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- Convenors:
-
Carlo Cubero
(Tallinn University)
Pille Runnel (Estonian National Museum)
- Location:
- Lossi 36, 214
- Start time:
- 1 July, 2013 at
Time zone: Europe/Tallinn
- Session slots:
- 9
Short Abstract:
We invite documentary submissions that address themes connected to migrations, flows, and mobilities as they pertain to collective and individual creativities, cultural property, heritage, democracy and social justice, innovation and change; to be interpreted in a broad sense.
Long Abstract:
The International Society for Ethnology and Folklore invites documentary film submissions to be screened during its 11th International Congress, which will be in Tartu, Estonia from the 30 June to 4 July 2013. The theme of the Congress is "Circulation" and we encourage submissions that address topics such as migrations, flows, and mobilities as they pertain to collective and individual creativities, cultural property, heritage, democracy and social justice, innovation and change; to be interpreted in the broadest sense.
Documentary films made in the context of social research are particularly welcome.
Filmmakers and other staff connected to the production are encouraged to attend for the discussion that will follow each screening.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Jenny Chio (University of Southern California)
Paper short abstract:
农家乐 Peasant Family Happiness depicts the everyday experience of "doing tourism" (Ch: gao lüyou) in two rural, ethnic tourism destinations in contemporary China: Ping'an and Upper Jidao villages.
Paper long abstract:
Tourism in China today signifies many things. To the Chinese state, tourism is a win-win opportunity to promote rural development and domestic spending. To tourists, it is the epitome of middle-class leisure and prosperity. And for others, tourism is a means for employment and economic stability. 农家乐 Peasant Family Happiness depicts the everyday experience of "doing tourism" in two rural, ethnic tourism villages: Ping'an and Upper Jidao. Focusing on the perspectives of village residents, this film portrays how modern, rural Chinese negotiate between the consequences of tourist arrivals in their villages and ideal projections of who they are and what their lives can achieve through tourism development.
Director: Jenny Chio
Runtime in minutes: 70
Year of completion: 2012
Location: China (shooting), Australia/USA (production)
Production/Distribution: Jenny Chio
Tanja In Wol Sørensen
Paper short abstract:
There are more than 500,000 domestic workers living in Spain today. The large majority are migrant women from Latin American countries.Through the stories of three Latin American women living in Barcelona we get an insight into the reality of being a migrant woman and a domestic worker in Spain today.
Paper long abstract:
There are more than 500,000 domestic workers living in Spain today. The large majority are migrant women from Latin American countries.
This documentary is a collaboration between the organisation Mujeres Pa´lante (Women Forwards) and the anthropologist Tanja Wol, that visually creates a portrait of Latin American migrant women living in Barcelona. Through the stories of three Latin American women living in Barcelona, who all form part of the Mujeres Pa´lante association, we get an insight into the reality of being a migrant woman and a domestic worker in Spain today. We meet Pilar, a young single mother from El Salvador, who for several years worked as a live-in domestic worker, where she experienced both physical and psychological abuse by the family she worked for. After raising her own family, Ramona migrated to Spain to work as a domestic worker, which has given her a freedom and independence she could not find in Uruguay. Finally, Lety from Mexico has dedicated her new life in Barcelona to help other female migrants gain a voice in society. Through their own words, we learn about their motivations for crossing oceans to live in Catalonia, and why they choose to keep living outside of their native country. Despite the discrimination and abuse they experience, these women are actively trying to improve the rights and conditions for themselves and for others.
Terje Anepaio (Estonian National Museum)
Paper short abstract:
The documentary is devoted to historical memory and focuses on the question who and how preserve the experience of Stalinist repressions in the memory of Estonian society today, and who will do it in the future. Director: Terje Anepaio; Maido Selgmäe Estonian National Museum 2011
Paper long abstract:
The 20th century has remained in the memory of Estonian people as an extremely contradictory one; it embraces the birth of the statehood, its destruction and regaining of independence.
The documentary "We Remember! We Commemorate!" is devoted to historical memory and focuses on the question who and how preserve the experience of Stalinist repressions in the memory of Estonian society today, and who will do it in the future.
This film is a result of the audiovisual documentation project launched by the Estonian National Museum in 2008 (project team: research fellow Terje Anepaio, head of the film and video studio Maido Selgmäe). The aim of the project was to focus on the community of people repressed by the 20th century totalitarian regimes in Estonia, asking what is a community's memory work, its practice and forms like in the e-Estonia of the early 21st century. The cooperation partner of the ENM was the Memento Rakvere Association.
Throughout one year (2008-2009) we followed with a film camera all the smaller and bigger undertakings of the Memento Rakvere Association.
The project resulted in approximately forty hours of recorded material in the audiovisual archive of the ENM.
The 53-minute-long documentary that was made on the basis of the project materials provides one of the possible answers to the question how we could pass on experience and memories to the future.
Director: Terje Anepaio; Maido Selgmäe
Duration: 53 min
Year of production: 2011
Location: Estonia
Production/distribution: Estonian National Museum
Language: Estonian
Subtitles: English/Russian
Sjoerd van Grootheest (UKZN (formerly))
Paper short abstract:
The Bay of Plenty
Paper long abstract:
The beachfront in Durban, South Africa has been an important fishing site for decades. In advance of the World Cup 2010, the piers were closed to the general public and fishermen for renovation. After the upgrades were finished, the public was allowed back onto the piers: the fishermen, many of them reliant on fishing for their income, were not.
This film follows four fishermen, all part of a larger movement resisting their exclusion from the Durban beachfront. It shows how they (try to) engage with media and local government in the context of the World Cup held in South Africa. They are efforts by the subaltern to speak, but the degree to which they are heard or not is to be seen.
Martin Zinggl
Paper short abstract:
TOKU FENUA takes us on a journey into the South Pacific and offers a glimpse of life on the remote island of Niulakita (Tuvalu). It lets us participate in the daily routines of three islanders; their dreams and concerns and shows the problems that people in such a harsh environment are exposed to.
Paper long abstract:
TOKU FENUA is a documentary that takes the viewer on an extraordinary journey into the heart of the South Pacific. The film offers a glimpse of how life looks like on the remote island of Niulakita (Tuvalu).
Tuvalu is comprised of nine low lying coral atoll islands. With its 11.000 inhabitants and a total land mass of 26 square kilometers, the Polynesian nation is the fourth smallest country in the world. In 1978 Tuvalu, formerly known as Ellice Islands, gained independence from the British Empire.
Socio-economic problems including overpopulation, high unemployment and lack of educational opportunities have already led to the outward migration of a quarter of Tuvalu's popluation, primarily to New Zealand. Because no Tuvaluan island rises more than five metres above sea level, the tiny nation also faces serious threats due to climate change and rising sea levels.
Niulakita, the southernmost of the Tuvalu group, is often described as the smallest, most isolated inhabited island in the world with only 47 Tuvaluans living on 0,4 square kilometers. The director spent several months on Niulakita undertaking an anthropological fieldwork for his master's thesis.
TOKU FENUA lets us closely participate in the daily routines of three islanders; their dreams and concerns. It also shows the problems that people on the other side of the world, in such a harsh environment, are exposed to.
(Director: Martin Zinggl, Austria 2011, 29 minutes, Tuvaluan/English with English subtitles)
Geetika Narang Abbasi Anandana Kapur
Paper short abstract:
Matchmaking is both India's favourite pastime as well as a national obsession. 'Much Ado About Knotting' is a lighthearted chronicle of the predicament of getting married that almost every Indian faces.
Paper long abstract:
Born into a society obsessed with marriages, a young girl, a not-so-young man and an NRI (Non-Resident Indian) couple are compelled by tradition to look for matches via classifieds, matchmaking bureaus and websites. Confronted with innumerable criteria that determine who is acceptable and who isn't, they question themselves and their choices. As they introspect, the melee of the matchmaking industry continues. At every turn, there are service providers who are ready to snoop, style and solicit potentials on their behalf. People are searching for the ideal one endlessly and the oft-heard question is - When are you getting married? 'Much Ado About Knotting' is a lighthearted chronicle of this very predicament that almost every Indian faces.
Directed by: Geetika Narang Abbasi and Anandana Kapur
Produced by: Rajiv Mehrotra (for Public Service Broadcasting Trust)
Director of Photography: Yasir Abbasi
Music: Ashhar Farooqui
Edited by: Geetika Narang Abbasi
Country: India
Year of Production: 2012
Running Time: 55 minutes
Language(s): English and Hindi
Subtitles: English
Colour/Black & White: Colour
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Sound: Stereo
Pankaj H Gupta
Paper short abstract:
This is an ethnography of hunting & gathering tribe that migrated out of their home in the forests due to the dominant conservation ethic, and offers a voice to a displaced tribe as it learns to live in a global city.
Paper long abstract:
In the 1970s, a number of tiger and wildlife reserves were created in India in the process of which the indigenous people living in the forests were evicted. The Hakki Pikki was one such tribe. For several decades, they wandered from place to place in search of a new home. A small group landed up in the periphery of western Bangalore, and along with other homeless people, formed a settlement that came to be called the Hakki Pikki Colony. The film is an ethnography of four families from this slum, told entirely in their own voices - their histories, present conditions of living and livelihoods, their memories and aspirations as they cope to survive on the margins of an emerging global city.
Peter Biella (San Francisco State University)
Paper short abstract:
The Maasai leader of a Tanzanian village battles many lions that threaten his community — corrupt lawyers, land grabbers, migration and lack of education. Chairman Frank Ikoyo's new ideas reveal the current world of Maasai—burdened with problems that traditional practices are unable to overcome.
Paper long abstract:
The Chairman and the Lions presents a biography of Frank Kaipai Ikoyo, a charismatic Ilparakuyo Maasai who, at thirty three, is the leader of his Tanzanian village. As Chairman, Frank battles many lions that threaten his community - corrupt lawyers, land grabbers, exploitative contracts, migration, and lack of education. Frank's life provides a glimpse into the current world of Maasai - full of cattle and ritual but also burdened with problems that traditional practices cannot overcome. A new demand has arisen for literate, world-savvy leaders, and Frank, like other indigenous chairmen, understands education to be a double-edged sword, a contradiction between modern knowledge and indigenous identity. Frank advocates schooling as the most necessary step toward self-determination in his village, despite the fact that it can produce "educated criminals." The film also depicts vignettes of Frank's other duties as Chairman - interrogating spies in a law case against the legitimacy of his village, fighting exploitive contracts, and protecting his community's forest against illegal clear-cutting for agricultural production. Frank also promotes the reemergence of old rituals. In doing so, he solicits the help of a renowned elder to train young warriors in the art of lion hunting.
DVD NTSC; 47 MINUTES, MAA AND SWAHILI WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES; DIRECTED BY PETER BIELLA, 80 NORWOOD AVE., KENSINGTON, CA, USA 94707; TEL 510-620-4129
Edwin Trommelen
Paper short abstract:
In the north east of Siberia live the Tundra Yukagirs, a nomadic people of reindeer herders. Only 63 of them still speak the Yukagir language. The Amsterdam linguist Cecilia Odé travels to the Yukagirs in order to capture their language and preserve it for posterity.
Paper long abstract:
Cecilia's journey contains all basic ingredients needed for a fascinating and inspiring documentary: a devoted person who considers the recording of the vanishing language as a life task; the for westerners totally unknown way of life of the Yukagirs in the extreme Siberian cold; touching moments like the dedicated singing old-timers and the children in school learning the language with very limited materials; the romantics of lassos and reindeer herds and nomads tents on the ice.
But the strongest asset of this film is the heart-warming friendship, which developed between Cecilia and the Yukagirs. This friendship allows the filmmakers to enter the Yukagir community in an unforced manner and to gain access to the hearts of the people. Trust and confidence is such a necessary tool for a genuine portrait and for showing how these extraordinary people live their lives in distant Siberia, and it makes it possible to speak frankly with them about their disappearing language, their traditional way of live and their efforts to keep their culture alive.
Duration: 66 minutes
Language: Russian, Dutch, Yukagir
Subtitles: English
Year of Production: 2012
Hannah Hoechner (University of East Anglia)
Paper short abstract:
The almajirai live as traditional Qur’anic students in northern Nigeria. Nine almajirai from Kano State have been trained to write the script for this film, to do most of the acting, to handle the camera, and to give the stage directions. This film shows their views and experiences.
Paper long abstract:
The Hausa term almajiri derives from the Arabic al-muhajir, which means 'migrant'. Some people also say the syllable al stands for Allah, while ma stands for the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.), and jiri for the archangel Jibril. The almajirai are boys and young men from primary school age to their early twenties who have come to the cities and villages in Northern Nigeria to study the Holy Qur'an. The almajirai don't stay with their parents, most of whom reside in rural areas, but live with their Qur'anic teacher (malam).
Modern subjects do not form part of their curriculum. Instead, the almajirai learn to read, write, and recite the Holy Qur'an. During the lesson-free time, they earn their livelihood: Older students (gardi) do menial jobs and engage in petty trade or handicrafts. Younger students work as household helps, or beg for food and money on the streets, which makes them a highly visible feature of the urban landscape.
While many people hold strong views about the almajiri-system, sadly, the almajirai themselves are rarely listened to. This film hopes to offer an insight into their perspectives and concerns. Nine young people from three different Qur'anic schools in Kano State have been trained to write the script for this film, to do most of the acting, to handle the camera, and to give the stage directions. This film shows their views and experiences they made while living as almajirai in Kano.
Michele Trentini (Museo Usi e Costumi della Gente Trentina)
Paper short abstract:
In the heart of winter, a very ancient ritual is held throughout Europe, at the original core of what is commonly known as Carnival. This film is made under the assumption that Carnival reveals similar actions and similar characters, cast in very similar original patterns all over Europe.
Paper long abstract:
Title: Carnival King of Europe
Release date: 2012
Production: Museo Usi e Costumi Gente Trentina
Lenght: 37 min.
The film wase made within the framework of a larger project, financed by EU Culture program, and has been endorsed by nine European partners.
Marieke Schellart
Paper short abstract:
Eggs for Later tells the personal story of a single woman who openly shares her struggle with the ticking biological clock and her plans to extend fertility by freezing her eggs.
Paper long abstract:
Eggs for Later
In this intimate documentary director Marieke Schellart (35) reveals how she struggles with the biological clock. She would like to have children, but the right guy has not arrived yet. To give herself a bit more time she wants to extend fertility by freezing her eggs. However in the Netherlands this is not allowed. She talks frankly with her friends and parents about her plans and doubts, meeting support and resistance along the way. For Marieke a long journey has started which even takes her abroad, trying to find a solution to a problem that concerns many women today.
50 min / Colour / Dutch & English spoken / English subtitles / Digi Beta / PAL / 16:9
Contact: Reinette@trueworks.nl & MariekeSchellart@gmail.com
Zachary Stuart (Sly Productions) Kelly Thomson (Sly Productions)
Paper short abstract:
Savage Memory looks at the legacy of renowned anthropologist, Bronislaw Malinowski. One hundred years later, Malinowski's great grandson goes to Papua New Guinea to unravel his controversial legacy - within anthropology, within his own family and among the descendants of the people he studied in New Guinea.
Paper long abstract:
Directors: Zachary Stuart & Kelly Thomson
Runtime: 75 minutes
Year of Production: 2005-2011 (released in November 2011)
Locations: Papua New Guinea, Australia, USA, UK, Poland
Production Co: Sly Productions / www.savagememory.com
Distribution: Transit Media / Sly Productions