Horizontes de piedra (1956)

Germaine chez elle

In front of Jean Rouch's camera, Germaine Dieterlen recalls her ethnographic itinerary, at the Musée de l'Homme, in Mali and in the Paris of the 1930s.

Hommage à Marcel Mauss. Germaine Dieterlen

Germaine Dierterlen talks about Dogon mythology at a conference on the Bandiagara cliffs. The Songo canopy is a sacred site in Bandiagara. Its walls are covered with paintings depicting the different phases of creation. A little further on, in a cave near the village of Bongo, symposium participants are discussing the Tellem, the people who lived in the houses built into the cliffs before the arrival of the Dogon. The archaeological remains and migratory movements of these two peoples are discussed.

Germaine et ses copains

In Sangha, through the window of her house, Germaine greets Djamgouno, her main informant. He then translates for her a conversation she has with a half-blind old man. She recounts her memories of a past party at which Amadigné worked with her as an informant. Later, in front of the cliff, Germaine, Djamgouno and Pangalé are sitting on rocks, and Germaine talks about the many caves that can be visited by climbing small spelunking ladders. Rouch intervenes during the interview, asking the protagonists about the settlement of the cliff by the Dogon, who learned from the Tellem how to climb the cliff. Rouch then asks about the Tellem's predecessors who lived there 2,400 years ago. Germaine admits the ignorance of researchers on the subject, and Rouch concludes by joking about the new task that now falls to Germaine Dieterlen.

Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti

This intimate ethnographic study of Voudoun dances and rituals was shot by Maya Deren during her years in Haiti (1947-1951); she never edited the footage, so this “finished” version was made by Teiji Ito and Cherel Ito after Deren’s death.

The Lyrical Rongdanis

A musical documentary woven around the endangered musical culture of the Rangdani Rabhas from Manikganj, Meghalaya, North East India.

Hampi

A ritual vase, the hampi, is placed in the center of the Musée de plein air de la République du Niger in Niamey, during a ritual ceremony featuring possession dances. With this film, Jean Rouch continues his ethnological and cinematographic study of Songhay ritual objects. He demonstrates that, in a particular context, the transfer of a hampi vase to a museum requires the organization of a ritual ceremony to obtain the gods' approval. At the time, however, reservations about filming a possession dance for the opening of a shrine in a museum made the move "questionable from a museological point of view".

Las Hurdes, país de leyenda

An account of the journey that King Alfonso XIII of Spain made to the impoverished shire of Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in the region of Extremadura, in 1922.

Savage Memory

Founding father of Anthropology, Bronislaw Malinowski's work raises powerful and disturbing questions today. This is a look at his legacy and the imprints it has made on the generations that followed.

Forest of Bliss

Forest of Bliss is an unsparing yet redemptive account of the inevitable griefs, religious passions and frequent happinesses that punctuate daily life in Benares, India's most holy city. The film unfolds from one sunrise to the next without commentary, subtitles or dialogue. It is an attempt to give the viewer a wholly authentic, though greatly magnified and concentrated, sense of participation in the experiences examined by the film.

The Bounty Hunter of Mongolia

In the Darhat valley in northern Mongolia, the horses of nomadic tribes are stolen by bandits who then sell them to Russian slaughterhouses. Shukhert, a brave horseman, relentlessly pursues them through the Mongolian taiga, bordering Siberia.

Moana

Robert J. Flaherty's South Seas follow-up to Nanook of the North is a Gauguin idyll moved by "pride of beauty... pride of strength."

Pam Kuso Kar (Breaking Pam's Vases)

In February 1974, Pam Sambo Zima, the oldest of the priests of possession in Niamey, Niger, died at the age of seventy-plus years. In his backyard, the followers from the possession cult symbolically break the dead priest's ritual vases and cry for the deceased while dividing up the clothes of the divinities.

Ghostland: The View of the Ju'Hoansi

Remember the culture clash in THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY? This time it's real. One of the most ancient cultures on our planet is undergoing a major change. The Ju/Hoansi Bushmen in Namibia are not allowed to hunt anymore and need to converge with our so called “civilized” lifestyle. For the first time the Ju/Hoansi Bushmen travel through the Kalahari and then right into the heart of Europe. What starts as a look at their fascinating culture becomes an even more fascinating look at our Western lifestyle. A warm and humorous reflection of our habits through the eyes of people who are about to give up their million year old traditions.

Journey Through Setomaa

Estonia's first ethnographic film. Made by Johannes Pääsuke in 1913 on his expedition to Setomaa, the South-Eastern region in Estonia.

Horendi

The title of this film translates literally as 'to put on a hori,' a hori being the Songhay term for ceremony of festival. Here it is used to refer to a ganandi, literally 'to make dance' This film concerns two women whom the zima [priest] had diagnosed some months before as being ill through possession by spirits. In the meantime, their families have gathered together the resources to pay for the musicians, dancers, and the priest himself to put on an initiation dance lasting seven days This is a film of documentation, simply recording various moments in the progress of the ceremony, without any form of explanation, neither in intertitle cards nor in voice-over. (Paul Henley, The Adventure of the Real)

Days after

In Isère, in the mountainous region of Trièves, is the Tournesol farm, an experiential farm totally autonomous in energy, a veritable laboratory for renewable energies. Jean-Philippe and his family live there from sheep farming and organic market gardening. But in September 2017, a violent fire destroyed the farm and its facilities. While the family has lost everything, a surge of solidarity is taking place so that the Tournesol farm is reborn from its ashes.

Ainu Puri

An intimate documentary about one family's endeavor to live as Ainu in today's Japan.

The Assessment

In a climate change-ravaged world, a utopian society optimizes life, including parenthood assessments. A successful couple faces scrutiny by an evaluator over seven days to determine their fitness for childbearing.

The Boy and the Dog

New Takahisa Zeze movie, adaptation of the book "Shonen to Inu." To be released in Spring 2025.

This Night Will Remember Us

After his father got into a critical accident, a passive teenager has to spend the night roaming the city with his distant older brother in order to wait for a blood bag.

Teresa & Veronica

Teresa has a frayed relationship with her girlfriend Veronica. Teresa's attempts to stay close to her are thwarted, which will lead Teresa to make a decision that will completely change their lives.

A Trip of Terror

Nadia arrives at the hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown due to her husband's treatment, and Dr. Medhat takes over her treatment. Kamal gets angry at his father and Heba for the actions of his uncle Youssef, who took over his brother's business and made Heba live in his service. One night, Youssef Helmy tries to assault Rasha, Nadia's younger sister, and when she calls for help, Heba rushes to her and Youssef is killed.

Josefa’s Return

Over 40 years ago, Josefa left her home village in a dispute. A lot has happened in the meantime. Now she returns as a mature woman to where she is still known as a man.

CECI N'EST PLUS ODILE

Plot unavailable

Way Home

How far are you willing to go to save the people you love? This is the question Christian is forced to answer when he is smuggled into Syria in a desperate search for his son Adam. It's a deadly and soul-searching journey into a brutal, war-torn country. Gradually, Christian realises that he must be willing to sacrifice everything he believes in to be reunited with his son.

Mid West

A man wakes up in a field with no knowledge or memory of who he is. He must set out on the greatest journey of his life, to literally find himself.

Southbound Train

A power-cut in a great apartment building brings the tennants together.

Days

A married woman is living an unexcited life, until she meets a man who is able to put a smile on her face again, at least for a couple of days.

Peer Gynt

Young Peer Gynt returns home once again after unsuccessfully looking for work. His mother already goes to meet him and he describes his alleged adventures to her. In his imagination, he sees himself as a king and escapes reality with his stories. His mother would have liked him to marry Ingrid, with whose dowry they would be well provided for, but Ingrid is promised to Mats and will marry him the very next day. While Peer once again escapes into his world of thoughts while lying in the grass, he is laughed at by the others of the village. They warn him to come to Ingrid's wedding feast, where the whole village is celebrating. But he does not care and there he meets Solvejg, whom he likes very much, but she initially turns away from him. So he kidnaps the bride Ingrid, incurring the wrath of the groom and the rest of the village youth.

A Little Bit of Soul

A bitter coming-of-age story about boy who grows up in a remote Bosnian village shortly after World War II.

Kuduz

After the release from prison, small-time criminal is marrying his girlfriend and lives a straight and poor, but happy life with her and her daughter. However, his happiness is shattered by wife's infidelity. Driven mad by jealousy, he kills her and her lover and runs into mountains, thus escaping law for months. This film is based on the true story about Junuz Kečo, last Bosnian outlaw.

Una cita de amor

The story of the doomed love between Soledad and Román. She is the daughter of a rich man that wants to marry her with Ernesto, nephew of his friend, the judge. Román owns a little ranch. A brawl in the town will unleash several deaths that will affect the already difficult relationship.

Genius

New York in the 1920s. Max Perkins, a literary editor is the first to sign such subsequent literary greats as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. When a sprawling, chaotic 1,000-page manuscript by an unknown writer falls into his hands, Perkins is convinced he has discovered a literary genius.

The First Death of Joana

Late summer of 2007, South of Brazil. Joana, 13, wants to find out why her great-aunt Rosa died at 70 without ever having dated anyone. Encouraged by her friend Carolina, Joana starts an investigation about Rosa’s past. As she confronts the values of her community, Joana realizes that all the women in her family have a secret, while something hidden inside her also reveals. She plunges into her imagination to find answers while a large wind power plant is being built in their small town.

Meters Away, Worlds Apart

A boy meeting his girlfriend's father for the first time. Visiting a hospitalized high school classmate. The last drink between a failed entertainer and his manager. Combat that ends up in a rap battle. A conversation between sisters at their mother's funeral. An encounter between two random time travelers.

Pieces of Victory

Pieces of Victory is the story of a young girl recounting her time as an unfortunate resident of a reform school. This all-girls school presented itself to the world as a reform program for the wayward and the troubled. However, something much darker was happening. Trapped inside the walls of this compound, a young girl falsely condemned to this place was tortured, bound, starved, humiliated and locked away as part of the "reform". Her only hope through the ordeal is the love she held to from the one person who treated her like she matters.