Negroponte, Michel

Jupiter's Wife

This quietly poignant 1994 documentary chronicles the life of Maggie, an intelligent and enigmatic homeless woman on the streets of New York City, and the relationship she develops with the filmmaker, who attempts to piece together the threads of her life story. The director narrates his search for answers to Maggie's past, using interviews with friends and acquaintances as well as archival footage, from a newsreel of his subject in the 1960s driving a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park to her appearance on a popular game show, all in an effort to understand how this woman ended up homeless. More importantly, director Michel Negroponte takes his cues in unraveling the mystery from Maggie herself, documenting her beliefs that she is the daughter of 1940s matinee idol Robert Ryan and the wife of the ancient Roman god Jupiter. In stark vérité style, the film follows Maggie's search for stability and peace, taking care of stray dogs and finding a place she can call home. Sometimes sad, sometimes hopeful, and startlingly original, Jupiter's Wife is a compassionate real-life portrayal of survival in the modern age. --Robert Lane

Ten years following its theatrical debut, this astonishing real-life mystery continues to haunt audiences around the world. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and widely hailed by critics, JUPITER'S WIFE tells the story of Maggie, a beguiling homeless woman living in New York City's Central Park. A captivating jumble of cryptic stories, Maggie claims to be the daughter of the Hollywood movie star Robert Ryan and married to the Roman god Jupiter. The cameras follow Maggie for the next two years, as clue by clue, her enigma is deciphered and an astonishing story is revealed.

DVD Features: Never-Before-Seen Scenes; Filmmaker Biography; Filmmaker Statement; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection

Methadonia

METHADONIA is the borderland between high and straight, where recovering heroin addicts on methadone "maintenance" exist. Passing the time on benzos and other prescription drugs that enhance the methadone, addicts find themselves in Methadonia for years, or decades. Selected for the prestigious New York Film Festival and featured on HBO, this unflinching, intimate film reveals the culture of addiction through the eyes and lives of men and women stuck in Methadonia, holding on to the hope they will wake up one morning and not think about getting high.

W.I.S.O.R.-Welding & Inspection Steam Operations Robot

W.I.S.O.R. is an out-of-the-ordinary look at one of the stranger solutions to a New York problem. Beneath New York's streets lies a marvel of engineering, a steam system consisting of a network of 103 miles of pipes. These "lungs of steel" deliver electricity, water, gas, and steam to more than 2,000 buildings. But the century-old system is in constant need of repair, a perilous proposition for human workers who would face 300-degree temperatures. Enter W.I.S.O.R., the proposed robotic solution to fix neighborhood-incapacitating leaks. The eight-foot-long, 700-pound machine would be required to walk, stand, and contract. This documentary is more than the compelling true story of how Honeybee Robotics created this remarkable robo-welder; it is a celebration of New York "can do" and "I will deliver" ingenuity realized by a multicultural team. --Donald Liebenson

In a lab on the Lower East Side, a team of scientists and engineers are designing a robot named W.I.S.O.R.; a futuristic, subterranean robo welder, able to withstand temperatures of 300 degrees and navigate through the snaking, hundred-mile long world of