Listed below are recent documentaries produced, directed, and shot by students in the yearlong seminar on ethnographic documentary video production, the capstone of the Program in Culture and Media. The first portion of the course is dedicated to instruction, exercises, and reading familiarizing students with fundamentals of video production and their application to a broad conception of ethnographic and documentary approaches. Assignments undertaken in the fall raise representational, methodological, and ethical issues in approaching and working through an ethnographic and documentary project. Students develop a topic and field site for their project early in the fall term, begin their shooting, and complete a short edited tape by the end of the first semester. This work should demonstrate competence in shooting and editing using digital camera/audio Final Cut Pro non-linear editing systems. Students devote the spring semester to intensive work on the project, continuing to shoot and edit, presenting work to the class and completing their ethnographic documentaries.

Every year new documentaries from the video production seminar are presented in a public screening at "Docs On the Edge: A Documentary Showcase." Many of these works have been featured at film festivals and picked up for distribution, as noted in the information on each piece.

Smoke Screen
by Wazhmah Osman (Culture and Communication)
When the rising number of suspicious fires that have been breaking out in Brooklyn begin to surround her own apartment, filmmaker Wazhmah Osman responds with her camera. She sets out to find the stories and situations of people burnt out of their homes and meets the community groups who have organized to challenge the larger forces that are changing their cityscape. (27:30 mins.)

Great Aunt Gloria
by Sabra Thorner (Anthropology)
What does it mean to be a glamorous uptown girl turned elderly Parkinson's patient in New York City? In spite of increasingly debilitating physical limitations, Gloria Thorner is determined to live life in her own way. Through the relationship between the filmmaker and her great aunt, this film explores how memories of the past inform present understandings of ourselves and our loved ones. (24:30 mins.)

Heart And Skull
by Lauren Kogen (Cinema Studies)
After working for four years as a production artist at Marvel Comics, Jacob Chabot has finally quit his job in order to pursue his artistic dreams full-time. In seeking critical and popular success for his most recent comic, "The Might Skullboy Army," Jacob shows that optimism and imagination are essential survival tools for independent artists. (23:30 mins.)

Arpa Viajera
by Orlando Lara (Anthropology)
Arpa Viajera joins Verónica Valerio, a Katrina evacuee and Mexican singer, as she journeys to her performances through the subways and city streets of New York City with little more than her voice and her five-foot harp. Just as Verónica begins to make a space for herself in the Latino music scene of New York City, she is forced to choose between the music of her roots, the music of her future, and the music that will earn her permission to stay in the United States. (13:30 mins.)

Eau de Parfume
by Sara Rashkin (Anthropology)
In the world of fine fragrance whale vomit can be as valuable as rose extract and being called a nose is a compliment. Offering a rare glimpse behind the scenes of fragrance production, with insight from a top perfumer, The New York Times perfume critic, a local designer, and passionate perfume fans, this film will change the way you see that little bottle of perfume on the counter. (28 mins.)

Nothing to Lose
by Robert Chang (Anthropology)
Nothing to Lose introduces viewers to a group of fat New Yorkers who try to make The Big Apple a better place for people of all shapes and sizes. Seeking to end discrimination based on body size, fat activists appear on television and radio, organize local guerrilla actions against the diet-industry, and build size-accepting communities. For more information about the film visit www.nothingtolose.info. (17:30 mins.)

"I'm on Strike Because..."
by Steve Fletcher (American Studies)
Accurately describing a worker's reasons for going on strike requires nuance, complexity, and context Ð luxuries the striking workers at NYU don't have if they want media attention for their cause. This film documents, analyzes, and participates in the Graduate Student Organizing Committee's attempts to create simple, media-friendly messages and events that earn news coverage of their ongoing labor struggle. (21 mins.)

I Found This Tape
by Christopher Fraga (Anthropology)
Found art challenges conventional assumptions about what art looks like. Despite the misleading label, it involves a great deal of work. With this video, Brian Belott, a found artist working in New York, offers his idiosyncratic vision of the labor and the passion he has invested in "finding" art since his youth. (18:55 mins.)

Taming the Gaze
by Sorayya Kassamali (Cinema Studies)
This filmic meditation on the Bronx Zoo examines our conventional ways of seeing exotic, endangered animals in artificially created habitats. Throughout this film we see how the zoo is also a forum for wildlife education, allowing captive animals to act as ambassadors for the protection of their wild counterparts. (24:03 mins.)

The Professor
by Jason Price (Anthropology)
Professor David Kpormakpor served as interim President of Liberia during its disastrous civil war, yet his incorruptibility assured his downfall. He now lives alone on welfare in a one-bedroom apartment in a housing project on Staten Island. Through an intimate portrait of an unforgettable man, The Professor is a meditation on the nature of character in an often unjust world. (22 mins.)

Mamun's Hot Dogs
by Damien Stankiewicz (Anthropology)
This film follows Mamun, a hot dog vendor and recent Bangladeshi immigrant, as he rolls, day after day, from the stark East Village garage where he stores his cart to various locations in upscale SoHo. As we follow MamunÕs cart we also follow MamunÕs movement, real and imagined, from Bangladesh to Brooklyn and back again. (18:40 mins.)

At the Bottom of the Deep Blue Sea
by April Strickland (Anthropology)
Earrings, Decanters, Cannons, Sharks....you never know what you'll find under the surface. This film follows a group of experienced scuba divers as they navigate the pleasures and dangers of their craft and explore deep-water wrecks off the shores of Long Island. (14:40 mins.)

Dream Theater
by Andrew Ventimigilia (Cinema Studies)
The New York Soul Dreamers is a group of dream explorers and adventurers who are dedicated to tearing down the wall separating the dream world from the waking world. "Dream Theater" follows this community as they discuss, perform, honor and pursue their dreams. (17:06 mins.)

Costume Play
by Ray Vichot (Cinema Studies)
Cosplay (or "costume play") is a vital activity in the world of Japanese animation fandom. This film follows Jose Rivera from Brooklyn to Washington D.C. as he goes to Katsucon, one of the largest Anime conventions in the country. There he meets distant friends and competes with fellow fans as he plays with the characters he portrays in costume. (20:40 mins.)

Between the Notes: A Journey With Indian Classical Music
by (Cinema Studies)
Hindustani Classical Music, an ancient tradition historically tied to the Indian subcontinent, found its way to the United States in 1906.  A century later, this piece documents directions being taken by a new generation of interpreters who are actively evolving and integrating the form into their work and lives. (17 mins.)

Big Fish/Small Fry: Urban Angling in New York
by (Anthropology)
Following two fishermen from different parts of New York City, this film explores what the sport means to anglers young and old. While adults like Anthony relax in Brooklyn's Prospect Park, 12-year old Polito and his friends compete for bass in the waters of East Harlem. (17:40 mins.)

Bitter Wonder: Marie Roberts' Coney Island Winter
by Deborah Matzner (Anthropology)
As snows blanket Coney Island, an artist paints sideshow banners in preparation for the spring season.  Through her painting, Marie Roberts invokes memories of the Coney Island of the past as well as hopes for the venerable neighborhood's future. (18:12 mins.)

Public Screenings:
2005 Coney Island Film Festival
2005 The Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art)

From Honey to Ashes
by Lucas Bessire (Anthropology)
In March, 2004 one of the world's last isolated indigenous groups decided to come out of the forest in Paraguay.  This video documents their efforts to make sense of their new circumstances, and reflects on the broader implications of contact in the 21st century. (48:14 mins.)

Esperanta Novjorko (Hopeful New York)
by Pilar Rau (Anthropology)
La Universala Lingva was invented by a teenager living in Warsaw's Jewish ghetto to end clashes between ethnic, religious, and linguistic groups. Surviving the atrocities of the twentieth century, it spread world wide.  Meet the Esperantists of New York City who dare keep Zamenhof's language and dream of international peace and communication alive. (20 mins.)

Girlstory
by (Anthropology)
Girlstory follows a vibrant group of high school girls and their mentors who write and perform poetry around New York City. With humor and sharp self-awareness, these girls boldly confront loss, sexuality, family expectations, and love. (25:14 mins.)

Public Screenings:
2005 Bronx Museum of the Arts
2006 The Nuyorican Poets Cafe

SoHo Tui-Na
by (Anthropology)
Chinese Tui-Na bodywork salons have been cropping up all over New York City.  This film takes us into one such establishment where the employees work long hours so that New Yorkers can reduce their level of stress and maintain the proper flow of qi. (20:33 mins.)

Worms in the Big Apple
by Jenn Guitart (Anthropology)

All over New York City, tiny creatures are transforming our garbage into soil. This film explores the fascinating, fun, and sometimes stinky culture of urban composting. (18:35 mins.)

Public Screenings:
2005 Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival
2006 Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival

Found Sound: Music for Homemade Instruments
by (Anthropology)
All around New York City, people make, play, and circulate homemade instruments as they search for new sounds. From recycled instruments to hybrid instruments, this film explores the inventions and interventions happening in the musical art world. (20 mins.)

Public Screenings:
2004 Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival

Friends in High Places
by Ilka Datig (Anthropology)
People join the Tall Club of New York City for all types of reasons-fun, friendship, career development, even romance. This film introduces some of the club's members and explores the history, present, and future of tall clubs in America. (16:32 mins.)

Public Screenings:
2005 Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival

Hattitude
by (Anthropology)
More than mere accessories, the hats of Mildred's Hat Shop and Mary's Fashion Hats are designed with "hattitude" in mind. This documentary tracks the preparations for Easter by customers of these two Brooklyn shops, where hats are valued as symbols of particular ideas about womanhood, status and religiosity. (17 mins.)

Public Screenings:
2004 Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival

In Movimiento: The Adventures of the First Peruvian Gay Movement in New York
by (Anthropology)
Being gay in Peru might be as difficult as being Peruvian in New York, and people from the First Peruvian Gay Movement accept both challenges as a community. The film explores how this group uses different perceptions of Peruvian identity as part of their strategy for adapting to new circumstances. (23 mins.)

In Search of the Hamat'sa: A Tale of Headhunting
by (Anthropology)
The Hamat'sa (or "Cannibal Dance") is the most importantand highly representedceremony of the Kwakwaka'wakw people of British Columbia. This film traces the history of anthropological depictions of the dance and, through the return of archival materials to a Native community, presents some of the ways in which diverse attitudes toward this history inform current presentations of the Hamat'sa. (33 mins.)

Public Screenings:
2005 Congress on Dance Research International Conference;
2005 Royal Anthropological Institute Film;
2005 Museum of Anthropology;
2005 Northeastern Anthropological Association;
2005 Encuentro (Hemispheric Institute);
2005 Ethnographic Film Festival of Montreal
2006 Bilan du Film Ethnographique (Paris)
2006 Beeld voor Beeld Festival (Amsterdam)
2006 20th PSmu International Film Festival (PSmu, Estonia)

Inside Tats Cru Inc.
by (Cinema Studies)
In the eighties, they began painting New York's subway trains as young teenage boys. Today, they own and successfully run the only graffiti mural and graphic art design company in New York. Inside Tats Cru Inc. is the story of a group of graffiti artists who have been an instrumental force in the legitimization, commercialization and globalization of aerosol spray art. (22 mins.)

Public Screenings:
2005 Hunter College (Latino Communities in NYC course); 2005 Seton Hall University Multi-Cultural Film Series;
2005 Bronx Indep

Portraits of Tomoyo
by Ayako Takamori (Anthropology)
This films is a glimpse into the everyday life of Tomoyo Hiroishi, a 2nd generation Japanese Mexican artist living in New York City. It unfolds the ways in which Tomoyo uses art to articulate her ideas about ethnicity and being multiply located. (13 mins.)

Public Screenings:
2004 Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival

September Signs and Symbols
by (Anthropology)
The film focuses on the material objects that commemorate the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and how this memorabilia circulates in New York City. The film explores how these objects have come to be complex signifiers containing within them the possibility for a range of meanings for people who create them, sell them, collect them, and use them. (24 mins.)

Public Screenings:
2004 Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival

All That Glitters
by (Anthropology)
The New York fashion industry promises fame, fortune and glamour...and Heatherette’s owners haven't even been to fashion school. (15 mins.)

Deportado
by (Anthropology)
After a lifetime battling cocaine addiction, José is finally ready to start a new life. But because of a new immigration law, when he gets out of jail this time, he'll be deported to the Dominican Republic, a reality he is only beginning to come to terms with. (30 mins.)

Public Screenings:
2003 Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival

Awards:
2003 Society for Visual Anthropology Student Award

Framing Tepeyac
by (Cinema Studies)
This documentary follows Tepeyac Television Service, a group of Mexican workers in NYC who produce a series of TV programs to document their experiences as undocumented immigrants to the city. The film focuses on Vicencio and Brenda, whose strong interest in video as a means to change immigration policies in the US takes them to experiment and explore new venues. Click here for more information about the film and to view it online. (17 mins.)

Waiting for Miracles
by (Anthropology)
A documentary that follows a Peruvian Catholic brotherhood as it prepares for its yearly procession honoring the Lord of Miracles. This film explores the power of faith in the lives of Peruvian immigrants in New York City. (25 mins.)

Public Screenings:
2003 Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival;
2004 Instituto Cultural Peruano Norte Americano (ICPNA), Lima, Peru;
2004 Screened on Peruvian Television (Canal PAX);
2005 Centro Cultural de España Documentary Series, Lima, Peru

Woman to Woman: Addressing the Need for Doula-Assisted Childbirth
by (Anthropology)
The doula profession has emerged in response to the increasing medicalization of childbirth in the United States. This film explores the reasons women choose doula-assisted birth. (26 mins.)

Distributed By:
Documentary Educational Resources

Public Screenings:
2003 Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival;
2004 FreeSpeech TV Broadcast;
2005 American Psychological Association;
2005 Midwifery Today Conference

Concrete Roots
by (Cinema Studies)
An exploration of the Afro-centric counterculture that has become mainstream in Brooklyn, NY. This video follows 3 Brooklynites in their daily pursuit of a lifestyle that reflects their Afro-centric identities. (30 mins.)

Home Movie
by (Cinema Studies)
A documentary that traces the effects of new ownership on a lower east side tenement building and its long term residents. (35 mins.)

Reel Steps: Irish Dance in New York
by (Anthropology)
A portrait of a children's Irish dance class in New York City that explores themes of Irish heritage and identity as well as the appeal and intricacies of the dance form. (20 mins.)

Resistance
by (Anthropology)
A look at Brazil's unique AIDS treatment program from the perspective of patients, doctors, activists, scientists, government officials and pharmaceutical producers. How is Brazil?s experience being constructed by the media and activists as a "model" for confronting the global AIDS pandemic?
TRT 35 mins.)

Tress
by (Performance Studies)
From its rock n roll street roots to its manifestations in the pages of fashion magazines, New York's downtown hair represents an elusive and coveted marker of subcultural style. This film is an exploration into the narcissism, glamor, and empowering triviality of downtown hair. (12 mins.)

Under Surveillance
by (Anthropology)
A chronicle of the activities of the Surveillance Camera Players, a New York-based group that protests public surveillance. Through their activism, the film explores the complex and
ambivalent roles of visuality and visual culture in a contemporary urban setting. (21 mins.)

Public Screenings:
2003 Royal Anthropological Institute Film Festival (London) Honoree.
2002 Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival

Freefall
by (Anthropology)
An observational take on creative process in a small modern dance company. (42 mins.)

Guinea Pig Life: A Mildly Invasive Study
by (Cinema Studies)
Watch this movie, get paid! A brief look at compensated medical research
subjects a.k.a. human guinea pigs. (16:44 mins.)

On the Outskirts of the Ivory Tower
by Laura Harris (American Studies)
Glimpses at the work and lives of academics. (15 mins.)

Still Life
by (Anthropology)
Artist models on their work, the body, and the imagination. (20:29)

Wake Up and Live!
by (Anthropology)
A man prepares for a modern spiritual journey. (15 mins.)

Wela
by (Cinema Studies)
The filmmaker's grandmother prepares to visit her native Cuba. (17 mins.)

If you would like to contact the filmmakers and an email address is not listed, please contact the for more information.

under construction...

Here are some of the video work produced and directed by students who are either enrolled in or have completed the Certificate Program in Culture and Media.

Asking Ayahai: An Ayoreo Story
by (Anthropology)
The film focuses on the personal journey of Ayahai, an 80-year-old Ayoreo elder, whose life spans the period of dramatic transition for the Ayoreo of South America’s Gran Chaco as they moved from nomadic hunter/gatherers to wage laborers. (2004. 41 mins.)

Distributed By:
Documentary Educational Resources

Public Screenings:
2004 Documentary and Ethnographic Film Festival, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil;
2005 Festival Interuniversitaire de Films Ethnographique de Montreal, Canada;
2005 Latin American Film Festival, Holland;
2005 Northeastern Anthropological Association Ethnographic Film & Video Festival, Lake Placid, NY

Dharma Kid
by (Anthropology)
Tenzin Tselek has decided to become a monk at the age of two. He dreams to enter a Buddhist monastery but first he has to graduate from Tibetan Children's Village, a challenging boarding school where he studies geography, math, Tibetan, Hindi, and English. The film explores his quirky perception of the Tibetan religion populated by a strange pantheon of Gods, magical practices, and rituals. (2001. cinetrance.com)

Join Me in Shambhala
by (Anthropology)
Once brutally persecuted under the Soviet regime, Buddhism is back in Southern Siberia. But with a past where lamas were killed in prisons and temples burned to ashes, there are few masters left to pass on the tradition. This documentary is both a study of Buddhism in Buryatia (with its clearly shamanistic rituals) and a map of Buddhist cosmology, weaving together textures and rhythms of everyday life with meditations on emptiness and space. (2002. 42 mins. cinetrance.com)

Distributed By:
Documentary Educational Resources

Awards:
2003 Prize for Outstanding Scientific Documentation - XVI Pärnu International Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival, Estonia

Public Screenings:
2002 Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival;
2003 DC Independent Film Festival, Washington DC;
2003 8th RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film, London;
2003 Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, New York;
2003 Religion Today, International Festival of Cinema & Religion, Italy;
2005 International Buddhist Film Festival, California;
2005 Northeastern Anthropological Association Ethnographic Film & Video Festival, Lake Placid, New York