Research films

Get inside the storied world of the Christian Dior fashion house with a privileged, behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Raf Simons' first haute couture collection as its new artistic director.

A camera crew follows Helmut Newton, the fashion and ad photographer whose images of tall, blond, big-breasted women are part of the iconography of twentieth-century erotic fantasy. He's on the go from L.A., to Paris, to Monte-Carlo, to Berlin, where he was a youth until he escaped from the Nazis in 1936. We see him on shoots, interviewing models, and discussing his work. It's not art and it's not good taste, he tells students. We meet June, his Australian-born wife, whom he married in 1948. Three actresses talk about working with Newton and how posing is different from acting. A heart attack in 1973 helps Newton re-focus, resulting in more personal photographic projects.

Follow actor and creative director Reymond Villasenor, celebrity stylist Rosy Muto, and LA fashion queen Veronica Welch into the electric world and lifestyle as they produce LAs hottest fashion week venue Style Fashion Week.

Documents the contemporary obsession with an unrealistic body size and shape among North American women and the eating disorders it engenders.

Cameras follow the outspoken supermodel as she attempts to open and run her own modeling agency in Los Angeles, where she helps kick-start the fledgling careers of beautiful young men and women hoping to follow in her footsteps.

A documentary about fashion icon Iris Apfel, the 93-year-old style maven who has had an out-sized presence on the New York fashion scene for decades, from legendary late 88-year-old documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles.

An investigation into the way media portrayals impact the actual inclusion of people with disabilities in society.

Six extra-ordinary people from around the world reveal their bodies and share their secrets in a unique experiment in search of their inner selves.

My Really Cool Legs! follows a group of pediatric amputee athletes who challenge themselves beyond their disability. Led by their amputee mentor and coach, these kids dance and ski, ice skate and run, refusing to let their disability define who they are and what is possible.

"Just Like Anyone" gives us a glimpse into the lives of 5 families that are doing their best to help their sons succeed, even though they are faced with severe developmental disabilities. It explores the journey that all these families have been through to get to the point to where they could first accept their sons as who they are, and then begin to work as a family to help them reach ever increasing goals.

In a society where "celebutantes" like Paris Hilton dominate newsstands and models who weigh less than 90 pounds die from malnutrition, female body image is one of the more dire problems facing today's society. "America the Beautiful" illuminates the issue by covering every base. Child models, plastic surgery, celebrity worship, airbrushed advertising, dangerous cosmetics - no rock is left unturned.

Gay men and their pursuit of physical perfection.

What's wrong with the ways we relate to our bodies, to others' bodies, and to food-and what can we do about it? Through the testimony and creative work of a group of college students, this 40-minute documentary examines body and beauty ideals, body image, body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, steroid abuse, cosmetic surgery, our cultural fear and hatred of fat, anti-fat prejudice, and inequalities related to the U.S. food system.

The host of the documentary, Ásta, will, with help from various professionals, show the difference between a normal person and a person that has gone through serious styling, makeup and Photoshop.

People choose to look different and stand out from the crowd. Sometimes in order to do so they self-mutilate. In New Mexico, a young woman has horns implanted into her forehead. In North Carolina, a woman has her internal body altered by wearing really tight corsets. In New Zealand, a man has one eyeball tattooed.

An examination of the world of male modeling as seen by a young, struggling fashion week contender, an older and successful magazine model, and business insiders.

In a series of interviews, Isabella Rossellini talks about her life, with reflections on her father, marriage, modeling and acting, the professional consequences of getting older, being a director, translating interest in science and gardening into film, and sexuality. The interviews take place at Pompeii, her apartment in New York, a Paris hotel where she lived as a child, Swedish waters near her mother's private island, the home of Jean-Luc Godard, and her garden. The narration includes clips from her "Green Porno" series, "Blue Velvet," and her modeling career. She emerges as reflective, humorous, and down to earth.

A look back into the industry in the 1970s and 1980s, when work was plentiful and the models were local celebrities and Winnipeg's own super models. Models of the time tell us their stories of work and life. How they got their start, what happened to the industry, and where they are now are a few of the topics covered.

Beginning in the early decadent 80's and continuing today, a phenomenon occurred in the US-the Supermodel.

A biographical look at Carla Bruni (1967- ) from a privileged childhood surrounded by music, to a modeling career, success as a singer and songwriter, and, since 2008, France's First Lady, the wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy. The structure us loosely chronological, mixing contemporary interviews (with Bruni, her mother and sister, her friends and her manager) with footage of her singing. A few news clips show her in her public role. The emphasis is on her writing of music and lyrics and on her singing style. She looks back with gratitude at her luck, and she looks ahead to performing live again and to being an old woman singing the blues.

A documentary about the rise to fame of adult movie star Stacy Valentine. Starting out as an under-confident woman pushed into entering a Hustler Magazine contest by her domineering husband, Stacy quickly became more sure of herself after winning the contest, dumping the husband, and embarking upon a remarkably successful career in the unconventional field of hardcore porn movies. Although having attained a fair measure of success, her life is still not without disappointements, as her past has made it difficult for her to drop her emotional barriers and share a completely trusting relationship with others.

TYPECAST examines stereotypes in Hollywood involving weight, age, sex, height, hair color, race, and body augmentation.