Gianfranco Rosi has emerged as one of the most awarded and provocative documentarians working today. His observational films artfully and sympathetically depict the lives of subcultures and displaced peoples the world over. Rosi spent five years shooting BELOW SEA LEVEL, which documents the hand-to-mouth existence of California flatland squatters.

Home to some of the world's most beautiful beaches, the Maldives in the Indian Ocean show the tranquil end-stage of ocean islands built on hotspots. The volcanoes beneath this coral reef archipelago are long since dormant, and the islands themselves barely rise above sea level.

The Rock of Gibraltar marks the gateway from the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean""a connection that has been closed on and off through recent geologic time. Explore the currents, catastrophic floods, and drastic sea-level changes that have occurred at the strait of Gibraltar and throughout the Mediterranean basin.

This revolutionary series of 26 films, funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and documented by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of our time, is now available through D.E.R. The films examine 5 cultures selected for the diversity of their geographic location: starting with the China Coast at sea level and moving up to Taiwan, then to Afghanistan, Kenya and finally to the mountains of Bolivia. Each location is...

Located in one of the most remote areas of Eastern Turkey and considered the eighth wonder of the ancient world, Mount Nemrud has been shrouded in mystery for more than 2000 years. At 7,700 feet above sea level and containing a 150-foot high tumulus flanked by colossal statues, the Mount Nemrud sanctuary has become synonymous with absolute grandeur.

Master director Patricio Guzman travels 10,000 feet above sea level to the driest place on earth, the Atacama Desert, where atop the mountains astronomers from all over the world gather to observe the stars. The sky is so translucent that it allows them to see right to the boundaries of the universe. The Atacama is also a place where the harsh heat of the sun keeps human remains intact: those of Pre-Columbian mummies; 19th century explorers and miners;...

We went to South America's Altiplano, the mountainous desert region crossing the borders of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, looking for water in the driest place on earth. We pulled kayaks behind, which sounds either Quixotic or foolhardy. During six weeks we traveled from sea level to 20,000 feet and ultimately found more than just signs of water. After all, man has scratched out a living here for more than 10,000 years, longer than anywhere else in...

On February 7, 2012, Mohamed Nasheed resigned the presidency under the threat of violence in a coup d'etat perpetrated by security forces loyal to the former dictator. This film is the story of his first year in office. A film about one man's mission to save his nation and perhaps the planet, The Island President is a riveting, uplifting story that is impossible to take your eyes off of. President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives is confronting a problem...

During his four-decade career as a photographer and explorer, James Balog has focused his lens on the complex relationship between humans and nature. Human activity has now surpassed all other forces shaping our world. Balog's work has challenged us to contemplate our place in, and responsibility to, the natural world. Balog investigates how altering the elements is in turn affecting everyday Americans right now. THE HUMAN ELEMENT features subjects...

"The Bolvian Aymara series (comprising six films) is one of the most thorough-going documentations of Andean peasant life yet made or available. One can think of a number of topics not overtly dealt with but the knowledgeable observer can quickly find other themes interwoven with the main topic. Each film follows the lives of the peasants of the highland communities of Ayata and Virochocha, Bolivia, in a direct, cinema veritZ fashion. The AUFS team...