A nine-year-old boy's preening obsession with straightening his hair elicits a tidal wave of homophobic panic in his hard-working mother, in this tender but clear-eyed coming-of-age tale. Junior is a beautiful boy, with big brown eyes, a delicate frame, and a head of luxurious dark curls. But Junior aches to straighten those curls, to acquire a whole new look befitting his emerging fantasy image of himself as a long-haired singer. As the opportunity approaches to have his photo taken for the new school year, that ache turns into a fiery longing. Junior's mother, Marta (Samantha Castillo), is barely hanging on. The father of her children has died, she recently lost her job as a security guard, and she now struggles to put a few arepas on the table for Junior and his baby brother. Junior doesn't even know yet what it means to be gay, but the very notion prompts Marta to set out to "correct" Junior's condition before it fully takes hold. This is a story of people doing what they feel they have to, partly out of fear, but also out of love.

How do our families influence our relationship with our own bodies? How do American pop culture's standards of beauty get inside our hearts and heads? In what ways can sport and the drive for fitness actually make us sick rather than healthy? In this courageous, deeply personal new film, Diane Israel examines American culture's toxic emphasis on thinness, beauty, and physical perfection. Israel, a Boulder-based psychotherapist and former champion triathlete, talks candidly about her own struggle with eating disorders and obsessive exercising, fearlessly confronting her own painful past as she tries to come to terms with American culture's unhealthy fixation on self-destructive ideals of beauty and competitiveness. The film lends context to Israel's personal odyssey with fascinating insights from athletes, body builders, fashion models, and inner-city teens, as well as prominent cultural critics and authors such as Eve Ensler, Paul Campos, and Naomi Wolf. In a special bonus feature, Israel talks in detail about where she is in her recovery 2 years after the filming of Beauty Mark. Beauty Mark is a classroom edition (produced by Carla Precht in association with MEF) of Diane Israel, Carla Precht, and Kathleen Man's 75-minute documentary film by the same title.

Students hear voices of American social protest, moral outrage and personal integrity expressed in the writings of Emerson and Thoreau and relate their philosophies to the calm beauty of rural New England, which inspired them both. Biographical notes explore these writers' concern with human involvement and self-reliance, and extensive excerpts demonstrate the eloquence and passion of their protest.

Venous flow weaves first person narrative with contemporary dance to tell the story of a community of dancers and artists and their resolution to overcome personal trauma. "Grace" is a large group piece performed by Li Chiao-Ping Dance and a community of elders shot on a frozen lake in winter, revealing the stark beauty of winter as well as the warmth of community.

"Existential therapy is something radically different. The aims are to open the person up--to help this person become more sensitive to life, to beauty. Now that sounds a bit sentimental, I know, but it's a very serious thing we need."- Rollo May. Drawing from the influence of his forefathers--Freud, Jung, and Fromm--as well as classical mythology, philosophy and literature, May gives a passionate explanation of Existential Psychotherapy and why it is so important for the practice of psychotherapy in a world full of "gimmicks." In this personal and provocative dialogue with Kirk Schneider and colleagues, May explores his own unique therapy style, reflects on his work with clients, and gets specific on what we can take and leave from other influential psychotherapists. Keywords: Rollo, May, Existential, humanistic, rogerian, Yalom, existentialism, basic needs, therapeutic relationship, Counseling, counselling, Social Work, Social Worker, Therapy, Psychotherapy, Psychotherapy.net, Therapist.--Supplied by publisher.

Brazil's Rio de Janeiro is one of the most exciting and most visited cities in the world. Here we discover why with aerial and down-to-earth views of this popular destination. Here we see the Christo Redentor, Rio's most famous landmark, which is a statue of Christ with outstretched arms atop Corcovado Mountain. On Sugar Loaf Mountain we get a 360-degree view of the city and Guanabara Bay, where Portuguese people originally arrived here in the 16th century. Next we explore two of the world's most famous beaches, Copacabana and Ipanema; then we discover that sheer peace and beauty can be found at the Roberto Burle Marx Gardens, a 100-acre botanical gardens purchased by the famous landscape architect to store his personal collection of plants. Lastly, we experience Carnival, the world's most spectacular annual cultural pageant, which is a four-day holiday held just before Lent.

For the past eight decades, the photographs of Horst have been synonymous with elegance. While refining and updating his style, Horst retained the classical beauty that was the hallmark of his work. This film, narrated by his dear friend, the late Valentine Lawford, is a study of the artist's work ranging from his society portraits of the 1930s to the fashion shots and interiors made for Vogue, House and Garden, Vanity Fair, and Architectural Digest as well as a treasury of travel photographs that were among Horst's most favorite and personal memoirs. In a 1986 interview with the photographer at his Oyster Bay home, Horst is wittingly anecdotal and scathingly critical of the art world, the fashion world, and the world of politics. Throughout his career, Horst incorporated imagery of classical sculpture, painting and architecture. These influences have evinced themselves in the architectonic style of his photographs and have made him the legend he remains today.

Thirty-something stunning beauty Pina (Sandra Milo) takes out an ad in the personal column hoping to find a man to take her away from the tiny Italian village where she lives. For months now she has been trying to find the right one, a man with a solid career, a family in mind, and plenty of stamina. Adolfo (Francois Perier) lives in Rome running a profitable business. Looking to share his life with that special person willing to raise a family Adolfo replies to Pina's ad. The couple arrange to meet in the village where Pina lives. Incorporating flashbacks that highlight Pina's and Adolfo's lives, the complexity of the characters are slowly revelaed and when the two finally meet Pina quickly concludes that Adolfo is the one. He appears noble, cultured, and ready for a serious commitment, Pina can hardly believe her luck!

Pierre H. Matisse is a grandson of the renowned artist, Henri Matisse, arguably the most important French painter of the 20th century. Pierre in his own right is a remarkable artist, as is his life story that dates back to memories of he and his father joining together to assist the French underground against the Nazis during World War II. Pierre is filled with memories of Henri, and naturally his art instinctively reflects the sensual colors and sense of beauty he inherited from his grandfather; however, he is very confident of his own individualism as an artist, he is an "emotionalist," an artist of love and freedom, pushing "art to the next level of understanding." In this candid biography, we not only gain a personal insight into Pierre H. Matisse's incredible life story, but also we discover facets of art that only an artist with his unique insight could share. It is filled with a multitude of examples of his original art, including complete series of his paintings, sketches and paper cuts.

A beautiful and forlorn tree is stuck in the middle of the Rose Bowl parking lot. Ignored and neglected. Hit by cars, and starved for water and oxygen. Attacked by pathogens and pollutants, and it has no chance to reproduce. Joel Tauber, a young and amorous man, is drawn to the tree. Outraged by the indignities that the tree is forced to endure, he devotes himself to improving the tree's life, watering it with giant water bags, installing tree guards to protect it from cars, building giant earrings to celebrate its beauty, lobbying to remove the asphalt beneath its canopy and to protect it with a ring of boulders, and helping the tree reproduce. To date approximately 200 of these sycamore 'tree babies' have been planted throughout Southern California. Passionately narrated by Tauber and peppered with interviews by experts in a variety of disciplines (environmental philosophy, tree pathology, biology, ecology, urban forestry), the film is a highly unusual documentary. It examines the tree in a personal and multi-faceted manner, offering it as a microcosm of the plight of urban trees and of forgotten individuals.

Four world-class alpinists including National Geographic's Explorer of the Year Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner team up in a dangerous foray of high altitude mountaineering in the breathtaking documentary K2: Siren of the Himalayas. The film follows an attempt to reach the summit of the world's most challenging peak on the 100-year anniversary of the Duke of Abruzzi's landmark K2 expedition. K2 also explores the history and geography of the legendary Karakoram Mountain Range, while contemplating the risks, rewards and personal nature of exploration in an age when there are few blank spots left on the map. The second highest peak on Earth at 8,611 meters, K2 is also one of the most dangerous mountains to climb: for every four people who have reached the summit, one person has died trying. As Ernest Hardy wrote in The Village Voice, "K2 offers great beauty while capturing something of what pulls the adventurous to try to reach the world's second highest peak." "As thrilling as any Hollywood summer blockbuster, with real-life plot twists of death, unexpected heroism, and surprise endings...a must-see!" - The Village Voice. "Beautiful mountaineering film...an account of one modern expedition that draws fruitfully upon the lore of another." - The Hollywood Reporter. "Astonishing...captures courage, hardship and at times defeat, but above all documents the mountain itself, in all its staggering majesty." - Film Journal.

A RIVER BETWEEN US documents the largest river restoration project in American history. Nearly three hundred miles in length, flowing from southern Oregon to northern California, the vast communities of the Klamath River have been feuding over its water for generations, and as a result, bad blood has polluted their river and their relationships equally. The film examines the complicated history of this conflict: how anger, fear and distrust have undermined the Klamath's communities for decades. Balancing the sheer beauty of the river's surface with its underlying ills of injustice and inequality, the film focuses on the personal stories of a group of individuals who finally chose to put the past behind them and came together to create a historic water rights compromise for the good of all. Most importantly, this documentary provides the solution to ending this generations-old conflict: IN ORDER TO SAVE A RIVER, YOU MUST FIRST HEAL A PEOPLE.