|
|
|
|
N!ai, the Story of a !Kung Woman
|
Filmmaker Name:
|
John Marshall, Adrienne Miesmer
|
|
Film Length:
|
59 min
|
|
Film Year:
|
1980
|
|
Duration:
|
46-75 min
|
|
Decade:
|
1980s
|
|
Series:
|
!Kung series
|
|
Subtitle Language:
|
English subtitles
|
|
Color:
|
color
|
|
Closed-captioned:
|
closed-captioned
|
|
Region:
|
Africa
|
|
Subject:
|
Indigenous Peoples
|
|
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.
SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS
Cine Golden Eagle Blue Ribbon, American Film Festival
International Film and Television Festival of New York
Grand Prize, Cinima du RjeZ., Paris
News Coverage Festival, Luchon, France
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outdated, it has been retained here for the sake of consistency with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.
N!ai, The Story of a !Kung Woman
Produced by
John Marshall and Sue Marshall-Cabezas
Executive Producer for Odyssey
Michael Ambrosino
Directed and Edited by
Adrienne Miesmer and John Marshall
With
N!ai Short Face, /Gunda, Gao Lame, /Wi Crooked, ≠Toma Word, !U, Tsamko
English Voice of N!ai
Letta Mbulu
Field Anthropologist
Patricia Draper
N!ai interviews based on fieldwork of Marjorie Shostak
Consulting Anthropologists and Translators
Marjorie Shostak, Patricia Draper, Megan Biesele, Lorna Marshall
Camera
John Marshall, Ross McElwee, Mark Erder
Sound
Anne Fischel, Adrienne Miesmer, Stan Leven
Assistant Camera
Stan Leven
Assistant Sound
Patricia Draper
Assistant Editor
Carol Towson
Production Assistants
Michel Negroponte, Anne Fischel, Ross McElwee, Stan Leven, Bonnie Deutsch, Barry Dornfeld, Sarah Goodman, Jonathan Haar, Martha Lightfoot
N!ai, The Story of a !Kung Woman was made possible in part by a grant from The Rock Foundation.
|
|
|
The
Shopping Cart
is currently empty
|