Germany/India, 2009, 57 min
Helene Basu
30.01.2010 18:25

The Sufi shrine of Mira Datar in India is large pilgrimage centre specialising in healing possession madness/mental illness. Recently, it has also become a site of experimenting with new forms of community care in the mental health sector. The NGO „Altruist“ facilitates communication between the mental health department, shrine dignitaries, psychiatrists and patients suffering from diverse kinds of mental troubles who seek help from the saint. Under the heading of „Dava and Dua“ Altruists promotes psychiatric services at the shrine parallel to the cures of possession illnesses offered by ritual specialists. The film documents interactions between different actors at the shrine (patients-psychiatrists, psychiatrists-ritual specialists, patients-ritual specialists), listens to the stories of afflicted persons and presents diverse views on the presumed causes of mental illness as well on the benefit or non-benefit of medicine and/or ritual practices as perceived by patients and their relatives.
Language of dialogues: Hindi and Gujarati
Language of subtitles: English
Czech Republic, 2008, 35 min
Daniela Stavělová
30.01.2010 15:50
The documentary film is a part of a multimedia study which consists of visual and editorial parts. Apart from the film, the DVD offers thematically digested shots recorded in scope of the research and a photogallery. Visual as well as editorial part connects possibilities of verbal and visual language and is bound to serve as an interception of the complexity of the observed march and to the representation of the dance as a cultural context. The complexity should help to reveal and deliver the connotation of the traditional event in today´s local society. The documentary can be publicised separately as well and its informational value does not depend on the supporting text of the multimedia study.
Daneila Stavělová operates as a research worker at an Ethnological Institute AV ČR, V.V.I.. Her main field is ethnochoreography and anthropology of dance. In the scope of the specialisation she lectures at the department of dance at HAMU, Prague, where she organises workshops as well. She cooperates as a choreograph at designing of thematical scenical projects which deal with traditional dance and music culture. This year, Daniela Stavělová was confered an Award of Ministry of Culture for outstanding contribution in the field of folklore and for interconnecting the scientific, artisitc and pedagogical activities.
The project was executed in the scope of the research AVOZ 90580513 of the Ethnological Institute AV ČR, v.v.i. and subsidized by Ministry of Culture CR within the programme Traditional folklor culture.
Language of dialogues: Czech
Language of subtitles: English
Slovenská republika, 2003, 34 min
Miroslav Bartoš
30.01.2010 15:05

Concrete high-rise building area Petržalka - one of the biggest in Europe - has a lot of negative attributes. In general, it is perceived as a prototype of a low-quality acommodation created at the times of socialism. What is the reality like? How are the concrete homes seen by their inhabitants at the beginning of the third millenary? The film attempts to scatch the anthropo-social way of being at this concrete area.
Language of dialogues: Slovakian