In the 1940s, carnival promoters looking to boost attendance lured teenage girls to join the traveling wrestling show. Athletic girls from the logging camps of the Northwest to the farms of Arkansas stepped into the ring with hopes of diamonds, furs and fame. And then they set out on the open road...alone. Enduring years of physical punishment, little pay and even less control of their careers, these formidable women blazed trails for today's hottest female wrestlers. Today's "dark angels" of pro wrestling, the Sables, Chynas and Trishes, stand on the shoulders of pioneers with names like Gladys "Kill 'em" Gillem, The Great Mae Young, and The Fabulous Moolah - pure entertainers who went from carnival acts to ring divas. A celebration of the lives of the formidable pioneers of women's wrestling, Lipstick & Dynamite, Piss & Vinegar: The First Ladies of Wrestling uses stunning archival footage of classic matches and 1950s B movie clips, combined with firsthand accounts of the "Golden Girls," the spirited referees, the rabid fans and the enterprising promoter, to shine a spotlight on the spectacular world of the first ladies of the ring. Click on the image to buy now!

 

In South Africa in the 1950s, young journalist Henry Nxumalo helped fashion the magazine Drum into an outspoken voice against the repressive and dehumanizing effects of apartheid. Director Zola Moseko tells his story, from the lively Harlem-esque nightlife of Sophiatown to the courageous infiltration of the farms and prisons outside of Johannesburg. The hero of Drum is the fun-loving, hard-drinking philanderer, Nxumalo, a magazine reporter. Nxumalo's enterprising reportage leads him into direct conflict with South Africa's apartheid machinery with fatal consequences. Those of us not intimately familiar with apartheid will find our eyes opened by the parallels to the civil rights struggles of our own country. At the same time, the story of Nxumalo makes for a compelling narrative, and Moseko tells it with honesty and compassion.

 

This majestic work from acclaimed Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki represents a significant departure from traditional anime. Foregoing the gritty storylines, extreme violence and adult content found throughout many anime, Miyazaki's works borrow as much from fairytales as they do from science fiction. Nausicaa is no exception. Centuries after war has devastated the earth, Princess Nausicaa leads the people of the Valley of the Wind. Feuding clans fight with planes and tanks, as well as with swords, in a world that is both primitive and futuristic. Nausicaa is beautifully animated and written, and the moral to this ecological fable is difficult to miss. Click on the image to buy now!