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.
Rites and operation of the circumcision of thirty Songhai children on the Niger. Material of this fi...

This intimate ethnographic study of Voudoun dances and rituals was shot by Maya Deren during her yea...
A collage of daily life in Aq Kupruk builds from the single voice that calls the townspeople to pray...

The people of Unamenshipu (La Romaine), an Innu community in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, are see...
At dawn a nomad caravan descends on Aq Kupruk from the foothills of the Hindu Kush. In their camp, a...

How’s the Big Everything? Garba asks Nicole. For them, the “Big Everything” encompasses family, poli...

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

A musical documentary woven around the endangered musical culture of the Rangdani Rabhas from Manikg...

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

A portrait of Zomo, the second of Damouré Zika’s many children. Employed at the zoo of the National ...

This documentary offers an overview of French scientific research in Africa French scientific resear...

Commemorative celebrations of the independence of the Republic of Niger filmed in December 1961 and ...

The Greek shadow puppetry began 130 years ago. A student of Greek shadow puppetry travels to China, ...

The Reef Islands Ethnographic Film Project was started in 1994 by the two anthropologists, Jens Pinh...

On the night of 3 August 1996 a school of striped dolphins ran ashore near the village of Tuo on Nga...

The film follows a group of Nenets women gathering firewood in a snow-covered tundra. This film is p...

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...