British Universities Film & Video Council

moving image and sound, knowledge and access

Latest Gateway Updates

The BUFVC Moving Image Gateway includes nearly 1,200 websites relating to video, multimedia and sound materials. These have been subdivided into over 40 subject areas. To suggest new entries or amendments, please contact us by email or telephone or visit the Gateway at: http://bufvc.ac.uk/gateway/

The Alzheimer’s Project
A multi-platform project which includes a series of films detailing the scientific progress made by scientists in the USA in understanding and treating Alzheimer’s as well as the effects of the disease on those with Alzheimer’s and their families. The series consists of four documentaries and 15 shorter supplemental films. The second film in the series – Momentum in Science – is a two-hour, two-part documentary which visits the laboratories and clinics of 25 leading scientists and physicians and examines their research into the treatment of the disease. The Supplementary Series consists of 15 shorter films which provide an in-depth look into the scientific advances being made in research and medical understanding of the disease.

Facets Film Portal
Aims to provide information and links to films that can be viewed free of charge online. The site has a list of categories: Art Cinema; Avant Garde; Classic Canon; Cult; Documentary; Facets Exclusives and Short Films and offers descriptions and contextual information about the films as well as links, often to YouTube, where the film in question can be viewed. The clip below is an example of the work of German experimental filmmaker Walter Ruttmann.

The site is an offshoot of Facets Multi-Media, a Chicago-based media arts organisation which runs a video library and cinematheque as well as film education programmes for children and adults.

Freakonomics
Website based on the bestselling books by economist Steven D. Levitt and journalist and author Stephen J. Dubner. Levitt and Dubner explore various aspects of life as seen through the prism of economics and conversely consider how looking at popular culture and everyday life can give new and surprising insights into economic theory, which, they argue, is essentially the study of incentives. The Freakonomics website has a series of short videos featuring Levitt and Dubner as well as podcasts on a variety of subjects including a look at the positive side of the upping of retirement age in several European countries.

Human Rights Watch
An international non-governmental organisation dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. The Human Rights Watch website features videos, interviews and podcasts as well as photo essays and audio slideshows. The videos take the form of short documentaries which focus on a particular country, often based on eyewitness accounts of abuse and human rights violations. Bosco Ntaganda – Wanted for War Crimes focuses on the Congolese general who has played a prominent role in ethnic massacres, killings, rape and torture in his country and includes interviews with people who have witnessed some of the crimes allegedly committed by Ntaganda’s soldiers as well as showing harrowing footage of the aftermath of one such massacre in the village of Kiwanja in 2008.

IdeasLab
A series of multimedia lectures presented at World Economic Forum meetings by academics and leading thinkers which aim to promote current thinking and apply it to a range of challenging social, economic, environmental, technological and medical problems, in both the developing and developed worlds. Subjects addressed include mobile financial services, new vaccine delivery systems, risk management in earthquake regions, Augmented Reality, managing climate change and how to use social media for social good. The lectures consist of a video presentation and are accompanied by slides, links, biographical information and other illustrative material.

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