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In a small community of Italian Slavic-speakers, the performance by the Beautiful White Masks, impersonated by women, comes to an abrupt end with the burning of the Babaz. This film...

In the Catalan-speaking southern France, a proper “Bear Chase”, of the kind that was once popular throughout Europe, has been revived in a carnival context. This film is part of...

The practice of using shackles and chains to physically restrain people with mental illness (known as pasung) is widespread in Indonesia (as in many other developing/low middle income countries) and...

Award-winning ethnographic caleidoscope featuring over 50 different masquerades of some 13 European countries. Thanks to some careful editing, the underlying structure of European winter masked ritual is made apparent, from...

The yearly parade of the new recruits is the perfect occasion in which to vent an extraordinarily wide repertoire of traditional songs. This film is part of **Carnival King of...

A small village in the Slovenian Karst is entirely taken over by the local masks, the so called “Škoromati”. This film is part of **Carnival King of Europe DVD 7...

Throughout western Slovenia, Pust or Pustje are the names given to the Carnival dummy and the same names are also used in the Italian side of the Julian Alps. This...

The Didi of Gljev, in the Dalmatian hinterland, are fully-fledged rams and for the duration a day they act and behave as if they were a single magical flock. This...

The Zanni of central Italy, are the same as the Pulcinella of the South of Italy or the Lachè in the North. They are Carnival heralds, clad in white, with...

Joaldunak are “those who resound”, the great bell ringers heralding the Carnival parade between the twin villages of Ituren and Zubieta in the Basque-speaking Spanish Naffaroa. This film is part...

Two young Afar girls, Fatuma (10) and Asya (13), show us their daily life in two different contexts of the Afar Region in Ethiopia. Both of them face hard challenges:...

Bagolino and Ponte Caffaro host the largest surviving ensemble of folk violin in the Alps, which makes Carnival a leap back into the Renaissance roots of the violin itself. This...

Jacob arrived in Italy alone from French Guinea when he was 11 years old. Today he is 27, and hip hop music is his whole world: it is his way...

In the Catholic, French-speaking part of Belgium, monumental, all-encompassing masquerades take place in the middle of Lent. This film is part of **Carnival King of Europe DVD 6 – RITUAL...

The Gnaga is an old hag, carrying her drunk husband back home in a pannier. This film is part of Carnival King of Europe DVD 5 PARADING THE VILLAGE. On...

On the day of the Epiphany, a grand parade half-way between Christianity and paganism is staged, incorporating all the ancient characters of Alpine fables, the Twelve Days of Christmas, and...

After living in Italy for almost ten years without documents, three Egyptian men – Ali, Mahmoud and Mohamed – are suddenly awarded legal residence. As a whole new world of...

The Koza or Goat is animal that gives the masquerade its name throughout Eastern Europe, from Romania to Moldavia and the Ukraine, and all the way to northern Poland where...

Dating back 3000 years to the Nuragic civilisation on Sardinia, ‘launeddas’ are wind instruments that testify to contacts from across the Mediterranean. Although they nearly vanished in the 1960s, in...

Every four years, the new recruits in Carano are presented to the community in the midst of a complex carnival ritual called Banderàl. This film is part of **Carnival King...