Top Picks: The movie 'Far From the Madding Crowd,' the photo series 'Enclosed: Living Small,' and more
Presidential legacy
Viewers get a new perspective on the civil rights movement in . The PBS special profiles President Lyndon B. Johnson and his personal crusade to ensure the legacy of President John F. Kennedy. The documentary highlights Johnson鈥檚 pivotal role in the passage of two bills that transformed America: the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It airs Aug. 4 and Aug. 6 at 9 p.m. on PBS and is set to be released on DVD Sept. 1.
Harmony amid war
Directed by Hajooj Kuka, , an award-winning 鈥淧oint of View鈥� documentary, tells the story of the South Sudanese people of the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains and how they deal with a civil war intensified by northern Sudan鈥檚 ruthless bombing campaign. The film explores how music, singing, and dancing can shape a common identity in the midst of adversity and intolerance. It premi猫res Aug. 3 on PBS.
Living small
Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., Won Kim is a fine art photographer who explores beauty in the mundane. His latest online photo series, , examines the cramped lives of lodgers at a bare-bones version of the Japanese 鈥渃apsule hotel鈥� in Tokyo. Surrounded by their possessions, his subjects 鈥� some neat, others chaotically messy 鈥� demonstrate how they make use of confined quarters, revealing a profound message about how people interact with their environments. Check it out at http://bit.ly/EnclosedLiving.聽
Monitor pics
The Monitor has joined Instagram to highlight not only staff photos but also work in the field by reporters and editors. It promotes cover stories (#MonitorMondays), photo spreads in the magazine (#InPictures), historical images (#MonitorArchive and #ThrowbackThursdays), and food photos (#FoodieFridays). Follow us at @csmonitorpics.
19th-century bachelorette
Adapted from Thomas Hardy鈥檚 1874 novel, stars Carey Mulligan as Bathsheba Everdene, a Victorian country girl who inherits her uncle鈥檚 farm and becomes fiercely determined to make a success of it. She soon attracts the attention of a trio of disparate suitors: Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts), a man of the soil; William Boldwood (Michael Sheen), a lovelorn landowner; and Sgt. Frank Troy (Tom Sturridge), a seductive dissembler. It鈥檚 now available on DVD.
