Documentary Educational Resources - Subject / Tradition & Revitalization / Language / All Films

Ciao Babylon

Tue, 29 Jan 2019 06:43:00 GMT

Ciao Babylon takes us to New York where Dan Kaufman is committed to preserving endangered languages. The film also follows Giancarlo Malchiodi from Brooklyn to the Swiss Alps on his way to rediscover his mother tongue Romanish, a language that may die out within a few decades. Experts believe that by the end of the century half of the 6,500 languages spoken today will have vanished; and with every language dies a unique way of perceiving the world. Ciao Babylon calls attention to this dramatic development.

In New York City roughly 800 languages are spoken, more than in any other city. In order to uncover these linguistic treasures and record the diverse range of idioms, linguist Dan Kaufman established the Endangered Language Alliance (ELA). Amalia Malchiodi is an ELA regular who records stories in an old Romontsch Sursilvan dialect. Her son Giancarlo spoke perfect Romansh as a boy, but later, as he says, decided out of youthful exuberance to only speak English. He now regrets that he is no longer proficient in the language of his forefathers. This is why he has started to relearn the language and eventually embarks on a trip with Amalia to Sagogn, his mother’s hometown. There they meet a Portuguese family whose children are growing up with the Romansh language, which they are learning with relative ease given its similarity to their mother tongue. As a result, the many Portuguese immigrants in Grisons are becoming the new hope for the preservation of Romansh in Switzerland.

Precisely these kinds of surprising, unpredictable twists in the evolution of languages are fascinating to Dan Kaufman. He says that no one can predict which languages will still be spoken in 200 years and which ones will only survive in the archives of the ELA.

"One of the film’s strengths is its glimpse on historical language survival. Where the film shines, is in exploring the individual reactions to language death and those fighting to preserve language at individual and/or community levels."
-Amanda Jo Melchor, Reference & Instruction Librarian, Texas A&M University, Kingsville

SELECTED SCREENINGS

Margaret Mead Film Festival, New York, 2018

Shanghai International Film and TV Festival, China, 2018

Solothurner Filmtage, Switzerland, 2018

Le Grand Bivouac festival du film documentaire & du livre, France, 2019

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6 Generations

Tue, 9 Oct 2018 15:11:00 GMT

6 Generations
Buy Now: $320.00

Ernestine De Soto is a Chumash Native American whose mother Mary Yee was the last speaker of her native Barbareño language. In 6 Generations, her family reaches back to the days the Spanish arrived in Santa Barbara and made first contact. Ernestine tells this history from the perspective of her female ancestors, making her a unique link with the past.

Famous anthropologist John Peabody Harrington, whose work focused on native peoples of California, started research with her family in 1913 and continued with three generations for nearly 50 years. This inspired Ernestine's mother to begin taking notes and, combined with mission records (which survived intact from the late 1700s), they form the heart of this story.

Because of these circumstances, her story, possible only in California, is unique in America.The impact of loss of land, language, culture and life itself is made all the more clear as this story is told in Native American voices, who describe the events as they experienced them. Ultimately, it is a story of survival and the fierce endurance of Ernestine's ancestors, particularly the women.

“This is history as autobiography, foregrounding the power of language and telling a checkered tale of cultural survival in the extreme. The time depth is simply astonishing, and the narrative is frank and true and sometimes stark. 6 Generations is a home run. I cannot recommend it highly enough.”
— David Hurst Thomas, Current Anthropology

"Using old drawings, photos, old film footage, live interviews, and dramatic readings by Ernestine of her family's story, filmmaker Paul Goldsmith has woven together an important testimony to the vibrancy of a people brought into the California missions around Santa Barbara."
— Glen Farris, Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

“Some films do not deserve a review so much as a rhapsody, and 6 Generations is one of these special films. There are some productions that go beyond ethnography to find the heart of a people — and show how individual anthropologists can transcend the professional limitations of their discipline and really engage fellow human beings — and 6 Generations is just such an achievement… This would be a particularly effective film to use in the classroom… Suitable for college courses in cultural anthropology, anthropology of gender, anthropology of colonialism/globalization, and Native American studies, as well as general audiences.”
— Jack David Eller, Anthropology Review Database

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Colours of the Alphabet

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:16:00 GMT

Colours of the Alphabet
Buy Now: $320.00

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” — Nelson Mandela

Colours of the Alphabet tells the story of three children and their families over two school terms, and asks the question: does the future have to be in English? The official language in Zambia is English, but there are seven national languages and 72 ethnic languages spoken in the country. How does anyone communicate in this living Tower of Babel?

This lyrical and beautifully-filmed documentary is an eye-opening tale of the relationship between children and language from those first apprehensive days at school to the playground excitement at the end of term.

In a world where nearly 40% of the population lack access to education in their own language, Colours of the Alphabet is an affectionate and humorous portrayal of childhood innocence, misplaced hope, and the role of language as a means of binding a nation together - with multi-coloured subtitles to reflect the multilingual reality of the classroom.

"...delicately presents the complexities that Steward, M'barak and Elizabeth confront in their first two terms of primary education, in a classroom where the local language, Soli, has no place. Their experiences suggest that lack of access to education in one's own language, while a surprisingly common phenomenon on a global level, helps to create or entrench serious inequalities in our societies: at the very least, these students have to work much harder to achieve what other students learn through their first languages. This film is therefore an important one in drawing our attention to this very real and pervasive challenge"
- Laura Smith-Khan, University of Technology Sydney

"The Colours of the Alphabet is ...l a beautifully shot and heart warming piece of film from start to finish. Featuring multi-coloured subtitles that reflect the many dialects and languages in contemporary Zambia, this bright documentary about communication and education is a real eye opener."
- Ann Taylor, Across the Arts, Glasgow

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Glasgow Film Festival 2016 Glasgow (Official Selection), UK, 2016 (Home Premiere)
Watch Africa Wales Film Festival Cardiff, UK, 2016 (Wales Premiere)
AfrikaEye Film Festival Bristol, UK, 2016 (England Premiere)
Lusaka International Film and Arts Festival 2016 Lusaka, Zambia, 2016 (Africa Premiere)
Grierson Awards - Best Newcomer, Shortlisted, London, UK, 2016
Mother Tongue Film Festival Manchester, UK, 2017
One World Film Festival Prague, Czech Republic, 2017 (continental European Premiere)
World Film Festival, Tartuu, Estonia, 2017
Addis International Film Festival, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2017
Human Rights Nights Film Festival, Italy, 2017

Cinema Screenings
UK: Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Oban, Portree, Lochmaddy, Stornoway, 2016
Zambia: Fresh View Cinemas, 2017

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Our Languages

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 13:51:00 GMT

Our Languages
Buy Now: $295.00

Part of the Indians in Brazil series, Our Languages relates the historic repression of indigenous languages in Brazil. Many Indian languages were nearly lost thanks to missionaries and merchants - who rewarded Indians for learning Portuguese with status and material gifts - and government-sponsored schools that punished children for speaking in their native tongues. In spite of all this repression, individual acts of resistance and cultural preservation mean there are still more than 180 Indigenous languages spoken in Brazil today. The linguistic diversity is so great that Indians living in the Negro river area must know at least three languages as well as the official Portuguese in order to communicate with their neighbors. The Constitution of 1988 finally gave Indians the right to bilingual education in their own schools, and we see how the Forest School of professor Joaquim Kaxinawá allows children to be immersed in their native language, developing new teaching methods that will help to preserve culture for the future.

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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A South African Farm

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 07:45:00 GMT

A South African Farm
Buy Now: $320.00

After a five-year absence from South Africa, filmmaker Paul Laufer returned to his country to film a microcosm of a society in turmoil, a society in which whites are driven by fears of loss of privilege, and blacks are torn between the material benefits of white "Protection" and the desire to be free from oppression.

On the farm of Laufer's godfather in South Africa's eastern highlands, black workers enjoy fairly decent living conditions. The godfather, a Czech emigre, has even built a school, although black pupils must walk for miles while white youngsters take a bus to their school in town.

Made during the final years of apartheid, the film offers insight into the everyday workings of apartheid, and the perspectives of blacks and whites caught in the system. A South African Farm allows us to meet and to listen to the voices of diverse men and women: the farm foreman, the butcher, the cook and her husband, an unemployed man still living on the farm, the Indian shopkeeper, a youth in the army, a teacher and a school principal, and the godfather, who reflects upon black/white relations while collecting mushrooms or playing pool. The black people on the farm express opinions about homelands, dependency, and the quality of life. The overwhelming impression, however, is of wariness and silencing: the power of this film lies in what is not - what cannot be - said.

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Tracks Across Sand

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 08:57:00 GMT

Tracks Across Sand
Buy Now: $395.00

In sixteen chapters containing four and a half hours of materials, Tracks Across Sand offers a unique chance to travel to the edge of the Kalahari, to a struggle for indigenous rights, and into the heart of contemporary South Africa. Driven from their lands, forced into a life of destitution, and denied the right even to speak their own languages, the ‡Khomani San fight for their heritage.

Culled from over 130 hours of video recorded between 1996 and 2010, Tracks presents a unique record of the ‡Khomani San, bringing together the story of Africa's first Bushman claim, from preparation through to ten years after the claim was granted. Seen through the eyes and told in the words of the ‡Khomani San themselves, this film chronicles the struggle for indigenous rights by a people who are defying a history that has attempted and failed to make them disappear.

The contents of this interactive DVD set include not only the extraordinary video shot over the course of the project, but archival photos, maps, family trees, stories, segments on Bushman language, and interviews with people outside of the San community who were instrumental in the claim and community building. As an added attraction, the disk also holds a photo gallery of the film's participants which can be downloaded and shared within San communities.

The ‡Khomani San of South Africa speak for themselves; and they also speak for the many, many people like them, who are struggling to have their voices heard and their human rights recognized. Tracks Across Sand is above all a record of a remarkable time and remarkable people — and may be the only record anywhere in the world of a land claim over such a span of time, from dream to retrospect ten years after settlement.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film, 2013

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Valley of the Heroes

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 13:38:00 GMT

Valley of the Heroes
Buy Now: $320.00

“When no one listens, no one tells, and when no one tells, no one learns; and thus when the elders die, so do the traditions and language.” — Tibetan Proverb

In many Tibetan communities, the loss of Tibetan language has reached a crisis level. An elder generation is passing away, leaving behind fewer young Tibetans who can understand their own native language. The trend is most accelerated in villages at the outer edges of the Tibetan cultural sphere, where Chinese has become the dominant language of business and education.

Hualong County, whose name translates to "Valley of the Heroes", is one such community. Located in Qinghai Province, China, at the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, Hualong was once a place where Tibetan culture thrived among other ethnic groups, including Mongolians, Turkish Muslim Salar, Chinese Muslim Hui, Monguors, and Han Chinese. Now Hualong is recognized as one of the most vulnerable places for Tibetan language and culture on the entire plateau. Today more than 30% of Tibetans living there are unable to speak any Tibetan at all.

Valley of the Heroes is a rare window into Tibet's shifting cultural landscape. Through the voices of farmers and townspeople, young children and the elderly, the film renders a timely portrait of a community undergoing radical transformation. Their perspectives are accompanied by footage of daily life in Hualong, revealing the region's complex linguistic terrain, where Tibetan children speak Chinese when they play, and traditional songs and prayers are being lost.

Amid these drastic changes, a group of young Tibetans has set out to address the situation. They are students from Qinghai Nationalities University, who have volunteered to teach Tibetan language to the school children of Hualong. Valley of the Heroes documents their experiences, shedding important light on the challenges and successes in the effort to preserve Tibetan culture. Prior to making Valley of the Heroes, Khashem Gyal, the filmmaker, volunteered as a student teacher in the Qinghai Nationalities language program. His dedication to the community of Hualong and commitment to Tibetan language inspired him to make the film. It is one of the first independent documentary films to be produced entirely in Tibet by a Tibetan filmmaker.

Many other villages across the Tibetan Plateau are enduring similar fates to Hualong. Without local efforts to strengthen these communities, Tibetan language and culture at large may soon be completely marginalized. As a rare insider perspective of the situation on the ground, Valley of the Heroes serves as both a warning call and glimmer of hope for the future of Tibet.

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Yucatec Maya Deaf Sign

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:27:00 GMT

Yucatec Maya Deaf Sign
Buy Now: $295.00

In 1976, Hubert Smith set out with a group of researchers to visually document Yucatec Maya society within the village of Chican. This project resulted in the 4-part series, The Living Maya. During filming, however, it was impossible to ignore the use of sign language in the village. Smith and his team saw a lot of the deaf residents, filmed them often, and went back to have these sign exchanges translated. Now it is time to share a story solely about them.

The Yucatec Maya Deaf Sign DVD contains three distinct sequences: the first, A Search for the Origins of Yucatec Maya Deaf Sign, follows linguist Robert Johnson of Gallaudet University in his study of the extent of Yucatec Maya Deaf Sign. At the time, genetic researchers believed that the high incidence of deafness — and thus of sign language use — was limited to Chican. Johnson set out to ascertain whether the Chican use of sign language was, in fact, an isolated case or if it was widespread among the Maya. Johnson travels throughout the region and finds both a high incidence of deafness and widespread knowledge of sign language, and ultimately gathers evidence that Yucatec Deaf Sign is, indeed, a language and not simply a gestural system.

The filmed conversations, Snake Encounter and Courtship & Marriage provide an opportunity to see Yucatec Deaf Sign in use. Each conversation is shown more than once, to provide both the real-time experience and annotated versions offering access to the meaning of the stories told. Margaret Mead, who served as an advisor to the project before her death once remarked, “The language is one thing, but what is remarkable is that the entire community uses it!”

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We Gather as a Family

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:26:00 GMT

We Gather as a Family
Buy Now: $295.00

The Parakatêjê (Gavião) people of Pará have lost 80% of their population to disease since the 1950s. Kokrenum, the Parakatêjê's charismatic chief, worried about his people's cultural losses, organizes a visit to the Krahô, "relatives" of the Parakatêjê with similar language and traditions. Fifty young Parakatêjê participate in a Krahô festival of singing, body-painting and a long, strenuous relay race. Impressed by the KrahTÕs upkeep of their cultural traditions, The Parakatêjê return the invitation.

Some are afraid that the Krahô will perceive them as overly "white" in their practices, but the visit takes place, both groups overcome prejudices about one another. Everyone plays a friendly game of Hawks and McCaws, and by making a video of the festivities, as one man says, "a road is opened between us." The two chiefs discuss cultural issues and seal a pact of friendship between their groups.

Films in the Encounters series

Meeting Ancestors

We Gather as a Family

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Box of Treasures

Thu, 26 Jul 2018 09:36:00 GMT

Box of Treasures
Buy Now: $295.00

In the late 19th century, the Canadian government removed ritual objects from the possession of the Kwakiut'l, a Native American community on the Northwest Coast. The 'potlatch', as it was called, was their way of celebrating their culture, their identity and their heritage. A ritual passing down of treasures, it symbolized a rebirth of tradition, a positive affirmation of their identity, past and present.

In 1921 the Kwakiut'l people of Alert Bay, British Columbia, held their last secret potlatch. In 1980 at Alert Bay, the U'mista Cultural Centre (U'mista means "something of great value that has come back") opened its doors to receive and house the cultural treasures which were seized decades earlier and only then returned to the people. The center also took up activities such as recording stories told by elders so that some part of the past would always be alive and teaching children about their heritage in order to make them feel connected to their ancestors.

This film documents the cultural significance of these events for today's Kwakiut'l people. It is an eloquent testimony to the persistence and complexity of Kwakiut'l society and to the struggle for redefining cultural identity for them.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Museum of the American Indian, NATIVE AMERICA NOW 1986
American Film Festival Blue Ribbon 1985
CINE Golden Eagle Award 1985
Festival dei Popoli, Florence, Italy
Cinema du Rel, Paris
Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, New York, NY 2008

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