Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival
to Screen at Cal State Fullerton
| Wednesday, March 19: |
| • 5:45 p.m. Doors open |
| • 6 p.m. Introductions |
| • 6:15 p.m. Screening of Breaking
Bows and Arrows |
| • Liz Thompson. 2001. 52 min. Video. (Australia) |
| • U.S. Premiere at the 2002 Margaret Mead
Film & Video Festival |
| In the late 1980s, on the island of Bougainville
in Papua, New Guinea, a bloody civil war broke out - one that
was to last over a decade and claims thousands of lives. This
film explores the powerful role of traditional ceremonies as
a form of reconciliation, where rituals bring together both
victims and perpetrators in an attempt to heal the deep emotional
wounds and reverse the legacy of anger, pain and revenge. |
| • 7:05 p.m. Discussion on Breaking
Bows and Arrows |
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| • 7:20 p.m. Screening of Ota Benga |
| • Alfeu Franca. 2002. 16 min. Video. (U.S.) |
| • N.Y. Premiere at the 2002 Margaret Mead
Film & Video Festival |
| When the explorer Samuel Phillips Verner was
commissioned to supply the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair
with “specimens” of other cultures, Ota Benga was
brought over from the Belgian Congo and put on display in its
anthropology exhibit. After the fair, Benga was exhibited in
the Bronx Zoo where he resided in the monkey house. Drawing
on newspaper articles of the day, animated sequences, and archival
photographs, Franca presents a shocking cautionary tale about
scientific racism in turn-of-the-century America. |
| • 7:40 p.m. Discussion on Ota Benga
moderated by Joseph J. Nevadomsky, professor of anthropology |
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| • 7:55 p.m. An Injury to One |
| • Travis Wilkerson. 2002. 53 min. 16mm.
(U.S.) |
| • N.Y. Premiere at the 2002 Margaret Mead
Film & Video Festival |
| A captivating portrait of a town (Butte, Montana),
the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, and a long-forgotten event-the
lynching of union organizer Frank Little. Wilkerson delves into
the history of Montana to tell a story of modern capitalism.
Archival documents, images of present-day Butte, miners'
songs, and Little's speeches are expertly interwoven in
an experimental film that is both a lament and a call for action.
With a haunting soundtrack by indie band Low. |
| •8:50 p.m. Discussion on An Injury
to One moderated by Joseph J. Nevadomsky, professor
of anthropology |
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• 9:05 p.m. Student film by Melissa Karpinski
Open Discussion on Films |
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| Friday, March 21: |
| • 5:45 p.m. Doors Open |
| • 6:00 p.m. Introductions |
| • 6:15 p.m. Screening of Wa 'N
Wina (Sincerely Yours) |
| • Dumisani Phakathi. 2001. 52min. Video.
(South Africa) |
| • N.Y. Premiere at the 2002 Margaret Mead
Film & Video Festival |
| Filmmaker Dumisani Phakathi revisits his old
South African neighborhood to reconnect with friends and break
longstanding taboos about discussing HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy
and sex. Telling it like it is, Phakathi's exploration
of community reveals the everyday voices of those who find themselves
overlooked by the very campaigns that seek to help them. This
film is part of the project Steps for the Future, a unique international
collaboration that engaged a team of both noted and emerging
African filmmakers to create advocacy works on the HIV/AIDS
campaign for South Africa. The series comprises 40 titles, which
are distributed through a targeted strategy that includes mobile
screenings and informal venues. |
| • 7:05 p.m. Discussion on Wa'N
Wina (Sincerely Yours) moderated by John A. Bock, assistant
professor of anthropology |
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| • 7:20 p.m. Screening of Alpana |
| • Prasun Basu. 2002. 3 min. Video. (India)
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| • U.S. Premiere at the 2002 Margaret Mead
Film & Video Festival |
| This short film lyrically animates images of
an Indian folkdance that gradually unfolds into the harmonious
patterns of the “Alpana,” a traditional ritual floor
and wall art of rural Bengal. |
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| • 7:25 p.m. Screening of Duka's
Dilemma |
| • Jean Lydall and Kaira Strecker. 2001.
87 min. Video. (Ethiopia) |
| • U.S. Premiere at the 2002 Margaret Mead
Film & Video Festival |
Filmmaker and anthropologist Jean
Lydall has been making films with the Hamar community of southern
Ethiopia since the 1970s. Two years ago she returned with her
daughter and grandson to follow the continuing life story of
Duka, featured in past Mead Festival favorites (The Women Who
Smile, Our Way of Loving). Candid interviews reveal the complex
family dynamics when Duka's husband, Sago, takes a second
wife, Boro. This film provides an intimate and personal family
portrait, which captures Duka's ambivalence in sharing
her home and husband. The quiet suspense is only heightened
when Duka's mother-in-law starts stirring up trouble. |
| • 9 p.m. Discussion on Alpana
and Duka's Dilemma moderated by Hilarie Kelly,
assistant professor of anthropology |
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| The film festival is sponsored by the Anthropology
Students Association, Lambda Alpha-Anthropology Honors Society
and the Women's Studies program. |
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