捷克

JAKUB, by the Czech filmmaker Jana Sevikova, presents an extensive ethnographical-sociological study of the life of the Ruthenians, filmed in the Maramuresh mountains in the north of Romania and in the former Sudetenland in Western Bohemia. The film was made over a period of five years during the time of both totalitarian regimes and was completed in 1992 after the revolution. Jakub Popovich is the primary character whose story provides the link between 1947, when the film begins, and the present. Scientists at the Ethnographic-Folklore Institute, a part of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague acted as collaborators in the making of this film. The film has received international attention from filmmakers for it’s unique structure and cinematic quality as well from educators and research scientists for it’s content.

Sangita, a dancer of Czech-Nepali origin, journeys to Kathmandu to explore how practitioners in the Himalayan Kingdom negotiate Nepal’s dance traditions in a period of rapid cultural change. In her attempts to map the current situation of dance in Kathmandu valley, she encounters her own teachers as well as younger dancers currently finding their way. Dancing Kathmandu tells stories of nostalgia, passion and survival through dance and dancers in the age of globalization. In Nepal, dancers are sometimes viewed with suspicion as they straddle the uncomfortable border between the sacred and the profane. On one hand, dance, as embodied sacred ritual still offers unique access to worship of Hindu and Buddhist deities. On the other hand, society often passes harsh judgment on spectacular dancing girls as women of “compromised character”. In this documentary, Kathmandu-based dancers of all genres speak about why they dance, why they persevere, and in some cases why they no longer perform in public. Through their artistic practice, the dancers struggle for cultural continuity.