Between 1958 and 61, Margot Dias took part in four ethnographic missions to the extreme north of Mozambique, Africa, then a Portuguese colony.
She registered and filmed many hours, compiling unprecedented visual and sound records of the Makonde culture.
This journey changed her life, as if in the encounter of the Other she had found herself again.
It’s the woman…
This is the story of Mbambu, a 16-year-old girl from the village of Kilembe, at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains in Uganda, who wants to be the first in her family to complete secondary school. Mbambu is also a faithful member of the local amateur drama group, which uses art and thematic performances (such as a performance on the…
Moi, Un Noir was Rouch’s first feature length film. Shot in Treichville, a slum/suburb of Abidjan in the Ivory Coast, the film continues many of the themes of earlier work (especially Jaguar and Les Maitres Fous): immigration to the coastal towns, contact of colonizers and colonized, the effects of colonialism and proletarianization. An attempt to “mix fiction with reality,” it…
When Bill and Mick Thaiday grew up on Palm Island in the 1950s, it was radio that imposed by the Aboriginal Protection Act. Later, it would also free them from the grip of alcohol addiction and start them on a journey that’s lasted almost 20 years. Together they have travelled like a couple of nomads, developing Aboriginal radio stations in…
Welcome to the daily routine of Akbar Pir Ahmadi, one of the few masters of felt-making in Shiraz, Iran. He begins early in the morning and welcomes many visitors throughout the day: a friend comes for help, two customers buy felt, and his little girl joins him for lunch. In the evening, Akbar goes to the Zurkhaneh (traditional gymnasium) to…
Ormajeevikal (Memory Beings) is an impressionistic film that paints a picture of the town Kozhikode situated in North Kerala, a region in South India, and the spiritual immersion of ordinary town dwellers in music.The film is a reflective essay traversing sounds and spaces that build a portrait of a small town ( dominantly Muslim) with a music culture that is…
There were historical facts that passed down orally indicating Orchid Island and Batan Island had interactions in marriage and leather armor trading in the past couple hundred years. In recent years, five official “ethnic cultural interaction events” were conducted between the two islands, which can be considered as quite frequent for two countries. However, “root finding” has lead to new…
In my father’s memory, our family had the experience of building a 10- person boat 30 years ago. Father is now the only elder in the family fishing team. Thus, in order to leave the family fishing team a memory of boat building, Father decided to make a new boat after discussing with other members. This film records the stories…
Chhaupadi sheds are common in mid- and far-western villages in Nepal. During their menstruation periods, women stay in these sheds which are unhygienic and unsafe, putting them at risk to their health and lives. People believe that women are impure during chhau and will make everything they touch impure. The film is the story of the women who have suffered…
The sudden death of pioneering Māori filmmaker Merata Mita in 2010, led her son on a journey to uncover a story of mother’s love that changed the landscape of indigenous films forever. Indeed, she opened doors for indigenous voices we celebrate today; Warwick Thornton, Taika Waititi, Sterlin Harjo and Zoe Hopkins to name a few.
Merata was the first Māori…
In 1918, during the Japanese colonial period, the tribes in the upper reaches of the Mugua River began to move to the river terraces in the middle reaches of the river, and in 1928, they became known as the Tongmen tribe. In less than a hundred years since the formation of the tribe, the tribal environment has changed with social…
In the day he is a delivery driver for a factory, but on dates that ends with 3, 6, or 9, he exchanges his dirty work clothes for a mottled apron with a delicate yellow dragon. The apron is like a mission that carries on the last wishes of his late father. Taking over the mantle of his father, he…
“Transsexual in Pakistan” is about the “khusras,” a marginal community within Pakistani society. They are born male, but devote themselves to searching outand developing the feminine side of their souls. They are transsexual from the western physiological point of view, but to the local Pakistanis, what the khusras signify is beyond gender differences. People treat the khusras as the most…
Customs of Polynesian natives on a Samoan island, centered on the daily life and on the coming of age ceremony of the young man Moana. It reconstructs Polynesian culture before the coming of Western culture, though iron blades are used. Daily tasks like cooking, fishing, hunting and gathering are most of the picture.Mainly interesting for the material settings. Flaherty treats…
As a Mexican Tzotzil I grew up between the sacrality both of Guadalupe Virgin and Mother Earth. As a son, I grew up among the derision of not having a father and blaming my mother for it. “Mom” is a dialogue between mother and son exploring their contradictions, knowing and recognizing each other, and reflecting on naturalized violence and its…
Deep in the forests of Sumatra, a Finnish sea captain seeks an elusive banana. In a Kolkata kitchen, Bengali chefs prepare scrumptious banana stalk curries. As the sun blazes in Kuala Lumpur, a Chinese exorcist calls forth an evil banana spirit… Embarking on an international journey through the vibrant world of human-banana relationships, MONDO BANANA explores the personal, cultural, and…
Is it possible to be a mother in the distance? Is it possible to educate from a booth? Women who travel thousands of miles to give a better future to their children, tell us how they live through the reality of being mothers across a telephone or a computer, making the booth their second home and transforming their voices into…
A greenish hakka small village, Chung Giao Keng is at the north-west side of Tai-lake tribe in Miaoli County. Villagers still hold the traditional way of living, mostly engage in farming. Due to the decline of the traditional economic living, villagers are moving out from this beautiful mountain village. A decade ago, there were still more than a hundred families…
In June 2014, the harvest festival of the tribe was just around the corner. Two local Pulima people in Taiwan felt called to the artistry of the land on one side, and the forest on the other side, and they met each other in Champagne-Ardenne, France, to go on a trip of spirituality.
Etan Pavavalung is an indigenous Paiwanese artist…
Taiwan Premiere
Ever since fleeing Myanmar as a child, Mu, a young Kayan woman, lives confined as a refugee and tourist attraction in Thailand. Soon after she becomes a single teenage mother, the U.N. initiates a resettlement plan for the refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border which creates an opportunity for potentially tens of thousands of people to start new…