Documentary Educational Resources - Filmmaker / Smith, Hubert / All Films

The Living Maya

Mon, 29 Oct 2018 13:21:00 GMT

This series documents life in a Yucatan village, focusing on one family over the course of a year. The films explore the ancient agricultural and religious customs that ground contemporary Maya life in traditional values – even as modern Mexico comes to the village.

Part 1Introduces the village of Chican and the Colli-Colli family, and examines the structure of Maya agricultural and village life.

Part 2Hard-pressed by an illness in the family, the Colli-Colli face financial and emotional challenges using traditional solidarity to muster resources and comfort. Drought threatens the village's crucial corn crop.

Part 3As the Colli-Colli resolve their difficulties and the village harvests a mediocre corn crop, viewers are left with an understanding of the underlying rationales of Maya life and with questions about their own assumptions, priorities, and values.

Part 4The Colli-Colli's two youngest sons plead to be placed in school in Merida – the first of their family to reject traditional life.

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Faces of Change: Bolivia

Fri, 7 Sep 2018 09:20:00 GMT

Faces of Change: Bolivia
Buy Now: $495.00

Faces of Change: Bolivia includes a series of six short films about Andean peasant life. Film in 1973, the Bolivian expedition took an educational film crew into remote Muñecas Province east of Lake Titicaca, some 10 road hours from La Paz. The area is populated by Aymara and Quechua speaking Indians and people of mixed Spanish-Indian descent.At an altitude of over 12,000 feet, people survive on a mixed economy of potato farming, other high altitude vegetables, and small animal husbandry. Conflicts over land ownership, age-old control by rich "mestizos"(still referred to as "conquistadors"), poor health facilities, and a struggling education system makes this prize winning collection invaluable to teachers and those interested in Latin America.

The filmmaker Hubert Smith has returned to the area on two occasions to help build a better school system, which in the 1990s was recognized as a national school of excellence by the Bolivian government.

"The Bolvian Aymara series (comprising six films, rather than five like the others) is one of the most thorough-going documentations of Andean peasant life yet made or available. One can think of a number of topics not overtly dealt with but the knowledgeable observer can quickly find other themes interwoven with the main topic. Each film follows the lives of the peasants of the highland communities of Ayata and Virochocha, Bolivia, in a direct, cinema verité fashion. The AUFS team has achieved a degree of sophistication with the technique that invariably draws the student ever deeper into the culture.

The sound picks up the Aymara dialogue effectively and the English subtitles are very well done, providing a direct and forceful translation which is easily followed. Through the camera eye the viewer can become the ethnographer or indeed, with the sound, the linguist as well. Students can use the films as field study documents and take notes from them as observers."
— Paul Doughty, University of Florida, American Anthropologist, 1977

Films in the Bolivia series

Andean Women
The Children Know
Magic and Catholicism
Potato Planters
The Spirit Possession of AlejandroMamani
Viracocha

About the Faces of Change Collection

Faces of Change is comprised of 25 films that examine five cultures selected for their distinct geographic locations: starting with the China Coast at sea level and moving up to Taiwan, then to Afghanistan, Kenya and finally to the mountains of Bolivia. Each location is examined through five themes: Rural Society, Education, Rural Economy, Women, and Beliefs.

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

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The Children Know

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:16:00 GMT

The Children Know
Buy Now: $495.00

The deep division in Andean society between rural and townspeople begins at birth, is perpetuated by the schools and continues throughout life. The film evidences the discrimination faced by the children of the rural and extremely poor campesinos. From different food arrangements at school to healthcare, there is a distinct divide between them and the town-dwelling mestizos. Evidence of discrimination's effects is unmitigated by the formal Flag Day festival that brings the two groups together with the campesinos urging their own to stand up against the mestizos and stop appearing cowardly before them. A stark portrayal of abject poverty and deep-rooted discrimination, The Children Know is an intriguing study in ethnographic filmmaking.

Films in the Bolivia series

Andean Women
The Children Know
Magic and Catholicism
Potato Planters
The Spirit Possession of Alejandro Mamani
Viracocha

About the Faces of Change Collection

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

Visit Smith, Hubert to see additional products in this category.

Magic and Catholicism

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:49:00 GMT

Magic and Catholicism
Buy Now: $495.00

The people of the Bolivian highlands blend in thought and practice the traditional magic of the region and the religion of their conquerors. A fatal automobile accident, coincident with the festival of Santiago, provides occasion for unique expressions of both faith and magic in the effort to influence events.

Films in the Bolivia series

Andean Women
The Children Know
Magic and Catholicism
Potato Planters
The Spirit Possession of Alejandro Mamani
Viracocha

About the Faces of Change Collection

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

Visit Smith, Hubert to see additional products in this category.

Potato Planters

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 10:58:00 GMT

Potato Planters
Buy Now: $495.00

An Aymara family plants potatoes, prepares and eats a meal, and discusses the religious and astronomical forces that control their destiny. The stark routine of this typical planting day contrasts with the complexity of their beliefs.

Films in the Bolivia series

Andean Women

The Children Know

Magic and Catholicism

Potato Planters

The Spirit Possession of Alejandro Mamani

Viracocha

About the Faces of Change Collection

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

Visit Smith, Hubert to see additional products in this category.

Spirit Possession of Alejandro Mamani

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 07:46:00 GMT

Spirit Possession of Alejandro Mamani
Buy Now: $495.00

An old Bolivian man nears the end of his life. He has property and status, but not contentment. Believing himself posessed by evil spirits, he opens his heart to reveal his anguish. His personal tragedy brings us close to every man's confrontation with the unknown, old age, and death.

Films in the Bolivia series

Andean Women

The Children Know

Magic and Catholicism

Potato Planters

The Spirit Possession of Alejandro Mamani

Viracocha

About the Faces of Change Collection

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

Visit Smith, Hubert to see additional products in this category.

Viracocha

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 13:38:00 GMT

Viracocha
Buy Now: $495.00

Viracocha features mestizos and campesinos in the Andean highlands interacting within a near-subsistence economic system. Market days and fiestas provide opportunities for Spanish-speaking mestizos, alternately benign and abusive, to assert their traditional social dominance over the Aymara and Quechua campesinos.

Films in the Bolivia series

Andean Women

The Children Know

Magic and Catholicism

Potato Planters

The Spirit Possession of Alejandro Mamani

Viracocha

About the Faces of Change Collection

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

Visit Smith, Hubert to see additional products in this category.

Yucatec Maya Deaf Sign

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:27:00 GMT

Yucatec Maya Deaf Sign
Buy Now: $295.00

In 1976, Hubert Smith set out with a group of researchers to visually document Yucatec Maya society within the village of Chican. This project resulted in the 4-part series, The Living Maya. During filming, however, it was impossible to ignore the use of sign language in the village. Smith and his team saw a lot of the deaf residents, filmed them often, and went back to have these sign exchanges translated. Now it is time to share a story solely about them.

The Yucatec Maya Deaf Sign DVD contains three distinct sequences: the first, A Search for the Origins of Yucatec Maya Deaf Sign, follows linguist Robert Johnson of Gallaudet University in his study of the extent of Yucatec Maya Deaf Sign. At the time, genetic researchers believed that the high incidence of deafness — and thus of sign language use — was limited to Chican. Johnson set out to ascertain whether the Chican use of sign language was, in fact, an isolated case or if it was widespread among the Maya. Johnson travels throughout the region and finds both a high incidence of deafness and widespread knowledge of sign language, and ultimately gathers evidence that Yucatec Deaf Sign is, indeed, a language and not simply a gestural system.

The filmed conversations, Snake Encounter and Courtship & Marriage provide an opportunity to see Yucatec Deaf Sign in use. Each conversation is shown more than once, to provide both the real-time experience and annotated versions offering access to the meaning of the stories told. Margaret Mead, who served as an advisor to the project before her death once remarked, “The language is one thing, but what is remarkable is that the entire community uses it!”

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Andean Women

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 13:31:00 GMT

Andean Women
Buy Now: $495.00

Aymara women voice a common paradox. In the film they express agreement with the dominant Hispanic ideal that women should be subservient to men and assigned to tasks appropriate to their limited strength and intelligence. Yet Aymara culture recognizes their equal contributions to survival.

Films in the Bolivia series

Andean Women
The Children Know
Magic and Catholicism
Potato Planters
The Spirit Possession of Alejandro Mamani
Viracocha

About the Faces of Change Collection

Faces of Change is comprised of 25 films that examine five cultures selected for their distinct geographic locations: starting with the China Coast at sea level and moving up to Taiwan, then to Afghanistan, Kenya and finally to the mountains of Bolivia. Each location is examined through five themes: Rural Society, Education, Rural Economy, Women, and Beliefs.

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

Visit Smith, Hubert to see additional products in this category.

Aymara Leadership

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 13:31:00 GMT

Aymara Leadership
Buy Now: $295.00

The theme of leadership is difficult to convey, especially in another culture, in which outsiders often do not recognize subtle cues and implicit understandings that play so important a role in the exercise and acceptance of authority. This film helps viewers, even if they have no prior familiarity with the Aymara, to appreciate the ways in which a young man manages to minimize conflicts, resolve disputes, and generally promote the social welfare in a community where age and experience have traditionally been highly valued.

This bold venture in ethnographic filmmaking attempts to convey the meanings and methods of a theme that most people consider inherently abstract, and to do so in a document brief enough to be used in the classroom. Beyond that, it imaginatively combines the techniques of slow motion, instant replay, and freeze-frame in ways that vividly show how body language, conformity to local norms of kinship and propriety, and other factors interact as we watch a self-taught master of conflict management at work.

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