Documentary Educational Resources - Subject / Music, Dance & Theater / Music / All Films

Machanic Manyeruke

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 10:13:33 GMT

This is a feature-length ethnographic film on the life of Zimbabwe’s gospel music legend, Machanic Manyeruke, considered by many the “father” of gospel music in Zimbabwe. An intimate film about family, faith, culture and music exploring the sources of Manyeruke’s persistently popular music, its impact in contextualizing Christian faith in local Shona culture, and how his music, and his very person, reflect fundamental forces of Christian growth in Zimbabwe and other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Selected Screenings & Awards

IndieFEST Film Awards, USA, 2023

Faith in Film: Int’l Film Festival, USA, 2022

Africa World Documentary Film Festival, USA, 2022

Amsterdam Int’l Film Festival, Amsterdam, 2021

Religion/Faith, Docs Without Borders Film Festival, USA, 2022

Selected, feature documentary, Detroit Trinity Int’l Film Festival, USA, 2022

Accolade Global Film Competition, USA, 2022

Bright Future Independent Film Festival, Sweden, 2021

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Two Poets and a River

Thu, 9 Mar 2023 13:37:42 GMT

Two Poets and a River
Buy Now: $320.00

Using the Oxus river as a topos, this film explores themes of love and loss through the lives and musical poetry of the two most prominent and innovative Wakhi musicians in Central and South Asia, Qurbonsho in Tajikistan and Daulatsho in Afghanistan. In the 19th century their Wakhan homeland became a buffer zone between Czarist Russia and the British Empire and the river Oxus became a border. The condition of being separated by a river grounds the poets’ discussions of love and loss in their own lives as well as in their musical arts. Richard Wolf shot the film over 2.5 years (2012-2020).

The Deluxe Edition 2-disc set includes a Blu-ray featuring the 75-min festival cut and 124-min director’s cut, a CD soundtrack of music in Wakhi, Tajik, Persian, and Dari languages, and an accompanying booklet with songtexts and translations.

Selected Screenings & Awards

Martello Award, Cinque Ports International Film Festival, France and England, 2023

Middle Eastern Studies Association Film Festival, Montreal, 2023

Association for Asian Studies Film Expo, USA, 2023

RAI Film Festival, Bristol, UK, 2023

ICTM Prize for Best Documentary Film or Video, Int'l Council for Traditional Music, Portugal, 2022

Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival, USA, 2022

Manchester Lift-Off Film Festival, UK, 2022

Madrid International Film Festival, Spain, 2022

International Multicultural Film Festival, Australia, 2022

Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum, University of London, UK, 2022

Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, USA, 2022

Department of Film and Television, National College of Arts, Pakistan, 2022

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My Rembetika Blues

Tue, 8 Mar 2022 15:35:21 GMT

My Rembetika Blues
Buy Now: $320.00

Rembetika music or the Greek blues is a music born of exile and the streets, developing its roots from the mass migration of people in the early twentieth century. Filmmaker M. Zournazi traces the journey of her forebears from Smyrna in Turkey to Sydney Australia but discovers more than family history – she finds out how music connects people during times of struggle and crises. By weaving together different stories of music and migration, My Rembetika Blues documents a wealth of experiences that are often left out of the chronicles of history.

"A film that reveals the core of Rembetika that only a Greek from Australia could see. A strong and beautiful film." – Renos Haralambidis, Greek Director

"[A] rare documentary that covers its subject – Rembetika music – so thoroughly documenting its "sound", history, locations, and evolution interviewing performers, scholars and more, but (filmmaker Mary Zournazi) totally engages us by making this her personal journey to discover more of her mother's heritage which co-exists with Rembetika history from Turkey to Greece to Egypt and Lebanon and on to Australia."
– Andrew Horton, Professor Emeritus of Film & Video Studies, University of Oklahoma

Selected Screenings & Awards

Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival, 2023

Universe Multicultural Film Festival, US, 2022
Social Justice Film Festival & Institute Special Event, 2022

Gold Remi Documentary Award, World Fest Houston Int'l Film Festival, Melbourne, 2021

Excellence in Filmmaking Award, Spotlight Film Awards, 2021

Platinum Award, Women’s International Film Awards, 2021

Best Documentary, Feature Film Competition – World of Film Int'l Film Festival, Glasgow, 2021

German International Ethnographic Film Festival, 2021

Parma International Music Film Festival, Italy, 2021
International Film and Television Festival SIMFEST, Romania, 2021

Docs Without Borders Film Festival, 2021

Williamsburg Film and Music Festival, 2021

Los Angeles Greek Film Festival, 2021

San Francisco Greek Film Festival, 2021

Nevada Women's Film Festival, 2021

World Fest Houston International Film Festival, 2021
Melbourne Documentary Film Festival, 2021

Toronto Greek Film Festival, 2021

EATSA Art & Tourism Film Festival, Portugal, 2021
World of Film International Film Festival Glasgow, 2021
Houston Greek Film Festival, 2021
Malta Film Festival, 2021

Cinque Port International Film Festival, 2021
Nova Film and Music Film Festival, North Virginia, 2021

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Cool Running

Mon, 12 Jul 2021 16:12:20 GMT

Cool Running
Buy Now: $340.00

In Accra, Ghana, por por (pronounced paw paw) is a unique music made from squeeze-bulb honk horns. Originally a fixture on colonial-era wooden lorries, these horns were subsequently repurposed by drivers in the township of La as musical instruments for union driver funerals.

Drawing from five years of research and work with the Drivers Union, filmmaker Steven Feld and photographer/oral historian Nii Yemo Nunu take readers into the stories of the drivers, their vehicles and the invention of por por music through photographs and text, including complementary historical essays and a classic black and white photograph section by German photographer Hannah Schreckenbach. Additionally, Nunu and Feld collected, transcribed, and translated twenty-five video interviews with elder drivers. These interviews formed the basis of The Story of Por Por, one of five films in Feld’s Jazz Cosmopolitanism series.

The deluxe, hardback edition of Cool Running features over two hundred captioned photographs, a CD titled Klebo! that features the La Drivers Union por por Group performing their songs, and a DVD with two documentary films: The Story of Por Por and M.V. Labadi.

“In all, this package offers a captivating introduction to por por and its cultural context of driving in Accra…On its own, it stands as a testament to the dynamic interplay of Ga drivers and musicians in La, including the ways in which foreign technologies become integrated into local cultural practice…will be a valuable resource for educators as well as scholars of Ghana, Africa, music, sound studies, technology and society, labor, and transportation.” - Paul Schauert, The Journal of African History

Praise for Jazz Cosmopolitanism:

“The chapters in which Feld listens and retells the stories of these mercurial musicians are compelling, and throw up original and profound material. Feld is brilliant at articulating the multiple overlapping narratives and experiences that both obfuscate and animate diasporic dialogues, and in that process his book attains its own world-historical significance.” – Tony Herrington, The Wire

“[A] vital statement about the infinitely nuanced nature of cultural exchange between Africa and America, and how our fullest understanding of jazz history might be furthered by enquiries like this.” – Kevin Le Gendre, Jazzwise

“Jazz Cosmopolitanism is a lively and important book, one that uses the vehicles of dialogue and sound to unearth the complex cultural and political dynamics that connect a group of urban Africans to the diaspora and wider world. It is a fun, invigorating, and worthwhile read that continues to resonate when finally put down. I highly recommend picking it up.” – Nate Plageman, Journal of African History

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Polyphonic Lullabies of Kakheti

Mon, 28 Jan 2019 14:26:00 GMT

Polyphonic Lullabies of Kakheti
Buy Now: $320.00

While lullabies – with their intimate relationship between a mother and her child – are a universal musical genre, the polyphonic singing of lullabies by choirs is very rare. In Georgia (South Caucasus), men’s choirs have been singing lullabies on stage since at least the end of the 19th century, as the movement of national liberation from the Russian empire favored the affirmation of the Georgian cultural uniqueness. Polyphonic cradlesongs performed by men’s, women’s or mixed choirs in the different regional styles have become a new musical genre added to the repertoire of traditional national folklore. Individual as well as choral lullabies are called Nana.

The practice of related polyphonic Nana songs, also called Iav-Nana (name derived from the refrain “Violet-Nana”), is much older and rooted in pre-Christian beliefs. Some of these songs were performed at family rituals when a child had an infectious disease such as measles, which were believed to be brought by celestial spirits. Women performed other ritual Nana songs at sacred places such as a particular village church, or “pagan” mountain sanctuaries, to request from deities health and prosperity for their folk. This film shows for the first time these different kinds of Nana songs in their traditional context and at rehearsals of local choirs of the Kakheti province.

"It is my pleasure to let you know that your new film was demonstrated with great success in Tbilisi at the 9th Symposium of the International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony! The Recital Hall of Tbilisi's Conservatoire was crowded and enthusiastic, there was applause and congratulations. The Georgians were impressed, they underlined the richness of the materials and information and your approach to them. As my personal opinion, I always appreciate in your films a subtle sense of the music as well as the time and context in which this music exists."
– Rusudan Tsurtsumia, International Research Center for Traditional Polyphony, Tbilisi, 2018

"Polyphonic Lullabies of Kakheti is a film on a universal song genre and its unusual polyphonic realization. But it is not only about a genre. It is about human creativity and social cohesion, about powerful individuals and the beauty of traditional expressive culture. The film is the most impressive audio-visual document on traditional music of Georgia I have ever seen."
– Ulrich Morgenstern, University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, 2019

"From the very beginning this fascinating film leads you into the depth of Georgian singing traditions, fills you with sincere emotions and furnishes significant information. You feel as if you were a participant in centuries-old rituals and at the same time, viewing them from the present-day position."
– Gia Bagashvili, Caucasus University, Tbilisi, 2019

SELECTED SCREENINGS

Special Mention, Best Music Documentary, The XXXIII PärnuInternational Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival (Estonia), 2019

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A Por Por Funeral for Ashirifie

Tue, 9 Oct 2018 15:11:00 GMT

A Por Por Funeral for Ashirifie
Buy Now: $320.00

Por Por music (pronounced “paw paw”) is named for the honking sound of antique squeeze-bulb car horns, ubiquitous on the wooden lorries of Ghana's early transport history. After electric horns arrived in West Africa a union of bus and truck drivers in the Accra township of La kept the por por horn and invented a jazzy honking. The La drivers only perform Por Por at funerals of their fellow union transport workers.

In March 2008 the La Drivers Union Por Por Group lost one of its key members, Nelson Ashirifie Mensah. This film documents the funeral performed in his memory and discusses Por Por's relation to the New Orleans jazz funeral.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Prix Bartok, Jean Rouch Film Festival, 2010

Films in the Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra series:

Hallelujah! (60 min, 2009)

Accra Trane Station: The Music and Art of Nii Noi Nortey (60 min, 2009)

Includes the short film From Accra to Santa Fe (18 min, 2009)

A Por Por Funeral for Ashirifie (60 min, 2009)

The Story of Por-Por (60 min, 2013)

Includes the short film M.V. Labadi (20 min, 2013)

J.C. Abbey, Ghana's Puppeteer (55 min, 2016)

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Candles for New Years

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:16:00 GMT

Candles for New Years
Buy Now: $295.00

For 200 years, groups of Lahu have been migrating from southwestern China into the highlands of Southeast Asia's "Golden Triangle" region. Though they share much with other migrants in the ethnic patchwork of the region, the Lahu maintain a vigorous sense of themselves as a distinct people. New Years is their prime time for celebrating what it means to be Lahu. Candles For New Years is the first visual portrait of Lahu life prepared for English-speaking viewers. Anthropologist Jacquetta Hill has followed for more than a decade the fate of a group of Lahu who cleared the forest and built a community north of Chiang Mai, Thailand. In this film, she describes the Lahu New Year as celebrated by the community: the elaborate preparations to appease the spirits they rely upon to bring them good fortune, the dancing & feasting and the mingling with friends and relatives from sister villages.

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Carnaval de Pueblo

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:16:00 GMT

Carnaval de Pueblo
Buy Now: $320.00

Carnival time is big in this small Spanish town in Andalusia. Appropriately described by a local as a 'newspaper', the carnival is a time of dressing up and coming together. The men compose 'spicy' songs about local affairs and sing their social criticisms of national events. This documentary films the composers and singers, as they get ready for the carnival, giving us a glimpse into the lives of the people, their homes and their families. When one composer names a parent of an illegitimate child, the townspeople debate the right of privacy and the difference between entertainment and insult during their irreverent festivities.

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China Remix

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:16:00 GMT

China Remix
Buy Now: $295.00

This short documentary explores China's burgeoning African entertainment industry through the lives of three African hip-hop artists. Based in the southeastern city of Guangzhou – home to China's largest community of African immigrants – the film follows the entertainers as they try to find success in the face of challenging labor and immigration laws. The film follows the entertainers as they prepare for their shows, perform, and live their daily lives with their Chinese and African family members and friends, against the backdrop of the risk of deporation and ongoing prejudice.

"[A] fascinating film. ... [W]ith the Chinese state fervently pushing investment and development in countries throughout Africa, a new set of relationships is developing. The consequences of these relationships, both within and outside China, are just beginning to be explored, [China Remix] highlights relationships on a personal level [and] is a welcomed contribution."
–Tami Blumenfield, American Anthropologist

SELECTED SCREENINGS AND FESTIVALS

Margaret Mead Film Festival, New York

African Diaspora International Film Festival, New York

Africa World Documentary Film Festival, St. Louis, Missouri

Amakula International Film Festival, Kampala, Uganda

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Cowboy and Maria In Town

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:16:00 GMT

Cowboy and Maria In Town
Buy Now: $320.00

Attracted by the myths of town life and the chance of work, people from villages all over Papua New Guinea have come to the towns. Cowboy and Maria in Town tells the story of two such migrants living in the settlements that surround the capital, Port Moresby. Cowboy is a reformed 'rascal'- unemployed and illiterate with a criminal record. He invents an electric guitar out of scrap materials and plays his distinctive rock-and-roll on street corners, earning just enough for his family to get by. Maria lives an equally precarious existence. Seasonal gardening and her husband's small income as a night security guard are their sole means of survival. Only her resilient humor keeps her going when inter-tribal conflicts, inflamed by frustration and alcohol, erupt in the settlement. Cowboy and Maria are vital players in the new urban Papua New Guinea. Their interwoven stories highlight the consequences of urban drift, where traditional and Western values meet. These intelligent and determined optimists are far from being Third World victims; they go about their daily lives with humor and imagination, rising to the enormous cultural changes that confront them.

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