Documentary Educational Resources - Filmmaker / Lanson, Dennis / All Films

A Year in the Field

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 11:16:57 GMT

A Year in the Field
Buy Now: $295.00

Created by filmmaker Dennis Lanson and anthropologist George Gmelch (author of "In the Field: Life and Work in Cultural Anthropology"), A Year in the Field follows  Estonian anthropologist Joonas Plaan as he studies the impact of climate change in a Newfoundland fishing village. The film shows how cultural anthropologists carry out their research, revealing the value of long-term ethnographic fieldwork – particularly participant observation, the quintessential method of cultural anthropology.

Plaan is a member of the Too Big To Ignore research network and avid advocate for small scale fisheries. At first, he struggles to gain acceptance among local people, some of whom suspect he is a Russian spy. However, once he begins working alongside the fishers as a crew member on crab and lobster boats, he not only develops rapport but gains their respect and trust. By following Plaan, the film illustrates all the main elements of field research: from moving into a foreign community, learning the language, defining one's role, living as closely as possible to the ways of the locals, and recording their culture for a year or more.

A Year in the Field highlights the value of local knowledge while also showing how the long-term and immersive nature of fieldwork becomes a  transformative experience for the individual who engages in it.   The film is a valuable resource for anthropology students  and scholars alike interested in an intimate insight into the trials, successes, and unearthings of long term fieldwork.

"Over the course of a year, the film shows environmental anthropologist Joonas Plaan's transition from stranger to community member, fisherman and friend. In so doing, it offers deep insights into the practice of ethnography... valuable to students and professionals alike."
– Reade Davis, Nipissing University

"A Year in the Field weaves its observation of a young anthropologist's rigorous fieldwork methods with his personal story in a Newfoundland fishing village and his discovery that the human cost of overfishing and global warming is the end of a cultural world. ...a valuable addition to introductory and methods courses in anthropology."
– Peter Biella, San Francisco State University

"The reflective nature of all cultural anthropological field work, which links what people say, what people do, and how they tell their stories, is visibly central (in A Year in the Field), while numerous snippets of key ethical principles are interwoven in everyday scenes. This film will make a great addition to both online and offline lessons in ethnographic practice."
– Lynda Mannik, York University

"An intelligent and sensitive film, with numerous insights that ring true for all ethnographic research."
– Adrian Tanner, Memorial University of Newfoundland

"All will recognize the pitfalls and gaffes, the pain and the joy of fieldwork through the eyes of an Estonian anthropology student as he does a year's doctoral research in a small fishing village in Newfoundland."
– Russ Bernard, Dir. Institute of Social Research, Arizona State University

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Gringolandia

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:26:00 GMT

Gringolandia
Buy Now: $320.00

Americans have been living the expat life in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, for more than 50 years. Recently, though, their numbers have increased dramatically. Real estate has boomed. Some residents seek all the amenities they have at home, but at half the price. Why do Americans choose to live abroad? How do they impact this locale, which was once a sleepy provincial town in the mountains of Mexico? How do the Mexican residents view these 'visitors' from the north? How do the two cultures co-exist, for better and worse?

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The Phans of Jersey City

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 10:58:00 GMT

The Phans of Jersey City
Buy Now: $320.00

The Phans of Jersey City fills a gap in our cinematic history of Vietnam by documenting a South Vietnamese family recently relocated to the United States.

Evoking the realist style and domestic drama of An American Family, the filmmakers formulated their narrative by living with the Phans in order to achieve a remarkably intimate and detailed portrait of a family, as well as a country, in transition. The film catches up with the Phans, who have settled into a suburban lifestyle but are still struggling with mediocre employment, racial discrimination, change within their family hierarchy, and simply coming to terms with the lives they left behind.

Driving flashy cars, dancing to disco, drinking beer, and watching TV are routine for the kids, but Colonel Phan spends his days wrapped in dreams of former glory. A former military court judge, combat officer, businessman, diplomat, and politician, this fading patriarch reveals his poignant angst as he putters around the house, displays his medals, and demonstrates the foxtrot for the camera. He has stopped speaking to his oldest son who is dating a “low class” Ecuadorian woman, and his oldest daughter, who had owned her own business in South Vietnam, longs for more than the housekeeping and caregiving position that she inherited upon her arrival to the states.

As much a window into the late 70’s sociopolitical atmosphere as it is a document of clashing cultures and the less conspicuous side effects of war, The Phans of Jersey City is still relevant today as America wrestles with the ongoing issues of war, immigration, and the family unit.

“Richer than fiction, the true-life drama of the Phans provides a complex interpretation of the American Dream that is all at once inspiring and disturbing.”
— Larry Kardish, Museum of Modern Art

“The film is studded with unsettling poetic images – the colonel and his wife dancing a slow tango in their living room, the family wandering through the Paramus mall as though it were the Louvre.” — J. Hoberman, Village Voice

“The Phans of Jersey City raises more questions about American political and social life than any one movie could conveniently answer.”
— Vincent Canby, New York Times

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