"What is cone culture?"
A young woman achieves cone consciousness.
Social & External
Unknown Role
The people of Unamenshipu (La Romaine), an Innu community in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, are seen but not heard in this richly detailed documentary about the rituals surrounding an Innu caribou hunt. Released in 1960, it’s one of 13 titles in Au Pays de Neufve-France, a series of poetic documentary shorts about life along the St. Lawrence River. Off-camera narration, written by Pierre Perrault, frames the Innu participants through an ethnographic lens. Co-directed by René Bonnière and Perrault, a founding figure of Quebec’s direct cinema movement.
AMIN portrays Qashqai musician Amin Aghaie, a young modern nomad and his family who despite facing steep financial, cultural and political obstacles are dedicated to their art and culture. Amin travels to remote towns and villages to record the music of the surviving masters whose numbers decline each year. His nomadic family are selling their meager belongings to help support their son's education in performance and ethnomusicology at Tchaikovsky's Conservatory in Kyiv, Ukraine, but it is not enough. Amin, desperate to finish his academic education, sells his violins one at a time just to pay for his tuition.
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.
A film by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince, shot in late October 1888, showing pedestrians and carriages crossing Leeds Bridge.
Fabrizio, Dante and Roberto have 14 years old and they live in Palermo in the ZEN. How is their life, their universe?
"Bias" challenges us to confront our hidden biases and understand what we risk when we follow our gut. Through exposing her own biases, award-winning documentary filmmaker Robin Hauser highlights the nature of implicit bias, the grip it holds on our social and professional lives, and what it will take to induce change.
As we wait to see whether Rupert Murdoch will fall from power and lose control of News International, Every Day is Like Sunday tells the forgotten story of the dramatic downfall of Cecil King—the newspaper mogul who used to dominate British media in the 1960s, before Rupert Murdoch arrived.
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.
Moving picture of London's Trafalgar Square traffic, filmed with a kinesigraph.
Chileans are asked about their definition of the word (and the concept of) "power", as they answer images flash on the screen of powerful and powerless figures in Chilean history.
In the summer of 1967, a hippie group called The Diggers - led by the cool and charismatic 23-year old David DePoe - wanted to turn the street where they resided, Yorkville Avenue in Toronto, into a car-free zone. Fed up with the noise and fumes from cars, DePoe staged a 3-day sit in where the Diggers peacefully occupied the street to petition the Toronto City Council to get what they wanted. To their surprise, the police were ordered to remove them by force by the city officials who wanted to keep the street open as a necessary traffic artery. After being released from jail, DePoe and his group were invited by the fiercely conservative and patronizing Allan Lamport, a member of the Board of Control and former Mayor of the city to a meeting at City Hall to present their case. The climactic battle unfolded there between Lamport and DePoe, who was representing the Canadian Youth Council.
Why is social trust breaking down, and how do we find it again? This is the question at the heart of Leviathan. Directed and produced by Alexander Beiner, it draws on sociology, myth, psychology, economics and systems theory to delve into the deep code of culture and make sense of the times we live in. It’s a journey that invites the viewer to confront the shadows lurking at the heart of our systems, and points the way toward hope, healing and action.
Universam Grochów was a now-defunct shopping and service mall that emerged in the 1970s in Warsaw's Praga-Południe district. This department store functioned as a shopping center and a hub for the social life of right-bank Warsaw. At the end of 2016, the iconic building was demolished. The film captures the final moments of the enterprise, with long-term and dedicated employees guiding us through its corridors. Their approach to work and economic model make Universam a living museum and a phenomenon at the intersection of urban planning and sociology. We also see the significant void left in the local community by the building's demolition.
Yirrkala is an Aboriginal township on the Gove Peninsula in Northeast Arnhem Land. It was established as a Methodist mission in 1935 and over the years Yolngu from many different clans moved there. Conversations With Dundiwuy Wanambi is a personal film which reveals something of the struggles and thoughts of one elder in the face of enormous change. In the early years Dundiwuy was a heavy drinker. In a disturbing interview in a pub, Dundiwuy explains his reasons for drinking. Then, through a dream, Dundiwuy realizes he must begin to protect his family and clan. He establishes his Marrakulu clan homeland center at Gurka'wuy, south of Yirrkala. He will hold a great ceremony there. Years later Dundiwuy returns to Yirrkala. His clan is small and he did not receive the necessary support from his sons. But Dundiwuy endures, continues his struggle, and we learn in the post-script of how he has become a successful and sought-after artist.
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.
"I often say sociology is a martial art, a means of self-defence. Basically, you use it to defend yourself, without having the right to use it for unfair attacks." (Pierre Bourdieu) The world has witnesses who speak out loud what others keep to themselves. They are neither gurus, nor masters, but those who consider that the city and the world can be thought out. The sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu is one such witness." Over a three- year period, Pierre Carles' camera followed him through different situations: a short conversation with Günter Grass, a lively conference with the inhabitants of a working-class suburb, his relations with his students and colleagues and his plea that sociology be part of the life of the city. His thinking has a sort of familiarity, which means it is always within our reach. It is the thinking of a French intellectual who has chosen to think his times.
Portrays the Nuer, Nilotic herdsmen of the Nile basin. Shows how their daily lives revolve about their cattle, and depicts the psychological bonds between them. Includes extensive use of Nuer music and poetry.