Lightning struck the hut of a Fulani shepherd near a village of settled fishermen, Ganghel, in Niger. A yenendi, a purification ceremony to obtain "water from the sky but not fire from the sky", is organized, with Sorko priests, ritual musicians and dancers, and the faithful from Niamey. The musicians call on Dongo, god of storms, and his brother Kirey, god of lightning. To the rhythm of the orchestra, a man goes into a trance, becoming Dongo's horse and at the same time the riding genie. Then a woman is possessed by Kirey. When the riding gods have mastered their horses, the gods visit the men. Dongo purifies the lightning-struck land and the oldest fisherman prepares the purification vessel, addressing Dongo.
This intimate ethnographic study of Voudoun dances and rituals was shot by Maya Deren during her yea...
Founding father of Anthropology, Bronislaw Malinowski's work raises powerful and disturbing question...
The people of Unamenshipu (La Romaine), an Innu community in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, are see...
In the Darhat valley in northern Mongolia, the horses of nomadic tribes are stolen by bandits who th...
Forest of Bliss is an unsparing yet redemptive account of the inevitable griefs, religious passions ...
Robert J. Flaherty's South Seas follow-up to Nanook of the North is a Gauguin idyll moved by "pride ...
A ritual vase, the hampi, is placed in the center of the Musée de plein air de la République du Nige...
Remember the culture clash in THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY? This time it's real. One of the most ancient c...
A synaesthetic portrait made between French Polynesia and Brittany, Color-blind follows the restless...
David and Judith MacDougall are exploring the marriage rituals and roles of Turkana women in this et...
This documentary started as part of a photography project about the indigenous Ainu population in no...
The title of this film translates literally as 'to put on a hori,' a hori being the Songhay term for...
"Tourou et Bitti", an eight minute documentary concerning a ritual in Niger, is yet another example ...
Portrays the Nuer, Nilotic herdsmen of the Nile basin. Shows how their daily lives revolve about the...
In February 1974, Pam Sambo Zima, the oldest of the priests of possession in Niamey, Niger, died at ...
The Bapst Brothers: Romain, Maurice and Jacques – whom we will also meet in The Gruyere Chronicle (p...
AMIN portrays Qashqai musician Amin Aghaie, a young modern nomad and his family who despite facing s...
The young goat herders from the cliff of Bandiagara practice on the stone drums of their ancestors. ...
A collage of daily life in Aq Kupruk builds from the single voice that calls the townspeople to pray...
This documentary offers an overview of French scientific research in Africa French scientific resear...