Film list

[at-low-tide--Film-image]
At Low Tide 2016 63'
  Directed by Anna Grimshaw .
Every day, carrying the simplest of tools, diggers across coastal Maine set out at low tide to dig for clams on the wide mud flats that stretch far into the bay. It is backbreaking work. But it has
North America Material Culture Labour Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
[changa-revisited--Film-image]
Changa Revisited 2016 60'
    RAI Basil Wright Directed by Peter Biella Leonard Kamerling .
This is the story of Tanzania Maasai elder Toreto ole Koisenge and his passage through three decades of cultural and economic change. Seen from two points across a thirty year divide, the film uses
[chosen-people--Film-image]
Chosen People 2016 18'
  Directed by Qihui Wu .
Responding to systematic racism and historical erasure, the African diapora has developed a multitude of tactics for mitigating oppressive ideological conditions. Among them, the Hebrew Israelite
[drokpa--Film-image]
Drokpa 2016 79'
    RAI Basil Wright Directed by Yan Chun Su .
Drokpa is an intimate portrait of the lives and struggles of nomads on the eastern Tibetan plateau. With rare access to a small community of nomads living on the vast yet rapidly degrading
[the-eagle-huntress--Film-image]
The Eagle Huntress 2016 87'
    Special Interest Directed by Otto Bell .
Aishol-pan, a 13-year-old girl, trains to become the first female in 12 generations of her Kazakh family to become an eagle hunter and rises to the pinnacle of a tradition that has been handed down
[j-c-abbey-ghanas-puppeteer--Film-image]
J. C. Abbey, Ghana's Puppeteer 2016 55'
    Intangible Culture Directed by Steven Feld .
This film presents an exceptional fifty-year artistic career, from Accra’s streets to Ghana’s villages to international TV. In fifteen delightful puppet shows, Mr. Abbey chronicles Ghana's music
[kivalina--Film-image]
Kivalina 2016 64'
    RAI Basil Wright Directed by Gina Abatemarco .
More than a hundred miles above the Arctic Circle, an Inupiaq Eskimo community is living on an island that is fast disappearing into the ocean. With no resources to move and only a precarious sea
[the-land-beneath-our-feet--Film-image]
The Land Beneath Our Feet 2016 60'
    RAI Basil Wright Directed by Sarita Siegel Gregg Mitman .
The Land Beneath Our Feet weaves together rare archival footage from a 1926 Harvard expedition to Liberia with the journey of a young Liberian man, uprooted by war, seeking to understand how the past
[the-modern-jungle--Film-image]
The Modern Jungle 2016 72'
    RAI Basil Wright Directed by Charles Fairbanks .
The Modern Jungle is a portrait of globalization filtered through the fever dream of its main character – a Mexican shaman, don Juan – who falls under the spell of a pyramid-scheme-marketed
[paltik-families--Film-image]
Paltik Families 2016 60'
    RAI Basil Wright Directed by Jason Fox Roel Arcilla .
Set in the ten days leading up to mayoral elections in Danao, Philippines, Paltik Families follows the Arcillas, a family engaged in an illegal network of counterfeit American gun manufacturers, an
[promenade--Film-image]
Promenade 2016 31'
    RAI Basil Wright Directed by Philip Cartelli .
Recorded during two years but organized around a single day, “Promenade” observes a series of movements and interactions on a renovated section of the Marseille waterfront. During the day a cast
[sailing-a-sinking-sea--Film-image]
Sailing a Sinking Sea 2015 65'
  Directed by Olivia Wyatt .
Sailing A Sinking Sea explores the culture of the Moken people of Myanmar and Thailand. The Moken are a nomadic seafaring community and one of the smallest ethnic groups in Asia. Spending eight
[the-song-collector--Film-image]
The Song Collector 2016 54'
  Directed by Erik Koto .
In the 1960s Morup Namgyal sparked a social movement to preserve the traditional Himalayan culture of his homeland. What Morup could not imagine at that time was that he would ultimately embrace
[tracing-roots-a-weavers-journey--Film-image]
Tracing Roots: A Weaver's Journey 2015 26'
    Material Culture Directed by Ellen Frankenstein .
This film follows master Haida weaver Delores Churchill on a journey to replicate the spruce root hat found with Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchi, also known as the Long Ago Person Found. The remains of the
[visible-silence--Film-image]
Visible Silence 2015 43'
  Directed by Ruth Gumnit .
Visible Silence offers a rare glimpse into the lives of Thai tomboys (toms), ladies (dees), and lesbians striving for recognition and acceptance in a traditional Buddhist society. The film highlights
[youth-group--Film-image]
Youth Group 2015 28'
    Student Directed by Wanwan Lu .
Set in the predominantly Asian “ethnoburbs” of Los Angeles County, this film follows a vibrant Buddhist youth group in a Chinese-American temple. Youth group members, most raised by immigrant
North America Collective / Community identity Religion / Belief / Faith Intergenerational relations