Films from Netflix, Prime, and Hulu are available to individual subscribers.
Access to films from platforms including Films on Demand, Filmakers Library Online, and Kanopy are provided by the Iowa State University Library. You'll need to login with your ISU Net-ID and password to view these films.
ISU Library subscribes to Kanopy, a vast and eclectic collection of documentaries and feature films. Strong focus on educational resources, social, political, and cultural issues, and numerous international film classics. Here are a number of Kanopy's titles with creators, actors, stories, and themes related to people with disabilities.
"Recalling a watershed event in US politics, this Peabody Award-winning documentary takes an in-depth look at the 1972 presidential campaign of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress and the first to seek nomination for the highest office in the land.
Shunned by the political establishment and the media, this longtime champion of marginalized Americans asked for support from people of color, women, gays, and young people newly empowered to vote at the age of 18. Chisholm's bid for an equal place on the presidential dais generated strong, even racist opposition. Yet her challenge to the status quo and her message about exercising the right to vote struck many as progressive and positive." (Description from Kanopy) Duration: 77 minutes
"This is the inspiring story of Carmen Castillo, an immigrant Dominican housekeeper in a Providence hotel who wins a City Council seat, taking her advocacy for low-income workers from the margins to city politics. COUNCILWOMAN follows Castillo's first term as she balances her full-time day job as a housekeeper with her family life and the demands of public office. She faces skeptics who say she doesn't have the education to govern, the power of corporate interests who take a stand against her fight for a $15 hourly wage, and a tough re-election against two contenders.
As Castillo battles personal setbacks and deep-rooted notions of who is qualified to run for political office, she fiercely defends her vision of a society in which all people can earn enough to support themselves and their families." (Summary from Kanopy) Duration: 58 minutes.
"Voting rights activist and Civil Rights Leader Fannie Lou Hamer, born in 1917 in Montgomery County, Mississippi, was the granddaughter of a slave and the youngest of 20 children. Raised by hardworking parents who were sharecroppers, she was no stranger to poverty or hardship. An inspirational speaker and writer, she used her powerful voice to raise the cause of equality and freedom for all blacks in America and became a defining force in the fight against social injustice during the early years of the civil rights movement.
In this rare documentary, her struggles and triumphs are expressed through Hamer's own words as well as those of friends and colleagues. While attending the 1964 Democratic National Convention, Fannie Lou Hamer posed the defining question: "Is this America? The land of the free and the home of the brave? Where we have to sleep with our telephone off the hook, because our lives be threatened daily because we want to live in peace as human beings in America?" She will be remembered for winning the right to vote for Black Americans and exposing America's poverty by giving a voice to those in need. This program is an inspiration to anyone who has ever faced oppression and acts as a powerful reminder of what one individual is capable of achieving in the face of adversity." (Summary from Kanopy) Duration: 31 minutes
"GERALDINE FERRARO: PAVING THE WAY is a feature-length documentary about the life and legacy of the trailblazing woman who made history in 1984 as the first female Vice Presidential nominee on a major party ticket in the United States.
The film profiles Ferraro's life from an impoverished childhood, the struggles she endured while growing up, and the hurdles she faced and overcame both professionally and personally in order to achieve what no woman had done before. The primary focus of the film is Ferraro's public service and political career, from District Attorney in Queens, NY, and later respected member of Congress, to the emotional night of her Vice Presidential nomination and acceptance speech, along with the tough campaign that followed. Though the Mondale-Ferraro ticket was defeated, the film explores how Ferraro's landmark nomination and her conduct during that campaign changed the national perception of what was possible for women. The film features never-before-seen archival footage and stills, intimate interviews with Ferraro, and commentary by many leading political figures, both Democrat and Republican, as well as journalists who covered her campaign. With insider access, former NBC Today producer Donna Zaccaro, created a revealing personal portrait of her mother, a woman who changed the face of American politics forever." (Summary from Kanopy) Duration: 87 minutes
"The winner of over ten awards including the American Library Associations Notable Video for Adults." POLITICAL ANIMALS tells the story of the civil rights struggle of this century - the gay rights movement - through the eyes of first four members of the LGBT Legislative Caucus: Jackie Goldberg, Christine Kehoe, Sheila Kuehl, and Carole Migden.
Emotionally charged like its subjects, the film follows these four ground-breaking lesbians who took the fight for the causes most personal to them and their communities off the streets and into the halls of government." (Summary from Kanopy) Duration: 88 minutes
"In 1965, when three women walked into the US House of Representatives in Washington D.C., they had come a very long way. Neither lawyers nor politicians, they were ordinary women from Mississippi, and descendants of African slaves. They had come to their country's capital seeking civil rights, the first black women to be allowed in the senate chambers in nearly 100 years.
A missing chapter in our nation's record of the Civil Rights movement, this powerful documentary reveals the movement in Mississippi in the 1950's and 60's from the point of view of the courageous women who lived it - and emerged as its grassroots leaders. Their living testimony offers a window into a unique moment when the founders' promise of freedom and justice passed from rhetoric to reality for all Americans." (Summary from Kanopy) Duration: 61 minutes.
Netflix offers a number of comedies, dramas, documentaries, series, and films on disability culture and the experiences of people with disabilities. You need to have a Netflix subscription to watch these. Trailers (from YouTube) for a few of these titles are highlighted below; films / series include closed captions.
"They shred society's restrictions, embraced their humanity and altered the world. Now they speak to the next generation" (Summary by Netflix). Duration: 1 hour 26 minutes.
"Go behind the scenes as four determined women--including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez--challenge big-money politicians in the 2018 race for Congress" (Summary by Netlix). Duration: 1 hour 27minutes.
"The right to vote is at the foundation of America's democracy. But not every vote is created equal. How does the system work, and can it be fixed?" (Summary by Netflix). Each of the three episodes is twenty-five minutes long.
Amazon Prime Video offers movies and shows with female creators, actors, topics, and themes. You must have a Prime subscription to watch videos for free, but titles are available for rent or purchase. Trailers for a few of these films are highlighted below; films / series include closed captions.
"All In: The Fight for Democracy examines the issue of voter suppression in the US. The film interweaves personal experiences with activism and historical insights to expose a problem that has corrupted our country from the beginning. With the expertise of Stacey Abrams, the film offers an insider's look into the barriers to voting" (Summary from Prime). Duration: 1 hour 42 minutes. (Discussion Guide from documentary creators)
"Grace Lee Boggs is a 99-year old Chinese American whose vision of revolution will surprise you. An activist and philosopher, she has devoted her life to an evolving revolution that encompasses America's past and its potentially radical future" (Summary by Prime). Duration: 1 hour 24 minutes. [Disclaimer: This movie is not included with Prime and is a paid rental]
"Dolores Huerta is among the most important, yet least known, activists in American history. An equal partner in co-founding the first farm workers unions with Cesar Chavez, her enormous contributions have gone largely unrecognized. Dolores tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice, becoming one of the most defiant feminists of the twentieth century" (Summary from Prime). Duration: 1 hour and 36 minutes. [Disclaimer: This movie is not included with Prime and is a paid rental]
"Equal Means Equal is a groundbreaking exploration of gender inequality in the USA featuring top women's rights activists and leaders. A brutal expose of a broken system, the film reignites the dialogue on full equality for all Americans." (Summary from Prime). Duration: 1 hour and 33 minutes.
"At a defining moment in American history, a scrappy team of heroic ACLU lawyers battles for abortion rights, immigrant rights, LGBTQ rights and voting rights" (Summary from Hulu). Duration: 1 hour and 38 minutes.
"Mrs. America tells the story of the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), and the unexpected backlash led by a conservative woman named Phyllis Schlafly, aka “the sweetheart of the silent majority.” Through the eyes of the women of the era – both Schlafly and second wave feminists Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug and Jill Ruckelshaus – the series explores how one of the toughest battlegrounds in the culture wars of the 70s helped give rise to the Moral Majority and forever shifted the political landscape." (Summary from Hulu). Duration: 9 episodes, around 45 minutes each.
