Frederick Marx Film Library
This five film series tells a different kind of “Hero’s Journey” than the one the public is used to. This journey requires a different kind of bravery, not facing bullets and IEDs, but facing tears of anguish and loss, facing acceptance of extreme fear, facing rage at betrayal, facing paralyzing self-doubt and shame, facing judgments of self-hatred – requiring a willingness to face trauma in all its forms and regardless of its source, and to use it as a vehicle for growth.
Preview & Purchase Series
Journey from Zanskar
9o mins
Zanskar is one of the last remaining original Tibetan Buddhist societies with a continuous untainted lineage dating back thousands of years. In nearby Tibet and Ladakh, in Sikkim, Bhutan, and Nepal, traditional Tibetan Buddhist culture is either dead already or dying. The Tibetan genocide, by Chinese government design, is having its impacts matched elsewhere by destruction wrought by global economics. Zanskar, ringed by high Himalayan mountains in northwest India, one of the most remote places on the planet, has been safe until now. But that’s changing. Featuring HH the Dalai Lama. Narrated by Richard Gere.
Hoop Dreams
170 mins
One of the most acclaimed and successful documentaries ever, HOOP DREAMS tells the story of Arthur Agee, William Gates, and their families over a 4½ year period, covering the boys’ entire high school careers as they pursue the elusive dream of professional basketball success.
Higher Goals
30 mins
HIGHER GOALS is the half hour, “stay-in-school” version of HOOP DREAMS. Broadcast nationally on PBS, it was nominated for an Emmy award as “Best Daytime Children’s Special.” With Tim Meadows of Sat. Night Live fame, along with NBA All-Star Isiah Thomas, William Gates, and Skip Dillard, the film also features a girl’s hoop dreams story – Kim Williams. “It reaffirms the value of sports,” (Chicago Tribune) “and it feels good!” (LA Times).
Rent $3.99 | Buy $9.99
Boys to Men?
TV mini-series | 151 minutes
Concerned once again with the distance between boys’ dreams and the limits of reality, Marx focuses on a group of teenagers from a range of ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds as they navigate troubled lives and shifting ideals of manhood. The result is an intimate and accessible snapshot of the deeper crisis in American masculinity.
Dreams from China
30 mins
“A foreigner’s personal confrontation with the historic political and economic changes taking place in China. Shot when Marx was working in Tianjin and Beijing, the film is a diary-like account of his alienation and acclimation, a highly lyrical film essay lending perspective to the 1989 tragedy of Tiananmen Square.” –Milosz Stehlik, Facets Video
House of UnAmerican Activities
18 minutes
In this fiction period drama, 12 year old Karl Feinstein is squeezed between his parents hidden Communist Party activities and the social pressures of an all-American teen. He learns that sometimes manhood means doing what authority says is wrong.
Dream Documentary
5 minutes
“Especially impressive, Dream Documentary uses found footage, inventive editing, and an effectively selective soundtrack to comment on the ways that we look at the third world.” – J. Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Dream Documentary
7 minutes
“In a single six minute take a college teacher grades an entire short story from a beginning writer, adding his comments and corrections. Simultaneously, his woman-friend cleans the kitchen while listening to the story and commenting herself. The film was shot in sync using two 16mm cameras in an actual home, not on a sound stage, and was later optically printed to 35mm.” – Larry Kardish, Museum of Modern Art, NYC