Videoteca

gOD-Talk 2023
Explores the lives of seven Black Millennials – Atheist, Buddhist, Christians, Muslim, Ifa, and Spiritualist – and the challenges and discoveries with faith and spirituality.

Spawning Hope 2020
Coral biologists are concerned about the genetic health of many endangered coral. This short film follows a team of Smithsonian scientists as they attempt to use cryopreserved coral sperm to introduce DNA to new populations of elkhorn coral. If this technique works, it could have lasting impacts on how we are able to protect and restore endangered coral species from near extinction.

Navajo Code Talkers: A Journey of Remembrance 2017
Follow the return of six Navajo Code Talkers to the five Pacific Island sites where their unbreakable secret code, based on the unwritten Navajo language, helped U.S. forces overcome Japanese expansion in the Pacific Theater during World War II. The code was never broken. The highly personal reflections of the Navajo Code Talkers dominate the film's storyline, where they share personal accounts, memories, and insights into their war experience. Interviews were conducted on Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa and USMC Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego, where they trained, learned, and enhanced the original code.

Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies 2007 star_border 7
The film explores the background and build-up to this final flight to disaster. Using dramatic reconstruction, archive footage and exclusive interviews with leading historians and engineering experts, the special delves into the political and scientific events that led up to the catastrophe.

IMAX: Galapagos 3D 1999 star_border 6
Retrace the groundbreaking footsteps of Charles Darwin with a young scientist as she explores the biological diversity and unique geologic history of the Galapagos archipelago. Using the magic of IMAX® and IMAX® 3D technology, plunge 3,000 feet into underground lava tubes, soar over the peaks of 5,000 foot volcanoes and encounter an abundance of marine life.

Inside Hawaiian Volcanoes 1989
A short documentary produced and directed by famed volcanologist Maurice Krafft in order to educate audiences about how volcanoes are formed, erupt, and are studied.

The Movie Palaces 1987
A documentary about the great American movie palaces of the 1920s and 1930s. Filmed on location at some of the extraordinary theaters across the country, the program explores the diverse and priceless architecture of such greats as the Atlanta Fox, the Wiltern in Los Angeles, San Antonio's Majestic, Seattle's Fifth Avenue and, perhaps the most famous, Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Also included are stills and vintage clips of classic movies and newsreels of the era that illustrate the historical evolution and mass appeal of the movie palaces. Picture palace organist Gaylord Carter performs a variety of movie accompaniments.

The Dream Is Alive 1985 star_border 7.5
The Dream Is Alive takes you into space alongside the astronauts on the space shuttle. Share with them the delights of zero gravity while working, eating and sleeping in orbit around the Earth. Float as never before over the towering Andes, the boot of Italy, Egypt and the Nile. Witness firsthand a tension-filled satellite capture and repair and the historic first spacewalk by an American woman.

Origins of the Motion Picture 1955
A historical overview of the development of the motion picture industry.

Smithsonian's Great Battles of the Civil War 1994
This critically acclaimed television and video series from the National Museum of American History is a sweeping and compelling look at the war's military, political and social history. Each episode features dramatic reenactments of important campaigns; first-hand accounts of eyewitnesses and participants read by distinguished actors; period photographs, paintings and artifacts; intriguing expert challenges to traditional historical thinking; original contemporary illustrations; computer enhanced maps; and music of the time.