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The Descent of Inanna
 The Queen of Heaven and Earth begins a fateful descent to meet her sister, Queen of the Underworld, as a New Jersey wedding photographer finds her images turning into nightmares. Based on 5,000-year-old Sumerian myths, this dramatic revisioning features compelling music and the dazzling richness, humor and erotic imagery of the ancient texts. Listen here to a sampler (17:39).
Love Tales
 The mad love of adolescents freeing a shoplifted lobster. Or a mother and daughter finding each other. Or a dead husband. Or a movie star. Or the jangled communion of two old ladies at the Burger King, and a real-life miracle. A deep heart journey through love's many faces.
Family Snapshots
 Fifty-four 90-second micro-dramas about those times you were too frazzled to pick up the camera. Broadcast on more than 80 public stations, they're funny, unsettling, thought-provoking, heart-warming, absurd, startling, joyous. You've never heard anything like these—except in real life. The fifty-four stories are each ninety seconds or less. Here are ten of'em. Stoplight—Dad proudly teaches his small child to read "walk" and "don't walk", then teaches another lesson. Thank-you Note—Mother and daughter quarrel over the obligatory thank-you note. Learning to Hammer—A man carefully teaches his young daughter that she can't hammer a nail. What's a Bastard?—A single parent copes with her child's difficult question, which wasn't being asked. Cat in the Attic—A woman, stuck in the attic, tries to wake her sleeping husband with a message via the cat. Medical History—A doctor listens carefully to a woman's medical history and doesn't hear a word. Sam's Pizza—A suicidal youth dials the wrong help-line number and gets Sam. Chicken House—"Why is Grandpa in the chicken house?" Check Artists—Two professional criminals attribute the longevity of their marriage to teamwork and family values. Surprise—"The first time I knew my parents loved me" is a woman's memory of falling out the car door and two frantic angels coming to her rescue.
Walt, Patty & the Gang
 These twelve pungent micro-dramas take you into the world of earnest suburbanites Walt, Patty, and their friends, who live among terror alerts, ominous signals from the neighbors, marital stress, and subversive shrubbery. Read the news and feel like screaming? Try laughing instead. Sex & Security—A couple celebrate their anniversary while trying to keep the spirit of the War on Terrorism. (2:59) Tell It Like It Is—An employee is fired for her superior communication skills. (8:08) Travelers—A couple plan their dream vacation in the wake of global terror. (2:56) Kill the Johnsons—Concerned suburbanites plan a preemptive strike on the neighbors. (6:39) The Right Man for the Job—A pathological liar finds his calling in high-level government service. (6:25) Twenty Years—A marriage is grounded on sound business models that have nothing at all to do with the people involved. (7:01) Trees Hate Us—Concerned suburbanites confront the challenge of subversive trees in their midst. (3:07) Bomblets—Walt's dream of a European vacation turns sour in the face of a miniaturized arms race. (4:16) Watchers—A suburban couple responds to the spectacle of a grisly assault on their front lawn in exactly the way you'd expect. (6:02) Buddies—In an age of corporate responsibility, the "Three Musketeers" test their survival instinct. (9:30) The Flounder—An update of a Grimms' tale, encountering a wish-granting fish in the Chicago River. (10:02) Blizzard—You're snowbound at the dinner table, and you crash through to freedom. (8:37) |
Nativity
 Childbirth: human and divine. The voices of twenty-six women describing their experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, shadow and sun, intermingled with fragments of Divine Birth narratives from many cultures, as well as the Biblical nativity. It's about the extraordinary diversity—and the innate sacredness—of every birth-giving. Pregnancy—Memories of firsts: the first person you told, the first time you felt the quickening, the expectations and the daily nurturance. Birth—The water breaking, the labor, the crowning, the finding the breast. Shadow & Sun—Experiences of loss and grief; experiences of discovery and growth.
Life Journeys
 Unforgettable chronicles of the crossroads, the choices, and the consequences of lives unfolding, ordinary people moving into the unknown, from Mississippi to the Australian bush, from Hungary to New Guinea, from boxing to evangelism to India, and across the boundaries of their fears. How did you get to wherever you are from wherever you started out? Jacquie Godden—A Mississippi girl looks into the face of the murdered Emmett Till. Years later, she's homesteading the Australian bush. A life of vivid image. (22:53) Tom Pencheon—An aptitude test proves he has no talent for languages, so he spends his life as a linguist among Moroccan Berbers. (10:43) Erika Fabian—A Hungarian refugee tells of the borders she's crossed—across armed frontiers, cultural divides, and her own fears. (18:37) Sam Reynolds—From a class for the retarded, to boxing, to evangelism, to Black Nationalism, to India, to astrology: one man's journey. (17:20) What Is Home?—A meditation in many voices on where it is we come back to when we've been wherever we've gone. (9:47)
Migration Routes
 The ongoing challenge of the American immigrant experience is captured in these five voices—from the Philippines, Mexico, Germany, Cameroon, and Rumania—speaking of their childhoods in warfare, pogroms, poverty and magical beauty, and their continuing journeys of discovery. Steve Wilhite—Growing up among remote hill tribes in the Philippines, then plunged, as a teen, into life in the US. (13:13) Cesar Cruz—A young Mexican-American poet-activist holds to his family roots as he pushes the boundaries. (11:34) Maria Eusch Phelps—A German woman scans her grandmother's diaries of survival on the losing side of war. (15:55) Martin Fusi—An African professor holds to his village roots as he faces the expanse of America. (15:46) Moshe Yassur—From Rumania to Israel to New York; from pogrom to Ionesco to teaching high school: an immigrant reflects. (12:43) Cash Machine—An amazing country, so rich that people get ready cash on the streets! (2:06)
Odd Safaris
 Seven dramatic tales about surviving the surrealism of daily life. You're in third grade, naked. You meet space aliens. You're in the chariot of the Sun God. You fall down the rabbit hole at the age of 44, right after the election. Be warned: these stories are human, unforgettable, and as honest as your dreams.
Tapdancer
 Our all-time favorite! A comic fantasy about risk. Investment broker Ken Leonard is given a gag gift: six tap dance lessons. This innocent venture sends him careening through a fantasy of cult stardom, startling sex, midnight vandalism, trial by jury, and a verdict of death by lethal injection. He survives, as long as he keeps tap-dancing on the footboard of his deathbed. |
