Documentary Educational Resources - Subject / Compilation / All Films

Yanomamö Films: Remastered, Vol. 1

Tue, 14 Sep 2021 09:45:14 GMT

Yanomamö Films: Remastered, Vol. 1
Buy Now: $1,000.00

In 1968 and again in 1971 filmmaker Timothy Asch and anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon collaborated on a project to film the Yanomamö Indians. Chagnon had conducted research among the Yanomamö beginning in 1964, and Asch had previously filmed in the field in Africa and Japan. During his first field trip, Chagnon used a 16mm Bolex to film selected aspects of Yanomamö life.

In 1968, Asch joined Chagnon, and from this first collaboration two films were produced: The Feast and Yanomamö: A Multidisciplinary Study. The latter film was made in close cooperation with a team of scientists from the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Michigan. A feast was chosen as the subject of the other film for several reasons: it was a predictable event, and as a single event it could be placed in the social and cultural context of the village. Additionally, the feast illustrated some classical anthropological themes - reciprocity and alliance formation - that would complement Chagnon's own published work, particularly his widely-read Yanomamö: The Fierce People.

Between 1968 and 1971 Chagnon returned annually to the field and filmed alone. The footage shot during this period became more meaningful when viewed as part of the larger body of film on the Yanomamö shot collaboratively by Asch and Chagnon in 1971. During 1971 the team (together with Craig Johnson who recorded synchronous sound) shot an additional 80,000 feet of 16mm color film, using Arriflex, Bolex, Nagra, and Uher equipment. The scene of most of this film is the remote village of Mishimishimabowei-teri, a village whose history and inhabitants Chagnon knew well. Several figures in particular are outstanding: Moawa, a village headman and Dedeheiwä, another headman and the leading shaman in Magical Death.

In all, Asch and Chagnon shot approximately 110,000 feet (50 hours) of film on the Yanomamö, much of it in Mishimishimabowei-teri. Thirty-seven films were produced from this footage and initially used in a national introductory curriculum project supported by the National Science Foundation. Today, they have become classics of visual anthropology and continue to be studied in classrooms throughout the world.

This collection includes these remastered films:

Arrow Game

The Ax Fight

Children's Magical Death

Climbing the Peach Palm

A Father Washes His Children

Magical Death

A Man and His Wife Make a Hammock

A Man Called Bee: Studying the Yanomamö

Moonblood: A Yanomamö Creation Myth

Weeding the Garden

Several of these films are also available on the Yanomamö Shorts DVD collection. This two-disc set includes the following remastered titles on Disc One: Arrow Game, Children's Magical Death, Climbing the Peach Palm, A Father Washes His Children, A Man and His Wife Make a Hammock and Weeding the Garden. Also included on Disc One: Firewood, Tapir Distribution and Tug-of-War. Disc Two includes: Dedeheiwä Rests in His Garden, Children Roasting Meat, A Woman Spins, Children Make a Toy Hammock, Sand Play, Playing in the Rain, Mouth Wrestling, and Young Shaman.

Films in the Yanomamö series:

Arrow Game *†

The Ax Fight †

Bride Service

Children's Magical Death *†

Climbing the Peach Palm *†

A Father Washes His Children *†

The Feast

Firewood *

Jaguar, a Yanomamö Twin Cycle Myth

Magical Death †

A Man and His Wife Make a Hammock *†

A Man Called Bee: Studying the Yanomamö †

Moonblood: A Yanomamö Creation Myth †

Myth of Naro, as told by Dedeheiwä

Myth of Naro, as told by Kaobawä

New Tribes Mission

Ocamo is My Town

Tapir Distribution *

Tug-of-War, Yanomamö *

Weeding the Garden *†

Yanomamö: A Multidisciplinary Study

Yanomamö of the Orinoco

* included on the Yanomamö Shorts compilation
† included in the Yanomamö Films: Remastered, Vol. 1 set

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Forsaken Fragments

Thu, 14 Feb 2019 12:58:00 GMT

Forsaken Fragments
Buy Now: $340.00

This collection of short films and “uncompleted” fragments made by renowned filmmaker Robert Gardner spans his life and career, and reflects his interests, from ethnography to the art world. Though presented as a set, the pieces stand on their own as riveting cinematic experiences, offering insight into Gardner’s personality and curiosity.

Among the works on the DVD are finished pieces broadcast on local television, such as Gardner’s “non-commercials,” focusing on ordinary life and created as a challenge to broadcast audiences. Other works are unfinished fragments, cherished by Gardner for capturing a tone or a moment. Yet other pieces are constructed from footage gathered while working on other films. These include Supplicating Women and Life Keeps On Passing, which were filmed in Benares while making Forest of Bliss, and The Old Lady, which was filmed while working with the Marshall family in Namibia.

The DVD comes packaged with a full-color 28-page booklet and extra features including selectable director's commentary tracks and an audio recording from Gardner's in-person appearance when an earlier incarnation of Forsaken Fragments screened at the Harvard Film Archive in Cambridge MA in October, 2010.

“Because of Gardner's wide range of fascinations, the sequence of 'fragments' creates considerable cinematic surprise. Several reveal dimensions of Gardner's filmmaking that even some familiar with his career might not be aware of; others reference Gardner's better-known films or offer additional insight into earlier work. Altogether, this is an engaging compilation that exceeds the implications of its title; each film is less a fragment than a cine-haiku; and if these pieces were 'forsaken' during the busy-ness of Gardner's production career and his years of teaching at Harvard, they are not forsaken now."

– Scott MacDonald, Hamilton University

Includes the following films:

The Old Lady, aka A Human Document (4 min, 1958)
In 1957, Gardner visited the Kalahari with John Marshall to help film The Hunters. This short, observing an elderly !Kung woman, was made by Gardner alone while there.

Tide (6 min, 1966)
In the late 1960’s, Gardner visited the tidal flats of Nova Scotia where he filmed this short piece. The film follows an elderly farmer as he directs his horse and carriage across the beach, eventually stopping to fish a weir.

The Photographer (3 min, 1966/2007)
While traveling in Nova Scotia in 1966, Gardner and still photographer Len Gittleman found an old view camera which proved the inspiration for this short homage to the silent film era.

Salt (3 min, 1966)
While traveling northeastern Ethiopia in 1968, Gardner rode with a caravan of Afar camel herders plying the salt trade between the highlands and the salt flats of the Dallol Depression, which he called a “wondrous environment of unbearable heat and intense color.”

Creatures of Pain (5 min, 1968)
Gardner visited Nigeria in 1968, hoping to make a film about sheepherders. Civil war intervened, and he was only able to film this short piece about the “sharo” ritual in a small village near Kano.

Three Non-commercials: Policeman, Lobsterman, Farmer (4 min, 1973)
In the 1970’s, Gardner was involved in the programming of WCVB, an ABC affiliate TV station in Boston. He took this opportunity to make what he called “non-commercials” – short vignettes of people in their ordinary lives – to be shown between programs.

Anthem (2 min, 1973)
In the days of Gardner’s involvement with Boston Broadcasters, Inc and Channel 5, TV stations stopped transmitting for the night – sometime in the early morning. Traditionally stations “signed off” with a clip of the American flag waving as the national anthem played. Bob asked filmmaker Richard Rogers to make a more interesting variation on this theme. Channel 5 declined to use it.

Healing (9 min, 1978)
This film arose from a trip to Ladakh, India, as Gardner searched for a shaman. There, he encountered this tradition of Buddhist healing, which involved trance and music.

Supplicating Women (3 min, 1985)
While shooting in Benares for Forest of Bliss, Gardner stumbled upon a temple frequently visited by women who suffered from ailments including love sickness and familial problems. This fragment details their pleading for healing.

Life Keeps on Passing (4 min, 1985)
Also filmed while on location for Forest of Bliss, this short was Gardner’s attempt to see and hear what local poets had to say about their surroundings. This beautiful short recounts some of their thoughts.

Hauling Sharks (10 min, 1988)
Upon returning to Ethiopia in 1988, Gardner visited the coastal Danakil. There he filmed communities who had developed an environmentally suitable way of netting sharks far out at sea, which they exported to southern Arabian states.

It Could Be Good, It Could Be Bad (6 min, 1997)
In 1997, Gardner joined his friend Robert Fulton to shoot aerial photography in the Southern Chilean Andes. Microphones were rigged to record their conversations as they flew among these extraordinary formations.

Deus Ex Boltanski (11 min, 2010)
In 2010, Gardner and photographer Michael Hutcherson travelled to Paris to make a film about French artist Christian Boltanski as he installed a piece entitled PERSONNES within the immense confines of the Grand Palais.

Still Journey On (20 min, 2010)
In his last years, Gardner worked at intervals constructing a film intended to weave together threads of thought and meaning that ran through his life and films. He took the title from “Keep Right On Till the End of the Road” a song by the Scottish singer, Harry Lauder – a favorite song of Robert’s father, who would play it on the record player every year as the family left the island in Maine where they spent much of the summer. Still Journey On remains a fragment.

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Point of View (NYU C&M Vol. 2)

Mon, 4 Feb 2019 14:51:00 GMT

Point of View (NYU C&M Vol. 2)
Buy Now: $340.00

Point of View: First Person to Observational explores different methodologies in ethnographic documentary filmmaking. In each short film, the filmmaker establishes a unique point of view, and thus entry point for the audience, as observer of their own or others' lives. All reveal the importance of observation - of the physical spaces and of their characters' interactions - for engaging audiences in otherwise inaccessible spaces and intimate conversations.

Stories range from a young filmmaker's new appreciation of his mother in his attempt to grow up, that offer a glimpse into a suburban white, economically privileged community; a woman's reflections on her recovery from a breakdown after experiencing an attempted coup in Turkey; a humorous, keen observation of a couple negotiating their newlywed portraits with a lively photographer in a Chinese wedding photography shop; observations of Eastern European women telling stories as they make dumplings in the basement of a Ukranian church; and a filmmaker's encounters with the workers who create manhole covers that, upon their completion, travel from India to the streets of New York.

Films:

Cast in India (Natasha Raheja, 26 min, 2014)

Iconic and ubiquitous, approximately 300,000 manhole covers dot the streets of New York City. This observational documentary takes the viewer behind-the-scenes, to Howrah, India, where skilled workers heat, weld, melt, and mold iron into manhole cover castings. Cast in India gives life to the men, the processes, and the transnational journey behind these everyday objects.

My Mom's Name is Jean (Myles Jewell, 27 min, 2008)

New York City based filmmaker Myles Jewell still relies on his Boston-based mom to complete tasks he is perfectly capable of, such as making dentist appointments and buying new underwear. In an effort to shed his adolescence, Myles moves home for thirty days and calls his mom by her first name. Combining first person narration and observational camera, the film offers a unique approach to the coming-of-age story.

The Bride Who Wouldn't Smile (Camilla Nielsson, 8 min, 1998)

At Nancy's Wedding Center in Chinatown, New York, Nancy Ma and the wedding photographer, Mr. Ma, work to recreate big-screen beauty and glamour for their customers. Through close attention to the interactions between a young Vietnamese couple and the studio owners, and to the material objects around the studio, this short observational film captures the tensions inevitably encountered in the pursuit of the ideal photo.

The Ladies (Tyler Zoanni, 14 min, 2015)

For 50 years, a group of Ukrainian women has gathered in New York's East Village to make dumplings for their church. This observational short offers an evocative portrait of 'the ladies' and the work, faith, gossip, and humor that brings them together.

Back to Me (Zeynep Sertbulut, 22 min, 2017)

In the summer of 2016, an ISIS airport bombing and a military coup in Turkish filmmaker Zeynep Sertbulut's home country set her world off axis. Back to Me documents the many stages of recovery from an unsettling crisis while exploring identity, resilience, and change in the midst of global conflict. The intimate, first-person film tackles difficult subjects: How do you convey a traumatic event, and how do you evoke a subject's ever-changing internal states?

DVD Produced by: Cheryl Furjanic and Pegi Vail

This is part of the NYU Culture & Media series

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Stories from the Archive (NYU C&M Vol. 1)

Fri, 1 Feb 2019 15:33:00 GMT

Stories from the Archive (NYU C&M Vol. 1)
Buy Now: $340.00

Stories from the Archive: History, Representation, and Identity includes a variety of stories shot in, about, and using archives and archival materials. The films explore the meanings and relationships imbedded in material objects and images and raise questions about how images are created, and circulated. Topics range from the contemporary, yet controversial art practice of a pastor who digitally depicts centuries-old Russian Orthodox iconography; the hybrid, poetic uncovering of scientists' journals documenting their collecting practices at Natural History Museums over a century ago; written correspondence between a European Jewish couple following WWII, uncovered by the couples' own grandchild; the use of forensic and photographic evidence to trace Spain's disappeared during the Franco regime; to archival footage and images used to evoke a once-vibrant dance studio in New York City's Hell's Kitchen.

The films in this compilation offer different strategies for bringing life to archival materials. The filmmakers variously draw on letters, archival and found footage, and photography. They present letters and journals through voice-over and narration, engage stylized approaches to filming archival collections and objects, and recontextualize historical objects through contemporary interviews, and use "process film" sequences to explore the labor behind the creation of various types of artifacts.

Films:

Archives of Extinction (Alyse Takeyesu, 12 min, 2016)

Archives of Extinction explores the concept of "saving" nature through a look at a museum's preserved bird collection. The history of the scientific collection, accompanied by voice overs drawn from texts of late 19th century collectors, provide a backgrop to the modern processes of de-extinction, an emerging science dedicated to bringing extinct species back into the world. Archives of Extinction evokes questions about nature conservation then and now; about the role of science in disassembling past and reassembling future ecologies; and about the human will to resurrect lost species and re-animate the past.

Pixelating Holiness (Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, 15 min, 2017)

West Virginian Russian Orthodox priest, Father Jonah Campbell, manufactures religious icons using contemporary digital technologies. Observational scenes documenting Cambell's production process, are juxtaposed with interviews exploring current controversies surrounding these digitally-produced icons, particualrly the suggestion that these icons are less holy than hand-painted works. Through this case study, the film looks at the relationship between religious art and divinity as it is transformed through digital technologies, while also suggesting the importance of entrepreneurial enterprises to a changing Christianity.

What Remains (Lee Douglas and Jorge Moreno Andrés, 29 min, 2015)

After the exhumation of a mass grave in Spain's southern province of Ciudad Real, two local anthropologists meet Angelita González Yepes, a woman whose family was torn apart by post-war political violence. In the intimate space of her living room, Angelita's home, family snapshots, and defiant voice make sense and gives meaning to a haunting legacy that refuses to pass, despite more than seven decades of silence. Though an intense and emotional process of fieldwork, Angelita and her interlocutors piece together fragmented memories, forensic evidence, and archival documentation to understand the city's painful history.

More than a Face in the Crowd (Sami Chan, 25 min, 2012)

A filmmaker explores the life of her great-aunt, Jane Chung, an actress who made a career for herself at a time when Asian Americans faced widespread racism in Hollywood. Working mostly in small parts and as an extra, Jane's fifty-year career reflects many of the struggles and triumphs of the Asian Americans working in the entertainment industry. Jane had parts in over fifty films and TV shows including Chinatown, When Harry Met Sally, M*A*S*H, and I Love Lucy, but much of her work is uncredited. The filmmaker brings together multiple generations of her family, and mines the film archive for evidence of her great-aunt, to provide a portrait of the real person beyond the often stereotypical roles and bit parts that constituted her screen presence.

A Correspondence (Leili Sreberny-Mohammadi, 16 min, 2014)

The film brings to life the year-long correspondence between the filmmaker's grandparents during the years following WWII. After fleeing Nazi Germany and Poland Srebernya, Margo and David met in London in 1947, only to be separated when David was sent to Palestine as a doctor in the British Army. Constructed through photographs, letters, telegrams and archival footage from the era, their story is one of love across distance and the search for a partner during troubled times.

Ode to Fazil's (Marcel Rosa-Salas, 19 min, 2017)

Fazil's Dance Center, located in New York City, was considered sacred ground for flamenco, tap, hip hop and Middle Eastern dancers often unwelcome at other studios. In 2008, after nearly forty years in operation, Fazil's was torn down and replaced by a luxury high-rise hotel. Marcel Rosa-Salas' personal film brings together stories of a magical place that no longer physically exists, yet lives on in the memories of dancers who continue to cherish it. Through archival footage and present-day interviews, Ode to Fazil's tells the story of this lost New York landmark, and the displacement of artists in a rapidly transforming city.

DVD Produced by: Cheryl Furjanic and Pegi Vail

This is part of the NYU Culture & Media series.

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NYU Culture & Media Series

Fri, 1 Feb 2019 15:02:00 GMT

NYU Culture & Media Series
Buy Now: $545.00

The NYU Culture & Media series is a new collection showcasing ethnographic documentaries from the Program in Culture & Media (C&M) at New York University. C&M is a specialized course of study leading to a New York State certificate in Culture and Media for NYU graduate students who are also pursuing their Ph.D. degrees in the Departments of Anthropology, Cinema Studies, and Comparative Literature.

The program integrates production with theory and research stressing a decolonial approach in exploring the relationships between culture and media in a number of domains: ethnographic film’s significance for the fields of anthropology and cinema/media studies; the representation of cultures through media; the development of media in Indigenous, Diaspora, and non-Western communities; the emerging social and cultural formations shaped by new media practices; the political economy shaping the production, distribution and consumption of media worldwide; and the impact of new media technologies on these processes.

The documentary shorts in these collections were produced, directed, and shot by students in the yearlong Documentary Production Lab. Rather than focus on a single filmmaking style, students are exposed to a wide variety of ethnographic and documentary filmmaking methodologies in order to determine the best fit for their story. Each of the compilations, includes films representing an array of filmmaking approaches and diverse subject areas, selected for their usefulness in anthropology and film classes, as well as documentary production courses.

The NYU Culture & Media series

Volume 1 - Stories from the Archive: History, Representation, and Identity

Volume 2 - Point of View: First Person to Observational

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Faces of Change: Afghanistan

Fri, 7 Sep 2018 09:20:00 GMT

Faces of Change: Afghanistan
Buy Now: $495.00

Shot in 1972, these five films present a portrait of Afghan life in the last months before the Russian invasion.The films capture the daily economic and social exchanges in the market town of Aq Kapruk, an area inhabited by Tajik and other Central Asian peoples, 320 miles northwest of Kabul.

Situated along Balkh River, this agricultural community depended primly on wheat farming and a pastoral economy. These films offer a window into an Afghanistan on the cusp of change, and serve as a record of the culture and life ways of its rural people.

"These five films portray different aspects of technology, economic arrangements and social life in the village of Aq Kupruk in northern Afghanistan. The area is hilly, intensely arid, the elevation is about 2000 feet, the population consists mainly of Tajikagriculturalists. There is a substantial bazaar at Aq Kupruk and the valley lies on the migration track of Pushtun pastoral nomads. Clearly the area comprises the three main segments of Afghan society: the bazaar sector, the farmers, and the nomads."
— Asen Balikci, American Anthropologist, 1977

Films in the Afghanistan series

About the Faces of Change Collection

Faces of Change is comprised of 25 films that examine five cultures selected for their distinct geographic locations: starting with the China Coast at sea level and moving up to Taiwan, then to Afghanistan, Kenya and finally to the mountains of Bolivia. Each location is examined through five themes: Rural Society, Education, Rural Economy, Women, and Beliefs.

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

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Faces of Change: Bolivia

Fri, 7 Sep 2018 09:20:00 GMT

Faces of Change: Bolivia
Buy Now: $495.00

Faces of Change: Bolivia includes a series of six short films about Andean peasant life. Film in 1973, the Bolivian expedition took an educational film crew into remote Muñecas Province east of Lake Titicaca, some 10 road hours from La Paz. The area is populated by Aymara and Quechua speaking Indians and people of mixed Spanish-Indian descent.At an altitude of over 12,000 feet, people survive on a mixed economy of potato farming, other high altitude vegetables, and small animal husbandry. Conflicts over land ownership, age-old control by rich "mestizos"(still referred to as "conquistadors"), poor health facilities, and a struggling education system makes this prize winning collection invaluable to teachers and those interested in Latin America.

The filmmaker Hubert Smith has returned to the area on two occasions to help build a better school system, which in the 1990s was recognized as a national school of excellence by the Bolivian government.

"The Bolvian Aymara series (comprising six films, rather than five like the others) is one of the most thorough-going documentations of Andean peasant life yet made or available. One can think of a number of topics not overtly dealt with but the knowledgeable observer can quickly find other themes interwoven with the main topic. Each film follows the lives of the peasants of the highland communities of Ayata and Virochocha, Bolivia, in a direct, cinema verité fashion. The AUFS team has achieved a degree of sophistication with the technique that invariably draws the student ever deeper into the culture.

The sound picks up the Aymara dialogue effectively and the English subtitles are very well done, providing a direct and forceful translation which is easily followed. Through the camera eye the viewer can become the ethnographer or indeed, with the sound, the linguist as well. Students can use the films as field study documents and take notes from them as observers."
— Paul Doughty, University of Florida, American Anthropologist, 1977

Films in the Bolivia series

Andean Women
The Children Know
Magic and Catholicism
Potato Planters
The Spirit Possession of AlejandroMamani
Viracocha

About the Faces of Change Collection

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

Visit Compilation to see additional products in this category.

Faces of Change: China Coast

Fri, 7 Sep 2018 09:20:00 GMT

Faces of Change: China Coast
Buy Now: $495.00

The fishermen and the island farmers of the Soko Islands in the South China Sea typify coastal harbor communities that have existed for centuries along the China coast, controlled by mainland China or for many decades alien governments in Hong Kong and Macau.

The five films portray two independent cultures that rely on each other in complex ways, the boat people providing fish, transport to markets, and the necessities of survival on the island; the island farmers providing food, a school for boat children and labor when needed on boats and harbor facilities. The day-to-day lives of boat people and island people in this maritime culture three hours from Hong Kong are studies in mutual support, although historically discriminatory between a mainland farm family and boat people, who are seen as second class citizens who floated beyond "civilization."

After the filming in 1973, the entire population, farmers and boat people, were moved by government decree. The farmers were settled in nearby Lantau Island, the fishermen allowed to find harbors where they could. The initial government action was to accommodate refugee boat people from the Vietnam war era, the second to find harbors in Hong Kong's Aberdeen or nearby Cheng Chau where some had relatives and part-time work could be found ashore.

"These films are all set primarily in the Soko Islands, under British rule in Hong Kong territorial waters. They provide an interesting and valuable ethnographic picture of the lives of Chinese islanders and fishermen. Somewhat greater emphasis is given throughout to the fishing families, whose lives are spent almost entirely on their boats, broken only by brief visits to shore to fetch fresh water from a well or buy supplies in a market town.All are visually excellent, providing fascinating studies of details of daily life. In three of the five films narration is kept at a minimum, with direct simultaneous translation of interviews used effectively to provide verbal information, along with occasional translation of small talk and conversation among the Chinese as they go about their work." — Judith Strauch, American Anthropologist, 1977

Films in the China Coast series

China Coast Fishing
Hoy Fok and the Island School
The Island Fishpond
Island in the China Sea
Three Island Women

About the Faces of Change Collection

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

Visit Compilation to see additional products in this category.

Faces of Change: Kenya

Fri, 7 Sep 2018 09:20:00 GMT

Faces of Change: Kenya
Buy Now: $495.00

The Boran are desert pastoralists in Kenya and Ethiopia who traditionally followed the rains in search for grass and water. Since the 1960s many Boran have elected to settle in a few market towns, such as Marsabit, the district capital in northern Kenya. Those who settle are in contrast to those who pursue the traditional lifestyle, particularly in terms of work, education, and social interaction with the outside world. Since 2015, the region has been on the western fringe of the on-going conflict between Kenya and the Al Shaba movement in Somalia. The films provide a backdrop to the harsh realities of this region of Kenya and the lifestyles of the residents.

"The core of this series is Kenya Boran 1 and 2, each designed to stand alone, but which together complement one another in a most useful and informative fashion. Their common subject matter is the development problems posed for rural Boran herdsmen and their families by the encroachment upon their once-isolated grazing lands of a growing town (Marsabit) and a major road (the new Nairobi-Addis Ababa Highway). These are shown in Kenya Boran 1, as two fathers and their sons discuss difficult choices between old and new ways of responding to the complexity of changes occurring around them, each emphasizing different aspects of the problem and different strategies for confronting them which, in turn, promote view speculation as to the appropriateness and the outcome of their divergent ways of dealing with change.Kenya Boran 2 expands upon these themes by focusing on the life of Peter Boru, a 16 year old former herdsboy who has gone to the government boarding school in the town; his expression of his hopes, fears and aspirations is adroitly contrasted both with those of his unschooled neighbors in the rural cattle camps and with the bleak employment opportunities facing him in the modern sector, in the course of which some of the difficulties of existing national educational practices in promoting development are isolated and explored.The hallmark of both films is their earnest commitment to permitting the Boran to define the issues that confront them in their own vernacular terms, expertly subtitled without the imposition of directed interpretative commentary… The overall result is a series of remarkably intimate and realistic scenes, attractively films with an absence of conspicuous staging or obvious show-biz; indeed, they move with a natural rhythm and pace that engenders an authentic sense of the problems, and of the sorts of ideas and feelings that individual Boran bring to bear in deciding on appropriate response to change.The prevailing tone of both films is their seriousness and deliberate instructional intent to provoke analytic responses from viewers. Their principal value lies in presenting the evidence in such a fashion as to force viewers to arrive at their own conslusions about the course of action that seems most appropriate based on the film/essay evidence." — Alan Jacobs, Western Michigan University, American Anthropologist, 1977

Films in the Kenya series

Boran Herdsmen

Boran Women
Harambee: Pull Together
Kenya Boran

About the Faces of Change Collection

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

Visit Compilation to see additional products in this category.

Faces of Change: Taiwan

Fri, 7 Sep 2018 09:20:00 GMT

Faces of Change: Taiwan
Buy Now: $340.00

Shot in 1973, these five films present a portrait of life in Taiwan by following the daily economic and social exchanges in Tsao Tun (also known as Tsaotun, or Caotun) Township, an area inhabited by farmers, in Nantou County 130 miles southwest of Taipei. This agricultural community depend primarily on wet rice and other mixed vegetable farming. Pigs and poultry, too, are important farm products. These films offer a window into Taiwan during a time of economic and social change, and serve as a record of the culture and life ways of its rural people as they stand on the cusp of tradition and modernization.

Films in the Taiwan series

A Chinese Farm Wife
People are Many, Fields are Small
The Rural Cooperative
They Call Him "Ah Kung"
Wet Culture Rice

About the Faces of Change Collection

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

Visit Compilation to see additional products in this category.