Bret Wood

An exploration of La Oroya, an Andean smelting town caught in the tides of pollution and capital drain. The film charts U.S.-led industrialization and Peruvian social history in the 20th and 21st centuries.

This film covers the early history of post World War II educational films, especially those involving traffic safety by the Highway Safety Foundation under direction of Richard Wayman. In the name of promoting safe driving in teenagers, these films became notorious for their gory depiction of accidents to shock their audiences to make their point. The film also covers the role of safety films of this era, their effect on North American teenage culture, the struggle between idealism and lurid exploitation and how they reflected the larger society concerns of the time that adults projected onto their youth.

A glimpse at how genre film-focused home video companies have taken the charge in preserving, restoring, and releasing so many works which otherwise might have been lost to time.

"About the Restoration" provides an overview of the recovery effort, hosted by Bret Wood. Also of interest are examples of movie making mistakes that remain in the pictures, with disc producers resisting the urge to correct these admittedly humorous issues.