Postcard for Cine en Culturas retrospective of John Marshall's work, held Nov 10-14, 2012 in Mexico City. |
The retrospective was hosted by Cine en Culturas, an annual program produced by Ethnoscopio as part of the DocsDF documentary film festival. The program was put together with the collaboration of the Human Studies Film Archives (archival home of Marshall's Ju/'hoan Bushman collection) and Documentary Educational Resources (distributor of Marshall's films).
Trailer for the John Marshall retrospective edited by Cine en Culturas.
Ticket holders line up at the Cineteca Nacional in Mexico City for a screening of John Marshall's N!ai, The Story of a !Kung Woman. © Francisco Palma Lagunas |
John Marshall is well-regarded as a major figure in ethnographic film. His work has been the subject of PhD theses and academic articles, and scores of undergraduate students have seen his seminal film, The Hunters (1958), in Anthropology 101 classes. His archival film and video collection is recognized as an important piece of our global documentary heritage and is listed on UNESCO's Memory of the World register. This is all impressive, but it doesn't tell us about the actual impact archival films might have on an individual.
My experience at Cine en Culturas showed me what that impact can be. Each night, anthropologists, filmmakers, students, and cinephiles filled the theater to learn about a time, a culture, a way of life very different from their own. Each night, that audience stayed long after the screening for Q&A sessions and discussions that covered a wide range of topics: John Marshall's working style and deep commitment to the Ju/'hoansi; the evolution of documentary filmmaking techniques; the ethics of documentary and ethnographic filmmaking; the successes and failures of international development work; the current political and economic standing of the Ju/'hoansi; the struggles of indigenous groups in Mexico and worldwide.
N!ai, The Story of a !Kung Woman screens at the Cineteca Nacional. © Francisco Palma Lagunas |
Karma Foley, Smithsonian Channel
(and former contract audiovisual archivist at Human Studies Film Archives)
I am grateful to Francisco Palma Lagunas for his beautiful photographs of the Marshall retrospective, and his permission to use them in this post.
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