Documentary Educational Resources - Indigenous Studies / Language & Self-Determination / All Films

The Chairman and the Lions

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:16:00 GMT

The Chairman and the Lions
Buy Now: $320.00

As recently as forty years ago, most sections of the Maasai were semi-nomadic and relatively independent of the nation-state. However, political, social and economic changes in East Africa have forced many herders to adopt a sedentary lifestyle.

The Chairman and the Lions introduces Frank Kaipai Ikoyo, a charismatic Ilparakuyo Maasai who, at thirty-three, is the leader of a Tanzanian village called Lesoit. Ikoyo was elected to his post at the age of twenty-six in part because he had completed primary school. That someone so young would be accorded such authority would have been without precedent not long ago. Yet this ethnography of Ikoyo's duties as village chairman shows how literacy and insight into the workings of the nation-state are essential for Maasai to combat the many lions, both real and figurative, that beset them: land grabbers, "bush" lawyers, unemployment, out-migration and poverty.

Like leaders of many indigenous groups, Ikoyo understands education to be a double-edged sword. He advocates schooling as a key to village self-determination, while still seeking to preserve the foundations of pastoralist identity. For as one Maasai woman argues, schooling may well transform their children into "educated criminals."

The film depicts Ikoyo contending with the invasion of village land by a non-Maasai farmer, interrogating spies in a lawsuit, persuading mothers to send their daughters to school, navigating the legalese of an exploitative contract, and eliciting help from a renowned elder to train young warriors in the art of lion hunting. The Chairman and the Lions interweaves its observational vignettes of Ikoyo's activities with narrative accounts by the chairman himself.

SELECTED SCREENING HISTORY

Special Jury Award, Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF), Tanzania, 2013
First Prize, ETNOFilm Festival for Ethnographic and Anthropological Film, Croatia, 2013
NAFA - Nordic Anthropological Film Association Festival, Iceland, 2014
Ethnografilm Festival, France, 2014
Gottingen International Ethnographic Film Festival, Germany, 2014
ETHNOCINECA, Austria, 2014
Ethnographic Film Festival of Quebec (FIFEQ), Canada, 2014
Days of Ethnographic Film, Slovenia, 2014
11th World Film Festival, Estonia, 2014
The Archaeology Channel Int'l Film and Video Festival, USA, 2014
ETHNOFEST Athens Ethnographic Film Festival, Greece, 2013
Intimate Lens Ethnographic Film Festival, Italy, 2013
SIEF Congress, Tartu, Estonia, 2013
The Heart of Slavonia' International Ethno Film Festival, Djakovo, Croatia, 2012
SVA Ethnographic Film and Media Festival, San Francisco, USA, 2012
Jean Rouch International Film Festival, Paris, France, 2012
Meetings of the Royal Anthropological Institute, London, England, 2012
Festival of Visual Anthropology ASPEKTY, Turon, Poland, 2012

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Dead Birds

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

Dead Birds
Buy Now: $34.95

Robert Gardner's seminal 1964 film Dead Birds is a portrait of the lives, beliefs, practices and ritual warfare of the Hubula people of the remote Baliem Valley in western New Guinea, now part of Indonesia. In 1963 Dead Birds won the prestigious Robert Flaherty Award and in 1998 was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Dead Birds is considered a pivotal work in the history of the discipline of visual anthropology and continues to be used frequently in university lectures and seminars to engage students in wider questions and debates.

Filmmaker Robert Gardner, in describing the experience making the film, comments, “Dead Birds is a film about the Dani*, a people dwelling in the Grand Valley of the Baliem high in the mountains of West Irian. When I shot the film in 1961, the Dani had an almost classic Neolithic culture. They were exceptional in the way they focussed their energies and based their values on an elaborate system of intertribal warfare and revenge. Neighboring groups of Dani clans, separated by uncultivated strips of no man's land, engaged in frequent formal battles.

When a warrior was killed in battle or died from a wound and even when a woman or a child lost their life in an enemy raid, the victors celebrated and the victims mourned. Because each death had to be avenged, the balance was continually being adjusted with the spirits of the aggrieved lifted and the ghosts of slain comrades satisfied as soon as a compensating enemy life was taken. There was no thought in the Dani world of wars ever ending, unless it rained or became dark. Without war there would be no way to satisfy the ghosts. Wars were also the best way they knew to keep a terrible harmony in a life which would be, without the strife they invented, mostly hard and dull.

Dead Birds has a meaning which is both immediate and allegorical. In the Dani language it refers to the weapons and ornaments recovered in battle. Its other more poetic meaning comes from the Dani belief that people, because they are like birds, must die. In making Dead Birds certain kinds of behavior were followed, never directed. It was an attempt to see people from within and to wonder, when the selected fragments of that life were assembled, if they might speak not only of the Dani but also of ourselves.”

Digitally Remastered 2-DVD Set

The special edition 2-disc DVD of Dead Birds includes the remastered film and the following extra features:

6 sequences of edited scenes cut from the first answer print of Dead Birds with original narration and a commentary by Robert Gardner and Lucien Taylor
An audio track of commentary by Robert Gardner and Ross McElwee
A French language track narrated by Jean Rouch
A gallery of photographs shot during the making of Dead Birds and accompanied by excerpts read by Robert Gardner from his field journals
An excerpt from a television interview featuring a conversation about Dead Birds between Octavio Paz, William Alfred and Robert Gardner
2 sequences from a black and white print of Dead Birds made at the timeof the film 's release. These are accompanied by a conversation byRobert Gardner and Lucien Taylor
Previously unreleased outtakes from the archive of footage shot for Dead Birds

“A cinematographic interpretation of the life of a group of Grand Valley Dani, who are mountain Papuans in West New Guinea (Irian Barat, Indonesia), studied by the Harvard-Peabody Expedition (1961-1963). This film was made by Gardner in 1961, before the area was pacified by the Dutch government. The film focuses on Weyak, the farmer and warrior, and on Pua, the young swineherd, following them through the events of Dani life: sweet potato horticulture, pig keeping, salt winning, battles, raids and ceremonies.” —Karl G. Heider

*Note on term “Dani”

The preferred name for the community in this film is Hubula. The name "Dani" as used in this film is an exonym used by Moni, a neighboring group of people living west of the Baliem Valley. The name has been reproduced in many colonial and postcolonial texts, even until today.

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The Hunters

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:27:00 GMT

The Hunters
Buy Now: $320.00

This early classic in anthropological film follows the hunt of a giraffe by four men over a five-day period. The film was shot in 1952-53 on the third joint Smithsonian-Harvard Peabody sponsored Marshall family expedition to Africa to study Ju/'hoansi, one of the few surviving groups that lived by hunting - gathering.

John Marshall was a young man when he made this, his first feature length film. He was a natural cameraman who found a subject that would dominate the rest of his life. He has since shot over 600,000 feet of film from which 24 films were edited. The value of the footage as an encyclopedia of !Kung life is unequaled by any other body of ethnographic film.

This film is part of the !Kung series.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Official Selection, National Film Registry, 2003

Blue Ribbon, American Film Festival, 1959

Grand Prize, Florence Film Festival

Robert Flaherty Award

Orthography NoteThe 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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In the Shadow of the Sun

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 12:45:00 GMT

In the Shadow of the Sun
Buy Now: $320.00

A film about a Dogon funeral and enthronement ritual.

In Mali, 800 kilometers northeast of the capital of Bamako, the cliffs of Bandiagara stretch about 300 kilometers and reach a height of 300 meters. It is here among the Arou, one of the four tribes of the Dogon population, that Amma, Lord and creator of the world, chose the supreme religious chief who was responsible for fertility, rain and order on earth.

The chief priest, called a hogon, resides with a few members of his family in an isolated sanctuary given the name of his cast, "Arou", a sanctuary embedded in the cliffs, sheltered from the eyes of men. In 1984, the last of the Arou hogons died. At the bequest of the elders, his son, Ogomale, accepted the offer to replace his father temporarily to avoid leaving the position vacant. Due to economic troubles and religious discord, the funeral was not set until June 7th, 1992. For three days and two nights, the men of the Arou clan and neighboring families came to pay homage to the priest. Six weeks later, the nomination and the enthronement of the successor are organized. After his enthronement the hogon will spend the rest of his life in the sanctuary of Arou, and he will not be allowed to leave under any circumstances.

The film is beautifully shot, with the intense colors of the region coming into play, adding to our aesthetic enjoyment of this film. The filmmakers have worked closely together, and with, the famous French filmmaker, Jean Rouch, since the 1970's. This film reflects their intense engagement and in-depth knowledge of the people and events they have chosen to film.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

ARTE TV Broadcast, Europe, February 1998

Cinema' du Reel, March 1998

Gottingen Ethnographic Film Festival, May 1998

ICAES Conference screening

RAI Ethnographic Film Festival, England, September 1998

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Indian Self-Rule

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 12:45:00 GMT

Indian Self-Rule
Buy Now: $320.00

"When the 20th century began, most Americans who thought about Indians at all did so in the past tense. Like a photograph, the image and culture of Indian people were frozen in time. Yet for Indians, the 20th century was a time of recovery. Instead of a photograph, Indian life and culture was more like a motion picture, and the story line or plot moved on..."

— Roger Buffalohead, Historian

After centuries of struggle, the Indians of North America own less than 2% of the land settled by their ancestors. Indian Self-Rule traces the history of white-Indian relations from nineteenth century treaties through the present, as tribal leaders, historians, teachers, and other Indians gather at a 1983 conference organized to reevaluate the significance of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.

The experiences of the Flathead Nation of Montana, the Navajo Nation of the Southwest, and the Quinault people of the Olympic Peninsula illustrate some of the ways Indians have dealt with shifting demands imposed upon them, from allotment to reorganization to termination and relocation. Particularly eloquent are Indian reflections upon the difficulties of maintaining cultural identities in a changing world and within a larger society that views Indians with ambivalence.

"Society wants...Indians to be like everyone else; and yet...wants Indians to be Indians."
— Sam Deloria, Director of the American Indian Law Center

Disclaimer on Naming:

Please be aware that this documentary may include outdated or potentially offensive language. Such terms are not endorsed by DER but are presented in their original context to promote awareness, education, and discussion. Learn more about DER’s efforts to use reparative language and honor the preferred names of Indigenous communities by clicking here.

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Ika Hands

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 12:44:00 GMT

Ika Hands
Buy Now: $320.00

This 2008 Special Edition DVD includes:

The film Ika Hands (58 minutes)
A conversation with Octavio Paz (27 minutes)
Photo gallery featuring still images and journal entries read by Robert Gardner (14 minutes)

About the film:
In the highlands of Northern Colombia, the Ika live a strenuous and isolated life, economically dependent on small gardens and a handful of domestic animals. They are thought to be descendants of the Maya who fled from the turmoil of Central American High Civilization's warring states to the remote valleys of Colombia's Sierra Nevadas. The Ika still inhabit a spectacular but demanding terrain extending between five and fifteen thousand feet, an almost vertical geography through which they move with prodigious ease.

Their lives are filled with a multitude of tasks, which they perform with a rare dexterity and purpose. Their labors, though they belong to two quite separate realms - the practical and the spiritual - contribute equally to the well being of everyone. Both days and nights are long and arduous. Indeed, the central figure in Ika Hands, Mama Marco, is a man whose priestly calling is simply another career undertaken in addition to that of farmer and householder.

Ika society is the result of quite distinct cultural choices, of what seem to have been decisions by generations of individuals to persevere with tradition and to resist the compelling alternatives offered by a ubiquitous modernity.

About the conversation with Octavio Paz:
On Jan. 19, 1983, Robert Gardner was in Octavio Paz's library on the Paseo de la Reforma to talk about film and anthropology. With them was Robert Fulton who had come with Gardner to work on a long neglected film about Paz himself, a film that never materialized but of which this occasion and several other such scenes remain.

At this moment, Gardner was finishing Ika Hands. He wanted it to be about shamanism or at least the kind of magical practices for which the Ika were known. Going to Mexico to visit Paz was in tune with his belief in Paz as a person closer to being a shaman himself than anyone else he knew.

The idea was to invite Paz into the Ika world and also into his own concerns about how to represent that world: what can images tell us? Gardner hoped to do this by showing Paz parts of an early version of the film he was editing. The ensuing twenty odd minutes is the result of that experiment.

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A Kalahari Family, Part IV

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 11:12:00 GMT

A Kalahari Family, Part IV
Buy Now: $340.00

After twelve decades of colonial rule, South West Africa is about to become the independent nation of Namibia and people are looking forward to democratic rule. Members of the newly formed, Ju/'hoan Farmers' Co-op travel throughout white ranching districts and black ethnic homelands to find long-lost relatives. Following Namibia's first national elections, United Nation troops help relocate these families to traditional Ju/'hoan territory.

About A Kalahari Family

A Kalahari Family is a five-part, six-hour series documenting 50 years in the lives of the Ju/'hoansi of southern Africa, from 1951 to 2000. These once independent hunter-gatherers experience dispossession, confinement to a homeland, and the chaos of war. Then as hope for Namibian independence and the end of apartheid grows, Ju/'hoansi fight to establish farming communities and reclaim their traditional lands. Through depiction of their efforts of the Ju/hoansi to participate as farmers in the contemporary economy and advocate for their rights to do so, the series challenges stereotypes of primitive and unchanging "bushmen."

The five films in the series are:

Part One: A Far Country
Part Two: End Of the Road
Part Three: Real Water
Part Four: Standing Tall
Part Five: Death By Myth

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Best Environmental TV Series, FICA - International Festival of Environmental Film & Video, Brazil, 2003

Special Prize: Homage to the Films of John Marshall; Bilan du Film Ethnographique, Paris, 2003

Grand Jury Award, Best in World Cinema, DC Independent Film Festival, Washington DC, 2003

Basil Wright Film Prize, RAI 8th Ethnographic Film Festival, England, 2003

Jury Award, Athens Film Festival, 2003

Environmental Anthropology Prize, CineEco Festival, Portugal, 2003

Best Film, Jury Award, XII International Festival of Ethnographical Films, Nuoro, Italy, 2004

Visit the A Kalahari Family Microsite for more detailed information.

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A Long Journey To Guadalupe

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 06:41:00 GMT

A Long Journey To Guadalupe
Buy Now: $320.00

The veneration for Tonantzin-Guadalupe has been an essential Mexican theme underlying Mexican cultural and political values since the 16th century. Guided by the testimonies of Indigenous people, Mexicans of mixed heritage, and Chicanos, we can understand why.

The film was shot in 16mm and produced between July 1987 and February 1996. Ten years after the 1521 Spanish conquest, young Indian Juan Diego was graced by the apparition of the Mother of God on Tepeyac Hill; a first Bishop of Mexico scoffed at this news, until a further miracle convinced the church to build a basilica in the deity's honor. While encouraging a Virgin Mary "cult" no doubt helped invaders impose Christianity on the populace, scholars point out that earth mother Tonantzin's role in indigenous creeds predate this development by 2,500 years. Thus the "new,"compound divinity represented a covert "act of conquest by the Indians over the invading religion," one that developed potent political symbolism during Mexico's various independence struggles.

The director, who is Mexican, states that "this is a testimony about the Mexican cult of the Virgin of Guadalupe, where the pilgrims signify the Mexican of all times and the pilgrimages, our history. For me this film literally means a nine year long journey to the unfathomable heart of Mexico and a better world with more peace and social justice." While the filmmaker teaches documentary film at Centro de Capacitacion Cinematografica in Mexico City where he is the head of the Academic Council, he always works together with his wife, social anthropologist Ana Pino Sandoval.

This film is of interest in Anthropology, Latin American Studies, Religion and general audiences.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

32nd Chicago International Film Festival, Gold Plaque Award, 1996

Ariel Award Nominee, Mexican Academy of Film Art and Sciences, 1996

Native America's International Exposition, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1996

Margaret Mead Film Festival, 1996

Society For Visual Anthropology, 1997

Cinequest Film Festival, 1997

and many other international festivals and awards

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Magic and Catholicism

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:49:00 GMT

Magic and Catholicism
Buy Now: $495.00

The people of the Bolivian highlands blend in thought and practice the traditional magic of the region and the religion of their conquerors. A fatal automobile accident, coincident with the festival of Santiago, provides occasion for unique expressions of both faith and magic in the effort to influence events.

Films in the Bolivia series

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

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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N!ai, the Story of a !Kung Woman

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:11:00 GMT

N!ai, the Story of a !Kung Woman
Buy Now: $320.00

Digitally Remastered DVD Edition

This film provides a broad overview of Ju/'hoan life, both past and present, and an intimate portrait of N!ai, a Ju/'hoan woman who in 1978 was in her mid-thirties. N!ai tells her own story, and in so doing, the story of Ju/'hoan life over a thirty year period.

"Before the white people came we did what we wanted," N!ai recalls, describing the life she remembers as a child: following her mother to pick berries, roots, and nuts as the season changed; the division of giraffe meat; the kinds of rain; her resistance to her marriage to /Gunda at the age of eight; and her changing feelings about her husband when he becomes a healer.

As N!ai speaks, the film presents scenes from the 1950's that show her as a young girl and a young wife. The uniqueness of N!ai may lie in its tight integration of ethnography and history. While it portrays the changes in Ju/'hoan society over thirty years, it never loses sight of the individual, N!ai.

Part of the !Kung Series.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Cine Golden Eagle Award
Blue Ribbon, American Film Festival

Grand Prize, Cinéma du Réel, Paris

Gold Medal, International Film and Television Festival of New York

Grand Prize, News Coverage Festival, Luchon, France

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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