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 documentary started as part of a photography project about the indigenous Ainu population in no...

In the Darhat valley in northern Mongolia, the horses of nomadic tribes are stolen by bandits who th...

AMIN portrays Qashqai musician Amin Aghaie, a young modern nomad and his family who despite facing s...

This intimate ethnographic study of Voudoun dances and rituals was shot by Maya Deren during her yea...

The people of Unamenshipu (La Romaine), an Innu community in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, are see...

Robert J. Flaherty’s follow-up to Nanook of the North shifts from the Arctic to the South Seas, port...

Portrays the Nuer, Nilotic herdsmen of the Nile basin. Shows how their daily lives revolve about the...

Forest of Bliss is an unsparing yet redemptive account of the inevitable griefs, religious passions ...

A ritual vase, the hampi, is placed in the center of the Musée de plein air de la République du Nige...

The story of a poor girl who leaves her starving family and sheep for a more prosperous village. Her...

In front of Jean Rouch's camera, Germaine Dieterlen recalls her ethnographic itinerary, at the Musée...

Shigeki, one of the Ainu people of northern Japan, follows the traditions of his ancestors and teach...

Taking the form of a travel diary of a television journalist, this documentary tells about the life ...

David and Judith MacDougall are exploring the marriage rituals and roles of Turkana women in this et...

Traversing 700,000 square kilometers over 700 days, the filmmakers bring the stories of five people ...

A synaesthetic portrait made between French Polynesia and Brittany, Color-blind follows the restless...

The title of this film translates literally as 'to put on a hori,' a hori being the Songhay term for...

An account of the journey that King Alfonso XIII of Spain made to the impoverished shire of Las Hurd...