Documentary Educational Resources - Filmmaker / Kramer, Karen / All Films

Haitian Song

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:26:00 GMT

Haitian Song is a lyrical portrait of life in a small village in rural Haiti. The film focuses on the "rituals" which compose the texture of everyday life: getting water from the river; making rope by hand from sisal; cooking rice and beans in an outdoor kitchen; planting and harvesting. Through intimate and detailed scenes, the film follows Gustav and Zilmen, a man and a woman, through the cycle of their day and follows the larger community through the cycles of the week: the market on Tuesday; the cockfight on Saturday; the dance on Sunday. Narrated entirely in Creole (with English subtitles) by Haitian peasants and interwoven throughout with haunting songs, the film evokes a mood and feeling of rural village life. It is highly visual, as well as informative and educational.

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Legacy of the Spirits

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 06:41:00 GMT

Legacy of the Spirits
Buy Now: $320.00

For centuries, the religion of Vodou (commonly called "voodoo" by outsiders) has been thought of as sticking pins in dolls or witchcraft. It has been kept underground and practiced in secret, giving way to much misunderstanding and sensationalism. This documentary - the first of its kind - shows how Vodou is a valid and serious belief system. The film interweaves exciting Vodou ceremonies, important scholarly information, compelling music, and images of colorful ritual objects, to show the beauty behind what has been one of the world's most misunderstood religions.

Legacy of the Spirits traces the religion from Africa to Haiti to New York City. It explains the theology of the religion, the meaning of the rituals, the pantheon of spirits, possession, the sacred drawings (called ve-ve), the Catholic influence, the history of persecution and more. This is all explained by priests and priestesses who practice Vodou and who give the film the quality of being both informative, yet personal.

Filmed entirely in the Caribbean communities in New York City, participants speak of what the religion means to them and their families, how the spirits have helped them, and why they continue to practice these ancient traditions today. Since the religion has always been kept underground (the reasons why are explained in the film), this is the first time the practitioners have spoken about it openly on camera.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Festival dei Popoli, Florence, Italy

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To Serve the Gods

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 08:57:00 GMT

To Serve the Gods
Buy Now: $295.00

To Serve the Gods is about the beliefs, rituals, and performances of a week-long ceremony given by a Haitian family in honor of its ancestral spirits. We are told at the outset of the film that this sevis loua only occurs every twenty to thirty years.

This particular service takes place in a rural community in southern Haiti, on family land, where relatives have gathered to propitiate gods inherited by their ancestors. The celebration of one's birthright and obligations involves drumming, song, dance, possession, animal sacrifice and sharing of food with the gods and with friends, family, and neighbors.

Filmmaker Karen Kramer first attended Voudou ceremonies in Haiti in 1971 and has been a student of Vodou for decades since. Her film is based on the ethnographic research of anthropologist Ira Lowenthal and his paper, Ritual Performances and Religious Experience: A Service for the Gods in Southern Haiti.

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