Films for the Humanities & Sciences

A camera crew stood on a freeway overpass & picked a car license number at random. This documentary shows what they were able to learn in half a day by searching public records & spending $13: a dossier on two people they'd never met, containing the car owners' names, where they live, their business & its financial status, their religion, the husband's health problems, the names of their grandchildren, the basic floor plan of their home. Program examines rapid exchange of vast amounts of information made possible by computers & bought & sold without the subject's knowledge or permission.

Six hundred years after the death of Christ, the Mayan civilization that flourished in Guatemala and Mexico rivaled Egypt's at its zenith. Much of Mayan history has been lost to time, but modern archaeologists deciphering Mayan hieroglyphics are piecing together the splendid and tragic story of these ingenious people. This program traces the history of Mayan civilization from its roots in Central America, to its glory days in Palenque, to its pointless destruction by Spanish missionaries in their quest to promote Christianity. Archaeologists working at Mayan ruins discuss their discoveries concerning the structure of Mayan society and provide enlightening insights into many of its rituals and customs. Interviews with modern Mayans are interwoven throughout the pro-gram. They reveal the many ancient practices and customs still in practice today. (45 minutes, color)