God's Alcatraz (Boris Stout, U.K., 1993) This is a powerful observational film by a British filmmaker about an African American community leader, Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood, the pastor of St. Paul Community Baptist Church in East Brooklyn, New York. With unabated commitment the pastor works to restore dignity and self-worth to members of a community whose needs have been ignored by the dominant culture. For Youngblood the rebirth of the African American community is contingent upon the rehabilitation of the black male-and this, upon an open and honest coming to terms with their pain and problems. From a residential retreat for young men and a school for children, to a drug rehabilitation program, Pastor Youngblood infuses his metaphor of "coming to the table" with a palpable reality: assertively addressing one's own hunger. (36 mins, B!W, 16mm) The Good Wife of Tokyo (Kim Longinotto, Claire Hunt, U.K., 1993) "We are ninjas we are not geishas," proclaims the three-woman British rock band Frank Chickens, performing in Tokyo. Their leader, Kazuko Hohki, has come home to interview women, young and old, about life in Japan today-and to marry, to please her mother. This kind of paradox is central to The Good Wife of Tokyo, a beautiful study of the contradictions of family life for women in Japan. Kazuko's mother is a priest in the religion known as House of Development, which draws middle-aged women to its creed of laughter and faith, and draws them out in frank discussions. One woman's difficult mother-in-law lived to be 100, another tells of her husband's suicide and apologizes for the inconvenience...classic Ozu material. But change is in the air in a new women's culture. (52 mins, In English and Japanese with English subtitles, Color, 16mm)