Documentary Educational Resources - Filmmaker / Bishop, John / All Films

The Films of Bess Lomax Hawes

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:53:00 GMT

The Films of Bess Lomax Hawes
Buy Now: $340.00

Bess Lomax Hawes (1921-2009) – Member of the Almanac Singers with Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, wrote the song "Charley on the MTA", folklorist, musician, author of three books, professor in Anthropology at San Fernando Valley State (CSUN), first director of the Folk & Traditional Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts, and to the many people whose lives she touched, so much more.

She also made four films, and supported anthropological and folklore film and video production. These four films are included on this DVD:

Georgia Sea Island Singers (1964, 14 min) – Shot in 35mm film with multiple cameras on a soundstage when the Sea Island Singers were visiting Los Angeles, this program presents a small part of their repertoire of sacred music, including the songs – Moses, Yonder Comes Day, Buzzard Lope (Throw Me Anywhere Lord), Adam in the Garden (Picking up Leaves), and Down in the Mire (Bright Star Shining in Glory).

Buckdancer (1965, 6 min) – Featuring Panaloa County fife player Ed Young with Bessie Jones. Ed Young does the Buckdance, demonstrates making a fife, and plays a tune on the fife.

Pizza Pizza Daddy-O (1967, 18 min) – looks at continuity and change in girl's playground games at a Los Angeles school.

Say Old Man - Can You Play The Fiddle? (1970, 20 min) – Virtuoso fiddler Earl Collins, born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, moved to Southern California in the Depression. He plays Say Old Man Can You Play the Fiddle, Dry and Dusty, Sally Goodin, Bull at the Wagon, Black Mountain Rag, and Billy in the Low Ground. Additional tunes not included in the edited film are on the DVD.

These films were unique in their time and could not be made now. They developed as opportunities arose, using borrowed equipment, volunteer crews, small budgets, and a great deal of learning and experimentation in the editing room. The films concentrate on performance and by implication how the performers' aesthetics both inform and reflect societal values. The films strive to make a pleasing and engaging record of small moments from the vastness of American expressive traditional arts; neither exhaustive nor statistically representative, but survivals of a time now past.

The films were made in the Anthropology Department of San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University at Northridge). Edmund Carpenter founded the department with the intention of moving anthropology beyond the book. He felt that the realities and insights of anthropology were often better represented in the arts than in scholarly texts and between 1957 and 1967 he led a flourishing and experimental department. In addition to cultural anthropologists, physical anthropologists and linguists, his faculty included folklorist Bess Lomax Hawes along with artists, musicians, animators and filmmakers. It was in this context that Bess Hawes made these works.

After leaving CSU-Northridge in 1976, she became the first director of the Folk and Traditional Arts program at the National Endowment for the Arts. Though she did not make other films, she has been an ardent supporter of filmmakers who present traditional artists with dignity and enthusiasm. There were no outlets for these films. They were too specialized for theatrical or television release and not specifically geared to the educational market. They mostly languished, known only to a few aficionados.

This release on DVD brings the four films together in a single package with supplementary notes written at the time. The DVD comes with a booklet about the films.

Visit Bishop, John to see additional products in this category.

Himalayan Herders

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:27:00 GMT

Himalayan Herders
Buy Now: $320.00

Himalayan Herders is an intimate portrait of a temple-village in the Yolmo valley of Central Nepal where Tibetan Buddhists consult shamans, married life begins by kidnapping the bride, and the nearest road is a two-day walk away. The community drama of marriage, death, and rituals is juxtaposed with the rich texture of daily life, both in the village and the surrounding mountains and forest where these pastoralists herd zomo, a cross between a cow and a yak, which thrives in middle altitude pastures between 8,000 and 14,000 feet. Cultural change, in the form of a government primary school, incorporation into a national park, and circular migration for wage labor outside Nepal, is discussed by residents in interviews.

A twenty-five-year-long collaboration between an ethnographer and a documentary filmmaker, the film provides rich material for examining gender, cultural change, religion, pastoralism, South Asia, and the cultural ecology and economics of mountain populations. An ethnography, Himalayan Herders, published by Harcourt Brace in fall 1997 as part of the Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology Series, provides a companion volume to the film.

Visit Bishop, John to see additional products in this category.

Hosay Trinidad

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:27:00 GMT

Hosay Trinidad
Buy Now: $320.00

Hosay Trinidad is an ethnographic film about the observance of Shi'ite Muharram rites on the island of Trinidad. It looks at this visually and aurally stunning occasion through a number of different lenses and will be of interest to anyone who is engaged with the role that performances, religious observances and rituals play in the presentation of self and other in public as well as private settings. The film will be useful in the classroom for instruction on ethnicity, diaspora, creolization, cultural pluralism, and Caribbean studies.

Visit Bishop, John to see additional products in this category.

John Bishop Short Films

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 11:12:00 GMT

John Bishop Short Films
Buy Now: $320.00

A compilation of short works by filmmaker John Bishop. The films are organized into three categories: documentary, observational, and dance.

DOCUMENTARY:

Red Top Snuff (shot 1975, edited 1999) (8:43) (co-produced with Barbara Ayres; Noah Bishop editor)

Ben Pearson’s family has been milling on the Parker River in Massachusetts since colonial times and began grinding snuff when the industrial revolution brought textile mills to the Merrimack Valley. The Byfield Snuff Company continued making snuff until 1990 and its most popular product was called Red Top.

Yoyo Man (1978) (12:03) (co-produced with Naomi Bishop; Barbara Rahm folklorist; Paul Deason sound)

A portrait of one of the Duncan Yoyo Company’s original yoyo demonstrators, Nemo Concepcion.

Choose Life (1982) (9:18) (co-produced with Robbie Leppzer; Josh Kanan & Judy Carp sound)

On June 12th more than one million people marched in New York for a nuclear freeze.

Hand Play (1985) (6:21) (co-produced with Naomi Bishop; John Terry sound)

Nathan Kostoulakos demonstrates minkeys and lurmeys.

The Dalai Lama’s Birthday (2000) (5:23) (Noah Bishop sound)

His Holiness was not present, but his birthday was well celebrated at the Boudhanath stupa in the Kathmandu Valley.

OBSERVATIONAL:

Shopping for an Offering (1995) (11:30) (John Terry sound; Noah Bishop assistant camera)

Cambodian dancers make an offering to their patron deities and teachers before a performance. Shot during production of the DVD Cambodian Court Dance: The Next Generation, this film follows dancers in Phnom Penh and Arlington, Virginia as they prepare for these ceremonies.

Indulgence at La Cueva (1975) (3:24) (co-produced with Don Symons)

While filming Rhesus Play in Puerto Rico, we often took a shortcut through the mangroves to the other side of the island.

Gaishay Returns to !ao#’a (shot 1989, edited 2006) (5:18) (Peter Baker sound)

An incidental event shot in Namibia for John Marshall while filming his epic, A Kalahari Family.

Everyone is Down on Me (1975) (2:52) (Ray Melcher camera)

Bob Jefferey, a blues player from San Diego, performing at the California Heartland presentation at the 1975 Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife.

DANCE:

Tango in the Toilet (1998) (3:01) (co-produced with Jo Parkes)

A site-specific dance performance choreographed by Victoria Marks for a concert in the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures.

At the Edge (1999) (5:53) (produced by Sharon Kinney)

Sharon Kinney’s dance for the camera performed by Jennifer Lafferty with music by David Karagianis.

Solow (2000) (2:48)

John Seavers is a versatile and engaging street performer, as well as an outstanding dancer in any genre. This was part of a collaborative film, Venice-Where the Sidewalk Ends.

Rainy Night in Burbank (shot 1992, edited 2004) (5:04) (co-produced with Barbara Rahm)

Kuma Hula Kunewa Mook rehearsing with Hula Halau O’ Kamuela Elua.

Pretty Polly (2007) (6:08) (produced by Raige Pierson; Ally Voye editor; Esther Baker-Tarpaga choreographer)

A music video for Raige Pierson’s arrangement and performance of the classic American murder ballad, Pretty Polly.

Visit Bishop, John to see additional products in this category.

The Last Window

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 06:41:00 GMT

The Last Window
Buy Now: $295.00

When Charles J. Connick Associates closed their doors in 1986, they left a legacy of 15,000 stained glass windows in more than 5000 churches, libraries and other public buildings. Founded on the principles of a medieval craft guild, this Boston studio was closely allied with Ralph Adams Cram, Dean of the Gothic revival in American architecture, and in it's heyday, between 1920 and 1950, employed and trained scores of artisans. The Last Window, narrated by Jonathan Fairbanks, Curator of American Decorative Arts Museum of Fine Arts Boston, follows the studio's final commission from design to installation; the artisans' commentary establishes the historical, aesthetic, and social context in which they work. Many examples of Connick windows are included, taking the film outside the studio to show the contrast between the workers' relationship with the art and that of the patrons and users.

Visit Bishop, John to see additional products in this category.

New England Fiddles

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:11:00 GMT

New England Fiddles
Buy Now: $320.00

Since colonial times, the fiddle has enjoyed a primary place in American traditional music. Playing the fiddle is both intensely personal and an expression of cultural aesthetics. The fiddler provides the spirit and music for dances which are important elements for community cohesion. New England styles and tunes originate in French and Anglo-Celtic traditions which have been transformed into the music we hear at fiddle contests and contra dances in the Northeast today.

New England Fiddles (28 mins) presents seven of the finest traditional musicians as they play in their homes and at dances and contests, passing their styles to younger fiddlers, and commenting on their music. Featured are Ron West (Yankee), Paddy Cronnin (Irish), Ben Guillemette (Quebecois), Wilfred Guillette (Quebecois), Harold Luce (Yankee), Gerry Robichaud (Maritime), and the Cape Breton style of Joe Cormier (National Heritage Award from the National Endowment for the Arts).

New England Dances (28 mins) is a spirited visit to some old dances, focusing on the callers and musicians who make them happen. It features Phil Johnson calling squares in Lebanon, Maine with the Maple Sugar band; John Campbell and Norman MacEachern at the Canadian Club in Watertown, Massachusetts; William Chaisson and Joe Cormier at the French American Victory Club in Waltham, Massachusetts; Arcade Richard and Victor Albert in Leominster, Massachusetts doing quadrilles; and Charley Mitchell at the Blue Goose in Northport, Maine doing contra dances. Also included are some bravura dance sequences by Irish step dancers Liam Harney and Deirdre Goulding, and Cape Breton step dancer Harvey Beaton.

This DVD also contains:

11 tunes (21 min) from the outtakes
8 minutes of Simon St. Pierre, the remarkable fiddler from Northern Maine, during his 1983 Washington DC trip to accept a National Heritage Award, (footage from the Alan Lomax Archive)
John Bishop talks about making the films
An annotated transcript of New England Fiddles is included as a PDF text file.

"A fascinating film about how peoples' lives relate to the music they make."
— Pete Seeger

"Like the best art, John Bishop's films speak for themselves. New England Fiddles takes its place in a body of work that deals uncompromisingly with the roots of today's popular music, and portrays with insight and affection both a genre and its creators. "
— Peter Guralnick

TV Broadcast

[New England Dances] Maine Public Broadcast, USA, 2013

Visit Bishop, John to see additional products in this category.

Oh, What A Blow That Phantom Gave Me!

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 13:51:00 GMT

Oh, What A Blow That Phantom Gave Me!
Buy Now: $320.00

This film takes its title from a book written by filmmaker Edmund Carpenter in 1972 about his engagement with media in Papua New Guinea. In the film, several filmmakers discuss the introduction of media, and film in particular, to native cultures. Media has the ability to help native peoples document their own cultures, but it also has the power to encroach upon those cultures and irreversibly alter them.

This film relates the ways in which native peoples engage with media, from the Biami who proudly developed the "Big Wink" to learn how to properly focus a camera, to the Kandagan people who changed the rules of a thousand year old male initiation ceremony to allow a woman camera operator to document the ceremony.

At issue is the way in which media "swallows cultures" and the benefits and dangers of introducing preliterate societies to Western modes of communication and expression.

Screening History

John Culkin Award for Outstanding Praxis in the Field of Media Ecology. Media Ecology Association, 2004

IWF International Festival of Ethnographic Film, Germany, 2004

8th Royal Anthropological InstituteÕs International Festival of Ethnographic Film, England, 2003

Northeastern Anthropological Association, Burlington, Vermont, 2003

14th Beeld voor Beeld Ethnographic Film Festival, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2003

4th Media Ecology Association Annual Conference, 2003

American Anthropological Association, Chicago, 2003

7th Documentary and Ethnographic Film Festival of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2003

Taiwan Ethnographic Film Festival, 2003

Documentary & Ethnographic Film Festival of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2003

Göttingen International Film Festival, Germany, 2004

Interuniversity Ethnographic Film Festival of Montreal, 2005

Visit Bishop, John to see additional products in this category.

OSS Tales

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 13:51:00 GMT

OSS Tales
Buy Now: $320.00

Padstow, a town on the north coast of Cornwall, celebrates May Day with a unique custom: two hobby horses, or osses, dance through the town streets, accompanied by drums and accordians. All Padstownians participate in this exciting event, which has now become a tourist attraction, drawing over 30,000 visitors the first of May to this fishing town of 3000.

Folklorists Alan Lomax and Peter Kennedy visited Padstow in 1951, producing a film called Oss Oss Wee Oss (1953). In 2004, filmmaker John Bishop and folklorist Sabina Magliocco (with Jaynie Ali Aydin and Noah Bishop) returned to Padstow to see how the custom was faring fifty years later.

This DVD has four films:

Oss Tales (2007) 25 min

Re-engages the Padstow May Day in 2004. The film includes footage from Oss Oss Wee Oss and commentary by Peter Kennedy and Ronald Hutton, and people of Padstow.

Oss Oss Wee Oss (1953) 18 min

The complete film by George Pickow, Peter Kennedy and Alan Lomax in a new digital transfer.

Oss Oss Wee Oss Redux: Beltane in Berkeley (2004) 14 min

A portrait of a contemporary pagan group in Berkeley, California that yearly re-enacts the custom of the hobby horse as part of its May Day revelries.

About the Oss Films (2007) 11 min

George Pickow and Peter Kennedy talk about making the 1953 film and John Bishop and Sabina Magliocco speak about making this DVD.

A study guide is included on the DVD in PDF format.

Visit Bishop, John to see additional products in this category.

Rhesus Play

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 08:59:00 GMT

Rhesus Play
Buy Now: $295.00

Rhesus Play shows and analyses aggressive play - play fighting and play chasing - among free ranging rhesus monkeys of La Cueva Island, Puerto Rico.

It confronts the question of why monkeys play by examining what they do when they play, and illustrates that the fundamental objective of play fighting is to bite without being bitten, a goal attained in part by climbing on top or getting behind the play partner. Sections illustrating development of aggressive play and play between mis-matched individuals elaborate the theme: play fighting functions to practice and perfect fighting skills.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Margaret Mead Film Festival New York, 1977

Robert Flaherty Seminar, 1978

Conference on Visual Anthropology Temple University, 1978

New York Visual Anthropology Center, 1978

American Society of Primatologists Emory University, 1978

Visit Bishop, John to see additional products in this category.

Seasons of Migration

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 07:46:00 GMT

Seasons of Migration
Buy Now: $320.00

Seasons of Migration (56 min) is a documentary about Sophilene Cheam Shapiro's four part classical Cambodian dance about the stages of culture shock. It blends the dance with commentary about the music and choreography, and personal stories of emigration and culture shock from Cambodian-American residents of Long Beach, California (the largest Cambodian city outside of Cambodia).

Also included on this DVD, a second video (38 min) presents the complete dance, shot with multiple cameras. The dance is interesting for its use of a classical vocabulary to address contemporary themes. It was produced by John Shapiro of the Khmer Arts Academy.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Dance on Camera Festival, New York, 2007

Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival, Taipei, 2007

Everglades International Film Festival, Dargle, Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa, 2007

Cinemekong, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2007

Cambofest, Phnom Penh & Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2007

Eugene International Film Festival, Oregon, 2008

Beverly Hills Hi-Def Film Festival, California, 2008

Strategies From Within: An Exhibition of Vietnamese & Cambodian Contemporary Art Practices, Shanghai, China, 2008

Apsara: Spirit Of Cambodia (Exhibition), Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2008

Nominee: Asian Pacific Screen Awards, Gold Coast, Australia, 2008

Visit Bishop, John to see additional products in this category.