The Great Parks of Alaska (1997)

Umnak - Aleutian Islands

Explorers and amateur directors Mariana Ianovska and Viktor Posnov embark on a 40 day long trip across Umnak Island.

Underdog

The curiously optimistic tale of Doug Butler—a hardscrabble Vermont dairy farmer who risks losing the only home he’s ever known to chase his dreams of dog mushing in Alaska.

Report from the Aleutians

A documentary propaganda film produced by the U.S. Army Signal Corps about the Aleutian Islands Campaign during World War II. The film opens with a map showing the strategic importance of the island, and the thrust of the 1942 Japanese offensive into Midway and Dutch Harbor. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

No Loitering

An intimate portrait of teenagers trying to understand their world and their possibilities. The film weaves together video shot by teens and by the filmmaker, as they work together to make a film and create expressive outlets for youth in the community. They organize dances and community events and paint a mural. At the same time, with humor and pathos, these young people raise issues around violence, feeling misunderstood by adults and lacking respect in their community. Set in the small town of Sitka, Alaska, home to a large Alaska Native population, the video chronicles their creativity, concerns and dreams.

Alaska's Giant Bears

Plot unavailable

Alaska: Spirit of the Wild

Alaska... Here, in this vast and spectacularly beautiful land teeming with abundant wildlife, discover the "Spirit of the Wild." Experience it in the explosive calving of glaciers, the celestial fires of the Aurora Borealis. Witness it in the thundering stampede of caribou, the beauty of the polar bear and the stealthful, deadly hunt of the wolf pack.

Grizzly Man

Werner Herzog's documentary film about the "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in one man's attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.

Alaska's Silent Summer

In 2019, 1.2 million people stepped off a cruise ship into the small, south-east Alaskan town of Ketchikan. The next year, in 2020, zero did. After decades of diligent work building a sleepy fishing, mining, and logging town into one of the most sought after cruise destinations in the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed Ketchikan into an empty shell—lined with restaurants, shops, and attractions for the visitors who no longer come. Now, the town must find a way to survive without its key economy until the day arrives when cruise visitors once again pour into its docks.

The Strait Guys

THE STRAIT GUYS follows Czech-born mining engineer, George, and his fast-talking protégé, Scott, along the proposed route of the InterContinental Railway through Alaska, to the Bering Strait and onward to Russia. The “Strait Guys” endeavor to convince international governments, corporations, and indigenous tribes to green-light their $100 billion railway project, which would provide ground-based infrastructure across the continents, relieve overcrowded Pacific ports, improve global supply chains, and ease tensions between the superpowers. The US and Russia have been successfully collaborating in space for decades. Now the Strait Guys are out to prove it is also possible down here on earth.

Gates of the Arctic

Glenn Close narrates this National Park Service movie about the many varied aspects of Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve. Shown at Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center.

Alaska Far Away

'Alaska Far Away' tells the story of the Matanuska Colonization Project of 1935, a creative and controversial New Deal program that relocated 202 families devastated by the Great Depression, taking them from the upper Midwest to the Matanuska Valley in Alaska to start an experimental farming colony. It generated a whirlwind of publicity and controversy at the time, not only as a federally-funded social experiment, but also as one of the last pioneer movements in America. The Matanuska Colony isn't just a fascinating footnote to the history of Alaska. It encompasses the despair of the Depression, the creative energy of the New Deal, the adventure of pioneering in Alaska, and the best and worst of our government and ordinary citizens in facing those extraordinary challenges.

Touring Alaska

This fascinating video captures the uniqueness of Alaska, from the wilderness of the great parks to the life of the people in the cities and countryside. Cruise up the Inside Passage and visit the colorful coastal towns of Southeastern Alaska. Explore Glacier Bay's tremendous fjords and glaciers. Ride the Alaska Railroad from Fairbanks and see Denali National Park (Mt. McKinley), the Matunukska Valley, and Anchorage. Travel to the remote Eskimo lands in the Far North. Other wonders of Alaska included are Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka, Skagway, Homer, Katmai National Park, Kotzebue, Gates of the Arctic National Park, the sternwheeler "Discovery", Alaskaland and Earthquake Park.

Bear Island

The majestic Alaskan brown bear is the largest predator in southeastern Alaska, but everywhere, its ancient haunts are under siege. As the modern world closes in, the great bear’s world is shrinking and encounters between humans and bears are on the rise. Join researcher LaVern Beier as he uses cutting edge technology to protect this extraordinary species. To observe them on their turf, without risking life and limb, LaVern attempts to deploy National Geographic’s CRITTERCAM. Until now, CRITTERCAM has been used almost exclusively on marine animals. Vern and his colleagues are on the cusp of a revolution in terrestrial field science…the opportunity to vicariously walk with bears into the deepest corners of their habitats, where even great hunters barely dare venture.

Return to the Wild: The Chris McCandless Story

Twenty years ago, a young American hiker named Chris McCandless, the accomplished son of successful middle class parents, was found dead in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness and became the subject of the best-selling book and movie “Into the Wild.” Now, PBS retraces Chris McCandless’ steps to try to piece together why he severed all ties with his past, burnt or gave away all his money, changed his name and headed into the Denali Wilderness. McCandless' own letters, released for the first time, as well as new and surprising interviews, probe the mystery that still lies at the heart of a story that has become part of the American literary canon and compels so many to this day.

Alaskan Sled Dog

The story of an Eskimo father and son who train and groom a sled dog team. When the father is lost on an ice floe, the son takes the unproven team on the search, and succeeds in finding his father.

The Wild

Newly into addiction recovery, an urgent threat emerges to spur filmmaker, Mark Titus back to the Alaskan wilderness - where the people of Bristol Bay and the world's last intact wild salmon runs face devastation if a massive copper mine is constructed.

Alaska, au pays des glaciers

Plot unavailable

Alaska's Great Wilderness Denali: The Living Edens

Travel to Alaska's great wilderness, a place of incomparable beauty and power where you will witness close-up the amazing cycles of life in one of the last pristine corners of our planet Earth. Soar over Mt. McKinley, the tallest people in North America, crown jewel of the vast Alaska range, piercing clouds nearly four miles high. Explore the vibrant territory beneath this stunningly beautiful mountain. Watch caribou roam the plains, listen to the haunting howl of the wolf, witness the flight of the majestic golden eagle, meet a mother grizzly and her two cubs as they emerge from winter's hibernation. You'll be swept up in the drama and beauty of this unique wilderness and you'll enjoy for many years to come its unforgettable scenery.

Back In My Body

BACK IN MY BODY is a short documentary about musician Maggie Rogers returning to Alaska, a place that has had a huge impact on her life.

Bears

Filmmakers Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey chronicle a year in the lives of an Alaskan brown bear named Sky and her cubs, Scout and Amber. Their saga begins as the bears emerge from hibernation at the end of winter. As time passes, the bear family must work together to find food and stay safe from other predators, especially other bears. Although their world is exciting, it is also risky, and the cubs' survival hinges on family togetherness.

Citadel

Dubbed ‘The Mountain God’, the Citadel is a stunning 3000m peak in one of the remaining untouched corners of the Great Alaskan Range: The Neacola Mountains. Due to their typically poor conditions and remote location are largely unexplored. Matt Helliker and Jon Bracey are one the UK's most formidable partnerships in alpine climbing with many world class ascents to their names from the UK to the Alps and the greater ranges. Their objective is to make the first ascent of the extraordinary 1200m long north-west ridge.

A Dreamer's Search

In 1918, Rockwell Kent leaves New York City with his eight-year-old son and travels to the rugged wilderness of Alaska in search of inspiration. Kent settles on a remote island, isolated and free to do his work. He befriends an old prospector whose stories energize his pursuit. As he struggles with internal turmoil, his son’s innocence and willingness to face failure inspire Kent to dig deep inside himself and begin again. Father and son’s connection blossoms as they embrace the wilderness experience together. Surrounded by the quiet magnificence of Fox Island, Kent creates the drawings and paintings that will catapult his career to national success and turn his dream into reality.

Transit

A group of American pilots from Alaska ferry Airacobra fighter planes across the ocean on Lend-lease. The orderly course of life is disrupted when it becomes clear that the American pilots are attractive and charming young women. The feelings of the Russian young men collide into barriers of culture and language resulting in a host of awkward, funny, and sometimes tragic situations.It is the story of Russians, Americans, and natives of the Far North. It is the story of man and woman in war. Love and death are squeezed between the hills as human fates are destroyed and born.

The Simpsons Movie

After Homer accidentally pollutes the town's water supply, Springfield is encased in a gigantic dome by the EPA and the Simpsons are declared fugitives.

Insomnia

Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.

Anything to Survive

A father and his children are caught by a storm whilst sailing in Alaska. When they get shipwrecked, things go from bad to worse.

The Gold Rush

A gold prospector in Alaska struggles to survive the elements and win the heart of a dance hall girl.

On Deadly Ground

Forrest Taft is an environmental agent who works for the Aegis Oil Company in Alaska. Aegis Oil's corrupt CEO is the kind of person who doesn't care whether or not oil spills into the ocean or onto the land—just as long as it's making money for him.

Into the Wild

After graduating from Emory University in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity, and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness.

North to Alaska

After striking gold in Alaska, the romantic George sends his womanizing partner Sam to bring his fiancée up from Seattle. When Sam finds that she has already married, he returns instead with Angel, a dancer originally from France.

Stealth

Deeply ensconced in a top-secret military program, three pilots struggle to bring an artificial intelligence program under control ... before it initiates the next world war.

The Big White

To remedy his financial problems, a travel agent has his eye on a frozen corpse, which just happens to be sought after by two hitmen.

Into the Grizzly Maze

Two estranged brothers reunite at their childhood home in the Alaskan wild. They set out on a two-day hike and are stalked by an unrelenting grizzly bear.

30 Days of Night

This is the story of an isolated Alaskan town that is plunged into darkness for a month each year when the sun sinks below the horizon. As the last rays of light fade, the town is attacked by a bloodthirsty gang of vampires bent on an uninterrupted orgy of destruction. Only the small town's husband-and-wife Sheriff team stand between the survivors and certain destruction.

Alaska Passage

Al Graham runs a trucking business in Alaska, America’s final frontier which confronts him with washed out bridges, female hitchhikers and mayhem concerning his partner Gerard Mason and his scheming wife.