14 Women When the 109th U.S. Congress filled the halls of the legislature in January 2005, 14 women were among the 100 officials elected to serve in the Senate. That may not seem many, but the group made history for including more women than any before it. 14 Women tells their stories of perseverance and accomplishment.

Gypsy Caravan A documentary by Albert Maysles (who first received critical acclaim for his filming of 1970’s Gimme Shelter) that follows the tours of five Romani bands across the United States and back to their hometowns in Europe. Gypsy Caravan is a celebration of music and diversity, and the winner of several awards, including an audience award at last year’s San Francisco Independent Film Festival.

Barakat! (enough!) From 1991 to 2002, a brutal civil war was fought between the Algerian government and Islamic rebel groups. Against that often shockingly violent backdrop, two women set out in search of a lost husband who had been reporting on the war. Enough! is a French-Algerian movie that won several awards, including the prize for best narrative film at the Dubai International Film Festival.

The American Mall Ally (Degrassi: The Next Generation’s Nina Dobrev) works in her mom’s music store at the local mall. As she toils the days away with aspirations of making it big as a musician, she meets Joey, a janitor at the mall, who shares her vision in The American Mall. Just when it begins to look like the two are destined for stardom, the mall’s owners threaten everything Ally and Joey are working toward.

The Counterfeiters The Counterfeiters won the 2008 Academy Award for best foreign-language film, and based on a true story. Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) lived a life of luxury in 1930s Berlin. He was the most successful money counterfeiter Germany had ever seen, and he quickly amassed great wealth. But the Nazis eventually caught up with him and threw him into a concentration camp.

Vancouver’s film and television production industry has had its ups and downs. After surging for the past 10 years, it’s declined recently, suffering from a less appealing exchange rate between the Canadian loonie and the American greenback, and because of the industry’s slowdown since last winter’s writers’ strike.

Stargate: Continuum Stargate Continuum, the fourth film in the Stargate franchise, sees three members of the SG-1 team race back in time to a world where the Stargate program has been erased from history and a force of Goa’uld starships threatens to enslave the human race.

21 Loosely based on Ben Mezrich’s book Bringing Down the House, 21 is the fast-paced story of a group of MIT whiz kids who risk it all in Las Vegas. With the help of a genius professor played by Kevin Spacey, the students’ odds are improved, but not enough.

The Atheism Tapes Aired in 2004, this BBC series is composed of in-depth interviews with six of the world’s most outspoken and distinguished atheists, including British biologist Richard Dawkins and the late American playwright Arthur Miller.

The Tracey Fragments Juno’s Ellen Page plays Tracey Berkowitz, a 15-year-old girl with a vivid imagination. One night Berkowitz is baby-sitting her little brother when the boy goes missing. Desperate to find him, she is soon alone on a journey. The film was nominated for six Genie Awards and Page won a best actress award from the Vancouver Film Critics Circle.

10,000 BC On a quest to save a long-lost love, a young warrior crosses mountains, crawls through thick jungle, and traverses a windswept desert. Decent special effects and some interesting computer-generated sets make 10,000 BC an average action film.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days Communist Romania in the 1980s: abortions are illegal, so when Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) decides to terminate her pregnancy, she and roommate Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) enlist the services of a doctor who deals on the black market. But when things don’t go as planned, the girls must make desperate decisions. An intense film by Romanian director Cristian Mungiu that garnered a Golden Globe nomination for best foreign film and won the 2007 Palme d’Or at Cannes.

Army Wives: The Complete First Season A topical drama that follows the lives of five women and one man as they struggle on the home front of the war in Iraq. Having received rave reviews, Army Wives is a promising new series from the executive producer of Grey’s Anatomy. DVD extras include features exploring the true stories that inspire the show.

The Andromeda Strain A deadly virus that rapidly clots the blood is brought to Earth by a military satellite and nearly wipes out a small town in Utah. The four-hour A&E miniseries is based on the Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Congo) novel that established the writer as one of America’s bestselling authors.