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docued uploaded a new video
(1 day ago)
Purchase: http://www.der.org/films/feast-day-of...
The Pshavi people of the eastern mountains of the Republic of Georgia perform a ritual which can ...
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Purchase: http://www.der.org/films/feast-day-of...
The Pshavi people of the eastern mountains of the Republic of Georgia perform a ritual which can be characterized as a syncretism of ancient polytheistic beliefs and Orthodox Christian faith, but which is qualified by city habitants of Tbilisi as "pagan". The ritual of Tamar and Lashari celebrates queen Tamar (12-13th century) and her son Lasha, deified by the mountain dwellers.
Each year, and for three days, on the hillside of a Caucasus valley, pilgrims consecutively meet at two sanctuaries consecrated to these deities and worship them through prayers, songs and sacrifices, enjoying at the same time food and happy chats with friends they have not seen for a year. In addition to prayers and sacrifices by a shrine priest, religious songs are an essential part of the ritual.
The purpose of this film is not to isolate the most archaic elements, nor to reconstitute an idealized image of a polytheistic ritual of the past, but it is to show the multiple dimensions of the festival as it happened in July 1991. Several centuries-old songs could be heard there, but also profane music, traditional and modern, rural and urban, oriental and occidental music.
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docued uploaded a new video
(3 days ago)
Purchase: http://www.der.org/films/drums-on-the...
Once a year in Yen Vinh, Hung Yen Province a grand three-day festival is held at a temple by the ...
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Purchase: http://www.der.org/films/drums-on-the...
Once a year in Yen Vinh, Hung Yen Province a grand three-day festival is held at a temple by the banks of the Red River to worship the god Chu Dong Tu and his two wives, Tien Dung and Tay Sa. During the festival, three area villages converge on the main temple complex to participate in the ritual offerings, folk games, ca tru singing, and other events. On the second day of the festival, a water procession takes place on the Red River that mimics the Princess Tien Dung's fated river journey in which she encountered the poor fisherman Chu Dong Tu hiding in the sand. During the procession, in an elaborate ritual conducted by the elders of the participating villages, water is poured into a porcelain jar. This sacred water will be used in temple rituals throughout the year.
This film documents the Chu Dong Tu festival of 2007. The festival was revived in 1986, the year in which the economic and political reforms were passed in Vietnam. The festival is an important example of the widespread revival of traditional folk festivals that has followed reform.
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docued uploaded a new video
(2 weeks ago)
Purchase: http://www.der.org/films/work-of-1000...
The Work of 1000 is a documentary about the parallel journey of two characters, one a young woman...
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Purchase: http://www.der.org/films/work-of-1000...
The Work of 1000 is a documentary about the parallel journey of two characters, one a young woman discouraged at her future as a suburban housewife, the other a river - once beautiful and teeming with wildlife - now a hopeless, toxic sludge pit.
Chronicling an important episode in U.S. environmental history, this inspirational story examines the human side of acclaimed environmental pioneer Marion Stoddart.
Marion Stoddart proved that with vision and commitment, an "ordinary" person can accomplish extraordinary things. This film will reveal the secrets of her success and her methods for inspiring change.
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docued uploaded a new video
(3 weeks ago)
Purchase: http://www.der.org/films/songs-of-a-s...
Lina Fruzzetti and Ákos Östör began a major film project in 2001, documenting the revival of an a...
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Purchase: http://www.der.org/films/songs-of-a-s...
Lina Fruzzetti and Ákos Östör began a major film project in 2001, documenting the revival of an ancient tradition in India: scroll painting and the singing of stories depicted in the scrolls. The result was the award winning film Singing Pictures, released in 2006.
The current film is a follow-up to the previous one and deals with the life and work of a painter, composer, singer, well known in rural West Bengal, as a poet and mystic of legendary proportions.
Dukhushyam is a charismatic figure, one who has departed from convention in many ways, most importantly in encouraging women to take up the traditional craft of scroll painting and musical composition pursued almost exclusively by men before. Singing Pictures was about the trials and ultimate triumph of 15 women in the village of Naya, all of them his students, who formed a cooperative to practice the ancient craft of painting scrolls, composing and performing the songs accompanying the scrolls.
In a series of edited sequences the new film chronicles Dukhushyam's vision of the decline and rebirth of his art; his tolerant Sufi Muslim spirituality; his engagement with Hindus, Muslims and the modern world; his encyclopedic knowledge of changing musical and painting histories and techniques; the influence of his beliefs on his way of life, and his teachings for future generations of painters and singers in his community.
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docued uploaded a new video
(2 months ago)
Purchase: http://www.der.org/films/spirit-world...
In 1972 there were about 3800 Bedamini speakers, living in 60 long house communities scattered th...
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Purchase: http://www.der.org/films/spirit-world...
In 1972 there were about 3800 Bedamini speakers, living in 60 long house communities scattered throughout 700 square kilometers of tropical rainforest. A longhouse community consisted of from 20 to a hundred individuals, and its site shifted every three or four years in order to clear new gardens. Bananas, the principal crop, were supplemented by taro, yams, sweet potatoes, and sago. Protein was obtained by hunting, gathering, and fishing. Tidikawa, a gesame or spirit medium is the focus of the film. Spirit mediums are men who communicate with ancestral spirits through spirit children, who speak through the medium's body when the later is in trance. Tidikawa's days are not sole devoted to his practice as a medium. We follow him as he and his friend Haifi spend their time in work and relaxation around two longhouses, as men hunt in the forest, women garden and collect sago, huge timbers are felled with steel axes, a father plays with a baby, tobacco is smoked, a child dies. The funeral is held; the parents mourn. Tidikawa's spirit child speaks at a seance, and an initiation ceremony, Golyagi, is held. Wrists bound with rattan, bodies painted, and hair covered with bark wigs, 7 boys are initiated into manhood.
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