Machete Gillette... Mama

"With characteristic wit and rigor, experimental filmmaker Larry Gottheim here applies his impressionistic editing style to footage collected during his travels in the Dominican Republic. Gottheim’s formal emphasis on repetition and fissures between sound and image resonates here as a mode of sociological reflection (with the fragmentary montage mirroring elements of ritual while also destabilizing the ethnographic gaze). A largely overlooked antecedent to the contemporary blending of avant-garde and ethnographic filmmaking, MACHETTE GILLETTE… MAMA still poses a potent challenge to documentary convention." - Max Goldberg

The Hunters

An ethnographic film that documents the efforts of four !Kung men (also known as Ju/'hoansi or Bushmen) to hunt a giraffe in the Kalahari Desert of Namibia. The footage was shot by John Marshall during a Smithsonian-Harvard Peabody sponsored expedition in 1952–53. In addition to the giraffe hunt, the film shows other aspects of !Kung life at that time, including family relationships, socializing and storytelling, and the hard work of gathering plant foods and hunting for small game.

When the Mountains Tremble

A documentary on the war between the Guatemalan military and the Mayan population, with first hand accounts by Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú.

Dancing with the Incas

Documentary about the most popular music of the Andes -- Huayno music -- and explores the lives of three Huayno musicians in a contemporary Peru torn between the military and the Shining Path guerrillas.

Kwaheri

Early Mondo film featuring primitive rituals, animals being butchered, unusual birth defects, and a legit trepanation scene.

Divoké kmeny Etiopie

Mein liebster Feind

A film that describes the love-hate relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski, the deep trust between the director and the actor, and their independently and simultaneously hatched plans to murder one another.

Мелодии гор

Film about the singing and dancing culture of the Ingush people

Piripkura

The last two surviving members of the Piripkura people, a nomadic tribe in the Mato Grosso region of Brazil, struggle to maintain their indigenous way of life amidst the region's massive deforestation. Living deep in the rainforest, Pakyî and Tamandua live off the land relying on a machete, an ax, and a torch lit in 1998.

Responsabilidad empresarial

Images of Argentinian companies and factories in the first light of day, seen from the inside of a car, while the director reads out documents in voiceover that reveals the collusion of the same concerns in the military dictatorship’s terror.

Intervista a Salvatore Allende

An interview with the president of Chile conducted by Roberto Rossellini in 1971, but broadcast only after his death.

Granito: How to Nail a Dictator

A story of destinies joined by Guatemala's past, and how a documentary film intertwined with a nation's turbulent history emerges as an active player in the present.

Amor, mujeres y flores

Women workers stand up to the toxic flower industry in Colombia.

On Broadway Cemetery

A meditative stroll through Sacramento landmarks, from the gentrified to the urban.

Danseuses cambodgiennes du roi Norodom, II

Ghostland - Reise ins Land der Geister

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.

Moulin à homme pour l'arrosage des rizières

A man demonstrates a human-powered water wheel that irrigates a rice field.

Japonaise faisant sa toilette

A young woman in traditional Japanese attire fixes her hair and kimono while her servants assist her.

Nègres Ashantis: Toilette d'un negrillon II

A woman from the Ashanti tribe bathes her child in a shallow bowl.

Barrage du Nil

Travellers, nomads and salesmen make their way along a dam next to the Nile.