Children's Magical Death
Pretending to be shamans, a group of young boys imitates their fathers, blowing ashes into each other's noses and chanting to the hekura spirits.
Yanomamo: A Multidisciplinary Study
This film illustrates the field techniques used by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Michigan in collaboration with their Venezuelan colleagues. The expedition shown here included specialists in human genetics, serology,...
Weeding the Garden
Dedeheiwa the shaman weeds his manioc garden and clears the leaves around his plantains. Tired and sore, he rests while he is massaged and groomed by his wife and numerous children, with whom he plays affectionately.
Arrow Game
A group of boys engages in an arrow fight in the village clearing. They shoot blunt arrows, practicing their aim and learning to dodge the shots.
Jero on Jero: A Balinese Trance Seance Observed
In 1980, anthropologist Linda Connor and filmmakers Tim and Patsy Asch returned to Bali with video cassette recordings of A Balinese Trance Seance. The resulting film presents some of her reactions to Connor as she watched and listened to herself fo...
A Father Washes his Children
Dedeheiwa, a shaman and headman in his village, takes nine of his children and grandchildren to the river where he washes them carefully and patiently. This film, like A Man and His Wife Weave a Hammock and Weeding the Garden, reveals the warmth and...
A Man Called "Bee": Studying The Yanomamo
This is one of the few ethnographic films in which the anthropologist appears as one of the subjects, and as such it is a lively introduction to the nature of fieldwork. Napoleon Chagnon, who lived among the Yanomamo for 36 months over a period of e...
A Man and His Wife Weave a Hammock
A village headman, Moawa, weaves a cotton hammock while his wife swings in her own hammock, occasionally touching his leg in a loving gesture. She watches and teases him while playing with their baby.
The Water of Words: A Cultural Ecology of an Eastern Indonesian Island
This film explores the poetry and ecology of the lontar (borassus) palm on the eastern Indonesian island of Roti. Anthropologist James J. Fox collaborated with the filmmakers to produce an account of the utilization of lontar, a tree that provides t...
A Celebration of Origins
The people of the Tana 'Ai region of Flores, Indonesia live in seven ceremonial domains, of which Wai Brama is the largest and the oldest. The people of Wai Brama are shifting cultivators, hunters and gatherers who, unlike their neighbors, have main...