A Home on the Range: The Jewish Chicken Ranchers of Petaluma

Loading Trailer Videos...
  • HomePage

    A Home on the Range: The Jewish Chicken Ranchers of Petaluma

  • Overview

    "A Home On The Range" tells the little-known story of Jews who fled the pogroms and hardships of Eastern Europe and traveled to California to become chicken ranchers. Even in the sweatshops of New York they heard about Petaluma where the Jews were not the shopkeepers and the professionals, they were the farmers. Meet this fractious, idealistic, intrepid group of Eastern European Jews and their descendants as they confront obstacles of language and culture on their journey towards becoming Americans. Jack London, California vigilantes, McCarthyism, the Cold War and agribusiness all come to life in this quintessentially American story of how a group of immigrants found their new home, a home on the range.

  • Release Date

    2002-07-31

  • Average

    8

  • Rating:

    4.0 starts
  • Tagline

  • Genres

  • Languages:

  • Keywords

Similar Movies

The Jewish-Roman Wars
70%

The Jewish-Roman Wars(de)

2019-04-12

In the first century, after the death of Herod the Great, Judea goes through a long period of turbulence due to the actions of the corrupt Roman governors and the internal struggles, both religious and political, between Jewish factions, events that soon lead to the uprising of the population and a cruel war that lasts several years and causes thousands of deaths, a catastrophe described in detail by the Romanized Jewish historian Titus Flavius Josephus.

Herod the Great: The Child Murderer of Bethlehem
65%

Herod the Great: The Child Murderer of Bethlehem(de)

2019-04-12

An account of the reign of Herod the Great, king of Judea under the rule of the Roman Empire, remembered for having ordered, according to the Gospel of Matthew, the murder of all male infants born in Bethlehem at the time of the birth of Jesus, an unproven event that is not mentioned by Titus Flavius Josephus, the main historian of that period.

The Power of Good: Nicholas Winton
90%

The Power of Good: Nicholas Winton(cs)

2003-03-27

A gripping documentary about the courage and determination of a young English stockbroker who saved the lives of 669 children. Between March 13 and August 2, 1939, Nicholas Winton organized 8 transports to take children from Prague to new homes in Great Britain, and kept quiet about it until his wife discovered a scrapbook documenting his unique mission in 1988. Winton was a successful 29-year-old stockbroker in London who "had an intuition" about the fate of the Jews when he visited Prague in 1939. He quietly but decisively got down to the business of saving lives. We learn how only two countries, Sweden and Britain, answered his call to harbor the young refugees; how documents had to be forged and how once foster parents signed for the children on delivery, that was the last he saw of them.

Canada Vignettes: The Move
100%

Canada Vignettes: The Move(en)

1985-01-01

In this short documentary from the Canada Vignettes series, a Saskatchewan grain elevator is moved across the snow-covered prairie to a new home after nearly a half-century of use. The film follows the lifting and transporting of the 9-storey, 200-ton structure, and examines the feelings of the people as they witness the final passing of their town's one and only grain elevator.

Il fare politica
0%

Il fare politica(it)

2005-05-13

Fabiana, Carlo, Claudio and Vincenzo… I met them in 1982 in Mercatale, their village in Tuscany, near Florence. They were aged between 25 and 45 and were cheerful militants in the Italian Communist Party, that strange party which has made its mark on history and which was both a school and a family for them. I have filmed in Mercatale every two or three years for over 20 years (1982/2004). The fi lm takes the “long view” of their political and personal development against the backdrop of village life. Stories with both human and political interest spanning over a quarter of a century with relevance for present day issues: what has become of the plans to change the world in Berlusconi’s Italy? From a more global perspective: what else can politics do? When the time comes to take stock the paths of their rich and varied personal lives cross once more with all their doubts and allegiances.

A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy
90%

A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy(en)

1962-02-13

Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy was a television special featuring the First Lady of the United States, Jacqueline Kennedy on a tour of the recently renovated White House. It was broadcast on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1962, on both CBS and NBC, and broadcast four days later on ABC. The program was the first ever First Lady televised tour of the White House, and has since been considered the first prime-time documentary specifically designed to appeal to a female audience.

Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy
78%

Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy(en)

2018-10-18

Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy is a feature-length documentary film highlighting the history of the Crownsville State Mental Hospital in Crownsville, MD.

Killing the Colorado
60%

Killing the Colorado(en)

2016-08-04

The drought in the American West is predicted to be the worst in 1,000 years. Join five Academy Award-winning filmmakers as they explore the environmental crisis of our time and how to fix it before it's too late.

Großes Kino made in DDR
28%

Großes Kino made in DDR(de)

2016-05-26

In 2016, DEFA celebrates its 70th anniversary: the film embarks on a journey into the exciting film history of the GDR. In a comprehensive kaleidoscope, the importance of DEFA productions is illuminated, the relevance of the films as propaganda productions for the GDR, which socio-political themes were in the foreground, but also which heroes DEFA brought to the screen and celebrated as people from the people.

Monument to the Murderers
90%

Monument to the Murderers(hu)

2021-01-26

A film about a district in Buda, which to this day cannot face the inconceivably cruel crimes committed by its former inhabitants.

Mario y los perros
70%

Mario y los perros(es)

2019-06-27

An account of the childhood and youth of the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010, and how the hard experiences he lived during these formative years led him to write and publish his first major work when he was only 26 years old.

West of England
0%

West of England(en)

1951-01-01

The people, the scenery and the industrial traditions of the Stroud valley and the growth of the woollen industry.

Sheep Dog
0%

Sheep Dog(en)

1939-01-01

Tom Jones, a shepherd who lived in one of the Ystradfechan Cottages at Old Farm, Treorchy, was employed by the Ocean Coal Company who owned the land above ground and coal (the Park and the Dare Collieries) beneath. A farrier who lived in the adjoining cottage tended to all the Park and Dare pit ponies. Tom Jones was known world-wide as the “Wonder Shepherd” for his remarkable skills as an animal trainer which, together with his concern for his flock, are recorded here.

The Birth of Korea 2: Freedom Fighter
0%

The Birth of Korea 2: Freedom Fighter(ko)

2025-09-10

How did South Korea, after liberation in 1945 defend liberal democracy against leftist and communist forces? The door to that secret is now revealed.

“May Your Memory Be Love“ - The Story of Ovadia Baruch
52%

“May Your Memory Be Love“ - The Story of Ovadia Baruch(en)

2008-12-16

In March 1943, twenty-year-old Ovadia Baruch was deported together with his family from Greece to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon arrival, his extended family was sent to the gas chambers. Ovadia struggled to survive until his liberation from the Mauthausen concentration camp in May 1945. While in Auschwitz, Ovadia met Aliza Tzarfati, a young Jewish woman from his hometown, and the two developed a loving relationship despite inhuman conditions. This film depicts their remarkable, touching story of love and survival in Auschwitz, a miraculous meeting after the Holocaust and the home they built together in Israel. This film is part of the "Witnesses and Education" project, a joint production of the International School for Holocaust Studies and the Multimedia Center of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In this series, survivors recount their life stores - before, during and after the Holocaust. Each title is filmed on location, where the events originally transpired.

The Songbird of Manzanar
0%

The Songbird of Manzanar(en)

Music provided relief during the years of the Japanese American internment throughout WWII. Mary Nomura performed in Manzanar for the three years of her incarceration, and she became known as the "Songbird of Manzanar." In this film, Mary shares old field recordings of her musical performances in Manzanar, believed to be the only surviving field recordings of music from Japanese American internment. In the conclusion of the film, Mary honors her nickname and sings one of her favorite jazz standards by George Gershwin.

Who's More Important, What's More Necessary
0%

Who's More Important, What's More Necessary(ru)

1930-12-31

This film about agricultural advances in the USSR was meant to serve as a teaching aid. Featuring documentary footage and animation.

2 or 3 Things I Know About Him
66%

2 or 3 Things I Know About Him(de)

2005-04-07

What would your family reminiscences about dad sound like if he had been an early supporter of Hitler’s, a leader of the notorious SA and the Third Reich’s minister in charge of Slovakia, including its Final Solution? Executed as a war criminal in 1947, Hanns Ludin left behind a grieving widow and six young children, the youngest of whom became a filmmaker. It's a fascinating, maddening, sometimes even humorous look at what the director calls "a typical German story." (Film Forum)

Reimagining A Buffalo Landmark
100%

Reimagining A Buffalo Landmark(en)

2019-04-12

The Richardson Olmsted Campus, a former psychiatric center and National Historic Landmark, is seeing new life as it undergoes restoration and adaptation to a modern use.

Ellis Island, une histoire du rêve américain
57%

Ellis Island, une histoire du rêve américain(fr)

2014-03-11

In 1892, Ellis Island, in New York Bay, became the main gateway to the United States for immigrants arriving increasingly from Europe. The story of immigration to the United States from 1892 to 1954, an enthralling polyphonic narrative that embraces both small and great history.

Recommendations Movies

One of Us
69%

One of Us(en)

2017-09-10

Penetrating the insular world of New York's Hasidic community, focusing on three individuals driven to break away despite threats of retaliation.

Fuck
64%

Fuck(en)

2006-11-10

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

Night Will Fall
76%

Night Will Fall(en)

2014-06-07

When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".

Gunda
72%

Gunda(en)

2021-04-15

A glimpse into the raw and simple power of nature through encounters with farm animals: the eponymous Gunda, a mother pig; two cows, and a one-legged chicken.

Crossfire
67%

Crossfire(en)

1947-08-15

A man is murdered, apparently by one of a group of soldiers just out of the army. But which one? And why?

My Mom Jayne
80%

My Mom Jayne(en)

2025-06-20

Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.

Curious George: Go West, Go Wild
61%

Curious George: Go West, Go Wild(en)

2020-09-08

While farm-sitting, George accidentally lets the farm animals escape. Ted, George and wannabe cowboy Emmett must round 'em up, accounting for every animal -- and emerging with some new skills, to boot.

Sympathy for the Devil
59%

Sympathy for the Devil(en)

2023-07-20

After being forced to drive a mysterious passenger at gunpoint, a man finds himself in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse where it becomes clear that not everything is as it seems.

Cuba and the Cameraman
75%

Cuba and the Cameraman(en)

2017-09-08

This revealing portrait of Cuba follows the lives of Fidel Castro and three Cuban families affected by his policies over the last four decades.

Louis Theroux: Louis and the Nazis
72%

Louis Theroux: Louis and the Nazis(en)

2003-12-21

Louis Theroux travels to California to meet the man dubbed "the most dangerous racist in America"; Tom Metzger. Louis meets him, his family and his publicity manager as well as following him to skinhead rallies and on a visit to Mexico.

The Crash Reel
73%

The Crash Reel(en)

2013-06-10

The Crash Reel tells the story of a sport and the risks that athletes face in reaching the pinnacle of their profession. This is Kevin Pearce’s story, a celebrated snowboarder who sustained a brain injury in a trick gone wrong and who now aims, against all the odds, to get back on the snow.

Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes
59%

Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes(en)

2021-08-18

Serial killer Dennis Nilsen narrates his life and horrific crimes via a series of chilling audiotapes recorded from his jail cell.

Seduced and Abandoned
62%

Seduced and Abandoned(en)

2013-05-20

SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.

The Captains
64%

The Captains(en)

2011-07-22

The Captains is a feature-length documentary film written and directed by William Shatner. The film follows Shatner as he interviews the other actors who have portrayed starship captains in the Star Trek franchise.

No Half Measures: Creating the Final Season of Breaking Bad
84%

No Half Measures: Creating the Final Season of Breaking Bad(en)

2013-11-26

A documentary about the making of season five of the acclaimed AMC series Breaking Bad.

This Place Rules
70%

This Place Rules(en)

2022-12-30

Acclaimed for his unfiltered reporting and deadpan humor, Andrew Callaghan brings his gonzo style reporting to the undercurrents that led to the January 6 Capitol Riot. As one of the best-known and hardest working journalists of his generation, the 25-year-old ventures on a wild RV journey through America to take the pulse of a divided nation.

Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story
61%

Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story(en)

2025-12-30

Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.

Room 237
61%

Room 237(en)

2012-10-26

A subjective documentary that explores various theories about hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick's classic film The Shining. Five very different points of view are illuminated through voice over, film clips, animation and dramatic reenactments.

Man Without a Star
65%

Man Without a Star(en)

1955-03-24

A wandering cowboy gets caught up in a range war.

Home on the Range
61%

Home on the Range(en)

2004-04-02

When a greedy outlaw schemes to take possession of the "Patch Of Heaven" dairy farm, three determined cows, a karate-kicking stallion and a colorful corral of critters join forces to save their home. The stakes are sky-high as this unlikely animal alliance risk their hides and match wits with a mysterious band of bad guys.