Documentary Educational Resources - Subject / Identity Studies / Class, Ethnic & National Identities / All Films

The Intersection

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 08:03:38 GMT

The Intersection examines the distinct yet intersecting trajectories of French-speaking immigrants from both Canada and Francophone-African countries, as they converge in Lewiston, Maine. Through a focus on the lives and friendship between Cecile, a French-Canadian woman whose family came to the US to work in the local mills, part of an immigrant wave beginning in the 1840s, and Trésor, a Congolese man seeking asylum who is part of a recent wave of African immigrants, the film suggests the importance of language for identity and community. Cecile and Trésor build a bond around their common first language, French. After a lifetime of suppressing her French identity, Cecile regains pride in her origins, while the common language offers Trésor a means of building connections in his new home.

The filmmakers frame this story of friendship within a broader historical context, encouraging viewers to reflect on the history of immigration in Maine since the first European settlers arrived. In just over 30 minutes, the film manages to provide an overview of immigrant experiences, including histories of discrimination and oppression both past and present. This deeply American story touches on issues relevant to communities around the country and is a great film for classes in sociolinguistics, American history, immigration, Francophone studies and more.

“I strongly recommend this film to anyone seeking a better understanding of what Francophonie means...” – Olivier Favry, Cultural Attaché, French Consulate in Boston

“The Intersection is a heart-warming film that shows the deep bond formed through the bridge of a common language.” – Charlotte Cushman, educator

Selected Screenings & Awards

Audience Award for Best Short, Camden Int'l Film Festival, USA, 2021

Tourmaline Prize for Best Maine Film Short, Maine Int'l Film Festival, USA, 2022

Royal Anthropological Institute RAI Film Festival, UK, 2023

Independent Film Festival Boston, USA, 2022

FLOURISH Festival, Fredericton, NB, Canada, 2022

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Sankara Is Not Dead

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 10:01:15 GMT

Sankara Is Not Dead
Buy Now: $320.00

In the wake of Burkina Faso’s October 2014 popular uprising, the young poet Bikontine begins to question his dreams of seeking a better life in the West. On a mission to learn more about his country and meet his fellow citizens, he travels along the country’s only rail line. From south to north, through cities and villages, Bikontine learns about the hopes, dreams, and disappointments of his countrymen. His journey ultimately reveals the enduring political legacy of storied former president Thomas Sankara, assassinated in 1987 and known as the “African Che Guevara.” This poetic road movie brings viewers along as Bikontine searches for meaning in a rapidly changing society.

"Lucie Viver’s film is a beautifully shot and expressively scored portrait of Burkina Faso and its people in this moment of uncertain yet hopeful change. It integrates poetry and travel writing, with splices of Sankara’s speeches and footage of the 2014 revolution to capture people’s experiences in the aftermath of the uprising." – Benjamin Talton, Jacobin Magazine

This film is Highly Recommended and relevant for any library collection supporting a curriculum centered on colonial and post-colonial Africa, current African political unrest, the specific political experience of Burkina Faso, and Thomas Sankara. While a general audience will understand and appreciate the political and economic story being told in this film, those with a basic understand of the country's history will have a more impactful experience with this film. – Educational Media Reviews Online

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival, Toronto, 2023

John Marshall Award for Contemporary Ethnographic Media, Camden IFF, USA, 2019
Special Jury Prize, AFRIFF (African Int. Film Festival), Nigeria, 2019
Best Documentary Feature, Budapest IFF, Hungary, 2020
First Prize "Breaking Boundaries", Rhode Island International Film Festival, USA, 2020
Special Mention, DOKer Moscow International Documentary Film Festival, Russia, 2020

Göteborg Film Festival, Sweden, 2020

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, USA, 2020

ethnocineca International Documentary Film Festival, Austria, 2020
DOXA, Canada, 2020
Cinéma du Réel, France, 2019
FIDADOC, Morocco, 2019
DOK Leipzig, Germany, 2019
MIDBO, Colombia, 2019
Trujillo Independent Film Festival, Peru, 2020

Benin City Film Festival, Nigeria, 2019
AFRIFF Africa International Film Festival, Nigeria, 2019

Les rencontres de Cinessonne, France, 2019
Festival International du Cinéma Francophone en Acadie, Canada, 2019
Out of Africa International Film Festival, Kenya, 2019
Festival Film Dokumenter, Indonesia, 2019
Festival Ciné Droit Libre, Burkina Faso, 2019

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Life Is a Very Strange Thing

Tue, 2 Jul 2019 09:22:22 GMT

Life Is a Very Strange Thing
Buy Now: $320.00

Life Is A Very Strange Thing is an intriguing mosaic of post-colonial France revealed through four generations of a remarkable French family.

Australian filmmakers Les McLaren and Annie Stiven last saw Frédéric Duvelle in the 1970s when he was a rebellious teenager recording traditional music in remote villages of Papua New Guinea. Forty years later, a chance reunion became an opportunity to fill in missing decades and to discover his remarkable family history, from his Governor grandfather in colonial Indochina to the populist politics and terror attacks of contemporary France.

We meet Frédéric's parents: mother Elisabeth, a politically engaged textile artist who raised Fred and his two sisters in a working-class suburb of Paris; and composer father Charles who grew up in Laos and Cambodia, and became celebrated for his pioneering recordings of traditional music in Africa.

Frédéric's recounts his own unlikely journey from school dropout, to ethnomusicologist then executive of a multinational garbage enterprise. He is a wily raconteur and avid collector of brocante. Shadowed by his endearing ancient dog Punch, encounters with friends in Paris and Bordeaux unfold rich layers of French culture and identity: an enigmatic African artist discusses Cubism; a cameo family lunch with a menu of oysters, history and politics; a 93-year-old WW2 Resistance veteran who forgives; and an irascible brocanteur who can't forget.

The youngest generation confront issues at the heart of cosmopolitan France: Frédéric's niece is an activist with FEMEN who protest against conservative values as the populist right-wing National Front is on the rise, and his daughter has a near encounter on the night of the Bataclan terror attack.

Life Is A Very Strange Thing is part road movie, part meditation. Its unique mix – of observation, archive footage from PNGand Indochina, indigenous music and rich sound design – evokes a lyrical and compelling portrait of family, place, politics, and memory.

“The film crackles with energy, fueled by Duvelle’s irresistible charm and intelligence; as a character, he’s every director’s dream: irascible and an oddball; cuddly, endearing and benevolent. A complex man encapsulated in a film that’s impressive in scope yet full of heart as an intimate study of a storied, colourful individual.” – John Catania, Metro Magazine

“An unusually nuanced, subtle, and insightful foray into the culturalpolitics of contemporary France.” – Steven Feld, School for AdvancedResearch, Santa Fe

“I haven't seen such a brilliantly crafted film for a long time. The film shows us that the story of France is not only local but includes the stories of travellers throughout the colonial and post-colonial world. Yet at the same time it carries us into the life of metropolitan France today with an intimacy that is thoroughly enjoyable.” – David MacDougall, Filmmaker & Film Scholar, Austrailian National University

SELECTED SCREENINGS

Cinematographiques de Cannes, France, 2018

Rencontres - cinema des Antipodes, St Tropez, 2018
Brisbane International Film Festival, Australia, 2017
Antenna Documentary Festival, Sydney, Australia, 2017

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!Kung Short Films

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

!Kung Short Films
Buy Now: $545.00

Between 1950 and 1958, John Marshall made four expeditions to film the Ju/'hoansi (a group of !Kung Bushmen) of the Nyae Nyae region of Namibia (then South West Africa). Marshall and his family, who together undertook an extensive multi-disciplinary study of Ju/'hoansi, spent the greatest amount of time with the people of /Gautcha, including ≠Oma, !U, Tsamko, N!ai, and /Gunda. During this time, Marshall shot over 300,000 feet of 16mm film (157 hours). He later produced a total of 23 films exclusively from this footage. 15 of those are short films that Marshall referred to as "sequence films." Each focuses on a single event, providing the viewer a brief introduction followed by an uninterrupted sequence.

Although Marshall recorded some sync sound between 1955 and 1958, sync recording in the field was difficult and cumbersome. As a compromise, Marshall made non-sync recordings at the time of filming and later joined this audio to the edited films. Soundtracks were sometimes enhanced with additional ambient sound or sound effects recorded after the fact. This method allowed Marshall a major innovation in ethnographic and documentary film - his subjects could speak for themselves, often accompanied by subtitles.

These shorts were intended as educational films, to be viewed multiple times and with the aid of a study guide. The introduction to each film might identify major characters, outline the basic plot, or offer background information about the event to follow, but then viewers are left to experience the film for themselves, to form their own impressions of what is happening and why. Of course, the films have proven to have a life well beyond the classroom. They are intimate portraits of the daily life and ritual life of ≠Oma and his band during the 1950's. Rich in ethnographic detail, the films' beauty and high emotional content are indicative of the close bond that Marshall had formed with his subjects - a bond that would last all his life.

This collection combines fourteen of Marshall's short !Kung films onto two remastered/re-authored DVDs, complete with a full-color booklet containing photos, writings, and additional information about the series.

Disc One:
A Curing Ceremony (bw) (9:00)
Group of Women (6:00)
A Joking Relationship (13:00)
N/um Tchai: The Ceremonial Dance of the !Kung Bushmen (bw) (20:00)
N!owa T'ama: The Melon Tossing Game (15:00)
The Lion Game (5:00)
An Argument About a Marriage (18:00)
Men Bathing (14:00)

Disc Two:
Playing with Scorpions (5:00)
A Rite of Passage (15:00)
Debe's Tantrum (9:00)
The Wasp Nest (13:00)
The Meat Fight (14:00)
Baobab Play (8:00)

Orthography Note
The group of people depicted in these films are the Ju/'hoansi, speakers of the Ju/'hoan language. Ju/'hoan is part of the !Kung language group; the term !Kung was previously used by the Marshall family and others to refer to Ju/'hoansi. Although the term is outdated, it has been retained here for the sake of consistency with John Marshall's previously published work. The films and their related printed materials also employ antiquated spellings of names and places. For current Ju/'hoan orthography, please see the Ju/'hoan - English Dictionary, compiled by Patrick Dickens and the Ju/'hoan Peoples Literacy Committee.

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Maasai Migrants Series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Maasai Migrants Series
Buy Now: $320.00

The seven videos contained in this DVD were made in Tanzania between 2008 and 2010 by participants in the Maasai Migrants Field School, directed by Peter Biella of San Francisco State University's Program in Visual Anthropology. The primary purpose of the videos in the series is to educate urban and rural Maasai about the consequences of migration, especially its relationship to poverty and the spread of HIV. The films have been produced through a continuing collaboration with Maasai-led and other NGOs, and they are being screened and discussed in Maasai regions throughout Tanzania. Their purpose is to trigger emotional reactions that prompt viewers to engage in important — though otherwise rare and uncomfortable — conversations, about poverty, migration, and sexual practices. The series also constitutes a self-critical history of a project in applied anthropology and gives an example for applied practitioners who may wish to use video in their work.

About the films:

Maasai Migrants (Dir. Peter Biella, 22 min, 2008)

This is the first film completed in the Maasai Migrants Series, the multi-year collaborative exploration of applied anthropological videos contained in this DVD. Planned in close collaboration with Maasai organizers and local migrants, the film depicts the appalling conditions experienced by migrants in Dar es Salaam - the dangerous and underpaid work of night watchmen, and the tenuous existence of Maasai woman who, without male protection, are always at risk of exploitation. The video is divided into seven 3-minute vignettes, each giving a different facet of the Maasai community displaced by migration. Rich with data, the vignettes trigger audience discussions about the challenges of poverty and the push and pull of city life. A film about the scripting, shooting and screening of Maasai Migrants is recorded in Subject to Change, a video contained in this DVD. There, emphasis is placed on how the video has been understood by urban and rural Maasai viewers.

Subject to Change (Dir. Shamia Sandles, 21 min, 2009)

Subtitled A Freirean Case Study in Applied Visual Anthropology, this film presents the theoretical assumptions and screening strategy of films in the Maasai Migrants Series. It does so through a history of the Series' first season, the scripting, shooting and screening of Maasai Migrants (also contained on this DVD). Included in Subject to Change is documentary footage of meetings with production collaborators — an American professor and his student who made this film, Maasai night watchmen, homeless Maasai women, Maasai intellectuals and members of a Maasai-led NGO. These meetings reveal the development of the themes and documentary script of the film, and how they are designed to promote discussion among urban and prospective migrants living in rural homesteads. Subject to Change also provides an understanding of errors made by project members in choosing the wrong venues for screening and in failing to prepare post-screening facilitators for their task of promoting audience discussion after the showings. Finally, Subject to Change presents footage of four post-screening events in different locations — a church, an urban market, a school and a rural homestead. The analysis of Maasai Migrants' goals and strategy, supplemented by Maasai viewers' subtle comments on the film, reveal a great potential for an applied visual anthropology.

Maasai Speak Out on HIV and AIDS (Dir. Biella; research & footage by Thomas Sengale, 13 min, 2009)

Ilmurran is the most-frequently screened trigger film in the Maasai Migrants repertoire. Like the others, its goal is to provide critical education to displaced Maasai throughout Tanzania. When the film is screened with a skilled discussion facilitator, it allows an unprecedented opportunity for Maasai audiences to reflect on the realities and dangers of migration. Longido Waterhole and Longido Homestead, both included on this DVD, record Maasai viewers as they watch and discuss this film. Ilmurran: Young Warriors and the City provides discussion material concerning increased exposure to HIV, and the attraction of migration as a means of survival in the face of encroaching poverty. Following a strategy of collaborative, applied visual anthropology, the filmmakers worked with university educated Maasai to document the day-to-day lives of three young Maasai brothers (ilmurran, "warriors"). The young men all live at the same homestead in central Tanzania. Using interviews and vérité footage, the film invites the brothers to discuss discrimination, homelessness, and disease in the cities. It also highlights how their different ages influence their attitudes toward traditional Maasai values. Before he became ill, the eldest advocated migration as an expression of independence and courage; the youngest sees no purpose in "wandering" and advocates farming, a means of subsistence rejected by most Maasai. Ilmurran illustrates how poverty and migration have reshaped Maasai identity.

Ilmurran: Young Warriors and the City (Dir. Michael Crammond and Kellen Prandini, 22 min, 2010)

Excerpts from Changa Revisited (Dir. Peter Biella and Leonard Kamerling, 17 min, 2012)

Composed of selections from a feature-length documentary, Excerpts from Changa Revisited depicts the shocking clarity with which three Ilparakuyo Maasai women understand the dissolution of their Ilparakuyo community. They describe their homestead as torn by human and livestock diseases, widespread alcoholism among men, and the increase of poverty, disrespect, migration and violence. Changa Revisited was filmed in a community that is very close to Dar es Salaam: for that reason, the community is experiencing the full destructive impact of migration and access to city life. Changa Revisited is therefore a cautionary tale to other, more isolated, Maasai communities that are currently less impacted by the crises of migration and HIV depicted in the film. Another video contained in this DVD, Longido Homestead, records women in a relatively isolated Kisongo Maasai community who watch Changa Revisited and discuss the fate of their less fortunate Maasai sisters to the south. The story of Changa represents to them — and to others in very isolated Maasai communities — what the future may bring.

Longido Waterhole (Dir. Peter Biella and Leonard Kamerling, 8 min, 2010)

All of the films in the Maasai Migrants DVD explore a technique of applied anthropology in which films are used to trigger often passionate post-screening discussions among Maasai audiences. Longido Waterhole, like its companion, Longido Homestead, documents such a discussion. As the film opens, a dozen Kisongo Maasai men have just viewed Ilmurran: Young Warriors and the City, one of the Series' trigger films about social change. The viewers, who live more than two hundred miles north of the community where the Ilmurran video was shot, launch into a discussion about the profound changes faced by their own community. They do not concern themselves with the principle theme of the Ilmurran film, i.e., the crisis of young Maasai migrating to the city. Instead, the film triggers a discussion of their own related crisis — the city migrating to them. Rapid regional development with new highways, foreign workers and permanent dwellings are all encroaching on their once isolated desert grazing land. Comments divide along age lines: senior warriors criticize their "fathers" for facilitating the arrival of outsiders and for their adherence to "outmoded" Maasai traditions. Elders reply that traditions are the only value that Maasai should preserve. The discussion at the Longido Waterhole gives insight into the ideological rifts concerning modernization among different age groups of Maasai. It also shows how using a film that focuses on one facet of modernization may trigger discussions of others that are more pertinent locally.

Longido Homestead (Dir. Peter Biella and Leonard Kamerling, 8 min, 2010)

Like its companion piece, Longido Waterhole and other videos on this DVD, Longido Homestead is part of the Maasai Migrants Series, a multi-year exploration of the use of applied anthropological media in facilitating social change through the screening and discussion of trigger films. Longido Homestead's women viewers are asked to discuss a video clip from Ilmurran: Young Warriors and the City, and a segment of Changa Revisited (both contained on this DVD). Unlike their male counterparts recorded in Longido Waterhole, these women viewers stay focused on the themes of the films they viewed. Like the men, however, the women understand the film topic in ways that differ according to their age. Older women declare that traditional Maasai medicines are an effective cure of AIDS. Their daughters, adult women who have visited clinics and have some formal education, know differently. Longido Homestead shows how the screening of trigger films can create an unprecedented opportunity for open discussion between age grades, opportunities in which younger women may contradict and educate their elders. The film also reveals an important strategy in the use of trigger films among communities that are as thoroughly sex-segregated as the Maasai. The women are only able to speak frankly with one another when the filmmakers persuade their husbands to leave.

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Changa Revisited

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:16:00 GMT

Changa Revisited
Buy Now: $320.00

Changa Revisited is the story of Tanzania Maasai elder Toreto ole Koisenge and his family, seen from two points in time across a thirty year divide. His life has drastically changed since anthropologist Peter Biella first visited his home thirty years ago. Then he had six hundred cattle. Now disease has reduced his herd to twenty. The world of Maasai pastoralists has gotten smaller and smaller since the Tanzania government forced them to live in permanent villages and end the seasonal cattle migrations. “The world is upside-down…what can you do except change?” says Toreto. The film draws on hundreds of photographs and audio recordings taken in 1980 by Peter Biella. These images, woven with contemporary video footage, create a deeply personal portrait of the unfolding of a family's life through three decades of tumultuous change.

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China Remix

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:16:00 GMT

China Remix
Buy Now: $295.00

This short documentary explores China's burgeoning African entertainment industry through the lives of three African hip-hop artists. Based in the southeastern city of Guangzhou – home to China's largest community of African immigrants – the film follows the entertainers as they try to find success in the face of challenging labor and immigration laws. The film follows the entertainers as they prepare for their shows, perform, and live their daily lives with their Chinese and African family members and friends, against the backdrop of the risk of deporation and ongoing prejudice.

"[A] fascinating film. ... [W]ith the Chinese state fervently pushing investment and development in countries throughout Africa, a new set of relationships is developing. The consequences of these relationships, both within and outside China, are just beginning to be explored, [China Remix] highlights relationships on a personal level [and] is a welcomed contribution."
–Tami Blumenfield, American Anthropologist

SELECTED SCREENINGS AND FESTIVALS

Margaret Mead Film Festival, New York

African Diaspora International Film Festival, New York

Africa World Documentary Film Festival, St. Louis, Missouri

Amakula International Film Festival, Kampala, Uganda

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Dollars and Dreams

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:05:00 GMT

Dollars and Dreams
Buy Now: $320.00

Dollars and Dreams is a documentary film focused on the pursuits and challenges of numerous West African immigrants as they confront the idea of the American Dream and the reality of the New York experience. Including additional perspective from scholars, authors, and community leaders, the film creates a vibrant portrait of African achievement throughout the city, while exploring the complicated issues African immigrants face as they balance their deep connections to Africa and their enthusiastic commitments to America.

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Dinka Diaries

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

Dinka Diaries
Buy Now: $320.00

Dinka Diaries tells the story of some of America's most recent arrivals: Sudanese refugees who would have never dreamt a few years ago that they'd be living in America. Over the course of ten months, the film follows the lives of three Sudanese refugees who resettle in the Philadelphia area and adjust to the new American culture and way of life.

Dinka Diaries represents an important attempt to empower refugees by giving them the opportunity to represent themselves and their experiences through film.

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Divided Loyalties

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

Divided Loyalties
Buy Now: $320.00

Divided Loyalties studies the stories of Greek and Turkish Cypriot refugees and nationals who seek to reconcile their fractured heritage from the history of the proud, yet divided island: Cyprus. Shot in 16 mm the film reveals both a visual and emotional landscape of the island. Structured around the chronological political legacy of Cyprus, award-winning director and cinematographer Sophia Constantinou explores the memories and personal histories of its natives, as well as her own family. Unknown to many, Cyprus, as of 2001, is one of the most densely militarized zones in the world. The United Nations, Turkey and Great Britain continue to hold strong military presences in Cyprus -severing the island into separate Greek and Turkish territories. Cypriots are constantly reminded of their disjointed identities by the military border zone physically splitting the island into North and South regions. Such turbulence resulted in the scattering of Cypriots around the globe, deunifying familial, individual and collective identities. Important for teaching international relations, middle eastern studies, anthropology, conflict resolution and identity.

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