Documentary Educational Resources - Geography / Asia / Nepal / All Films

Co-Husband

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 18:51:34 GMT

Co-husband is a portrait of the practice of fraternal polyandry in the communities of the indigenous Humlo people in the Humla district of Nepal. Told from the perspective of the wives and husbands as well as the members of the community who reject this model, the film explores the economic, cultural and emotional dimensions of this custom and the social consequences for those who don’t practice it.

This family structure is closely related to the caravan trade, when men were absent for long periods of time– traveling for up to eight months at a time to transport salt from Tibet and rice from the Achham region. On the one hand, this limited their time together at home, and on the other, from an economic perspective, it allowed them to share resources, reduce land division and have a larger support system, which enabled them to prosper economically. However, with the continuing decline in this form of work and the rise in unemployment, everyday life has changed and individual needs have shifted, which raises the question of whether polyandry will continue to be practiced.

Nepalese filmmaker Ganesh Panday’s documentary invites a dialogue about how different a household and a family can look, what economic considerations go into such a structure, how to define a ‘successful’ household and what role love plays in marriage.

“A deeply human and visually stunning exploration of love, duty, and family in the high Himalayas, offering a rare glimpse into the intimate rhythms of fraternal polyandry. More than an ethnographic study, it’s a moving portrait of resilience and connection that expands our understanding of what kinship can mean in South Asia and in the world.” – Prof. Harjant Gill, President, Society for Visual Anthropology

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Best Short Film, Society of Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival, USA, 2023

Bronze Award, Meihodo Int'l Youth Visual Media Festival, Japan, 2023

Best Documentary Film, Gateway Int'l Film Festival, Canada, 2023

Best Int'l Documentary Film, Cobb Inte'l Film Festival, USA, 2022

London Mountain Film Festival, UK, 2023

Best Documentary Film, Shimla Int'l Film Festival, India, 2021

Best Documentary Film, Nepal-Africa Film Festival, Nepal, 2021

29th Int'l Festival of Mountain Films Poprad, Slovakia, 2021

Best Documentary Film, Nepal Int'l Film Festival (NIFF), Nepal, 2020

Grand Prix Award, Kansk Int'l Video Festival, Russia, 2020

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Tashi's Turbine

Thu, 25 Oct 2018 14:59:00 GMT

Tashi's Turbine
Buy Now: $320.00

Set in the grassroots of the Himalayan mountains, Tashi's Turbine is an uplifting tale of a small village's attempt to harness renewable, sustainable energy with the power of the wind. The story begins with the strong friendship between Tashi Bista and Jeevan, who journey from Kathmandu to Namdok with hopes of building a stronger Nepal, one wind turbine at a time.

Their first site, Namdok, is a humble remote village in Upper Mustang, which previously relied on sparse candlelight to power through the windy nights. As Tashi and Jeevan work with the villagers, the elements and gusty landscape bring their own set of unforeseen challenges for installing a strong wind turbine.

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Himalayan Herders

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:27:00 GMT

Himalayan Herders
Buy Now: $320.00

Himalayan Herders is an intimate portrait of a temple-village in the Yolmo valley of Central Nepal where Tibetan Buddhists consult shamans, married life begins by kidnapping the bride, and the nearest road is a two-day walk away. The community drama of marriage, death, and rituals is juxtaposed with the rich texture of daily life, both in the village and the surrounding mountains and forest where these pastoralists herd zomo, a cross between a cow and a yak, which thrives in middle altitude pastures between 8,000 and 14,000 feet. Cultural change, in the form of a government primary school, incorporation into a national park, and circular migration for wage labor outside Nepal, is discussed by residents in interviews.

A twenty-five-year-long collaboration between an ethnographer and a documentary filmmaker, the film provides rich material for examining gender, cultural change, religion, pastoralism, South Asia, and the cultural ecology and economics of mountain populations. An ethnography, Himalayan Herders, published by Harcourt Brace in fall 1997 as part of the Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology Series, provides a companion volume to the film.

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Mystic Vision, Sacred Art

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:50:00 GMT

Mystic Vision, Sacred Art
Buy Now: $295.00

This documentary provides an excellent introduction to the art of thangka, sacred Tibetan Buddhist painting, in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. Carefully filmed, it takes you through every step of the painting process of thangkas. It offers insight into the symbolic and religious meaning of thangkas and their importance for Tibetan Buddhist life.

Most of the artists in this documentary are Tibetan refugees who have devoted their lives to preserving this sacred tradition. Thangkas are the scrolled devotional paintings used in Tibetan Buddhist ritual practice. Their bright colors and flowing patterns may be familiar and appreciated by westerners. However, the opportunity to see where, how, and by whom they are made affects our perception and understanding of the place these works hold in the practice of Buddhism.

This documentary provides detailed descriptions of technique, from the stretching and preparation of the painting surface, to the grinding of the pigments, to the drawing of the image and realization in brilliant colors.

This program would be of interest to students of Buddhism, art, and Asian Studies.

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Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 08:59:00 GMT

Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army
Buy Now: $320.00

Imagine being forced to leave your family and fight in war you don't understand - and you are only eleven years old. Sadly, for many of these child soldiers in Nepal this is a reality and the peace process has not solved their problems. These children quickly discovered that the return home is even more painful than the experience of war.

Returned follows several Nepali child soldiers, including Asha, a young Nepali girl, who was sent home from the Maoists' People's Liberation Army after the ceasefire. Asha joined the Maoist army when she was 14-years-old. For this young low caste girl, joining the Maoists was a pathway to a future with education and employment. Despite two years of being on the frontlines, her biggest concern was what would await her when she returned home. Would she turn to commercial sex work, become a domestic slave, or would she be banished from her home and forced into marriage?

Returned weaves the voices of Nepal's child soldiers, organizations working to help them, and military leader's from Nepal's opposing forces, who answer challenging questions about their use of childen as warriors.

“Kohrt's parsimonious film carefully balances explanations and analysis offered by various professionals with scenes of Nepalese children involved in communist-inspired activities. Most telling, however, are young people's own statements about their experiences, statements which simultaneously reveal the rapport and trust established between themselves and the filmmaker.”
— Society for Visual Anthropology

“This first-rate documentary... captures the blurred line between "choice" and "forced recruitment" of children, which is a basic analytical problem in the anthropological study of child soldiers. ...(Returned) raises broader questions about adult exploitation of the social dependency and cultural plasticity of children - especially children at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.”
— William P. Murphy, Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Best Short, Children's Advocacy 5th Annual Artivist Film Festival, Hollywood, CA, 2008

Best Student Work, Society for Visual Anthropology Film, Video and Interactive Media Festival, 2008

Best Documentary Short 2008, Atlanta Underground Film Festival, 2008

CARE Film Festival, Johannesburg, 2008

Himalayan Film Festival, Amsterdam, 2009

Document 7 - International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Scotland, 2009

Days of Ethnographic Film, Moscow, 2009

Children & Armed Conflict: Risk, Resilience & Mental Health Conference, Washington DC, 2009

Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, 2010

Anthropology Film Festival at UBC, Vancouver, Canada, 2010

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Trekking on Tradition

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 08:57:00 GMT

Trekking on Tradition
Buy Now: $295.00

This program explores the effects of mountain tourism on a small village in rural Nepal and the often ironic nature of the resulting cross-cultural encounters. Recommended for courses in Asian Studies, Environmental Studies, The Anthropology of Tourism, Global Economics, and Mountaineering enthusiasts.

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Tsundu

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 08:57:00 GMT

Tsundu
Buy Now: $295.00

Lobsang Tsundu is a 13-year-old Tibetan boy living and studying to be a monk (Lama) in Kopan monastery, situated on a little hill at the edge of Katmandu valley. Following Tibetan tradition, Tsundu, the middle son, was chosen by his parents to be a monk. This documentary offers a glimpse into Tsundu's daily life at the monastery and his interaction with his family at home, his understanding of monastic life, and his family's thoughts about his life the future.

Narration throughout the film is in the words and voices of Tsundu, his family members, and the abbot of Kopan monastery. Tsundu: Becoming a Lama will be of interest to students in middle and high school classes which have a multicultural focus; students of Asian studies, religion, and anthropology; and students of Tibetan Buddhism.

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We Know How To Do These Things

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:26:00 GMT

We Know How To Do These Things
Buy Now: $295.00

For these villagers, giving birth is a family affair; while a young girl is in labor, the birth attendant, mother and mother-in-law alternate between lending a hand and storytelling.

Barbara Johnson studied documentary film and photography with Jerry Liebling and Elaine Mayes at Hampshire College from 1970-1974. She began working for the Smithsonian's newly formed National Anthropological Film Center in 1975. She was sent to Nepal to document early childhood socialization and daily life in a large farming village in the Kathmandu Valley.

One of the Film Center's solo research filmmakers, she lived in this village for 15 months in 1978 and 1980. The 50 hours of sync-sound 16mm film which she shot in Nepal are part of the Smithsonian's Human Studies Film Archives. We Know How To Do These Things is made from the last hour of film she shot in Nepal.

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