5th Athens Ethnographic Film Festival Friday 28th November 16:30 | ST Common Roads – Pilgrimage and Backpacking in the 21st Century Directed by: Tommi Mendel 95' (Switzerland) Whereas the label of “pilgrim” is mostly associated with devout persons and «backpackers» are perceived as pleasure seeking globetrotters, this film reveals intriguing parallels between what at first appear as different ways of travelling.
| ST On Common Ground Directed by: Sophie Wagner 25' (Israel, United Kingdom)
| TR Moro-Naba Directed by: Jean Rouch 28’ (France) The traditional Mossi chief of the Ouagadougou region, the Moro-Naba, dies. Sacrifices, offers, rifle shots and tambourine music are the homage paid to the deceased king.
| TR The Mad Masters Directed by: Jean Rouch 30’ (France) Filmed in 1954, the film depicts the annual ceremony of the Hauku cult, a social and religious movement, widespread in French colonial Africa from the 1920’s to the 1950’s.
In the North of Israel, the members of a religious kibbutz, a community of artists and an Arab village live as neighbours on a hillside.
INTERMISSION
| ST Cast in India
20:30 | PA A Life Suspended
Directed by: Natasha Raheja 26' (U.S.A)
Directed by: Kazuyo Minamide 37’ (Japan) - Filmmaker in attendance
Enlivening the objects around us, “Cast in India” sets on a journey across oceans to depict the labor process.
In 2005, Shimul left his rural village in Bangladesh for Athens. Soon after he arrived, however, Greece was hit by the economic crisis, and opportunities for work disappeared.
| ST Hip-Hop, My Release Directed by: Simon Rasing 22' (Colombia, United Kingdom) Hip-hop is often associated with drugs and violence, but three inmates at Distrital prison in Bogota, Colombia, demonstrate the opposite.
19:00 | TR Cemetery in the Cliff Directed by: Jean Rouch 29’ (France) The film records the Dongon funeral rituals for the death of a young man in this village, the sacrifices to the water spirit, the return of the cadaver and its interment in the cemetery.
21:45 | TR Descending With Angels Directed by: Christian Suhr, 75’ (Denmark) Islamic exorcism or psychotropic medication? The film explores two highly different solutions to the same problem, namely Danish Muslims who are possessed by invisible spirits called jinn.
23:00 | SP Dead Birds Directed by: Robert Gardner, 84' (U.S.A) “Dead Birds” is a cinematographic interpretation of the life of Dani in West New Guinea. This film focuses on Weyak, farmer and warrior, and on Pua, the young swineherd, following them through the events of Dani life.
ST: Student films | TR: Tribute | PA: Panorama | SP: Special screenings
5th Athens Ethnographic Film Festival Saturday 29th November 16:00 | TR Yenendi, the Men who Make the Rain Directed by: Jean Rouch, 29' (France) The ritual ceremony of Yenendi, the rain feast, starts at the Songhay of the Simiri village, in Niger.
| TR Initiation into Possession Dance Directed by: Jean Rouch, 22’ (France) The initiation ritual of a young female Songhay at Firgoun, Niger, of the possession dance for the Kirey, the spirit of lightning.
| TR The Magicians of Wanzerbé Directed by: Jean Rouch, 33’ (France) A Mossi magician prepares a magic charm which will make the women who are too thin, gain weight, and he sacrifices animals to the spirit that guides him.
17:30 | ST Because of Today Directed by: Catarina Laranjeiro, 57’ (Guinea-Bissau) In Guinea-Bissau, forty years after the war, those who joined the liberation movement and those who fought in the colonial army expose a multiplicity of discourses and irreconcilable memories.
18:30 | TR Valley of Sighs Directed by: Mihai Andrei Leaha – Andrei Crisan – Iulia Elena Hossu, 57’ (Romania) Along with Jewish deportees, some 25,000 Roma were transported to Transnistria from Romania in 1941. The prisoners were interred in appalling conditions, a massacre perpetrated in slow motion.
| TR Document: Hoyerswerda| Frontex Directed by: Thomas Kaske, 15’ (Germany) The movie tells the stories of four contract workers from Mozambique, who report their view of the racial attacks in Hoyerswerda in September 1991.
| TR Ghosts’ Stories: Discussions with Tanzanian Albinos and their Advocate Directed by: Sarah Hall, 30’ (Tanzania, U.S.A.) This film describes myths and the violence surrounding albinism in Tanzania.
INTERMISSION 20:30 | PA 50 Years Later… Directed by: Nadine Wanono – Sidylamine Bagayoko 57’ (France) - Filmmaker in attendance Between 1959 and 1961, Jean Rouch treated the question of friendship in a mixed AfricanEuropean High School. This film furthers the debate on these relationships.
22:00 | ST Noise That Brings Money Directed by: Konrad Pilot, 41’ (Norway) At the Blacksmith market, the hammers clang all day long. The film is a portrait of Abakar, a young creative blacksmith pursuing his dream to modernize his workshop.
| ST Luiz da Rocha Directed by: Inês Mestre, 19’ (Portugal) A portrait of the centenarian coffee shop Luiz da Rocha, in Beja, a small city in Portugal.
| ST Forward Directed by: Noam Osband, 51’ (U.S.A) “Forward” shows the heart of Mexico beating strongly, just outside of Philadelphia, where Mexican newcomers are revitalizing a dying Irish-Catholic parish.
23:50 | PA GHORA – Waiting for Goddess Directed by: Irene Majo Garigliano – Alessandro Cartosio, 38’ (Italy, France) Temple of the Goddess Kamakhya, India. Every year in August, twenty-one Ghoras become possessed by deities and dance to the sound of drums for three days.
ST: Student films | TR: Tribute | PA: Panorama | SP: Special screenings
5th Athens Ethnographic Film Festival Sunday 30th November 14:00 | Open Discussion Xenophobia, after the projection of the film | TR Other Europe Directed by: Rossella Schillaci 75’ (Italy) Three emblematic characters guide us through a story that reveals, with its intimate look, a collective history, a symbolic tale about all European countries today.
INTERMISSION 17:15 | TR Stationed Directed by: Stefania Giannikou 9’ ( Greece) - Filmmaker in attendance A story about a group of young Africans who decide to leave their homes and families in an effort to secure a better life in Europe.
| TR Fantome Island Directed by: Sean Gilligan 82’ (Australia) In 1945, at the age of seven, a young Joe Eggmolesse was diagnosed with leprosy. He was immediately transported under police escort to be confined on an island for the treatment of the disease.
18:45 | PA Last Pioneers Directed by: Daniela Rodrigues 11’ (Slovenia) The film reconstructs the ritual of becoming a pioneer, mixing interviews, archive footage and the ritual’s culture as clothes, leaflets, songs and vows .
19:00 | TR Battle on the Great River Directed by: Jean Rouch 35’ (France) Jean Rouch’s narration unfolds the epic battle of the Sorko fishermen against the hippopotamuses in the Niger river, each year from February to April.
| TR The Lion Hunters Directed by: Jean Rouch 80’ (France) From 1957 to 1964, Jean Rouch follows the lion hunters from the Yatakala region and films the episodes of this hunt, where technique and magic are irreparably linked.
21:00 | ST Behind the Wheel Directed by: Elise Laker 20’ (United Kingdom, Tajikistan) With many families in Tajikistan increasingly turning to migration, “Behind the Wheel” serves as an inquiry into the challenges this phenomenon can present for those who stay behind.
| ST Rebel Menopause Directed by: Adele Tulli 25’ (United Kingdom) “Menopause is when a woman’s life begins!”. The film is the intimate portrait of 85-year-old Therese Clerc and her inspiring ideas on ageing as a time of complete freedom’.
| ST AMCHI Directed by: Eda Elif Tibet 65’ (Turkey, India) Every year, Amchi Karma Chodon travels to the most remote areas in Ladakh to raise awareness on women and child healthcare.
ST: Student films | TR: Tribute | PA: Panorama | SP: Special screenings