27.-28.1.2017
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF MOVIES
WITH ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEMES

BETWEEN ISLAM AND SACRED FOREST

Germany, USA, 2016, 52 min
M. Gruber, F. Seidel
28.01.2017 17:40

An anthropologist and a linguist from Germany are trying to understand a ritual taking place in a small village on the coast of Guinea, West Africa. They are told that two seemingly conflicting ceremonies take place during a four-day event commemorating a recently deceased woman: A Muslim celebration of the 40th day after death conducted by a local Imam and the Mkisaata ritual, performed by the members of a Nalu female secret society in honour of its deceased member. As different male parties involved tell the filmmakers their respective vision of the events, the researchers get increasingly drawn into the ritual by the women of the secret society and become part of the performance. "Between Islam and the Sacred Forest" shows the possibilities and impossibilities of audio-visual ethnography.

Martin Gruber works as a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Anthropology and Cultural Studies at the University of Bremen. Martin studied Visual Anthropology at Goldsmiths College, London and Social Anthropology at Hamburg University. He worked as a freelance filmmaker and researcher before completing a PhD on Participatory Ethnographic Filmmaking" in 2013. Martin's research interests are audio-visual research, ethnographic film, collaborative research, urban anthropology, political ecology and human-animal relationships with a focus on bees. Martin has conducted long-term ethnographic research in West Africa, Southern Africa, Bremen and Hamburg.
Frank Seidel studied African Studies, Cultural Anthropology and Political Science at the University of Cologne, Germany. After completing his Ph.D. in 2008 and he worked as a Post-Doc and Visiting Researcher at the University of Florida from 2010 – 2015. Frank is an established fieldworker and his research methods use the full digital array currently available, namely video, audio, imagery, as well as the digital collation of various types of transcriptions. His approach to language research includes leading, training, and/or collaborating with a team of language community members to collect and manage audio-visual language material. Consequently, he now curates two digital language archives of two endangered languages spoken on the coast of Guinea, West Africa.

Director, Script, Edit: M. Gruber, F. Seidel
Production: M. Gruber
WORLD PREMIERE

Language of dialogues: Nalu Language
Language of Subtitles: English, Czech
 

TAMA GAUN - THE COPPER VILLAGE

Japonsko, Norsko, Nepál, 2015, 89 min
F. Storaas, D. Kharel
28.01.2017 18:55

In Okharbot village of Western Nepal a few persons still know the age-old traditional practise of mining, smelting and casting of copper. The copper has a number of symbolic meanings and economic aspects connected to exchange and healing properties, as well as being the Hindu god Shiva. The complex caste system of Nepal, although abolished, still structures the lives of most people. The untouchable smiths, the Kami, produce one of the purest metals in Hindu cosmology. The film follows Ujir, the foreman, who guides the steps of the mining and smelting. During the smelting work the festival of Dassain took place in the village. The festival is part of the social and cultural context presented in the film along with the traditional smelting process of copper.
 
Dipesh Kharel is an independent documentary filmmaker from Nepal about to finish his PhD research in film and social anthropology at the University of Tokyo in Japan. He received a Master of Philosophy in documentary film studies from the University of Tromsø in Norway.
Frode Storaas is a professor of visual anthropology at the University Museum of Bergen, Norway. His anthropological research has mainly been with pastoralists in Eastern Africa. A theme conveyed in many of his films has been how cultural traditions and ideas influence everyday life. Storaas is gen.sec. of NAFA, a worldwide network for visual anthropology, and the NAFA collection of anthropological films.

Director, camera, script, edit: F. Storaas, D. Kharel
Production: University Museum of Bergen, Norway, Media Help Line, Nepal
Festivals (selection): 2015 Nepal Panorama, Best Documentary; 14th RAI INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM, Watershed in Bristol, England 2015

Language of Subtitles: Nepalese
Language of Dialogues:  English, Czech

TETEYOTES. STONES GODS.

Mexiko, 2016, 42 min
J.B. Díaz, A. S. Eres, A.J. Arango
27.01.2017 19:10

In the Municipality of Yahualica, Hidalgo, a Nahua community from Mexico, the archaeological pieces (named stone gods in their language) have the ability to make the population sick. Through an accurate knowledge the inhabitants of the municipality manage to deal with the power of the 'stone gods' in order to prevent possible damages and to benefit from the relationship with them. This facet of their reality has been seriously criticised by the Mexican media and the community has been deprived of a large part of their material heritage. This documentary pictures the life of the Nahuas from Yahualica, who have to coexist with the world of the stones, who make them sick, and with the world of the mestizos, who ridicule and rob them.

Jaime Bernardo Díaz is an anthropologist; Ana Somohano Eres and Antonio Jaramillo Arango are both historians. The three of them studying their PhDs at the UNAM, México, where they research about the social life objects can have in native communities dating before and after the Conquest.

Director, script, edit, production: J.B. Díaz, A.S. Eres, A.J. Arango
Camera: J.B. Díaz
Festivals: VI Congreso Mexicano de Antropología Social-Foro de cine etnográfico 2016; Instituto de Investigaciones Filológicas-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 2016
EUROPEAN PREMIÉRE

Language of Dialogues: Spanish
Language of Subtitles: Spanish, English, Czech