BUNONG GUU OH/BUNONG´S BIRTH PRACTICES
Switzerland/Cambodia, 2010, 50 min
Tommi Mendel, Brigitte Nikles
28.01.2011 19:10
On the basis of a social anthropological case study, this film documents the birth practices of the Bunong in Mondulkiri province, located in the northeast of Cambodia. Social, economic and political changes are transforming the province tremendously and are affecting villagers´ beliefs, perceptions and habits regarding pregnancy, delivery and early motherhood. Traditional midwives, pregnant women, mothers and their families give a personal insight into their present decision-making strategies, which are at the crossroads between tradition and modernity.
Directors: Tommi Mendel, Brigitte Nikles
Tommi and Brigitte both studied Anthropology at the University of Zurich. Currently Brigitte is working in Mondulkiri in Cambodia to establish a Bunong Cultural Centre and Tommi is working on his PhD with the means of Ethnographic Film.
Production: Tigertoda productions, Zurich, Switzerland
Camera, Edit: Tommi Mendel
The movie was projected on various world film festivals (selection):
NAFA International Ethnographic Film Festival, Aarhus, Denmark 2010
International Festival of Visual Anthropology Mediating Camera, Moscow, Russia 2010
Cambodia International Film Festival, Phom Phen, Cambodia 2010
International Festival of Ethnological Film, Belgrade, Serbia 2010
Contro-Sguardi International Anthropological Film Festival, Perugia, Italy 2010
Athens Ethnographic Film Festival, Greece 2010
Language of dialogues: Bunong, Khmer
Language of subtitles:Czech, English
This documentary film is an insight into the lives of eight Czech families or individuals living permanently in Sweden. What has this country given them or taken away? What are their views on leaving Czechoslovakia and living in the North after forty years? How do they and their children who were born here perceive Sweden and the Swedish society? The film does not only peek inside the Czech families but also reveals the atmosphere of Swedish towns and villages and tinges everything with original Czech and Swedish music.
Filip is a student at Mac Brod Gymnasium. He stays at the dormitory. Alija is a good friend of him at school. But they relate to different religions and that separate them not only during lunch-breaks at school, but all the time outside school. Filip spends his weekends in his home village Samokov, collecting mushrooms for sale and helping his grandparents and his mother in her small shop. Alija commutes everyday from his home village Plasnica.
