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Pots of Millet, Faces of Gold

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 14:35:56 GMT

Pots of Millet, Faces of Gold
Buy Now: $320.00

Pots of Millet, Faces of Gold: Transformation is the first in a series of experimental ethnographic films that draw from Richard K. Wolf’s research with the Kota people of South India over the past 35 years. The series title alludes to the dual orientation in Kota ritual and everyday life toward death and divinity: dried millet plays a central role in multi-day secondary mortuary ceremonies, while gold-colored offerings are pasted in the shape of a face on the ancient pillars of Kota temples. As an indigenous community with a population of fewer than 2,500, the Kotas have, in their own telling, weathered periods of enormous loss—death through disease, the trauma of forced migration, and disruptions in transmission of traditional knowledge. The Kotas recognize their own long, fragile history. Indeed, the roots of the Kota language predate the separation of the Tamil and Malayalam languages more than 2,000 years ago. Today, as modern Indians, the Kotas are largely a village-based, peasant society, though their members also include professionals and workers in major Indian cities.

This first film is presented as a time capsule, addressed to Kota people 100 years in the future and narrated in Kota by Wolf’s Kota collaborator Duryodana, whose narration connects the on-screen action to both himself and to Wolf. The Kotas have long been known in the ethnographic record for their roles as craftspeople and musicians serving other communities in the Nilgiri Hills. Wolf’s research, however, has focused on the more elaborate artistic and ritual activity by and for members of the Kota community themselves.

The film thematizes music and the transformation of materials, bodies, and spiritual entities, moving from making pottery and musical instruments to their use in multiday mortuary ceremonies. Incorporating Wolf’s own footage in multiple formats transferred to film, as well as anthropologist David G. Mandelbaum’s archival movie footage and cylinder recordings from 1938, the film provides striking impressions of village life over time, viewed from the perspectives of researchers and the Kotas themselves.

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Padauk: Myanmar Spring

Mon, 31 Jan 2022 17:50:59 GMT

Padauk: Myanmar Spring
Buy Now: $320.00

Padauk: Myanmar Spring takes the viewer to the streets of Myanmar during the heady days following the February 2021 military coup. Through Nant, a young, first-time protester, we meet three human rights activists whose lives have been turned upside down by the coup.

As the protests continue, Nant comes to understand the truth of a brutal regime that has continued to wage war against its own people for decades. Against a foreboding backdrop, Nant’s political awakening regarding the plight of others in her ethnically diverse country gives hope for the future.

Beautifully augmented by poetry and art, Padauk: Myanmar Spring shows the resilience and determination of the people of Myanmar, and the sacrifices they've made.

"This film fits well within the discussion of global protest during 2020-2021 against discrimination and threats to democracy and is highly recommended." – Tashia Miller, Educational Media Reviews Online

Selected Screenings & Awards

Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival, USA, 2021

Seoul International Women’s Film Festival, South Korea, 2021

Busan Peace Film Festival, Busan, South Korea, 2021

Dharamshala International Film Festival, India, 2021

Myanmar Film Festival of Los Angeles, 2021

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Point of View (NYU C&M Vol. 2)

Mon, 4 Feb 2019 14:51:00 GMT

Point of View (NYU C&M Vol. 2)
Buy Now: $340.00

Point of View: First Person to Observational explores different methodologies in ethnographic documentary filmmaking. In each short film, the filmmaker establishes a unique point of view, and thus entry point for the audience, as observer of their own or others' lives. All reveal the importance of observation - of the physical spaces and of their characters' interactions - for engaging audiences in otherwise inaccessible spaces and intimate conversations.

Stories range from a young filmmaker's new appreciation of his mother in his attempt to grow up, that offer a glimpse into a suburban white, economically privileged community; a woman's reflections on her recovery from a breakdown after experiencing an attempted coup in Turkey; a humorous, keen observation of a couple negotiating their newlywed portraits with a lively photographer in a Chinese wedding photography shop; observations of Eastern European women telling stories as they make dumplings in the basement of a Ukranian church; and a filmmaker's encounters with the workers who create manhole covers that, upon their completion, travel from India to the streets of New York.

Films:

Cast in India (Natasha Raheja, 26 min, 2014)

Iconic and ubiquitous, approximately 300,000 manhole covers dot the streets of New York City. This observational documentary takes the viewer behind-the-scenes, to Howrah, India, where skilled workers heat, weld, melt, and mold iron into manhole cover castings. Cast in India gives life to the men, the processes, and the transnational journey behind these everyday objects.

My Mom's Name is Jean (Myles Jewell, 27 min, 2008)

New York City based filmmaker Myles Jewell still relies on his Boston-based mom to complete tasks he is perfectly capable of, such as making dentist appointments and buying new underwear. In an effort to shed his adolescence, Myles moves home for thirty days and calls his mom by her first name. Combining first person narration and observational camera, the film offers a unique approach to the coming-of-age story.

The Bride Who Wouldn't Smile (Camilla Nielsson, 8 min, 1998)

At Nancy's Wedding Center in Chinatown, New York, Nancy Ma and the wedding photographer, Mr. Ma, work to recreate big-screen beauty and glamour for their customers. Through close attention to the interactions between a young Vietnamese couple and the studio owners, and to the material objects around the studio, this short observational film captures the tensions inevitably encountered in the pursuit of the ideal photo.

The Ladies (Tyler Zoanni, 14 min, 2015)

For 50 years, a group of Ukrainian women has gathered in New York's East Village to make dumplings for their church. This observational short offers an evocative portrait of 'the ladies' and the work, faith, gossip, and humor that brings them together.

Back to Me (Zeynep Sertbulut, 22 min, 2017)

In the summer of 2016, an ISIS airport bombing and a military coup in Turkish filmmaker Zeynep Sertbulut's home country set her world off axis. Back to Me documents the many stages of recovery from an unsettling crisis while exploring identity, resilience, and change in the midst of global conflict. The intimate, first-person film tackles difficult subjects: How do you convey a traumatic event, and how do you evoke a subject's ever-changing internal states?

DVD Produced by: Cheryl Furjanic and Pegi Vail

This is part of the NYU Culture & Media series

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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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Pittsburgh Police Series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Pittsburgh Police Series
Buy Now: $1,895.00

The Pittsburgh Police series offers a raw and often intimate window into policing during a time before the War on Drugs and subsequent militarization of the police.

Produced in the late 1960s, the project was sponsored by the Lemberg Center for the Study of Violence at Brandeis University in an attempt to study police conduct in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. In spite of the racially tense climate in the city, following civil disorders in which 2,000 people were arrested (although no one was killed), permission to film was granted by the Director of Public Safety and by each Station's Inspector. The films were intended for use by law schools, community relations projects, sociology and urban studies programs, and by the police themselves, to provoke discussion about policing practices.

Marshall accompanied Pittsburgh Police officers over a nine month period of time between 1968 and 1969 as they responded to calls in the community. Individual officers provided access to their everyday work, allowing Marshall to ride in the back of their squad cars and film their interactions with community members. Marshall's footage was edited into seventeen films falling into three categories. Some of the films such as After the Game and A Forty Dollar Misunderstanding are short films that focus on single sequences and events within the project. Other films such as 901/904 and Inside/Outside Station 9 are longer films made up of a variety of these sequences with the intent to give off an overall impression of police work. The third category of films within the series are educational films, such as The 4th and 5th and the Exclusionary Rule and Investigation of a Hit and Run with Legal Discussion, which consist of clips of Marshall's footage intercut with discussion and analysis of the footage.

In Pittsburgh, sequences shown to recruits in training and to off-duty officers provoked lively discussions about the conduct and decisions made by police officers in the actual filmed events. Opinions were often divided on particular cases, as well as on the basic issue of police roles. Recruits and officers argued about the extent to which the police must function as "social workers", becoming involved in domestic situations, and about their biases about men and women. "We always believe the woman and arrest the guy," said one policeman. Several years later, the Department and individual policemen were invited to participate in the discussion film, The 4th and 5th and the Exclusionary Rule, but the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association would not allow participation. The Pittsburgh Police Department now has copies of most of these films, all of which have been shown to Department members.

John Marshall and Emile de Brigard wrote in their 1973 article "Idea and Event in Urban Film" that "In its capacity as an eyewitness report, film is an experience. The object of using film is to untangle impressions, to analyze the facts and implications of an event." The films in The Pittsburgh Police series remain powerful documents for reflecting on society then and now and allow for potent discussions about the place of police within communities as well as issues and biases within the criminal justice system.

The films may be grouped into several clusters that address various dimensions of these broad issues:

The Job: These films focus on the variety and ambiguity of police roles. (A Forty Dollar Misunderstanding; Vagrant Woman; Nothing Hurt But My Pride; Youth and the Man of Property; Inside/Outside Station Nine)

Searches and Seizures: Fourth Amendment issues are addressed in these films. (Three Domestics; Wrong Kid; After the Game)

Asking Questions: Fifth Amendment issues are at stake in situations in these films. (Investigation of a Hit and Run; The Informant; The 4th and 5th and the Exclusionary Rule)

Public Places: These films dramatize the issues of civic order versus civil liberties, of public versus private. (You Wasn't Loitering; Henry is Drunk)

The films in this series lend themselves especially well to analytical treatments in "clusters" such as these, since many are short sequences and none are narrated. The groupings suggested here represent examples, and numerous other combinations can be constructed in order to explore and illustrate particular themes.

Eleven of these films are also available on the Pittsburgh Police Shorts DVD, a 2007 re-mastered/authored set which also contains additional information about the series.

Films in the Pittsburgh Police series

901/904

After the Game

A Forty Dollar Misunderstanding

The 4th and 5th and the Exclusionary Rule

Henry is Drunk

The Informant

Inside/Outside Station Nine

Investigation of a Hit and Run w/ Legal Discussion

Manifold Controversy

Nothing Hurt But My Pride

Three Domestics

Twenty One Dollars or Twenty One Days

Youth and the Man of Property

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Pittsburgh Police Short Films

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Pittsburgh Police Short Films
Buy Now: $340.00

Featuring John Marshall's hallmark intimate camerawork, these shorts offer a unique perspective on both sides of law enforcement, and on some of the social issues facing American cities during the late 1960s. This 2007 re-mastered/re-authored compilation contains additional information about the series.

This DVD combines the 11 short films from the Pittsburgh Police series:

After the Game

A Forty Dollar Misunderstanding

Henry is Drunk

Manifold Controversy

Nothing Hurt But My Pride

Twenty One Dollars or Twenty One Days

Youth and the Man of Property

Other films in the Pittsburgh Police series:

901/904

The 4th and 5th and the Exclusionary Rule

The Informant

Inside/Outside Station Nine

Investigation of a Hit and Run w/ Legal Discussion

Three Domestics

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Pleasing God Series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Pleasing God Series
Buy Now: $755.00

The Pleasing God film series is comprised of three documentaries about how Hindus worship - Loving Krishna, about the worship of Krishna and the meaning of devotion; Sons of Shiva, a sustained attempt to film a four-day ceremony concerned with the worship of the God Shiva; and Serpent Mother, about devotion to the Goddess of Snakes and the importance of divine female power in West Bengal Indian life.

These films are studies of the devotional practices associated with three major deities of the Hindu pantheon. They were made in the small, historic town of Vishnupur, West Bengal - a town of temples, crafts and markets, the center of an old kingdom, and a place where daily life and worship are closely intertwined.

Films in the Pleasing God Series:

Loving Krishna

Sons of Shiva

Serpent Mother

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The Primate Series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

The Primate Series
Buy Now: $2,675.00

The Primate Series aims to give a comparative view of a number of different primate species living under various conditions in captivity and in the wild.

The longer films compare some closely related animals, including subspecies, different species living in similar habitats, and animals of different families, such as monkeys and apes. This is done in order to let the observer see similarities caused by a common size, or close genetic relationship and compare these to more distantly related animals.

Having the opportunity to actually see primates moving in their natural habitats highlights the importance of specializations in locomotor systems, such as the long legs of vertical clinging and leaping primates, the long arms of brachiators, and the strong dexterous hands of arboreal quadrupeds.

Furthermore, watching the animals interact with each other emphasizes the subtlety of facial communication and the importance of kinesthetic movement. Does one animal respond to another's approach with retreat, defensiveness, or unconcern? Or, maybe with a groom invitation or a turned back?

The films also address group behavior. When food access is being contested, is the outcome based on individual relationships or on membership in a particular social class such as infant, female or dominant animal? Is food sharing common and peaceful, or involuntary and due to strategy and theft?

The films share an expanse of information, but the way that the videos were shot and edited also provides long uninterrupted sequences of behavior which can be used to study interactions, use of space, facial communication and role behaviors.

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Peter, Donald, Willie, Pat

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 10:58:00 GMT

Peter, Donald, Willie, Pat
Buy Now: $320.00

Peter, Donald, Willie, Pat is a portrait of four homeless men who live in a shelter in Boston. The tape follows them through their routine at the shelter, and documents their lives on the streets.

Peter is an ex-hippie who collects trash to sell at flea markets. Donald served ten years at Leavenworth on a bank robbery charge. Pat was sexually abused as a child, and has been in and out of foster homes for the last thirteen years. Willie came to the shelter to recover because he lost six of his fingers after spending the night in a snowbank.

The film reveals the complexity and diversity of these men's lives; how in some ways they have been victims, yet in other cases they have succeeded in exploiting the "system." The film is not judgmental. It simply shows how these four men have become members of a new class of survivors.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Outstanding Social Documentary, New England Film Festival

First Place, Athens Intn'l Film Festival

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