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Stoney Knows How is a visit with a master of the Oldest Art In The World - Tattooing. Disabled by arthritis since the age of four, confined to a wheelchair, his growth stunted, Stoney St. Clair joined the circus at 15 as a sword-swallower. A year later, he took up tattooing, and traveled with circuses and carnivals for 50 years. As we watch him at work, we see the determination which led Stoney to use his crippled hands in an art where mistakes are permanent, and we realize Stoney has overcome his handicap to heal himself and others with the magic of symbols. The film ends with a visit by New Age tattoo master Don Ed Hardy to Stoney, who gives him a souvenir tattoo.

THE TREE OF LIFE (29 min) The Tree Of Life grows In the Land of Mystery: There we were created; There we were born. There He by whom all things live Spins the thread of our lives. "Los Voladores" (the Flyers) is a 1500 year-old rite sacred to Quetzalcoatl, the Morning Star. From its origins on the Gulf coast of Mexico, the ritual spread throughout Mesoamerica: a special square was reserved for it in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, and a variant is still known among the Quiche' Maya in Guatemala. Today "Los Voladores" is best known in its original home in the Huasteca region, especially among the Totonac, who have lived in the area for millenia. The version shown in the film is from Huehuetla, in the Sierra Norte de Puebla. The film opens with images from the Nuttall, Laud, and other Codices, and poetry from "Cantares Mexicanos", a collection of pre-hispanic Nahuatl verse from Texcoco. At the home of the Volador Captain, we watch the preparation of the characteristic seven-branched wax candles, crowned with a representation of the Volador pole (a mayordomia obligation, part of the cargo system). Intercut with the candle-making, children learn the ritual of the Voladores by re-enacting it from start to finish. In the forest, the Voladores bless the tree chosen for the rite. The tree is felled and dragged by 300 Totonacs along mule trails into the village, where it is wrapped with vines and raised entirely by hand to its new place in the churchyard. Preparations are completed as the Voladores bring the hub, the sacred symbol of dynamic change (Olin), from its place at their home altar, set it on the tip of the pole, and thread the ropes which will bear them on their flight carefully through the hub and around the pole. Dressed in costumes drawn from 18th-century European models, the Voladores join the statue of San Salvador, the Risen Savior, in the fiesta procession. As the capitan of the Voladores dances on the narrow bub, high above the flagstones, other dance groups perform: Huehues, Quetzales, San Migueles, and Negritos. Then the Voladores descend head down, arms spread, in a slow spiral, to the sound of drum and flute... Combining ritual, dance, music, poetry, and art, "THE TREE OF LIFE" is a meditation on the mystery at the heart of human life. It calls us to keep the world in balance with our lives. You have become the Tree of Life. Dying, you have been born again. Swaying, you spread your branches And stand before the Giver of all life. In your boughs our home shall be: We will be your flowers. Awards: First Prize, Festival of Films on Native Americans (Mexico); First Prize, International Festival on Culture & Psychiatry; First Prize, The American Film Festival; CINE Golden Eagle; Berlin & London Film Festivals, Musee de l'Homme, Smithsonian, Walker, MOMA, Museo Nacional de Antropologia. TV: US (PBS), Germany (ZDF), Japan (NHK), Sweden, Spain (RTE), and Mexico

Documentary on muxes, as homosexuals are called in Juchitán, Mexico, famous for its concentration of gay people.

A DEFENDER OF HIS PEOPLE (57 minutes) The Indian village of Tepoztlan, just south of Mexico City, is a major tourist destination, the New Age capital of Mexico, a popular stopover on the backpacker trail, and a site for second homes of wealthy Mexico City residents. In spite of all these pressures, Tepoztlan has kept its own special identity. Both the town's main tourist destination and its identity stem from the pyramid above the town, sacred to the god/hero El Tepozteco. Though the locals, or "tepoztecos", are officially Christian, as one of them says, "When we are in trouble, we call on El Tepozteco, because he is our warrior spirit. But when it is time to go to heaven, we turn to the Almighty." In 1995, a multinational corporation announced a huge development, with a golf course 700 luxury homes, an industrial park, and a shopping center. Rather than face this threat to their identity, the tepoztecos barricaded the town and fought the project to a standstill. At the forefront of this "Golf Club War" was El Tepozteco. Many say he personally led the defense of the barricades, even driving away a federal SWAT team. Certainly his spirit, and his legend, served as a rallying cry for his people and helped them successfully defy the combined might of a multinational corporation and the Mexican state. Today, as for thousands of years, El Tepozteco has given his people the strength to take what they like from the invaders while holding fast to their identity as the children of a living god.

Inside Afghanistan examines the struggle for the future of Afghanistan between urbanized, Westernizing modernizers and the traditional Muslim world of the villages, still based on clan and feudal ties. Without preaching, the film breaks the stereotypes of Communist "puppets" and heroic "Freedom Fighters" to give the viewer a new understanding of the tragic and complex struggle for change in Afghanistan - a struggle that is far from over. Inside Afghanistan looks first at the educated, urban modernizers and reformers who saw a Soviet-style "revolution" as a way to bring Afghanistan into the modern world: army officers, women teachers and medical students, doctors at a children's hospital, boys at a Soviet orphanage, government officials, party members, and a rare interview with then-President Najibullah himself. We have tea with an Afghan captain, his Russian wife, and their two sons, as he explains the bond he feels with the other Afghan officers who trained in the Soviet Union. An Afghan colonel explains how these Soviet-trained army officers wanted to modernize their country, and so led the "revolution" that brought the Communists to power. The second half of the film focuses on the role of the "khans", the traditional land-owners who led the resistance to modernization. We visit several groups of ex- Mujahedin who now fight on the government side under the same khans who earlier had led them in their fight against the government. Under attack by Mujahedin at a remote outpost, we go to the nearby artillery base, which responds with a devastating barrage of rockets and howitzers. In the Kandahar prison, we meet two Taliban POWs, who in spite of torture tell us courageously that they still believe their cause is right. Finally, at a meal in his home, the governor of Kandahar province breaks down in tears as he tells us of the deaths of his sons in this long and bloody war.

Set in Huehuetla, Puebla, a Totonac Indian community in East Central Mexico, The Tree of Knowledge contrasts two systems of education. The public school system uses patriotic symbols to "integrate" Indian pupils into the national culture while teaching them to reject their own identity. Companion film: Tree of Life.