Top Picks: Imogen Heap's new album 'Sparks,' the PBS documentary 'Big Men,' and more
Searching for home
Filmmaker Annemarie Jacir presents a spare and moving drama based on the 1967 mass Palestinian exodus to Jordan. Trapped in a refugee camp, a young boy yearns to find his father, from whom he and his mother were separated during the upheaval. When I Saw You is now out on DVD.
Bright ‘Sparks’
Imogen Heap doesn’t need a drummer. For her fourth album, Sparks, the British songwriter created beats by sampling sounds such as the slam of a dishwasher door, a baby’s heartbeat inside a womb, and an egg cracking on a bowl. She also traveled to India, Bhutan, and China to assimilate exotic musical traditions into her electronic pop. Heap’s ambitiousness paid off. Her sparks of imagination catch fire on joyful songs such as “Minds Without Fear,” “Xizi She Knows,” and “Lifeline.”
Big oil in Africa
The “POV” documentary Big Men, directed by Rachel Boynton, explores the relationship between foreign companies and African countries after oil is discovered, focusing on the progress of American company Kosmos Energy in Ghana. The film also visits Nigeria, where militants who believe average citizens do not benefit from the discovery of oil blow up oil pipelines. The film airs on PBS on Aug. 25 at 10 p.m.
Classical concerts
Lovers of classical music will want to check out medici.tv, which streams concerts, ballets, and operas from all over the world. Visitors can watch more than 100 live streams a year free of charge, and some can even be viewed for several weeks after the initial broadcast. Members can pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to a library of more than 1,300 performances. Medici.tv also has a free app, available on iOS and Android devices.
Master Photographer
A new documentary about Dorothea Lange, photographer of “Migrant Mother,” will première on PBS’s “American Masters.” Lange took enduring images of poverty in the Great Depression, mass migration during the Dust Bowl, and the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. Her images and dedication to social justice made her a major photographer of the 20th century. Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning is by filmmaker Dyanna Taylor, Lange’s granddaughter. It airs Aug. 29 at 9 p.m.
