Documentary Educational Resources - By Title / S / All Films

The Song of Aida

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 11:34:33 GMT

As a teenager, Aida dreamed of becoming a model and singer. Now in her thirties, she is trapped in an arranged marriage and feels stuck living in a shack in a Roma community in Bari, Italy. She suffers from depression, longs to leave her marriage and return to Romania, where living conditions are better. Shot over a twenty-year period, filmmaker Giovanni Princigalli offers an intimate portrait of one woman’s struggle for emancipation, providing insights into life in the deeply patriarchal and tradition-bound Roma community in Bari, Italy. Princigalli makes it clear from the opening sequence that the Roma community in Bari does not represent that of Roma in other parts of Europe today.

Princigalli was born in Bari, Italy and studied Political Sciences at the University of Bari. His first film Japigia Gagi (Roma Stories) profiles the Bari community as he found it in 2001 and 2002. Song of Aida draws on footage from this early project as well as from visits in 2014 and in the early 2020s, when he focused on Aida’s story. This longitudinal view allows viewers to embrace Aida’s struggle as she finds her voice and independence from her family. The film also shows poetic animations that are used to illustrate the imagination of the protagonists.

“This film is the story of her [Aida’s] struggle for emancipation, independence and a new life outside the Roma camp.” — Giovanni Princigalli, Spring 2024

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

21st edition of the Int'l Human Rights Film Festival (FICDH), Argentina, 2025

Nordic Anthropological Film Association (NAFA) Int'l Ethnographic Film Festival, Norway, 2024

Ethnocineca Int'l Documentary Film Festival, Vienna, 2024

Festival de Cine Etnográfico de Ecuador, Ecuador, 2024

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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

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SanDance!

Wed, 24 Aug 2022 10:15:02 GMT

SanDance!
Buy Now: $320.00

Set in the transcendent dance culture of Africa’s San First Peoples, SanDance! celebrates humanity’s original essence of dance.

This enchanting film follows San dancers from rehearsals in remote villages in Namibia, South Africa and Botswana to their electrifying performances at the Kuru San Dance Festival in Botswana. Held on full moon, the festival draws San dancers and musicians from across southern Africa to the largest annual gathering of San peoples. The film expresses the hopes and dreams of San dancers as they strive to revitalize their beautiful dance traditions, which are threatened by ongoing marginalization of the San’s fragile hunter-gatherer culture.

Radiating from the Kuru San Dance Festival into the visionary world of the trance-healing dance, SanDance! illuminates the spiritual traditions that underpin ancestral San culture across southern Africa.

Proceeds from SanDance! directly benefit the KDT, and the dance groups featured in this film.

“The film’s immersion into Southern Africa’s indigenous cultures touches on a wide berth of subjects including ancient history, recent history, colonialism, genocide, dance, language, subsistence, ecology, and philosophy. Because of its shorter runtime and mass of content, SanDance! will easily fit into many curricula.” – Frank Gunderson, Yearbook of Traditional Music

“SanDance! is billed as a journey to the heart of Africa’s original dance culture, but it’s much more than that. It opens a door into a segment of African culture that is in danger of dying out... Richard Wicksteed has spent decades filming and working with the San, making at least 10 films of varying length. The level of acceptance and their trust in him is clear from this sensitive and well-paced portrayal of an important culture under threat... I watched [the film] more than once, and still want to watch it again. For the dance. For the music. For the story. For the pleasure.” – Michael Britton, Music in Africa

Selected Screenings & Awards

Best Documentary, Garden Route Int'l Film Festival, South Africa, 2021

Award of Excellence, Documentary Feature, Impact Docs Award, 2021

Globe Award, ARFF, Barcelona, Spain 2021

Best Cinematography, International Feature, Thin Line Festival, USA 2021

International Council for Traditional Music, Ghana, 2023

Award of Excellence - Original Score, Docs Without Borders, USA, 2021

Award of Excellence, IndieFEST Film Awards, USA 2021

Best Cinematography, ABQ Indie Film Fest, USA, 2021

Best Feature - Documentary, Bucharest Film Awards, Romania, 2021

Buenos Aires Film Festival, Brazil, 2021

Osaka International Film Festival, Japan, 2021

Garifuna International Indigenous Film Festival, USA, 2021

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Sankara Is Not Dead

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 10:01:15 GMT

Sankara Is Not Dead
Buy Now: $320.00

In the wake of Burkina Faso’s October 2014 popular uprising, the young poet Bikontine begins to question his dreams of seeking a better life in the West. On a mission to learn more about his country and meet his fellow citizens, he travels along the country’s only rail line. From south to north, through cities and villages, Bikontine learns about the hopes, dreams, and disappointments of his countrymen. His journey ultimately reveals the enduring political legacy of storied former president Thomas Sankara, assassinated in 1987 and known as the “African Che Guevara.” This poetic road movie brings viewers along as Bikontine searches for meaning in a rapidly changing society.

"Lucie Viver’s film is a beautifully shot and expressively scored portrait of Burkina Faso and its people in this moment of uncertain yet hopeful change. It integrates poetry and travel writing, with splices of Sankara’s speeches and footage of the 2014 revolution to capture people’s experiences in the aftermath of the uprising." – Benjamin Talton, Jacobin Magazine

This film is Highly Recommended and relevant for any library collection supporting a curriculum centered on colonial and post-colonial Africa, current African political unrest, the specific political experience of Burkina Faso, and Thomas Sankara. While a general audience will understand and appreciate the political and economic story being told in this film, those with a basic understand of the country's history will have a more impactful experience with this film. – Educational Media Reviews Online

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

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

John Marshall Award for Contemporary Ethnographic Media, Camden IFF, USA, 2019
Special Jury Prize, AFRIFF (African Int. Film Festival), Nigeria, 2019
Best Documentary Feature, Budapest IFF, Hungary, 2020
First Prize "Breaking Boundaries", Rhode Island International Film Festival, USA, 2020
Special Mention, DOKer Moscow International Documentary Film Festival, Russia, 2020

Göteborg Film Festival, Sweden, 2020

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, USA, 2020

ethnocineca International Documentary Film Festival, Austria, 2020
DOXA, Canada, 2020
Cinéma du Réel, France, 2019
FIDADOC, Morocco, 2019
DOK Leipzig, Germany, 2019
MIDBO, Colombia, 2019
Trujillo Independent Film Festival, Peru, 2020

Benin City Film Festival, Nigeria, 2019
AFRIFF Africa International Film Festival, Nigeria, 2019

Les rencontres de Cinessonne, France, 2019
Festival International du Cinéma Francophone en Acadie, Canada, 2019
Out of Africa International Film Festival, Kenya, 2019
Festival Film Dokumenter, Indonesia, 2019
Festival Ciné Droit Libre, Burkina Faso, 2019

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Sweetheart Dancers

Fri, 15 Nov 2019 07:39:28 GMT

Sweetheart Dancers
Buy Now: $275.00

Indigenous dancers Sean and Adrian challenge the rulebook of San Manuel's Native American Sweetheart Special as they attempt to compete in the annual couple's competition. Dancing not only against the other dancers, but against the drums of oppression and closed-mindedness, this two-spirit couple is determined to rewrite the rules of "one man, one woman" with their resplendent charisma, character and resilience.

Director, Ben-Alex Dupris explains the origin of the film. "This story is rooted in an incident wherethe first Two Spirit couple, Sean Snyder and Adrian Stevens, decided to enter a Sweetheart specialcompetition at one big influential powwow. This had never been attempted beforein modern tribal dance circles and they were disqualified for not adhering to therule of the "one man, one woman" competition. This led to a year of reflection, and thoughtful preparationfor the next year where they courageously returned to the same powwow and were allowedto compete. This success story of resilience, and the action of love provided atalking point that spans decades of colonization with Indigenous communities. Prior to the Catholic boarding school era, LGBTQIA were accepted and respected by Native people. This story, and the spiritual renewal of our sacred Identitiesis one that leaves the audience with a greater understanding of our triballifeways. Within our hearts we are all one."

Sweetheart Dancers was directed by Ben-Alex Dupris, an enrolled member of the Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington State, where he grew up.

"[T]he expert cinematography and editing make Adrian and Sean’s relationship and emotion immediately legible. When they’re first turned away from competition by organizers who insist that “a couple must consist of two people. One man. One woman,” you feel their devastation intimately. A year later, when they win third place at a sweetheart dance open to all partners, you feel their elation and their love just as keenly." – Washington City Paper

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Grand Jury Award, Best Short Documentary, OUT Fest, US, 2019

Grand Jury Award, Best Short Documentary, Audience Award, "Out On Film" Atlanta LQTBQ Film Fest, US, 2019

Best Short Film, Lumbee Native Film Festival, US, 2019

Competition, Best Short Film, New Orleans Film Festival, US, 2019

Competition, Best Short Film, Palm Springs International Film Festival, US, 2019

Competition, Best Short Film, American Indian Film Festival, US, 2019

Competition, Best Short Film, Mountain Film, US, 2019

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, US, 2019

Seattle International Film Festival, US 2019

Cine Las Americas, US, 2019

Cucalorus Film Festival, US, 2019

Frameline, San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival, US, 2019

Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, US, 2019

AFI Docs Film Festival, US, 2019
Film Independent’s “The New Wave”, US, 2019

Hot Springs Film Festival, US, 2019
People of the Plains Visionmaker Film Festival, US, 2019
Way OUT West Film Fest, US, 2019

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Small Family, Happy Family

Tue, 30 Jul 2019 08:33:04 GMT

Small Family, Happy Family
Buy Now: $295.00

"Marry young, have two children, and get sterilized" is the advice women across India have heard for decades. Families, health workers, the central government all spread the same message. With limited information about other forms of birth control, sterilization is the only option for many. This lack of choice is not an oversight by the government; rather, it's a deliberate policy aimed at controlling India's growing population. Women are corralled into temporary "camps" where hundreds are sterilized at a time. Quality is sacrificed for quantity; individual attention for efficiency.

Small Family, Happy Family follows Mitilesh, a young woman from rural Madhya Pradesh, as she is recruited by health workers in her village to undergo sterilization and decides with her husband to pursue the surgery. Her story is situated in the larger context of population control in India, revealing how these policies affect the lives of women. The film offers a highly personal glimpse into the lives of women positioned at the turbulent nexus of government policy and reproductive rights. In Mitilesh we see so many other women – in India and in our own countries – who also have tenuous control over their bodies and choices.

"Hamilton and Munger’s Small Family, Happy Family is harrowing. Well-paced with an excellent utilization of stock footage to support main ideas, [the film] offers a well-conveyed explanation of the prejudice found within India’s Family Planning Program. Viewers will be compelled to advocate for women’s reproductive rights globally."
-Andrew Koval, MSLS

SELECTED SCREENINGS

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, 2019

Greenwich International Film Festival (CT), 2019

Women Deliver Film Festival, Vancouver, 2019

Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival (VT), 2019

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Sittwe

Fri, 12 Jul 2019 10:53:34 GMT

Sittwe
Buy Now: $295.00

Sittwe is about two teenagers separated by conflict and segregation in Burma's Rakhine state, Phyu Phyu Than, a Rohingya girl and Aung San Myint, a Buddhist boy. Both youth saw their homes burned down during communal violence in 2012.

Phyu Phyu Than is confined in an apartheid-style camp and has no chance to go to school or travel to her home just a few miles away. Aung San Myint's family struggles to survive and support his high school studies to fulfill his dream to go to medical school.

Interviews filmed over two years with the teenagers reveal their ideas about each other's communities and the hope of reconciliation.

Sittwe was produced as a tool for facilitated discussions about peacebuilding in Burma. The film was due to premiere in Yangon at the Human Rights, Human Dignity Film Festival but was banned by the government censors.

Selected Screenings

Best Southeast Asia Short Documentary, Freedom Film Festival, Malaysia, 2017

Hong Kong Human Rights Festival, 2018

Association for Asian Studies, 2018

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Stories from the Archive (NYU C&M Vol. 1)

Fri, 1 Feb 2019 15:33:00 GMT

Stories from the Archive (NYU C&M Vol. 1)
Buy Now: $340.00

Stories from the Archive: History, Representation, and Identity includes a variety of stories shot in, about, and using archives and archival materials. The films explore the meanings and relationships imbedded in material objects and images and raise questions about how images are created, and circulated. Topics range from the contemporary, yet controversial art practice of a pastor who digitally depicts centuries-old Russian Orthodox iconography; the hybrid, poetic uncovering of scientists' journals documenting their collecting practices at Natural History Museums over a century ago; written correspondence between a European Jewish couple following WWII, uncovered by the couples' own grandchild; the use of forensic and photographic evidence to trace Spain's disappeared during the Franco regime; to archival footage and images used to evoke a once-vibrant dance studio in New York City's Hell's Kitchen.

The films in this compilation offer different strategies for bringing life to archival materials. The filmmakers variously draw on letters, archival and found footage, and photography. They present letters and journals through voice-over and narration, engage stylized approaches to filming archival collections and objects, and recontextualize historical objects through contemporary interviews, and use "process film" sequences to explore the labor behind the creation of various types of artifacts.

Films:

Archives of Extinction (Alyse Takeyesu, 12 min, 2016)

Archives of Extinction explores the concept of "saving" nature through a look at a museum's preserved bird collection. The history of the scientific collection, accompanied by voice overs drawn from texts of late 19th century collectors, provide a backgrop to the modern processes of de-extinction, an emerging science dedicated to bringing extinct species back into the world. Archives of Extinction evokes questions about nature conservation then and now; about the role of science in disassembling past and reassembling future ecologies; and about the human will to resurrect lost species and re-animate the past.

Pixelating Holiness (Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, 15 min, 2017)

West Virginian Russian Orthodox priest, Father Jonah Campbell, manufactures religious icons using contemporary digital technologies. Observational scenes documenting Cambell's production process, are juxtaposed with interviews exploring current controversies surrounding these digitally-produced icons, particualrly the suggestion that these icons are less holy than hand-painted works. Through this case study, the film looks at the relationship between religious art and divinity as it is transformed through digital technologies, while also suggesting the importance of entrepreneurial enterprises to a changing Christianity.

What Remains (Lee Douglas and Jorge Moreno Andrés, 29 min, 2015)

After the exhumation of a mass grave in Spain's southern province of Ciudad Real, two local anthropologists meet Angelita González Yepes, a woman whose family was torn apart by post-war political violence. In the intimate space of her living room, Angelita's home, family snapshots, and defiant voice make sense and gives meaning to a haunting legacy that refuses to pass, despite more than seven decades of silence. Though an intense and emotional process of fieldwork, Angelita and her interlocutors piece together fragmented memories, forensic evidence, and archival documentation to understand the city's painful history.

More than a Face in the Crowd (Sami Chan, 25 min, 2012)

A filmmaker explores the life of her great-aunt, Jane Chung, an actress who made a career for herself at a time when Asian Americans faced widespread racism in Hollywood. Working mostly in small parts and as an extra, Jane's fifty-year career reflects many of the struggles and triumphs of the Asian Americans working in the entertainment industry. Jane had parts in over fifty films and TV shows including Chinatown, When Harry Met Sally, M*A*S*H, and I Love Lucy, but much of her work is uncredited. The filmmaker brings together multiple generations of her family, and mines the film archive for evidence of her great-aunt, to provide a portrait of the real person beyond the often stereotypical roles and bit parts that constituted her screen presence.

A Correspondence (Leili Sreberny-Mohammadi, 16 min, 2014)

The film brings to life the year-long correspondence between the filmmaker's grandparents during the years following WWII. After fleeing Nazi Germany and Poland Srebernya, Margo and David met in London in 1947, only to be separated when David was sent to Palestine as a doctor in the British Army. Constructed through photographs, letters, telegrams and archival footage from the era, their story is one of love across distance and the search for a partner during troubled times.

Ode to Fazil's (Marcel Rosa-Salas, 19 min, 2017)

Fazil's Dance Center, located in New York City, was considered sacred ground for flamenco, tap, hip hop and Middle Eastern dancers often unwelcome at other studios. In 2008, after nearly forty years in operation, Fazil's was torn down and replaced by a luxury high-rise hotel. Marcel Rosa-Salas' personal film brings together stories of a magical place that no longer physically exists, yet lives on in the memories of dancers who continue to cherish it. Through archival footage and present-day interviews, Ode to Fazil's tells the story of this lost New York landmark, and the displacement of artists in a rapidly transforming city.

DVD Produced by: Cheryl Furjanic and Pegi Vail

This is part of the NYU Culture & Media series.

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The Sound of Bells

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 12:09:00 GMT

The Sound of Bells
Buy Now: $320.00

In the historic cities of Minas Gerais, Brazil, bell sounds set the pace of life, announcing time for work, rest, pray, and celebration. With over 40 different bell rings – a product of their Catholic origins and African influences – in the region, the practice has been nominated as Brazilian Intangible Cultural Heritage. This film brings to light the lives of the bell ringers and their young apprentices – men who have devoted themselves to performing this work as a daily commitment – and raises important questions about the nature of language and communication.

The filmmakers travel to 9 cities in the region, one of the last to maintain the bell ringers' tradition, and question its impact on the lifestyle and identity of the people who live there. Going beyond the bell rings, the film looks deeper into the background of the Brazilian people and speaks about the history of their mining work, Afro-Brazilian exploitation, and faith. The Sound of Bells is a poetic representation of religious experience in everyday life.  

The film is part of an expanded documentary project, which uses new media to support increased appreciation of cultural heritage, and to strengthen dialogue and understanding among cultures. The project combines new technologies, sound mapping, and community engagement in a transmedia production that includes an online multimedia platform with sound cartography and innovative content, an interactive documentary, audiovisual public interventions on churches’ façades, and an award-winning audio guide app for mobile devices.

“Part art piece, part documentary, The Sound of Bells centers on the dying art of bell ringing in Minas Gerais, Brazil and explores the bells’ past and present to a changing way of life. The documentary superbly shows rather than tells viewers about the bells’ history, religious connections, social importance, and artistry.”
– Amanda Jo Melchor, Reference & Instruction Librarian, Texas A&M University, Kingsville

Selected Screeenings and Awards

Official Jury Award for Best Documentary, 21st Florianópolis Audiovisual Mercosul, Brasil, 2017

Honorable mention, 2nd Heritales - International Heritage Film Festival, Portugal, 2017

Best Cinematography, 1st Mostra Sesc de Cinema Paulista, Brazil, 2017

Margaret Mead Film Festival, NYC, 2018

Festival Biarritz, Amérique Latine, 2018

Boston Latino Film Festival, Boston, 2018

Finnish Anthropological Society, Film Programme, 2019

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Sheep Eaters

Mon, 29 Oct 2018 13:21:00 GMT

Sheep Eaters
Buy Now: $340.00

The spectacular Wind River Mountain Range of northwest Wyoming was once home to a little known but fascinating band of Shoshone Indians known as the Tuku Dika, or Sheep Eaters. As their name implies, these peoples were among the most successful hunters of North America's wild sheep, the majestic Rocky Mountain "big horns". These magnificent creatures still roam the rugged Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem; however, the tribe that followed them for hundreds of years was relegated to life on the reservation by the turn of the nineteenth century. This four-part series examines the life ways of this ancient band of high mountain Shoshones.

Part 1 - Trading & Tools: This film examines the skills of tanning, flint napping and bow making among the Sheep Eaters, who utilized dogs to help them travel and gather resources.

Part 2 - Plants & Minerals: The Sheep Eaters relied heavily on the plants they could gather for medicinal and edible uses, often cooking food in a unique soapstone vessel.

Part 3 - Shelters & Petroglyphs: The Sheep Eaters followed migrating big horn sheep and utilized caves and cliff overhangs for shelter, only building wood-pole structures—wickuips—where no natural shelter was readily available. Rock art, associated with vision quests are also examined.

Part 4 - Hunting & Fishing: The tribe used wooden traps and bows to harvest the big horns. Fish spears, baskets and fish traps helped bring fish to their families.

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