1,000 Documentaries Online!

The University Libraries now subscribes to Filmakers Library Online, a collection of just over 1,000 documentaries on race and gender studies, human rights, international relations, criminal justice, the environment, bioethics, health, and more. You can stream these films on your computers or mobile devices (I have one running on my iPad right now, in fact).

 

The collection is UW restricted. If you aren't using a campus computer, you need to use the "off-campus access" link on a library website before you get to the films.

 

Filmakers Library Online has browse lists (by title, director, topic, place). Note: don’t assume that all law-related films are listed under “Law.” For instance, I found many under “Race and culture.”

US-Mexico border, image from The Minutemen

You can also search for words—and the search includes words in the transcript. Searches for “court,” “constitution,” “law,” etc. get lots of hits.

Here are just a few of the law-related films:

• Adam Abdul Hakeem: One Who Survived (1993) (first person to be found innocent by reason of self-defense in a police shooting case)
• Original Intent: The Battle for America (2008)
• The Minutemen: Vigilantes at The Border (2011)
• Race to Execution (2007)
• Rip Off! Banks Exploiting Consumers (2009)
• River People: Behind the Case of David Sohappy (1991) (Indian fishing rights on Columbia River)