Horizontes de piedra (1956)

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.

Behind the Shadows

The Greek shadow puppetry began 130 years ago. A student of Greek shadow puppetry travels to China, where shadow puppetry began over 2000 years ago. There he follows Chinese shadow puppeteer master He Shihong in Wushan of China. Watching his performances and listening to him talk about his art and his career in it, many parallels are drawn and he expresses them by including his Greek shadow puppetry teacher in the film. This documentary is a cultural bridge between Greece and China through the art of shadow puppetry.

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.

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".

Creature Catalogue

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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.

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.

Ainu Puri

Shigeki, one of the Ainu people of northern Japan, follows the traditions of his ancestors and teaches his son Motoki about their heritage. But how can old customs be revived after centuries of suppression?

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.

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.

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.

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.

An Unholy Dance

Each winter in Luzón, a remote village in Castilla-La Mancha, an ancient ritual awakens. Cloaked in soot, horns, and bells, villagers vanish into the shadows, becoming devils. An immersive experience, a black-and-white journey into the sounds, breaths, and trembling rhythms of a timeless pagan trance.

Horendi

A seven-day initiation ceremony is documented in which two women undergo ritual healing following a diagnosis of spirit possession, presented without narration, intertitles, or explanatory commentary.

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.

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.

The Lyrical Rongdanis

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

Latin Lovers

An episodic film based on letters to agony columns, showing the effect of sex on the lives of women.

Rocky Road

When a Wall Street firm downsizes, a well-to-do trader finds himself living with his parents and driving their ice cream truck.

Empire M

Well off widow working Mother "Mona" is struggling raising 6 kids at different ages ranging from elementary school to University graduating students. The day she thinks to bring a new husband home proves to be a very difficult task.

Bit of Fear

Based on Tharwat Abaza's short story, 'Shey min al Khawf' takes place in a rural Egyptian village. Atris' reign of terror on the villagers is put to the test when a public act of defiance is carried out by Fu'ada, the object of his affection.

Far Harbor

A group of seven young people spend a weekend in the home of a wealthy yuppie on Long Island and live out their problems.

The Leg

The film's protagonist Valera - cheerful guy from Moscow, who at age 19 learned a whole hell of war in Afghanistan, where he lost a leg. Returning from the war, he had no idea what a nightmare for him is just beginning.

Stepping High

STEPPING OUT Sima, while stunningly beautiful, has failed to fulfill her dreams as a professional dancer. She is on the wrong side of thirty, being aged out, and is forced to take a job as a teacher at a conservative local high school. Much to her surprise, it sparks the choreographer in her -- a talent she has been nurturing in private not only to battle her self-doubt and depression but to create a new and unique fusion of belly and ballroom styles.

Paradise in Service

Set in the island Kinmen, often seen as the most dangerous military base because it’s geographically close to China, "Paradise in Service" follows the adventure of a boy who serves his military service in Unit 831 from 1969 to 1972, in preparation for a war that could erupt anytime. Through an unlucky lottery draw result, Pao, a twenty-something young man from Southern Taiwan has to serve the military in the remote and perilous Kinmen. Moreover, he is assigned to the Sea Dragon (ARB), a unit noted for the toughest physical training. It never occurs to Pao, however, that the greatest challenge in his military service lies not in the Sea Dragon but in Unit 831, a special task he is later appointed to… In this peculiar assignment, Pao vows to keep his virginity against all odds.

SpEd Hearts

In the indie movie “SpEd Hearts”, she sleepwalks and wears a morose expression in all of her scenes, you wouldn’t know if she was happy or sad, angry or ecstatic.

Koshish

A romantic drama which tells the story of a 20 year relationship between Hari and Aarti - a deaf-mute couple who try to live their lives to the fullest despite their handicaps.

The Last Face

Miguel, a heroic Spanish doctor, puts himself in harm's way to deliver medical treatment to the victims of military uprisings in Africa.

Vaasthavam

Driven by the responsibility of supporting his poor family, Balachandran makes a decision to marry a wealthy woman instead of his true love. His choice puts him in a position of influence and power