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

Gesture Performance

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:26:00 GMT

Gesture Performance
Buy Now: $295.00

Deaf youth talk about some of the painful experiences they had as Russian children in an environment where they were ostracized and not understood. They are speaking from their current perspective as student actors and actresses in the very special Theatre School for the Deaf in Moscow. The relationship between the students, with their family and friends and their professors at the school is thoroughly explored. Prof. Semakov notes " working with the deaf, and any theatre work involving mime and gesture requires a lot of focus on physical expressiveness. The language is made of gestures, it's a very image-rich language. It involves a selection, a search for new gestures to convey ideas and words." We see the students at rehearsals and get to know them individually. In the end Sveta tells us "I want to enter the Director's Course and collect an ensemble of deaf actors. My mother suggests heading abroad and working in the theatre there. I'm not sure. We'll see..." It is apparent that the methods used here have assisted these hearing impaired youth to find a new sense of themselves and given them confidence to express complex feelings and ideas. As a result of their commitment and work in the theater, their world view has expanded with opportunities for a successful future.

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In Pursuit of the Siberian Shaman

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 12:44:00 GMT

In Pursuit of the Siberian Shaman
Buy Now: $320.00

Long suppressed by missionaries and then by Soviet anti-religious campaigns, Siberian shamanism has experienced an unprecedented revival following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the number of shamans continues to rise. But who are these new shamans? Are they tricksters, magicians, businessmen, or cultural activists? This film takes a behind-the-scenes look at a Buryat shaman living on an island in the Lake Baikal as he moves between intimate shamanic rituals performed for local clientele and shows performed at various resorts for Western tourists in search of "primitive" cultures.

The film captures cross-cultural miscommunication as the shaman and tourists misunderstand one another, usually comically, sometimes disturbingly, made all the more poignant by the conflict between the dominant Russian Orthodox Church and the local shamanic tradition. Juxtaposing 1920s archival footage of a shamanic performance with its contemporary counterparts, the film grapples with the long-standing tension between the "indigenous" and the "cosmopolitan" in a rapidly transnational world.

“This is an excellent film for the classroom, appropriate to many different subjects, including anthropology, religion, Asian studies, globalization, tourism, and economic development. I fully intend to use it in my anthropology of religion class.”
—Patty A. Gray, Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Fairbanks

“...In Pursuit of the Siberian Shaman is recommended for collections that concentrate in anthropology or in Asian, European and/or multicultural studies. ”
— Dan DiLandro, Educational Media Reviews Online (EMRO)

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Second Prize & Audience Award, Eyes & Lenses IV, Competition of Ethnographic & Anthropologic Films, Poland, 2007

16th World Congress of IUAES, Kunming, China, 2009

Delhi International Ethnographic Film Festival, India, 2008

Dialektus Film Festival, Budapest, Hungary, 2008

International Society for Shamanistic Research Conference, Budapest, Hungary, 2007

Globians Film Festival, Germany, 2007

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Join Me In Shambhala

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 11:12:00 GMT

Join Me In Shambhala
Buy Now: $295.00

Once brutally persecuted under the Soviet regime, Buddhism is back in Buryatia in Southern Siberia. But with a past where lamas were killed in prisons and temples burned to ashes, there are few masters left to pass on the tradition. Whether or not the faith survives depends on an incarnate Tibetan lama, scholar and meditational master who travels around remote villages to reawaken Buddhism. The film discovers an oasis of spiritual tolerance in a unique enclave of Siberia where East meets West and draws unexpected parallels between the two.

From the 13th to the 17th century, the mountainous area east of Lake Baikal in Siberia, now known as the Buryat Autonomous Republic, was part of the Mongolian empire. The Buryats were originally nomadic herders practicing shamanism until they were converted to Buddhism by Tibetan lamas in the 17th century. Buddhism remained intricately woven into the Buryat universe for a few centuries, until Stalin initiated his deadly campaign against religion.

A generation grew up and aged without knowing much of their spiritual heritage, when the breakup of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s suddenly spurred a tremendous Buddhist revival. Monasteries were being built from scratch, and people were coming in droves, craving to believe, craving to learn. But who will teach them, when the greatest lamas, philosophers and scholars died in the labor camps? The first young Buryats who were sponsored to study in India will return only in 14 years - the amount of time it takes to get a degree of geshe in the Tibetan Gelugpa tradition, which enables one to become a lama. The help once again came from Tibet. In 1993, Tibetans Yeshe Lodoi Rinpoche and his disciple Tenzin gave up their exile home in tropical India for the frozen steppes of Siberia to re-introduce the Buryats to their ancient beliefs.

From Ulan-Ude to the most remote villages of Buryatia, Anya Bernstein, an anthropologist and filmmaker, follows these two remarkable masters on their quest. Narrated by Rinpoche, this stylistically complex documentary is both a study of Buddhism in Buryatia (with its clearly shamanistic rituals) and a map of Buddhist cosmology, weaving together textures and rhythms of everyday life with mediations on emptiness and space.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Prize for Outstanding Scientific Documentation, XVI Pärnu Int'l Doc & Anthropology Film Festival, Estonia, 2002

2nd Annual Buddhist Film Festival, Arlee, MT, 2007

Moma Film Foundation, Warsaw, Poland, 2006

Northeastern Anthropological Association Ethnographic Film & Video Festival, Lake Placid, NY, 2005

International Buddhist Film Festival, California, 2005

Asia Film Festival, Finland, 2004

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Seeking the Spirit

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 07:46:00 GMT

Seeking the Spirit
Buy Now: $295.00

What qualities are necessary for a ritual to be ethnically "authentic"?

Dr. Beatrice "Bea" Medicine, a Native American anthropologist and her Lithuanian colleague, Dr. Liucija Baskauskas explore this issue as they visit a group of Russians who have met for their annual two week Pow Wow in an isolated wooded area outside of St. Petersburg.

The Russians, predominantly couples with young children, tell us they initially became interested in Native American culture via Hollywood films. Back on a reservation in South Dakota, upon viewing a video of the dances and elaborate costumes of the Russians, a Lacota woman good-naturedly jokes, "they must've seen A Man Called Horse".

We see at close range the careful attention to detail the Russians have invested in the recreation of the look and the feel of Native America ritual and life. When asked why they are doing this they tell us it is for their children. They are seeking the "right way to live", in order to impart authentic Native American values to their offspring and to escape the cycle of consumerism and the negative aspects that they see in their own culture.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Society of Visual Anthropology Honorable Mention

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Sharing a New Song

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 07:46:00 GMT

Sharing a New Song
Buy Now: $320.00

Sharing a New Song brings together, albeit in a small way, the people of the two legendary world superpowers, the United States of America and the former Soviet Union. During the Cold War, the conflict extended beyond political concerns and manifested itself most noticeably in the alarmingly negative opinions that citizens of the two countries held about each other.

The film chronicles the efforts of a small group of people in Boston, Massachusetts who, in collaboration with their counterparts in the Soviet Union, form an amateur chorus group as an attempt to create understanding and promote peace through the medium of music.

Making a strong statement about the power of individual belief and the ability to transform mindsets through peaceful means, the documentary features poignant interviews with those involved: teachers, students, a cosmonaut, cinematographers and a photojournalist.

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T'an Bahktale!

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 08:57:00 GMT

T'an Bahktale!
Buy Now: $320.00

Shot in central Russia in 1993, T'an Bahktale! documents how Russians, Romani performers, well-to-do merchant Roma, and poorer, metalworking Roma describe what it means to be a Gypsy. Before shooting, one of the directors did more than two years of fieldwork in Russia with Roma (1990-1993). A few people in the documentary had been videotaped or filmed in the past, either by Russian journalists or filmmakers but this was the first time any of them had been asked to speak Romani to the camera, rather than Russian. The video is divided into three parts that can be viewed separately or individually according to available class time. Part I (20 min): 1. Brief interviews on Moscow streets with post-Soviets on impressions of "Gypsies". 2. An interview with a veteran Romani stage performer, who explains teaching "Gypsy dance" to Russians, being interviewed by reporters, and describes her family. 3. A Sunday class for urban children of Romani performers. A painting class where they learn to draw "the image of a Gypsy girl" and an interview with the only Russian girl in the class. The school organizers both experts on Gypsy culture by profession, explain the appeal of Gypsies to Russians in terms of "nostalgia". Part II (35 min): 1. A Lovari Romani family explains their family history and relationships. They are merchants and non-performers except for a few children who used to go to Romani classes. 2. The "experts" from Part I expound on key Gypsy terms. They are cut with lovari using them their own way, at times contradicting what the experts say. Part III (20 min): 1. A third Romani group, Keldelari metalworkers, display their houses and village, define relationships and compare themselves to Russians. 2. A dance segment. 3. Comments by the experts, the Lovari and the Keldelari on the ways each of the Romani groups live.

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Time When Dreams Melt

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 08:57:00 GMT

Time When Dreams Melt
Buy Now: $275.00

Time When Dreams Melt was shot in Northeastern Russia in the Providenia District of the Chukchi Autonomous Region, an area occupied by the Yupik of Northeast Asia for millennia.

The protagonist of the film is a collective character who calls himself "Yupik-The True Man," the same way his ancestors referred to themselves. The story he tells is based on the life of the Yupik from earliest history to the present. Through his eyes, we experience contemporary life; the summer walrus hunt, life in the village and also the insistent memory of a vivid past, a childhood spent in harmony with the land before the turning point, the tragic year, 1958.

It was then that government policy forcefully removed the Yupik from their seashore villages to a bay near the administrative center of the area. The government made many promises to support the indigenous people which were never kept. Thus, the protagonist becomes a witness to the deaths of the old, the carriers of culture, and to the ensuing degradation of his people.

He tries to find the result of the much-publicized removal of his community from their native places. The conclusion of the protagonist is paradoxical; in spite of the great loss of human life and spirit, they have managed to retain basic elements of traditional culture and ethnic identity. They hope to return to the land of their ancestors and recover the past strength of their people.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Moscow International Film Festival, 1997
French Embassy Prize, Int'l Visual Anthropology Festival, Parnu, 1997
International Film Festival, "Man and the Sea", Vladivostok, Russia, 1997

Note on Term "Eskimo":

This film makes use of the name "Eskimo." While once broadly applied, it is a perjorative term and considered offensive. While the inception of the word is a matter of debate, it is no longer used or applied in our film catalog. The context in which the term appears in this series is an acknowledged relic of a colonial past, presented in its original version. DER apologizes for any offense caused.

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Yuri Vella's World

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:27:00 GMT

Yuri Vella's World
Buy Now: $320.00

The documentary follows Yuri Vella, writer and social activist of the Forest Nenets living in West-Siberia. He left his home village ten years ago to lead the life of a reindeer herder in the taiga. The little unique world he created there was meant to offer protection from the alcoholism and unemployment that sadly poses a serious threat to the indigenous peoples of Siberia. To give his grandchildren proper education in their natural environment and teach them reindeer herding skills, he establishes an elementary school in his winter camp. Unfortunately, Yuri Vella's world is but an oasis of traditional lifestyle in one of the largest oil-producing regions of Russia.

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Yankee in Kamchatka

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:26:00 GMT

Yankee in Kamchatka
Buy Now: $320.00

Kamchatka, Siberia - a remote land of stunning natural beauty. As Russia opens its doors, nature writer/adventurer Robert Perkins is the first American to enter this territory which has been kept strictly off-limits to all foreign travelers since World War II. With his host, Russian wildlife photographer Vasily Peskov, Perkins' remarkable adventure takes him canoeing on a precarious, log-jammed river; climbing to the top of an active volcano; cruising the jagged Pacific coastline, rich in marine wildlife; hiking the untouched Kronotsky wilderness preserve with its snow-clad mountains, bubbling craters, pristine lakes and waterfalls.

He meets Russians whose love for their culture and their land make them dedicated to preserving their traditions and the environment - from an architect who, despite threats from the authorities, is recreating a stately church in his village; to fishermen who resist a plan to dam their major salmon river; to a tribe of wandering Koryak reindeer herders, still living in the traditional ways of their ancestors. Beautifully photographed, Yankee In Kamchatka immerses the viewer in an extraordinary cross-cultural journey that brings to life a previously unfilmed world.

"Breathtaking vistas and stirring adventures make this a wonderful choice for both and active canoeists and armchair travelers." -- Booklist

"Expertly condensed into 56 minutes of spectacular scenery and charming encounters with the Russians... Production values, photography, and editing are uniformly excellent." -- Library Journal

"A fascinating and eye-opening look at an unusual subject...the informal narrative style and technical excellence make this film a winner." -- American Film & Video Festival

"Excellent and unusual documentary. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice." -- Video Librarian

"This is a sharply lensed, well-produced video replete with telling details." -- Wilson Library Bulletin

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The Brigade

Thu, 26 Jul 2018 09:36:00 GMT

The Brigade
Buy Now: $320.00

This documentary was filmed during three months on the Yamal Peninsula in West Siberia, where the Nenets have been herding reindeer for about a thousand years. Many years ago, reindeer herders were assembled into state farm brigades. The Yar_Sale sovkhoz includes 22 brigades, each of which looks after several hundred thousand reindeer. In a year, a brigade travels several thousand kilometres. The calving time in spring, the ty nintch, is the busiest time of the year. The brigade has to make sure that the new-born calves keep up with the herd - larger rivers must be crossed before the ice breaks. During the polar summer, people work at night as well.

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