Recovering Voices Ethnographic Film Series

The series meets in the Q?rius theater of NMNH on Friday’s from 2:30-4. Discussions follow the films.

This series draws on the collections of the  National Anthropological Film Collection (NAFC) which forms part of the Smithsonian’s National Anthropological Archives, and is devoted to preserving, documenting, and providing access to anthropological moving image materials. Begun in 1975, the NAFC collections are a unique repository for anthropological films and video that document cultural and linguistic diversity, as well as the history of ethnographic filmmaking and related amateur expeditionary and travel filmmaking in the 20th century. Founded in 1968, Documentary Educational Resources (DER) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to "promote thought-provoking documentary film and media for learning about the people and cultures of the world." The NAFC serves as the archival repository for many of the historic films that DER distributes. We are grateful for their partnership.

These screenings are free and open to the public. Following each film will be time for discussion.

April 13: Elephant’s Dream (Kristof Bilsen, 74 min, 2014)

This film is an interwoven portrait of three state-owned institutions and their workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: a female postal clerk, two colleagues at a railway station, and the group of firemen in the Kinshasa’s only fire station. The film gives a poetic glimpse of their lives and life in Kinshasa, the third largest city of Africa. This film features Lingala and French.

Distributed by Documentary Educational Resources.