Genre Lists

This guide provides an overview of recent DVDs that may interest researchers in the Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication field. Additional titles can be accessed through the library catalog; you can search by keyword, person, genre, or title.
 

 
We also provide access to a number of streaming video resources.

Jump to a section:

• Applied Linguistics
• Chinese Film & Culture
• French Film & Culture
• German Film & Culture
• Korean Film & Culture
• Russian Film & Culture
• Spanish Film & Culture

Suggested keywords: language, linguistics (philosophy)

David Crystal's Introduction to Language: A Complete Course
Covers all the key topics in an introductory English-language/linguistics course.
Call Number: UMDVD 8660

He Said, She Said: Gender, Language, Communication
Deborah Tannen argues that gender-based communication styles stem from conversational styles learned as children.
Call Number: UMDVD 6134

The History of the English Language
Introduces the origins of the language, its 1,500-year evolution, and the state of present-day American speech.
Call Number: UMDVD 2598

Is the Man Who is Tall Happy? An Animated Conversation with Noam Chomsky
Reveals the life and work of Chomsky through complex, lively conversations and illustrations by Michel Gondry.
Call Number: UMDVD 8672

Language Matters
Bob Holman asks: what do we lose when a language dies? What does it take to save a language?
Call Number: UMDVD 10066

The Language You Cry In
Traces the history of a Mende burial song preserved by the Gullah people on the southeast coast of the U.S.
Call Number: UMDVD 3950

The Linguists
Details the efforts made to document languages on the verge of extinction in Siberia, India, and Bolivia.
Call Number: UMDVD 4923

Multilingual Hong Kong
Reveals how and why Hong Kong residents intermix Cantonese and English.
Call Number: UMDVD 5890

We Still Live Here
Tells the story of the revival of the Wampanoag language and culture in southeastern Massachusetts.
Call Number: UMDVD 6744

Suggested keywords: China + history, Chinese Americans

Ancient China
Traces the history of China and explores the roots of modern Chinese culture.
Call Number: UMDVD 6692

China Rises
Looks at the rapidly developing economic power.
Call Number: UMDVD 4338

The Chinese Language
Follows the evolution of the Chinese dialects, all spoken differently but sharing the same writing system.
Call Number: UMDVD 10229

Gong fu = Kung Fu Hustle
A hapless gangster must demonstrate his mettle against the notorious Axe Gang.
Call Number: UMDVD 1474

Huo zhe = To Live
A drunken young man loses his family's ancestral home and possessions.
Call Number: UMDVD 1347

The Joy Luck Club
Four mothers and four daughters explore their lives, relationships, and identities.
Call Number: UMDVD 1726

Up the Yangtze
Documents a "farewell cruise" up the Yangtze River before the completion of the Three Gorges Dam.
Call Number: UMDVD 5082

Yin shi nan nu = Eat Drink Man Woman
The story of a master chef and his three adult daughters, all of whom seek love and happiness in different ways.
Call Number: UMDVD 2462

Young & Restless in China
Details the lives of nine ambitious young Chinese people living in a rapidly changing society.
Call Number: UMDVD 4348

Suggested keywords: French language, France + history, art and society

The Case of the Grinning Cat
Documents the sudden appearance of grinning yellow cat paintings in Paris in November 2001.
Call Number: UMDVD 4145

A Cat in Paris
A cat who secretly lives as a burglar's aide must rescue his young owner Zoe after she is kidnapped.
Call Number: UMDVD 8750

Un chien Andalou
Early avant-garde film, filmed in the subjective language of the unconscious, that spins a surreal tale of desire.
Call Number: UMDVD 1808

Elza
Elza, the first college graduate in the family, runs off to Guadeloupe in search of a distant childhood memory: the father she barely remembers.
Call Number: UMDVD 9691

L'esquive
Krimo and Lydia, two childhood friends with opposite personalities, prepare for a school stage production.
Call Number: UMDVD 3311

French in Action
Introduces French culture and increases users' fluency through language immersion.
Call Number: UMDVD 3942

Grand Paris: The President and the Architect
Chronicles the work to turn Paris into a model super-metropolis for the 21st century.
Call Number: UMDVD 5855

Incendies
A set of twins make a life-altering discovery after the death of their mother.
Call Number: UMDVD 7528 or UMBLU 8

Le joli mai
Documents Paris during a turning point: the first time since 1939 that France was not involved in any war.
Call Number: UMDVD 8870

Life Under Napoleon: A Social History
Offers insight via stories of a merchant apprentice, a young nobleman, a war widow, anti-French rebels and more.
Call Number: UMDVD 4470

Paris, The Luminous Years: Toward the Making of the Modern
Traces the lives of early 20th century Parisians and how the city impacted them and their work.
Call Number: UMDVD 7633

Polisse
Based on real cases, the film follows a tight-knit team working in the Child Protection Unit of the Parisian police.
Call Number: UMDVD 8112

Suggested keywords: German language, Germany, German art, motion picture Germany

Anders al die Andern
Released in 1919 and thought to be lost, this film chronicles how a prosperous gay man is blackmailed.
Call Number: UMDVD 6463

Bauhaus: The Face of the 20th Century
Looks at the development of the Bauhaus and the key figures involved in the movement.
Call Number: UMDVD 3944

Berlin, Journey of a City
Tells the story of the Allied occupation of Berlin from 1945 to 1994.
Call Number: UMDVD 8937

Dreileben: ein Ort, drei Schicksale, drei Filme
A triple-bill film that follows the same manhunt story through three separate--but linked--tales.
Call Number: UMDVD 8106

Germans in America
Recounts German immigrant experiences, from little known stories to prominent family tales.
Call Number: UMDVD 4887

Hildegard von Bingen in Portrait: Ordo Virtutum
Explores the life of works of the 12th-century saint, poet, prophet, activist, musician, artist, and mystic.
Call Number: UMDVD 4341

Inside the Third Reich
Documents Nazi Germany using archival footage.
Call Number: UMDVD 5068

The Masterworks of the German Horror Cinema
Includes three classic films: 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,' 'Der Golem,' and 'Nosferatu.'
Call Number: UMDVD 541

The Nuremberg Trials
Re-creates the dramatic tribunal using rare archival footage and eyewitness accounts.
Call Number: UMDVD 5593

Verliebt in Berlin
Tells the story of an ugly young woman who moves to Berlin to work for a fashion company.
Call Number: UMDVD 8944

Wings of Desire
The angel Damiel wishes he were mortal and had a chance to fall in love.
Call Number: UMDVD 9238

Suggested keywords: Korea (South), Korea (North), motion pictures Korean, Korean War, comfort women

3-Iron
A woman escapes an abusive marriage on the back of a mysterious drifter's motorcycle.
Call Number: UMDVD 3161

The Day He Arrives
A film director who no longer makes films begins to repeat days in Seoul.
Call Number: UMDVD 8373

I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay
Young-goon, who believes she is a cyborg, meets a variety of characters in the mental hospital.
Call Number: UMDVD 8375

Najŭn moksori
Profiles former 'comfort women' as they protest outside the Japanese embassy.
Call Number: UMDVD 4715

North Korea: Beyond the DMZ
Includes interviews with ordinary people and scholars of North Korea.
Call Number: UMDVD 7179

Oldboy
Daesu is released after 15 years and sets out to find his abductors.
Call Number: UMDVD 1436

Secret Sunshine
The story of a widowed piano teacher who moves with her young son from Seoul to the country.
Call Number: UMDVD 7699

Welcome to Dongmakgol
Two South Korean, three North Korean, and one American soldier are stranded in an isolated village.
Call Number: UMDVD 7691

The Women Outside: Korean Women and the U.S. Military
Explores the lives of South Korean sex workers adjacent to U.S. military bases.
Call Number: UMDVD 6026

Suggested keywords: Russian, Russia + history, Soviet Union, Moscow (Russia)

Animated Soviet Propaganda: From the October Revolution to Perestroika
Features propaganda films from the 1920s to 1980s, with commentary by leading Soviet film scholars.
Call Number: UMDVD 7448

Chelovek s kinoapparatom = Man with a Movie Camera
Experimental film that observes Russian life in a succession of street and interior scenes.
Call Number: UMDVD 3476

The Collapse of the Soviet Union
Documents the history of the Soviet Union from its creation in 1922 to its dissolution in 1991 using archival footage.
Call Number: UMDVD 6797

Ivanovo detstvo = Ivan's Childhood
A 12-year old orphan boy works for the Red Army, undertaking dangerous recon missions behind enemy lines.
Call Number: UMDVD 3270

Russia: Land of the Tsars
Encompasses nearly a thousand years of Russian history and explores famous people and events.
Call Number: UMDVD 2004

Russian Ark
A modern filmmaker embarks on a time-traveling journey. The first feature film ever created in a single take.
Call Number: UMDVD 2037

Russian Feminism: Twenty Years Forward
Presents a capsule history of women's activism in the USSR and post-Soviet Russia.
Call Number: UMDVD 6730

Sputnik Mania
Recalls the impact of USSR's first successful satellite launch on the American psyche.
Call Number: UMDVD 4743

Svetlana about Svetlana
Svetlana Alliluyeva, Stalin's daughter, discusses her life and past in a rare filmed interview.
Call Number: UMDVD 5032

Three Sisters
Dramatization of Anton Chekhov's play about the shattered dreams of three sisters in virtual exile.
Call Number: UMDVD 4040

Suggested keywords: Spanish language, Spain + history

The Andalusian Epic: Islamic Spain
Addresses the expansion of the Arab empire into Spain, where Muslims ruled with tolerance for over 700 years.
Call Number: UMDVD 8815

The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World
Explores the diversity of peoples and cultures that make up the Hispanic world. Available in Spanish as UMDVD 7589.
Call Number: UMDVD 7591

Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy
Includes three films (Blood Wedding, Carmen, El amor brujo) that explore Spanish identity through music and dance.
Call Number: UMDVD 3552

Contracorriente
Miguel, a respected Peruvian fisherman, must face his true feelings for visiting artist Santiago.
Call Number: UMDVD 6835

Crucible of Empire: The Spanish-American War
Tells the story of the U.S.' war with Spain that began in 1898 from all perspectives.
Call Number: UMDVD 8337

Destinos, an Introduction to Spanish: A Telecourse
Teaches speaking, listening, and comprehension skills through a telenovela (Spanish soap opera).
Call Number: UMDVD 3597

Flores de otro mundo
A group of women dream of a better life in a remote Spanish village overwhelmingly populated by men.
Call Number: UMDVD 4868

Fresa y chocolate
David, a student at Havana University, meets a gay artist, Diego, and is drawn to his cultured lifestyle.
Call Number: UMDVD 174

El laberinto del fauno
After moving to Navarra, young Ofelia meets an ancient faun who claims to know her true identity and destiny.
Call Number: UMDVD 3062

Medianeras
Two Buenos Aires denizens find their lives affected by the bustling city life in this vivid romantic comedy.
Call Number: UMDVD 7106

Mosquita y Mari
A coming-of-age tale following two Latina teens who fall in love against the backdrop of East L.A.
Call Number: UMDVD 8099