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In Oakland, CA, high school students face a variety of obstacles that threaten their personal growth and academic achievement. F R E E profiles a unique organization that believes that performance is the answer, empowering teens to manifest their own destinies.

A New Color profiles renowned artist and activist Edythe Boone, whose vibrant murals include the iconic facade of The Women's Building in San Francisco. Remaining active well into her seventies, she continues to inspire young, old, and everyone in between to join her in making the world a more just and beautiful place.

Science Books and Films, a publication of the respected American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), selected seven Video Project films as Best of 2016 in its January issue.

The seven films are:

AGHBALOU: THE SOURCE OF WATER
An African community's struggle with water illustrates the growing challenge of sustaining water supplies in the face of an increasingly hostile climate and population growth.

"Editor's Choice. Highly Recommended. Emphasizes the broad concepts of water scarcity, and the fundamental reliance that human life and civilization have on adequate water supply." - Science Books and Films

THE BURDEN: FOSSIL FUEL, THE MILITARY AND NATIONAL SECURITY
Examines how America's dependence on fossil fuels poses serious immediate and long-term national security threats and how the military is taking a leading role in the battle for clean, renewable energy.

"Editor's Choice. Highly Recommended. An accurate story about the military's reliance on fossil fuel... Plus, it shows how the military is using energy efficiency and alternative energy." – Science Books and Films

CALIFORNIA HIGH: THE GREAT MARIJUANA DEBATE
Presents a balanced look at the intense, national controversy over the legalization of marijuana and its wide-ranging consequences.

"Editor's Choice. Very highly recommended...Well-balanced and timely presentation and discussion of past, present, and proposed laws and regulations regarding marijuana...." - Science Books and Films

LUBE JOB
Uncovers the oil industry’s role in the ecological tragedy that threatens to eradicate much of southern Louisiana, including its revered fishing trade and age-old way of life.

"Editor's Choice. Highly Recommended. Uses excellent footage and narration to build a story about the environmental impacts of the petroleum industry in southern Louisiana. Scientifically accurate and free from sensationalism." - Science Books and Films

NATURE’S ORCHESTRA: SOUNDS OF OUR CHANGING PLANET
Follows noted soundscape ecologist Dr. Bernie Krause as he travels to the Arctic and shows how nature sounds are crucial indicators of the health of today's wild habitat and the origins of music.

"Editor's Choice. Highly Recommended. Soundscapes present quantifiable information about the health of environments and are important measures of how specific habitats change with time..." - Science Books and Films

OYLER: ONE SCHOOL, ONE YEAR
Portrays how an innovative "community school" in a poverty-stricken area is helping poor students to succeed by meeting their basic health, social, and academic needs.

"Editor's Choice. Highly Recommended. A story of individuals lost when academics discuss American schools in general or when government reduces a school's value to averages of standardized test results." - Science Books and Films

SHOUT GLADI GLADI
Chronicles the maternal health care crisis in Africa and the heroic efforts to rescue African women from the scourge of obstetric fistula during childbirth that can turn them into reviled outcasts.

“Editor’s Choice. Very highly recommended...a disturbingly informative documentary...but there is a hopeful, uplifting story of courage and compassion." - Science Books and Films

School Library Journal selected Threatened: The Controversial Struggle of the Southern Sea Otter as one of the Top 10 DVDs of 2016 for schools

SLJ wrote: "The film has a serious agenda in mind: to determine the cause of the high mortality rate among these marine mammals off the coast of California. The 41-minute film makes a strong connection to varied areas of curricula: marine biology, environmental studies, public policy, and investigative journalism."

Science Books and Films earlier also "recommended" Threatened as “a well-organized, easy-to-understand presentation of a case study which is well understood and captures the complexity of environmental management and restoration.”

THE BABUSHKAS OF CHERNOBYL was selected as one of the top 10 Editor’s Choice films for 2016 by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association.

The film journeys into the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone several decades after the world’s worst nuclear disaster. The tightly regulated 1000 square mile Dead Zone remains one of the most radioactively contaminated places on Earth. Surprisingly, a defiant, spirited group of elderly women scratches out an existence in this lethal landscape. The resilient babushkas are the last survivors of a small community who refused to leave their ancestral homes after the Chernobyl disaster.

Chernobyl was also recently in the news with the completion of a concrete sarcophagus that now covers the reactor. The film captures images of the sarcophagus under construction, which will need to last longer than the pyramids in Egypt to prevent further radiation releases.

"Starred Review. This award-winning documentary captures a land that time forgot and the world has avoided.”
 -Booklist