New Vision: Change and Preservation

Each Floral-belt Dai village has a male “Commune-head” who take charge of annual collective ceremonies as “Village Sacrifice” and “Village Exorcism”. These are purification rituals and fete for the village’s god “Buzhaoshe”. Besides, there’s a “Village’s Chief Witch” who’s responsible for communication with the god through trance. This man and woman compose the traditional hierarchy of a Dai village. The…

Dreadlocks Story opens up the history of Rastas in a new light. It shows the spiritual history behind the criticized dreadlocks hairstyle and the roots of the Rastafari culture, which is entangled with the Hindu tradition in Jamaica. Although some accommodations have been made towards Rastas, the struggle against prejudice and discrimination are still prevalent.

“The Chinese make things, the Malagasy fix them.” Just for the time of a film, let’s have fun reversing roles… Let’s imagine it isn’t for the economists anymore to demonstrate their growth model, but for the farmers, artists, craftsmen, and streetwise sellers of all kind to showcase their skills. There are those who recycle tires into shoes, those who make…

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…

A non-traditional road movie exploring a Moroccan perspective on the entwined relationship between Hollywood and The Arab World.

Casablanca Mon Amour is a modern road movie that encapsulates the more complex and fractured nature of living in a world where TV and wars compete for headlines and occupy imaginations. Using movies as a road map between yesterday’s Hollywood and today’s…

In the 1950s the anthropologist David F. Pocock conducted fieldwork in Sundarana, central Gujarat, with a focus on the Patidar community. Sixty years later we returned to see what changed. Focusing on a young men’s search for a bride, this documentary is about a village’s intertwining with international forms of migration, seen from the perspectives of those who fail and…

“Live From UB” shows Mongolia through the eyes of its boldest musicians from the 1970s to today. Rock music was the catalyst for freedom, the vehicle for international curiosity, and now, the medium for Mongolian nationalism. It follows the story of today’s most promising independent band, Mohanik, as they create a new sound for their country and discover what it…