birth of modern advertising to the full-scale commercialization of U.S. media culture today, Jhally shows how advertising taps into powerful emotions that blind us to the costs of growing global consumption and endless economic growth. Ideal for courses that look at consumerism, corporate propaganda, and climate change.

In Behind the Shield, acclaimed journalist Dave Zirin delivers a fascinating, fast-paced master class in the regressive cultural politics of the NFL. Ranging across decades, Zirin examines how the NFL has promoted militarism and nationalism, glorified destructive ideals of masculinity and femininity, normalized violence, systemic racism, and corporate greed, and framed dissent as unpatriotic. At the same time, the film excavates a tradition of outspoken NFL players and league employees who have used their platform to speak out against social injustice, U.S. militarism, and war. The result is a film that’s less about sports and football than about America itself.

NEW RELEASE: The Cure for Hate documents the profound journey of atonement taken by Tony McAleer, a one-time white-supremacist skinhead and Holocaust denier, as he travels to the former Nazi extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau to reckon with his past and the conditions that allowed for the rise of fascism in 1930s Europe. McAleer, the co-founder of the activist group Life After Hate, shines much-needed light on how men get into, and out of, violent extremist groups, and underscores the dangers of allowing hate to go unchallenged. A timely reminder that transformation and healing are always possible. Directed by Peter Hutchison.

The Occupation of the American Mind explores how U.S. officials, Israeli officials, and a domestic lobbying effort propelled by evangelical Christians, military interests, and right-wing pressure groups have helped shape U.S. media coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict in Israel’s favor. The film places special emphasis on efforts to conceal the brutality of Israel’s illegal, decades-long occupation of Palestinian land and to cast pro-Palestinian resistance as anti-Semitic and pro-terrorist. Shines much-needed light on corporate media bias and accelerating attempts to silence pro-Palestinian voices on American college campuses and beyond.

Byron Hurt’s HAZING takes us inside the culture, tradition, and secrecy of hazing in fraternities and sororities, sports teams, marching bands, the military, and beyond. Drawing on his own experiences as a fraternity member, Hurt provides a deeply personal and nuanced portrait of a culture that provides a sense of belonging even as it too often leads to violence, sexual degradation, binge drinking, institutional coverups, and debased notions of manhood. Combining riveting testimonies from survivors and family members of young people who lost their lives with analysis from violence prevention experts, HAZING is an extraordinary teaching and prevention tool.

NEW RELEASE: Beyond the Straight and Narrow, the newest installment in Katherine Sender’s groundbreaking documentary film series, examines the cultural, economic, and technological forces that have paved the way for an increasingly complex range of queer and transgender representations on American television. The film also considers this expanding, progressively nuanced range of LGBTQ television characters and plotlines against the backdrop of a growing right-wing backlash against LGBTQ visibility in our schools, athletics, and public spaces.

NEW RELEASE: The Man Card: 50 Years of Gender, Power & the American Presidency, updated for the 2024 election, explores how dominant ideas about gender have shaped U.S. presidential elections over time. Ranging from Richard Nixon’s law-and-order campaign in 1968 to the explosive gender politics that shaped the 2024 contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, the film explores how traditional ideas about masculinity and manhood have been weaponized to appeal to male voters at the level of identity rather than policy. Created by Jackson Katz. Directed by Peter Hutchison & Lucas Sabean.

Killing Us Softly 4, the latest in pioneering media scholar Jean Kilbourne’s groundbreaking series, examines how the advertising industry glamorizes destructive ideals of femininity and, by extension, masculinity. Methodically dissecting how contemporary print and television ads create a misogynistic fantasy world of undernourished, oversexualized, and objectified women, Kilbourne sets these images within the real-world context of eating disorders, gender violence, and the ongoing political backlash against women’s equality. Since the original version first premiered more than 40 years ago, Killing Us Softly has become a staple in media literacy curricula around the world.

The late bell hooks was one of the most formidable and influential feminist cultural critics of our time. If you’re looking for an accessible introduction to her work, be sure to check out bell hooks: Cultural Criticism & Transformation. In the film, which we made with hooks in 1997 during one of the most prolific periods of her career, the celebrated educator and author explores how popular culture reproduces dominant ideas about race, gender, and capitalism, and makes a convincing case for media education as a form of self-defense against unjust systems of power, oppression, and class domination. As relevant today as ever.

In The Bystander Moment: Transforming Rape Culture at its Roots, trailblazing violence-prevention educator Jackson Katz offers fascinating insights into how cultural norms, especially normative ideas about gender and manhood, help perpetuate sexual harassment, sexual assault, and other forms of gender violence. Mobilizing powerful examples from news, sports, and entertainment media, Katz gives special attention to how male peer-culture dynamics across race and ethnicity help normalize sexism and misogyny while feeding a climate of men’s silence in the face of other men’s abuse.

Miguel Picker and Chyng Sun’s bestselling film Latinos Beyond Reel explores how dehumanizing media representations of Latin American people have shaped public attitudes and government policies over time. Centering the voices of Latino and Latina journalists, community leaders, actors, directors, scholars, and children, the film pays tribute to the diverse histories, cultures, and contributions of Latin Americans while also identifying and dissecting a longstanding pattern of retrograde, fear-inducing anti-Latin stereotypes in American political discourse, news media, and popular culture.