Top Picks: The movie 'Far From the Madding Crowd,' the photo series 'Enclosed: Living Small,' and more

The documentary 'Beats of the Antonov' explores how music, singing, and dancing can shape a common identity in the midst of adversity and intolerance, the film 'JFK & LBJ: A Time for Greatness' gives viewers a new perspective on the civil rights movement, and more top picks.

Presidential legacy

Viewers get a new perspective on the civil rights movement in JFK & LBJ: A Time for Greatness. 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’s 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, Beats of the Antonov, an award-winning “Point of View” 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’s ruthless bombing campaign. The film explores how music, singing, and dancing can shape a common identity in the midst of adversity and intolerance. It premières 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, Enclosed: Living Small, examines the cramped lives of lodgers at a bare-bones version of the Japanese “capsule hotel” in Tokyo. Surrounded by their possessions, his subjects – some neat, others chaotically messy – 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. 

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’s 1874 novel, Far From the Madding Crowd stars Carey Mulligan as Bathsheba Everdene, a Victorian country girl who inherits her uncle’s 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’s now available on DVD.