Documentary Educational Resources - New Releases / All Films

Riada

Sun, 1 Dec 2024 16:48:23 GMT

In 2018, Colombia's second most powerful waterway was stopped because of a controversial infrastructure project: the Hidroituango dam. Once completed, this massive hydropower project is projected to provide for 20% of the country’s energy needs. Yet, the social and environmental impacts are perhaps equivalent in scale to the dam’s colossal size. Already the area's inhabitants have suffered forced displacement, massacres, and systematic persecution, along with a permanent alteration in their ways of living.

Riada is an ethnographic inquiry into the impacts of this infrastructure project. The film’s poetic construction brings to life the river and the communities who have waged a thirty year battle to preserve their way of life. The film takes viewers through the river waterways in the Hidroituango dam's influence area to meet peasants, gold panners, fishermen, and scientists. Finished on the verge of the dam's inauguration date, this 100-minute journey poetically connects the survivor's raw oral stories and the harrowing landscape in three acts: swirls, debris, and mutations.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

25th Bogota Int'l Documentary Showcase (MIDBO), Colombia 2024

19th Galician Ethnographic Film Showcase (MICE), Spain 2024

Latin American Anthropology Film Festival (ALA), Argentina 2024

Visit New Releases to see additional products in this category.

Ballad on the Shore

Wed, 2 Oct 2024 17:47:26 GMT

Ballad on the Shore
Buy Now: $320.00

Ma Chi Hang’s ethnomusicological film records a centuries-old oral tradition of fishermen and fisherwomen who identify as People on Water (水上人 ). Living in fishing communities on Grass Island and in Aberdeen, Hong Kong, they sing ballads about life on and in connection with the sea. The ballads, sung in what the practitioners call ''fisherman language'' are melodic and the lyrics poetic and rich.

The lyrics of these ballads tell the stories of the trials and tribulations of the life of the fisherman. They tell of a past way of life on the water and reflect a strong attachment to and knowledge of their maritime environment–where to anchor safely, where to avoid big waves or windy and cold conditions, and where fish are plentiful. “Anchor large boats at the tip of To Nin, a sampan sends the lover to Sai See Island.....” Ballads have been traditionally passed down from one generation to the next, but with the boat people's way of life disappearing and the songs reaching fewer and fewer listeners today, will the ballads continue to be sung?

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Taiwan International Documentary Festival, Taiwan 2023

Sinophone Musics Film Festival, Taiwan 2022

RAI Film Festival, UK 2019

MOViE MOViE Life Is Art Festival, Hong Kong 2018

Chiayi Int'l Art Doc Film Festival, Taiwan 2018

Visit New Releases to see additional products in this category.

Cruces

Wed, 5 Jun 2024 18:06:15 GMT

Cruces
Buy Now: $295.00

Cruces is an experiential expedition into the geographies and stories of immigrants from Latin America as they journey to reach US soil. By weaving together oral histories and images of the landscape, the film highlights the constitutive elements of transit, such as trains and rivers, and the obstacles migrants face, such as forests, deserts, and border regimes.

Recorded in 2019 and early 2020, this multi-vocal ethnography conveys a collective view of the multiple stories of journey and arrival. Enhanced by an immersive soundtrack and an experimental narrative, Cruces offers a raw exploration of the terrain and testimonies constituting one of our age's most defining, challenging, and politicized phenomena.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS
The Royal Anthropological Institute Film Festival, UK, 2023

Athens Ethnographic Film Festival, Greece, 2022

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

Bogoshorts Film Festival,Colombia, 2021

Multimedia Anthropology Showcase in Madrid (MAAM), Spain, 2021

VI Mexican Congress of Anthropology and Ethnology Film Festival, Mexico, 2020
VI Latin American Anthropology Congress Film Festival, Uruguay, 2020

Visit New Releases to see additional products in this category.

We Are The Warriors

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 15:15:24 GMT

We Are The Warriors
Buy Now: $320.00

For nearly 70 years, students and alumni of Wells High School in Maine have called themselves the “Warriors.” Their yearbook, the Abenaki, was named for the Indigenous people the town’s settlers first encountered in the 1600s. And the school mascot was a stoic Native American head in profile with braids and feathered headband. When, in 2017, public allegations emerged that Warriors fans made “Indian” whooping calls and donned “war paint,” the community began a process to decide whether to keep or drop their long-held mascot. We Are The Warriors follows the proceedings of the school district’s Mascot Advisory Committee and draws on interviews with residents of Wells, Maine to paint a profile of one community’s process as they confront their history and identity, challenging long-held misconceptions about the meanings behind their team’s name.

The film’s Co-Directors, both graduates of Wells High School, gathered interviews and insights from residents of Wells and Wabanaki people from what is now Maine, Québec, and the Canadian Maritimes. Revelations about the town’s brutal colonial history and difficult conversations about the actual impact of the use of the mascot were key to changing hearts and minds of committee members. The film highlights evolving opinions of residents with a secondary focus on the history of the region. After months of informed consideration, the committee votes to recommend that the school board retire the mascot.

We Are the Warriors serves as a case study for how one community contends with the legacy of settler colonialism and speaks to national issues regarding misunderstandings about the role and place of indigenous people in American society.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS
Maine Public Television, USA, 2024

Vermont Public Television, USA, 2024

Port Jefferson Documentary Series, USA, 2024
Tourmaline Prize for Best Feature made in Maine, 26th Maine Int'l Film Festival, USA 2023

Global Peace Film Festival, USA, 2023
Monadnock Int'l Film Festival, USA, 2023

Visit New Releases to see additional products in this category.

Goodbye, Captain

Wed, 13 Mar 2024 14:42:23 GMT

Goodbye, Captain
Buy Now: $320.00

Goodbye, Captain relates the story of Brazil's indigenous Gavião people and their efforts to maintain their language, livelihood, and identity throughout a half-century of upheavals. At the center of this historical narrative is "Captain" Krôhôkrenhum Jopaipairé, leader of the Gavião community in the south of Pará. Krôhôkrenhum shares the history of his people and details his commitment to restoring the community’s cultural traditions.

Krôhôkrenhum’s tells filmmaker Vincent Carelli the history of his community, beginning with the wars of the “brave Indian” and the terrible devastation that began with contact with the kupen or white man, who brought with them new diseases and left few survivors scattered around the region. Further encroachment of the kupen resulted in the loss of Gavião lands and resources, including the nut trees that offered them economic independence, the imposition of slave labor, and a generation raised outside of their culture and language.

As the story continues, strategic alliances with other Gavião groups enable Krôhôkrenhum and his people to rebel against harmful government policies and ultimately gain control of their plantation and obtain financial autonomy. Contact with other Gavião groups also inspires Krôhôkrenhum and the community to revitalize the Gavião language and ceremonies.

Woven throughout this history is the relationship between the captain and Vincent Carelli, who began filming the community using a VHS camera in 1987. The film opens with Carelli’s return of an audio-visual archive to the Gavião community and the promise of fulfilling Krôhôkrenhum’s wish to maintain the memory of his people.

Selected Screenings & Awards

Prix Mondes en Regards, Jean Rouch International Ethnographic Film Festival, France, 2023
Sheffield International Documentary Festival, United Kingdom, 2022

Doclisboa International Film Festival, Portugal, 2022

IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival), Amsterdam, 2022

It’s All True - International Documentary Festival, Brazil, 2022

Visit New Releases to see additional products in this category.

Sama in the Forest

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 16:42:00 GMT

Sama in the Forest
Buy Now: $320.00

In a creative collaboration with local community members in Madhubani, India, this hybrid documentary highlights the tale of Sama, a young princess who wanders into the forest and befriends a young man, only to be slandered by a muckraking confidante of the king, and subsequently cursed and banished by her father, Lord Krisna.

The film combines footage of women telling different versions of the tale, the making of elaborate narrative paintings, a dramatization of the story, a yearly festival that celebrates Sama, and in-depth conversations about the morals and meanings of this and other traditional tales. The girls and women at the heart of the film are students and teachers at the Mithila Art Institute, a small school for young aspiring artists. Additional participants — community members of different genders, castes, and generations — help paint a complex picture of the social tensions evident in Mithila today.

The festival of Sama Chakeva is both unique to the Mithila region, and special in several of its qualities – notably, in its multi-caste, non-priestly, female-centric, playful and even bawdy nature. This festival is celebrated by groups of women and girls, who join together to enter the mythical world of Sama in song and ritual. They bond in teasing and torturing the muckraking character, to ensure the devotion of their brothers for years to come, and arguably to shine a critical light on some of the patriarchal aspects of their own culture.

The painters of the three paintings included in the film are all trained in the Mithila Art tradition that derives originally from a domestic, ceremonial form of expression and for which the region is renowned. Finally, another key element of the film, intricately interwoven with the others, is an enactment of the Sama story by the very same people who are also interviewed in the film. The workshopping in preparation for the enactment provided an opportunity for collaborative meaning making and personal reflection on the significance of the story in their lives today. And the filmed enactment itself enables the filmmakers to deliver these meanings to a wider audience.

Selected Screenings & Awards

Best Feature, Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival, Canada, 2023

51st Annual Conference on South Asia, Ethnographic and Documentary Film Screenings, USA, 2023

South Asian Studies Speakers Series, Pennsylvania State University, USA, 2023

Contemporary Arts of Mithila Radford University Int'l Symposium, USA 2023

Signs Film and Video Festival, India, 2023

Visit New Releases to see additional products in this category.

The Bride Market of Imilchil

Fri, 19 Jan 2024 10:15:17 GMT

The Bride Market of Imilchil
Buy Now: $320.00

Each September, during a three-day event, eligible men and women from the Berber tribes of Aït Benhaddou in central Morocco gather in front of the shrine of Imilchil to select a spouse and marry. Through interviews and observational footage The Bride Market of Imilchil presents an intimate portrayal of the Souk Aam marriage festival, enabling viewers to read the signs and subtle behaviors that shape this unique ritual, and offering insight into local ideas about marriage and divorce. In the final sequences, the film suggests the increasing presence of tourists as an explanation for the declining participation in the festival.

Shot in 1985 and originally released in 1987, the film remains a classic in ethnographic cinema and is an excellent resource for teaching about gender, kinship, and related topics.

“This is an exciting film. The very content captures attention. The photography is superb, not only aesthetically satisfying with its often muted colors, but also sensitive in its lingering portrayal of hands, faces, body language. An old woman praying, a dust storm in slow motion, accelerated shadows of clouds across the tent city: these are scenes of rare beauty…”
— Visual Anthropology Review, Spring 1990

Visit New Releases to see additional products in this category.

The Intersection

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 08:03:38 GMT

The Intersection
Buy Now: $320.00

The Intersection examines the distinct yet intersecting trajectories of French-speaking immigrants from both Canada and Francophone-African countries, as they converge in Lewiston, Maine. Through a focus on the lives and friendship between Cecile, a French-Canadian woman whose family came to the US to work in the local mills, part of an immigrant wave beginning in the 1840s, and Trésor, a Congolese man seeking asylum who is part of a recent wave of African immigrants, the film suggests the importance of language for identity and community. Cecile and Trésor build a bond around their common first language, French. After a lifetime of suppressing her French identity, Cecile regains pride in her origins, while the common language offers Trésor a means of building connections in his new home.

The filmmakers frame this story of friendship within a broader historical context, encouraging viewers to reflect on the history of immigration in Maine since the first European settlers arrived. In just over 30 minutes, the film manages to provide an overview of immigrant experiences, including histories of discrimination and oppression both past and present. This deeply American story touches on issues relevant to communities around the country and is a great film for classes in sociolinguistics, American history, immigration, Francophone studies and more.

“I strongly recommend this film to anyone seeking a better understanding of what Francophonie means...” – Olivier Favry, Cultural Attaché, French Consulate in Boston

“The Intersection is a heart-warming film that shows the deep bond formed through the bridge of a common language.” – Charlotte Cushman, educator

Selected Screenings & Awards

Audience Award for Best Short, Camden Int'l Film Festival, USA, 2021

Tourmaline Prize for Best Maine Film Short, Maine Int'l Film Festival, USA, 2022

Royal Anthropological Institute RAI Film Festival, UK, 2023

Independent Film Festival Boston, USA, 2022

FLOURISH Festival, Fredericton, NB, Canada, 2022

Visit New Releases to see additional products in this category.

Light Upon Light

Mon, 2 Oct 2023 11:47:00 GMT

Light Upon Light
Buy Now: $320.00

One day, an Egyptian friend gave Danish anthropologist Christian Suhr a piece of advice: Stop focusing on all the darkness in the world, and look at the light instead. Tired of studying the tensions between Muslim and Western world views in Europe, Suhr began to study religious experiences of light in post-revolutionary Egypt.

Light Upon Light explores how practitioners of Sufi Islam search for light at a time of deep darkness and political turmoil. Throughout his journey in Cairo and back home in Denmark, Suhr engages in conversations with friends and acquaintances while also observing and participating in rituals that open the hearts of practitioners to the light of God. While speaking to universal human concerns, the film offers a nuanced portrayal of religious practices as the filmmaker seeks to understand the experiences of those he meets as well as his own experience of divine light.

“Danish director and anthropologist Christian Suhr’s feature documentary offers a respectful yet compelling peek into the surprisingly diverse communities of Sufi worshippers within the Islamic tradition of Egypt.” – Deborah Young, Film Verdict

“It is groundbreaking that a Danish director (Christian Suhr) is part of an Arab production. It is a symptom of a greater transformation in the cultural power relationship between Western and Arab documentary filmmaking – a relationship that historically has been very unequal. For long there has been a hegemony, where Western production companies have led the productions of documentaries also from the Arab world. Here the hegemony is turned upside down.” — Rasmus Steen, Head of Documentary, IMS

Selected Screenings & Awards

Special Mention, Jean Rouch International Film Festival, France, 2023

Opening Film, Ethnofest – Athens Ethnographic Film Festival, Greece, 2022

World Premiere, CPH:DOX, Denmark, 2022

International Premiere, Cairo IFF, Egypt, 2022
German International Ethnographic Film Festival, Germany, 2024

Dhaka International Film Festival, 2024

Society of the Anthropology of Consciousness Annual Meeting, USA, 2024

Jean Rouch Hors-les-murs Festival, France, 2024
European Association of Social Anthropologists Conference, Spain, 2024

American Academy of Religion, USA, 2023

Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival, Canada, 2023

Middle Eastern Studies Association (MESA) Film Festival, Canada, 2023

Freiburger Filmforum, Germany, 2023

Tripoli Film Festival, Lebanon, 2023

NAFA Film Festival, Denmark, 2023

Mind & Life Europe Conference, ESRi, Italy, 2023

FIFEQ Montreal, Canada 2023

FIFEQ Ville de Quebec, Canada 2023

Ethnocineca, Austria, 2023

Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt, 2023

Arabian Nights Festival, Cinemateque, Denmark, 2022

Amsterdam Ethnographic Filmday, Netherlands, 2022

Ethnokino, Switzerland, 2022

Practices, Aesthetics and Entanglements Conference, Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, 2022

Visit New Releases to see additional products in this category.

A Thousand Fires

Fri, 25 Aug 2023 16:07:12 GMT

A Thousand Fires
Buy Now: $320.00

In the Magway region of Myanmar, a country home to one of the oldest petroleum industries in the world, live husband and wife Thein Shwe and Htwe Tin. Running an unregulated oil field, they produce a barrel every few days. They wish above all else to see their youngest son succeed, to break the cycle of poverty. A kettle boils. Mud slicked hands work sputtering machines. The ambient sound of a football match hums from a nearby television. “These days passed quickly”, Htwe says.   

From Palestinian-British filmmaker Saeed Taji Farouky, A Thousand Fires is a portrait of a family in flux, and a story of intergenerational conflict and compromise. It is a film of transient moments; of hopes and aspirations; of faith in the forces of karma and luck; of a place, a community, and the rhythms of a day to day; of lingering memories and a turbulent past; and of life persisting, regardless.

“a cinematic masterpiece, quiet and powerful at once” – MIME - Moving Image Middle East

“Immerse yourself in the cinematic presence of A Thousand Fires, an ethnographic documentary about people collecting petroleum oil that captivates the senses with an exquisite blend of visual and auditory sensations. The screen pulsates with a dynamic interplay of smoke, steam, oil, and water, creating textures and hues that ignite an appreciation for oil collection in rural Myanmar…(recommended) for those interested in Myanmar, rural life, poverty, religious studies, the oil industry including resource politics, and phenomenologically-rich content in ethnographic film.” – The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology

“Farouky captures a beautifully intimate story of family, religion, and community, showcasing the family’s hope, faith, and resilience as they grapple with everyday struggles and cyclical change.” – Universal Cinema

“absorbing” – Film Comment

“a low-key, quiet film but one of beguilingly vivid sensory impact” – Screen Daily

“A Thousand Fires, dedicated to the filmmaker’s parents, has unending belief in human perseverance against the odds. And facing the future with optimistic realism is sometimes all humans can do.”– One Room With A View

“social commentary or activism have to take a back seat as we experience this deeply human story”– Cineuropa

Selected Screenings & Awards

Riga Pasaules Film Festival, Latvia 2023

RAI Film Festival, United Kingdom, 2023

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, USA, 2023

Pame Int'l Film Festival, Nepal 2022

FIDBA - Int'l Documentary Film Festival, Argentina, 2022

Duhok Int'l Film Festival, Iraq, 2022

Poreč Dox Int'l Film Festival, Croatia, 2022

MOVE IT! Festival for Human Rights, Germany, 2022

Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, USA, 2022

DokuBaku - Int'l Documentary Film Festival, Azerbaijan, 2022

Dokufest - Int'l Documentary and Short Film Festival, Kosovo, 2022

Melgaço Int'l Documentary Film Festival (MDOC), Portugal, 2022

Cinemambiente – Environmental Film Festival, Italy, 2022

Ecofalante Environmental Film Festival, Brazil, 2022

Aegean Film Festival, Greece, 2022

Documentarist 15th İstanbul Documentary Days, Turkey, 2022

Rencontres du film documentaire de Mellionnec, France, 2022

Internationales Film Festival Innsbruck, Austria, 2022

DocsBarcelona Film Festival, Spain, 2022

ethnocineca – Int'l Documentary Film Festival, 2022

Beldocs – Int'l Documentary Film Festival, Serbia, 2022

Taiwan Int'l Documentary Festival, Taiwan, 2022

Doxa Documentary Film Festival, Canada, 2022

DOK.fest München, Germany, 2022

Movies that Matter Festival, Netherlands, 2022

Zagrebdox Int'l Documentary Film Festival, Croatia, 2022

Docudays UA Int'l Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Ukraine, 2022

DocYard, USA, 2022

First Look - Museum of the Moving Image, USA, 2022

FIPADOC - Int'l Documentary Festival, France, 2022

Int'l Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2021

Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland, 2021

Visit New Releases to see additional products in this category.