Documentary Educational Resources - Filmmaker / Balikci, Asen / All Films

Netsilik Series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

A series of 9 films in 21 half-hour parts. These films examine the traditional lifestyle of Netsilingmiut living in the area of Kugaaruk before the European acculturation.

The Netsilik of the Pelly Bay region in the Canadian Arctic had long lived apart from other people and had depended entirely on the land and their own ingenuity to sustain life through the rigors of the Arctic year.

The filming was done during the summers of 1963 and 1964 and in the late winter of 1965 under the ethnographic direction of Dr. Asen Balikci of the University of Montréal, assisted by Guy Mary-Rousseliere, O.M.I., both anthropologists of wide Arctic experience. Quentin Brown was Producer-Director, and Kevin Smith the Executive Producer for the series. A minimum of cultural reconstruction was required during the filming; the Netsilik families readily agreed to live in the old way once more and showed considerable aptitude in recalling and representing the earlier ways of life.

All videos are in color, with the natural sounds of the region and of the activities depicted, but with no voice other than those of the people on screen. The films were originally released in 1967. The effect of this film series is that of a field trip where students can observe traditional ways at their leisure and form their own impressions. The pace is unhurried; many of the activities are shown in close detail.

The films are useful for courses in economic anthropology, development of technology and North American aboriginal cultures, in general studies of the circumpolar culture area, as well as for high school and upper elementary grades.

Films in the Netsilik series

At The Autumn River Camp
At The Caribou Crossing Place
At The Spring Sea Ice Camp
At The Winter Sea Ice Camp

Building a Kayak

Fishing at the Stone Weir

Group Hunting on the Spring Ice

Jigging for Lake Trout

Stalking Seal on the Spring Ice

Note on Term "Eskimo":

The films in this series make use of the name "Eskimo." While once broadly applied, it is a perjorative term and considered offensive. While the inception of the word is a matter of debate, it is no longer used or applied in our film catalog. The context in which the term appears in this series is an acknowledged relic of a colonial past, presented in its original version. DER apologizes for any offense caused.

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A Month in the Life of Ephtim D.

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:50:00 GMT

A Month in the Life of Ephtim D.
Buy Now: $320.00

This documentary takes a rare and intimate look at the life of a 73-year-old pensioner currently living in Bulgaria following the collapse of the former Soviet Union. We follow Ephtim D. from the meager dinner table where he and his wife dine on some bread with a little margarine and garlic, to the park where he walks his dog and meets his friends.

Ephtim is a life-long Communist. He and his friends still attend Socialist party meetings in Sofia. It is difficult for a Westerner to understand why people in Eastern Europe would not embrace their freedom but still reminisce about the "good old days" under communism. When we see how difficult life is today for Ephtim and his wife, we believe their memories of a better situation in earlier years.

With painstaking precision, Ephtim and his wife must account for literally every penny in order to survive. We know exactly how they spend their $66 monthly government pension - which barely keeps them alive. Were it not for the fact that they own their tiny apartment, their circumstances would be dire.

The filmmaker, Asen Balikci, has been an innovator in the field of ethnographic film and film in education for many years. He was responsible for the production of the Netsilik Eskimo Film Series made to accompany the Man: A Course of Study curriculum in the 1960s. When he retired from his academic post at a Canadian university, he moved back to his home country of Bulgaria to apply his media skills to facilitate communication and education both inside and outside the country.

A Month in the Life of Ephtim D. is an excellent, realistic portrayal which provides a wealth of information for those studying Economics, the influence of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on Eastern Europe, Bulgaria, International Politics, Government, Aging and Ethnography.

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Sons of Haji Omar

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 07:46:00 GMT

Sons of Haji Omar
Buy Now: $320.00

Haji Omar and his three sons belong to the Lakankhel, a Pashtoon tribal group in northeastern Afghanistan. The film focuses on his family: Haji Omar, the patriarch; Anwar, the eldest, his father's favorite, a pastoralist and expert horseman; Jannat Gul, cultivator and ambitious rebel; and Ismail, the youngest, attending school with a view to a job as a government official.

Filmed over a period of twelve months, it is a record of life at the spring lambing camp, the activities at Narim Bazaar, where the caravan stocks up for the long trek, and the slow ascent to the summer grazing grounds. The spring camp is not far from the provincial center, Baghlan. In May and June they move to mountain pastures in the Hindu Kush. Haji Omar's family home is near the small market town of Narin, sequences show life in the bazaar, classes in the high school and dealings with government officials.

The film ends with the fierce Buskashi games, when the nomads are back in their winter home. In concentrating on relations within one family, and through appropriate use of interviews and conversations, the film manages to draw sharp, colorful portraits of the protagonists and their problems. The film is an authentic, evocative and beautiful account of a little known region and way of life.

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