The RAI Film Festival 2009

So we are back after the summer break and kicking off with some visual anthropology.

In July the 11th Royal Anthropological Institute Film Festival was held in Leeds and the Student Anthropologist was, of course there to bring you news and reviews of the latest ethnographic films.



Rhythms of Wulu Village, Wang Chung-Hsiung: 2003

This was the only film in which we were introduced to the main themes by one of the festival organisers before it began. They were identified as

1. The life of the people - seasonality, poverty (leading to alcoholism, crime etc), peripheral.

2. Identity - inportance of the local dialect, links to the community and past.

3. Globalisation - particularly relating to their music and the presence of David Darling.



The film focuses on the music of the Bunan People (the traditional occupants of Wulu village). It follows the children as they learn traditional folk songs at school and as the chorus enter and progress through competitions to the National Championships. The second part of the film looks at the presence of American cellist and composer David Darling in the Village.

Reborn in Westphalia – A really wonderful film by a German film student, looking at the cultural and spatial conflict around the largest Hindu temple in Germany.
The themes are beautifully shown and the film itself is very well edited. One of my favourite things about it was the really likeable people, in particular the ‘priest?’ himself.
I actually watched this film with the competition judges, they also loved it and in fact their only criticism was that perhaps it suffered from being too well made and so didn’t feel like a student film. I’m not sure what they were talking about there to be honest!

The Meaning of Life – Quite a change from the previous two films, this one was a professional creation and this showed in the style of the film – the picture and sound quality were much more like TV. The film looked at a prison in ? which teaches inmates a traditional Native way of life and includes them in the community rather than locking them up. It was pretty sympathetic to the inmates and raised interesting questions about at what point we should forgive the crimes and concentrate on rehabilitation instead.
Unfortunately I had to leave before the end of the film to catch the last train home. But it was very very good.

The Shaman, His Nephew and The Captain – Another really enjoyable film. This was an intimate portrayal of family life in a community struggling to adapt to the modern world whist retaining its own culture and traditions. The level of intimacy was achieved by giving the cameras to the local people themselves, although at the end of the film someone raised a question about when intimacy becomes voyeurism (I didn’t agree with this though).
Through allowing people to film themselves the film successfully showed the conflict between the generations about modernisation, in particular about the use of western medicines. This centred around Issad (one of the main characters’) need for an operation on his testicles, which no joke were the size of watermelons!
I loved the way this film showed the complexities of modernisation and what it really meant to these people – technologically, politically and materially. I also loved all the people in it. Just lovely, really.

Salah, An African Toubab – Just in case you were worried that I liked all the films, I didn’t. Ok this ine got across its message, basically that if you work in a new culture you lose a part of your old one (Toubab means white man and refers to a tourist guide called Salah). But it was, well a bit boring. I didn’t really care about the people in it and I didn’t think that compared to the other films I had seen it really said very much. Another point of annoyance was that it had been filmed over only 3 weeks, with no real contact between Salah and the film maker before that. So I did have to wonder just how well she could have expected to know the situation or the people.

Holy Hustler – I wasn’t massively keen on this one, just because I wasn’t completely sure what was going on the whole time. But it redeemed itself by having a really interesting topic. The film looked the rise of and African Church, which claims to be able to heal people etc for money, hence the title. I’m not sure what the themes were, but it was an interesting watch nonetheless.

Making Rain – All I wrote down in my notes for this one was ‘fine but didn’t really care, meh’. Thinking back on it now I can’t really remember anything about it except that it looked at an African tribe trying to make it rain. Sorry but unremarkable.

Mayomi – This was sold as being a moving portrait of a young woman rebuilding her life after the tsunami and it was very moving actually, even to me with my heart of ice... It was very sweet and very enjoyable as well as having some really sad moments. The best thing about the film was how well it brought out the characters of the people in it, as an audience we were drawn to Mayomi and hated her brother. It was also surprisingly complex.

Our Family – I really didn’t like this film. The style felt so pretentious and faked compared to the natural qualities of all the others. For some reason the makers had edited in one of the women reciting modern poetry about her situation (I should point out that the family in this case refers to a group of transsexuals in India). The film sort of reminded me of the ones that are made for schools, which definitely didn’t endear me to it. I actually walked out before the end I was enjoying it so little, which I think is a shame now because I’m pretty sure the judges would have torn it to shreds...

Being Dalit – Dalit is the lowest caste system and its members are still often avoided by the rest of society. This film looks at a Dalit theatre group and how it is trying to work to change attitudes in its local area. I thought that this was really enjoyable and it had some poignant moments in it as well, much more so than any of the other films I saw.

Bury the Hatchet – focussing on the Indian Mardi Gras in New Orleans and how the local community are trying to rebuild it and pass it on to the next generation after the hurricane in 2005. This was my absolute favourite film of the festival, partly because the costumes in the parades are simply stunning. However it was also very well made, in depth and interesting. Filmed over a number of years both before and after the hurricane, the audience really get to know the people. My only criticisms were that it was perhaps a little long and we don’t get to hear any women’s voices. But still a fantastic film, if I were to recommend any, it would be this one!