Inside the world's most surprising school system
Finland’s education system has consistently ranked among the best in the world for more than a decade. The puzzle is, why Finland? Documentary filmmaker, Bob Compton, along with Harvard researcher, Dr. Tony Wagner, decided to find out. The result of their research is captured in a new film, "The Finland Phenomenon: Inside the World’s Most Surprising School System". In the 60-minute film, Dr. Wagner guides the viewer through an inside look at the world’s finest secondary education system. A life-long educator and author of the best-selling book "The Global Achievement Gap," Dr. Wagner is uniquely qualified to explore and explain Finland’s success. From within classrooms and through interviews with students, teachers, parents, administrators and government officials, Dr. Wagner reveals the surprising factors accounting for Finland’s rank as the #1 education system in the world.
01 Jan 1975
Modern kite maker Tom Joe seeks to preserve the craft of kite making as well as the traditional Asian folklore behind it. Alan Takemoto illustrates Tom Joe’s tales of the Polynesian fish kite made from leaves and branches to fool fish; the Chinese general whose trapped army fashioned a fighting kite; and Shirone, the “kite crazy town” in Japan where 20-foot fighting kites duel in magnificent matches. Children will be inspired to try making these kites.
25 Mar 2023
Every week, two friends born 67 years apart share their life stories in a senior home's living room. The younger friend convinces the 107-year-old lady to join her in an adventure: a road trip to the sea.
23 Jan 1977
This film documents the coal miners' strike against the Brookside Mine of the Eastover Mining Company in Harlan County, Kentucky in June, 1973. Eastover's refusal to sign a contract (when the miners joined with the United Mine Workers of America) led to the strike, which lasted more than a year and included violent battles between gun-toting company thugs/scabs and the picketing miners and their supportive women-folk. Director Barbara Kopple puts the strike into perspective by giving us some background on the historical plight of the miners and some history of the UMWA. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with New York Women in Film & Television in 2004.
01 Sep 1992
This award-winning documentary tells the true story of the final Confederate raid into what is now northeastern Oklahoma. The raid culminated in the capture of more than 300 Federal supply wagons at Cabin Creek in the Cherokee Nation. Now streaming on TUBI, PRIME VIDEO, TRUETVPLUS, and HISTORYFIX.
15 Mar 2010
Unfulfilled promises of politicians, victims of the system, backstage of election campaign.
11 Nov 2014
In a first K2 Visuals original documentary, K2 Visuals founder, Kenneth Irwin II, is lucky enough to sit down with Veteran, Frank Gann, and talk to him about his time in the military, the experiments he was involved with, and how one clerk at a VA cost him a whole lot.
25 Jun 2023
Writer producer Donick Cary (The Simpsons, Parks and Recreation, Have a Good Trip, etc.) has been a huge fan of the Washington D.C. pro football team since before he could walk. Passed down from his dad, he was excited to pass the tradition onto his kids. Donick never questioned the team name and or Native American logo until one day, while watching a game, his 9-year-old son, Otis, asked him if it was racist. When Otis suggests they ask Native Americans how they feel, it sends the two on a cross-country journey full of unexpected surprises.
24 Aug 2009
If you think you know how money is created in Canada, think again. Great home made documentary about Canada and its current monetary system. Canada in a nutshell. Great interviews with former Prime Ministers, MP’s and others. It doesn’t matter where you are, in what country you live. This might be happening to your county too. This is a movie about money, debt, and ownership (as in who owns the
09 Jun 2024
Before Avicii, there was Tim. Through his own words, witness how a prodigious musical talent became one of the defining artists of his generation.
14 Mar 2002
This documentary follows 8 teens and pre-teens as they work their way toward the finals of the Scripps Howard national spelling bee championship in Washington D.C.
07 Aug 1969
Hosted by some unnamed escapee from a twelve-step program, Man and Wife, moves from anatomy charts and Asian erotic art into actual footage of two couples demonstrating nearly fifty different sexual positions.
01 Feb 1979
A documentary about a teacher who sends a group of pupils out of the classroom when one of them does not own up to talking behind the master's back.
01 Jan 1957
The kitchen is an alchemist’s workshop, and the chef is a master of secret teachings. He commands molecules to bubble, boil, rise, change their state, shape, and colour. This educational film shows that cooking an egg or letting dough rise can be a fascinating chemical and physical process, and that our body is a small laboratory, with its own test tubes, gauges, and instruments.
24 Feb 2024
The Truth About Reading looks at the illiteracy problem in America, highlighting people who learned to read as adults, and sharing proposed solutions for working towards a future where every child learns to read proficiently.
19 Apr 2008
Set in New York City, the epicenter of a phenomenon cropping up in communities across the United States, "Nursery University" reveals the oddly competitive process of nursery school admissions. The film tells the story of five families attempting to place their toddlers in preschool classrooms that have limited space and high price tags.
28 Aug 2020
A grandmother living in a small Kenyan village completes her final year of primary school at the old age of 94.
07 Sep 2007
On August 15th, 2006, filmmaker Ryan Dacko set out to get a 30-minute meeting with a major Hollywood producer by running on foot from Syracuse, New York to Hollywood, California.
09 May 2004
Documentary tracing the attempts of a team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Institue students to become rich playing blackjack at casinos throughout the United States and the attempts of the casinos' management to thwart them.
28 Sep 2013
14-part special in which botanist Francis Hallé explains forest science and processes. Part of the "Once Upon a Forest" physical release.
27 Apr 2004
Previously unreleased material outlines the campaign against Bill Clinton's presidency, from his days in Arkansas up to his impeachment trial.