Behold the Dreamers (Common Text 2018-2019)

This four-part series examines the current state of welfare reform and its impact on immigrant and other populations. 4-part series, 29 minutes each.

Accused of mortgage fraud by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., Abacus becomes the only bank prosecuted after the 2008 financial crisis. The indictment and subsequent trial forces the Sung family to defend themselves - and their bank's legacy in the Chinatown community - over the course of a five-year legal battle.

Four unorthodox moneymen predict the 2008 financial crisis in this comedy, which explores the fraudulent mortgage-lending practices of large banks on Wall Street.

This episode of the four-part documentary series connects the histories of the eleven major bridges that unite the islands that make up New York City and connect the great metropolis to the rest of the nation. This video tells the story of Othmar Ammann, the greatest bridge-builder of the twentieth century. Part of the series Great Projects: The Building Of America. Distributed by PBS Distribution.

Do you think you're good at spotting fake videos, where famous people say things they've never said in real life? See how they're made in this astonishing talk and tech demo. Computer scientist Supasorn Suwajanakorn shows how, as a grad student, he used AI and 3D modeling to create photorealistic fake videos of people synced to audio. Learn more about both the ethical implications and the creative possibilities of this tech -- and the steps being taken to fight against its misuse.

Ellis Island was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the site of the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 to 1954. This is the first film about the once abandoned U.S. Marine Hospital Number 43 on Ellis Island. The documentary looks at the era before antibiotics, when tens of thousands of immigrant patients were separated from family, detained in the hospital, and healed from illness before becoming citizens. 350 babies were born, and ten times that many immigrants died on Ellis Island. 3,500 were buried in pauper's graves around New York City.

The more we read and watch online, the harder it becomes to tell the difference between what's real and what's fake. It's as if we know more but understand less, says philosopher Michael Patrick Lynch. In this talk, he dares us to take active steps to burst our filter bubbles and participate in the common reality that actually underpins everything.

Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse communities in the United States and the world. There are immigrants from every country in South America, Mexico, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and China. The people who live in Jackson Heights, in their cultural, racial and ethnic diversity, are representative of the new wave of immigrants to America. The subject of this film is the daily life of the people in this community--their businesses, community centers, religions, and political, cultural and social lives--and the conflict between maintaining ties to traditions of the countries of origin and the need to learn and adapt to American ways and values.

This program draws on insightful commentary from literary scholars and authors to examine the characters, plots, and themes of seven American novels that deal with wealth, poverty, and the nature of success and failure in the U.S. In an exploration that moves from the turn of the 20th century into progressively more contemporary surroundings, passages from each book are dramatized through inventively animated still photography intercut with original and archival footage. The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, The House of Mirth, Sister Carrie, Saul Bellow’s Seize the Day, Gish Jen’s Typical American, and Ann Petry’s The Street are analyzed. From the public television American Masters series.