Night Life in Chicago

This short Traveltalk visit to Chicago looks at some hotels known for their evening entertainment and for the rich and famous people who come to their dining rooms. Featured are the Walnut Room of the Bismarck Hotel, the Ambassador Hotel's Pump Room, and the boardwalk at the Edgewater Beach Hotel.

Chicago, the Beautiful

A visit to Chicago, featuring the city's architecture and well-known landmarks.

Calipari & The Chicken Man

"Calipari & The Chicken Man" is an original documentary that tells the story of a billionaire college booster and a hall of fame coach, who's friendship led to one of the most shocking moves in the history of college athletics.

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

A homeless musician finds meaning in his life when he starts a friendship with dozens of parrots.

Out of the Loop

A feature-length documentary on the 1990s Chicago rock scene.

Dance for All

Forschung und Verbrechen: die Reichsuniversität Straßburg

Strasbourg was home to one of three Reich Universities founded by the Nazis, known as a project close to Hitler's heart. The university, founded in 1941, is infamous for the human experiments performed on KZ prisoners by the professors of the medical faculty. What did its dean, Johannes Stein, grandfather of documentarian Kirsten Esch, know of these crimes?

Chicago, Grande Roue

A view of the Ferris wheel from the Chicago Exposition of 1893, turning slowly.

Unforgettabulls: The 6th NBA Championship Season of the Chicago Bulls

Everyone knows that the Chicago Bulls are the team of the 1990s, if not all time. In 1998 they won their unmatched sixth NBA title of the '90s. But this was not the same team that squashed all opponents that stood before them, united and led magnificently by players such as Scottie Pippen and the irresistible Michael Jordan. At the beginning of the 1998 season, this team was anything but united. His Airness was still His Airness, but the rest of the Bulls looked less than a shadow of their selves. Pippen stood injured on the sidelines demanding a trade, Rodman looked more interested in Hollywood and his hair, and the supporting cast were beginning to look extremely vulnerable. But as with all great teams, they dusted themselves off, wiped away the cobwebs (not to mention the odd ego or two), and played out the final two-thirds of the regular season like the Chicago Bulls of old.

It Came From Aquarius Records

IT CAME FROM AQUARIUS RECORDS tells the story about the San Francisco based independent record store, Aquarius Records. Having closed in 2016 after 47 years, this small apartment-sized store championed local, underground, independent, and challenging music to the masses - most memorably with their infamous bi-weekly, college essay-length, new-release lists. Six years in the making, interviewing collectors, musicians, and store owners, the film has a very personal angle, with lots of behind-the-scenes footage (and drama) that shows both the joy and excruciating stress that comes with running — and closing — a store like this, helped in no part by the changing city around them.

Ghost Town to Havana

A rampant, street level story of mentorship and everyday heroism in tough circumstances. An inner city coach's son, estranged in his youth from his father, spends five years on ball fields in inner city Oakland and Havana, following the lives of two extraordinary youth baseball coaches, Roscoe in Oakland and Nicolas in Havana. The coaches meet on videotape and two years of red tape later, Coach Roscoe and nine Oakland players travel to Havana to play Coach Nicolas' team. For one week, the players and coaches eat, dance, swim, argue and play baseball together. But when the parent of an Oakland player is murdered back home, it brings back the inescapable reality and challenges of life in an American inner city.

The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults

The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults is a two-hour live American television special that was broadcast in syndication on April 21, 1986, and hosted by Geraldo Rivera. It centered on the live opening of a secret vault in the Lexington Hotel in Chicago once owned by noted crime lord Al Capone.

2016 World Series Champions: The Chicago Cubs

This historic official film from Major League Baseball presents the exciting story of the Chicago Cubs 2016 World Series championship run through comprehensive highlights, exclusive access and interviews, and breathtaking footage.

Mondo Topless

Completely topless. Completely uninhibited. The craze that began in San Francisco is now exploding across the USA and Europe.

The Story of TMB

TMB (The Merry Band of time travelers) made their first appearance in the 2019 book The Mystery of The Patch. In the book, they assisted Captain John White, solve the mystery of the mysterious patch, on his map, which was discovered in 2012 by The First Colony Foundation and The British Museum. This short, animated, stop motion film tells the 5-year history of this charming group of characters. It contains scenes of their first public appearance, at the 2021 Kansas City Renaissance festival, through a combination of live action and animation.

Taxi to the Dark Side

An in-depth look at the torture practices of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, focusing on an innocent taxi driver in Afghanistan who was tortured and killed in 2002.

Hoop Dreams

Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. Gates and Agee dream of NBA stardom, and with the support of their close-knit families, they battle the social and physical obstacles that stand in their way. This acclaimed documentary was shot over the course of five years.

Pranks!

Video accompaniment to the book of the same name released by RE/SEARCH magazine, featuring interviews with Survival Research Lab's Mark Pauline, Joe Coleman, Karen Finley, Boyd Rice, and Frank Discussion. "Five Fabulously Funny Interviews with Fiendishly Flamboyant Pranksters discussing diabolical (and sometimes illegal) deeds. Dazzling deceptions and put-ons from some of the most outrageous artists living today."

We Were There to Be There

On June 13, 1978, the punk bands the Cramps and the Mutants played a free show for psychiatric patients at the Napa State Hospital in California. We Were There to Be There chronicles the people, politics, and cultural currents that led to the show and its live recording.

Kamikaze Hearts

Porn stars Sharon Mitchell and Tigr navigate the ups and downs of being in love while working in the sex industry.