Documentary Educational Resources - Subject / Social & Cultural Life / Traditional Economies / All Films

A Thousand Fires

Fri, 25 Aug 2023 16:07:12 GMT

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

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Diary of a Maasai Village series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Diary of a Maasai Village series
Buy Now: $1,360.00

"A rich man in Maasai has children and cows.... and he has wives - many wives."

This series of five films by Melissa Llewelyn-Davies looks at daily life among the Maasai. The films are presented as a diary of a 7-week visit to a single village. The structure is episodic and the content dependent on various events or stories, some of which are developed through more than one film. The tapes can be used independently or together, to give an in-depth sense of Maasai life.

The senior man in the village is the most important Maasai prophet and magician who is known as the Laibon. He is regarded as a wealthy man because he has so many wives and children. He has 13 wives living in the village as well as a large number of children, about 20 daughters-in-law, and 30 grandchildren. All the main characters in the films are somehow related to the Laibon, who was nearly 80 years old when the films were made.

A common thread to the events of all five films is the ever-present anxiety about the state of the herds. These appear to be slowly depleting due to drought, disease and an increasing need to sell livestock for cash. Cash and/or livestock are needed by the Laibon and his kin to trade for wives, to pay off debts and to compensate for previous thefts.

Films in the Diary of a Maasai Village Series

Part 1: The Prophet's Village

Part 2: Two Ways Of Justice

Part 3: Two Mothers

Part 4: Two Journeys

Part 5: Nine Cows And An Ox

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Dodoth Morning

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:05:00 GMT

Dodoth Morning
Buy Now: $295.00

Dodoth Morning was the first film by the pioneering filmmaker, Timothy Asch who is best known for his collaborations with anthropologists such as Napoleon Chagnon, Linda Connor, Patsy Asch, and E. Douglas Lewis. Shot in northeast Uganda in 1961, a year when too much rain threatened to rot the millet the Dodoth people grew to supplement their diet. Primarily a pastoral people, the Dodoth depended on their herds of oxen for food and to determine wealth. With minimal narration the film opens in early morning and follows a headman, his four wives and family through daily tasks. Tension builds and breaks out in a domestic argument between father and son. This video copy was made from the recently discovered and only edited 16mm print known to exist. Tim Asch's work with the Yanomami in Venezuela and with indigenous peoples throughout Indonesia have been used for teaching, shown in festivals and won awards worldwide. DER is pleased to be able to offer this historically significant film to researchers, educators and film historians. Useful for teaching Anthropology, Pastoralism, Film History, Africa, Gender and Kinship.

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Duka's Dilemma

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:05:00 GMT

Duka's Dilemma
Buy Now: $320.00

Duka is a married woman and mother of five young children, living in Hamar, Southern Ethiopia. Ever since her husband married a beautiful, young, second wife, Duka has been in a state of emotional turmoil. Among the Hamar, who live with herds and cultivate small fields of sorghum in their remote, bush-covered country, men are allowed to marry more than one wife, but only a few men ever do so. Duka wonders why her husband married again; did he find her too old, or was he turned off because of her chronic malaria? Also, she doesn't know what to make of the new wife who is silent and never expresses her feelings except in rage? And on top of this, her mother-in-law keeps making trouble and is angry with her son for marrying a second wife behind her back. Personal and intimate, the film follows the drama of this family in crisis, the high points of which are the birth of the new wife's child, and nine months later, a heated dispute between the mother-in-law and her son, which leads to the building of a new house. Duka, her husband, her mother-in-law and the second wife voice their different points of view as events proceed and the crisis finally gets resolved. The language of the film is Hamar, and is translated by subtitles. There is no need for extra commentary from the filmmakers, whose presence and close relationship to the people are always evident.

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The Earth is Our Home

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:05:00 GMT

The Earth is Our Home
Buy Now: $295.00

This documentary about the early Natives of the Great Basin emphasizes the traditional culture of the last 5,000 years. The story unfolds through the words and skills of the older Paiute women of southeastern Oregon and northern Nevada. They tell us how they make cakes from berries, baskets from tulles, cord for nets...necessary daily tasks linked with an ancient heritage.

The earth is ever present in the film, wildlife, rivers and marshes, sagebrush desert, all part of the story. The lifeways of the Northern Paiutes are followed through a seasonal cycle, from root-gathering in spring to building shelter in winter. The Earth is Our Home is an important historical film about Native North Americans.

This film is excellent for classroom use from 6th grade to adult.

DER thanks Oregon Public Broadcasting for the opportunity to rescue fine archival films from obscurity.

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Diary of a Maasai Village, Part 1

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

Diary of a Maasai Village, Part 1
Buy Now: $320.00

The Prophet's Village examines the problem of maintaining enough cattle to supply milk and meat versus selling off cattle to raise money for maize, antibiotics and pesticides; cash is also needed to pay for legal fees for Rerenko, the Laibon's son.

About the Diary of a Maasai Village series

Part 1: The Prophet's Village

Part 2: Two Ways Of Justice

Part 3: Two Mothers

Part 4: Two Journeys

Part 5: Nine Cows And An Ox

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Diary of a Maasai Village, Part 3

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

Diary of a Maasai Village, Part 3
Buy Now: $320.00

Two Mothers focuses on gender relationships in a Maasai village. The principal events for the women are a "coming out ox" ritual and the birth of a child; for the men, the birth of a calf is the central theme.

About the Diary of a Maasai Villageseries

Thisseries of five films by Melissa Llewelyn-Davies looks at daily life among theMaasai. The films are presented as a diary of a 7-week visit to a singlevillage. The structure is episodic and the content dependent on various eventsor stories, some of which are developed through more than one film. The tapescan be used independently or together, to give an in-depth sense of Maasailife. The series includes the following five films:

Part 1: The Prophet's Village

Part 2: Two Ways Of Justice

Part 3: Two Mothers

Part 4: Two Journeys

Part 5: Nine Cows And An Ox

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Diary of a Maasai Village, Part 4

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

Diary of a Maasai Village, Part 4
Buy Now: $320.00

Two Journeys is the fourth episode in the Diary of a Maasai Village series. This episode contrasts the journey of Miisia's new wife back to his village with that of Tipaia's to sell cattle for Rerenko's legal fees.

About the Diary of a Maasai Villageseries

Thisseries of five films by Melissa Llewelyn-Davies looks at daily life among theMaasai. The films are presented as a diary of a 7-week visit to a singlevillage. The structure is episodic and the content dependent on various eventsor stories, some of which are developed through more than one film. The tapescan be used independently or together, to give an in-depth sense of Maasailife. The series includes the following five films:

Part 1: The Prophet's Village

Part 2: Two Ways Of Justice

Part 3: Two Mothers

Part 4: Two Journeys

Part 5: Nine Cows And An Ox

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Diary of a Maasai Village, Part 5

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

Diary of a Maasai Village, Part 5
Buy Now: $320.00

This final segment of the series, Diary of a Maasai Village, depicts the ceremony known as the "ox of ilbaa," from which Miisia emerges, acknowledged as a man.

About the Diary of a Maasai Villageseries

Thisseries of five films by Melissa Llewelyn-Davies looks at daily life among theMaasai. The films are presented as a diary of a 7-week visit to a singlevillage. The structure is episodic and the content dependent on various eventsor stories, some of which are developed through more than one film. The tapescan be used independently or together, to give an in-depth sense of Maasailife. The series includes the following five films:

Part 1: The Prophet's Village

Part 2: Two Ways Of Justice

Part 3: Two Mothers

Part 4: Two Journeys

Part 5: Nine Cows And An Ox

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Fishers of Dar

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:53:00 GMT

Fishers of Dar
Buy Now: $295.00

Samaki wa Dar es Salaam/Fishers of Dar is an ethnographic film about the fishermen and women of downtown Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It explores the continuity and integrity of traditional fishing practices in new, contemporary settings. Dar es Salaam is a metropolis of 3 million people yet the city's demand for fish is entirely met by equipment, methods and tools that have been used here for hundreds of years.

This film takes the viewer to the central fish market and pier in the city harbor, and to a small fishing community away from the market. It is structured between two sunrises and two sunsets: the story begins before dawn, with small lanteen sailed boats (ngawaalas) and bigger mashua boats (a diesel engine replacing the sail) leaving for fishing grounds close by or further out to sea, and continues with fishing at sea; coming back to unload and sell fish at the market; auctions and retail sales; fast food preparation and sale at the market; home-based work and leisure activities in the fishing community.

Eschewing commentary and voice-over explanation — similar to Forest of Bliss — the film shows the many hands the fish pass through before reaching customers. Hundreds of people make a living in the process. We see fishermen and women, boat builders, boat crews, auctioneers, laborers, vendors and market people of all kinds. Not the least are women who come with buckets, buy and clean small fish and then go back home by bus to sell fried fish in the hundreds of smaller markets of the city.

The film reveals how traditional methods articulate with modern demands. There are problems: a brief text at the end of the film points out that the market was recently demolished to make way for expansion of the harbor. The age old process continues but under difficult new conditions.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Best Documentary, Athens Ohio Film Festival, 2003

Juror's Choice, Black Maria Film Festival, 2003

Golden Dhow, Director's Choice, Zanzibar Int'l Film Festival, 2002

Best Cinematography, Ann Arbor Film Festival, 2002

Northwest Folk Life Film Festival, Seattle, 2003

Rakumi Arts Film Festival, Seattle Museum of Art, 2003

Rhode Island Int'l Film Festival, Providence, 2003

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