The Living MayaDocumentary SeriesFilmed in a small Yucatan village over the course of a year, this four-part series explores the ancient agricultural and religious customs that ground contemporary Maya communal and family life in traditional values, even as modern Mexico comes to the village.PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: The Anthropology Project, Santa Monica,
CA AWARDS: CINE Golden Eagle; Margaret Mead Film Festival, Honoree; Choice, Outstanding Nonprint Media Award (American Library Association). FORMAT: Video 4 (58:00) programs, in English, Spanish, and Maya, with English subtitles. DISTRIBUTOR: University of California, Extension Media Center Lucy in DisguiseDocumentaryLucy in Disguise discusses the collaborative efforts of experts from many disciplines to place the discovery of a 2.8 million-year-old partial skeleton in a paleohistorical perspective.PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Ohio University in cooperation with the
Cleveland Museum of Natural History FORMAT: 16mm, Video (two versions, 58:00 and 29:00) DISTRIBUTOR: Currently unavailable Margaret MeadDocumentary RadioA panel discussion about anthropologist Margaret Mead's legacy and her influence on current thinking about human culture and society. PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: WAMU, Washington, DCYEAR PRODUCED: 2001 EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Nancy Robertson NARRATOR: Diane Rehm FORMAT: Radio 2 hours DISTRIBUTOR: WAMU Margaret Mead: An Observer ObservedDocumentaryThis film is a portrait of one of the most influential women of our time. Using never-before-seen archival footage, stills, interviews, and dramatic re-creations, it weaves together a story of a scientist, adventurer, and international celebrity whose ideas shaped how we think about ourselves.PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Mind Matters, Inc., New York, NY AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival; Margaret Mead Film Festival; Margaret Mead Touring Film Festival; Society for Visual Anthropology—Honorable Mention; American Historical Association; National Women's Studies Association; American Anthropological Association; National Educational Media Network—Silver Apple PRINT MATERIAL: Filmakers Library—the domestic distributor has a brochure describing the film FORMAT: Video (85:00) DISTRIBUTORS: The Mystery of the Lost Red Paint PeopleDocumentaryThe Mystery of the Lost Red Paint People sheds light on an early Indian culture of northeastern North America as it follows scientists to various sites in America and Europe in their search for links between seafaring cultures across great distances.PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Northeast Archaeology Project, New York,
NY AWARDS: CINE Golden Eagle; American Film and Video Festival, Red Ribbon; National Educational Film and Video Festival, Bronze Apple; Booklist, Editor's Choice (American Library Association) FORMAT: Video (56:00) DISTRIBUTOR: Bullfrog Films, Inc. Odyssey IDocumentary SeriesThis series follows the work of anthropologists and archaeologists as they attempt to understand the complexities and similarities of human societies at different times and in different places.Program 1 PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Graham Chedd Program 2 PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: T.W. Timreck Program 3 PRODUCERS: Anna Benson-Gyles, Marian White Program 4 PRODUCERS: Ann Peck, Claire Andrade-Watkins Program 5 PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: Graham Chedd Program 6 PRODUCERS: John Marshall, Sue Marshall Cabezas Program 7 PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Charlie Naim Program 8 PRODUCER: Christopher Curling Program 9 PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: John Sheppard Program 10 PRODUCER: Ray Sutcliffe Program 11 DIRECTOR: Anna Benson-Gyles Program 12 DIRECTORS: Tony Lanzelo, Boyce Richardson PRINT MATERIALS: Educator's Guide available with the programs distributed by Documentary Educational Resources FORMATS: 16mm, Video DISTRIBUTORS: Odyssey IIDocumentary SeriesThe second Odyssey series continues to explore the diversity of past and present cultures.Program 1 PRODUCER: Sanford Low Program 2 PRODUCERS: Randy Strothman, Margot Liberty Program 3 PRODUCER: Milton B. Hoffman Program 4 PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS: Charlie Nairn, M. Nazif
Shahrani Program 5 PRODUCER: Antonia Benedak Program 6 PRODUCERS: Terry Kay Rockefeller, Laurie Manny, Ashton Peery Program 7 WRITER/PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Graham Chedd Program 8 PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Ira R. Abrams Program 9 PRODUCER: Dominic Flessati Program 10 PRODUCERS: James MacDonald, Michael Camerini Program 11 PRODUCERS: Michel Chalufour, John Karol Program 12 PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: Ann Peck Program 13 PRODUCER: Melissa Llewelyn-Davis Program 14 PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER: John Angier Program 15 PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Carlos Pasini AWARDS: Academy Award nominee, Best Documentary Feature; Cinema du Reel, Grand Prize; The International Festival of Grand Reporting Films, First Prize; Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University, Special Citation; International Film and TV Festival of New York, Gold Award, Documentaries; Bronze Award; CINE Golden Eagle; American Film Festival, Blue Ribbon, Red Ribbon; Chicago International Film Festival, Gold Plaque; Cindy Award; ANZAAS International Scientific Film Exhibition, Australia, Commendation PRINT MATERIAL: Educator's Guide available with programs distributed by Documentary Educational Resources FORMAT: 16mm, Video DISTRIBUTORS: Out of the PastDocumentary SeriesExamining the limits and possibilities of contemporary archaeology and anthropology, this program shows how physical evidence from long-ago societies can be studied alongside the practices of contemporary cultures to give new insights into the evolution of humankind.Program 1 Program 2 Program 3 Program 4 Program 5 Program 6 Program 7 Program 8 PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: WQED, Pittsburgh, PA and Cambridge Studios,
Newton, MA AWARDS: CINE Golden Eagle (Programs 3 and 8) FORMAT: Video, 8 (60:00) programs DISTRIBUTOR: PBS Adult Learning Service Patterns of the PastDocumentary Radio SeriesPatterns of the Past focuses on important archaeological discoveries. Fifty-two modules (2 minutes each) contain archaeological reports in the form of brief telegrams and newsbreaks from the field, while fifty-two other modules (7-11 minutes each) explore intellectual issues surrounding contemporary archaeology.PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Western Public Radio, San Francisco,
CA FORMAT: Audiocassette 104 programs (two to eleven-minute modules) DISTRIBUTOR: Currently unavailable Pleasing GodDocumentary SeriesFilmed in the town of Vishnupur in West Bengal, Pleasing God is a three-part series about the devotional practices associated with three major deities of the Hindu pantheon, with special attention on festivals dedicated to these gods.Program 1 Program 2 Program 3 PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Harvard University Film Study Center,
Cambridge, MA AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Loving Krishna: Baltimore Film Festival Prize; Sons of Shiva: CINE Golden Eagle; Serpent Mother: Sinking Creek Film Festival, Cash Award FORMAT: 16mm, Video 3 (30:00) programs DISTRIBUTOR: Currently unavailable Popol Vuh: The Creation Myth of the MayaDocumentaryUsing images from Maya ceramics of the Classic Period, this animated film recounts the first part of the heroic adventures recorded in the Popol Vuh, a narrative account of the myths and legends of the Maya of southern Mexico and Central America.PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Film Arts Foundation, San Francisco,
CA AWARDS/FESTIVALS: National Educational Film and Video Festival, Bronze Apple; Latin American Studies Association, Award of Merit; CINE Golden Eagle; American Film and Video Festival, Finalist; Media and Methods Award; Native American Film Festival, Honoree; American Anthropological Association, Honoree PRINT MATERIAL: Teacher's Guide for elementary and secondary schools available FORMAT: 16mm, Video (two versions, 29:00 and 59:00) DISTRIBUTOR: University of California, Extension Media Center Pulse of the PlanetDocumentary Radio A series of short segments, Pulse of the Planet offers snapshots of the planet using a mix of modern sound, interview, and voice-over narrative to help tell its stories. Listeners travel the globe tracking the rhythms of nature and culture and exploring the horizons of scientific discovery. The series focuses on the ways we celebrate the seasons, interact with our local environment, and follow the seasonal and cyclical activities of life on Earth. PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Jim Metzner Productions, Inc., Yorktown Heights, NYYEAR PRODUCED: 1999 EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Jim Metzner PRODUCERS: Shawn Dudley, Rachael Teel HOST: Jim Metzner PRINT MATERIALS: Press Kit AWARDS/FESTIVALS: 2001 American Institute of Biological Sciences Media Award; 1999 Silver Reel, National Federation of Community Broadcasters FORMAT: Audio; multiple two-minute segments DISTRIBUTOR: Murray Street Enterprise The Royal Archives of EblaDocumentaryThe film discusses the importance of 17,000 cuneiform tablets and fragments found in 1975 at the site of the ancient kingdom of Ebla in northwest Syria.PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Milberg Productions, Inc., Norwalk, CT AWARDS: New York International Film and Television Festival, Gold Medal; Chicago International Film Festival, Certificate of Merit; San Francisco Film Festival, Honorable Mention FORMAT: 16mm, Video (58:32) DISTRIBUTOR: Public Media Inc. Search for a CenturyDocumentarySearch for a Century chronicles the archaeological discoveries at Martin's Hundred and Wolstenholme Towne, a seventeenth-century settlement on the banks of the James River in Virginia.PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation,
Williamsburg, VA AWARD: International Film and Television Festival of New York, Gold Medal; International Archaeological Film Festival (Paris), Grand Prix PRINT MATERIAL: Discussion Guide available FORMAT: 16mm, Video (58:30) DISTRIBUTOR: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Shamans of the Blind CountryDocumentaryShamans of the Blind Country records the Great Inner Asian tradition of shamanism, as preserved in the secluded society of the Northern Magar tribe in Central West Nepal.PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: The New York Center for Visual History, New
York, NY FORMAT: Video (58:00) DISTRIBUTOR: Not currently available in U.S. Sons of the MoonDocumentaryThis film, told from the point of view of a Ngas bard, traces the moon's influence on the Ngas who live in Nigeria's Jos Plateau.PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Institute for the Study of Human Issues,
Philadelphia, PA PRINT MATERIAL: Accompanying guide available FORMAT: 16mm, Video (29:00) DISTRIBUTOR: University of California, Extension Media Center Tree of IronDocumentarySet in Tanzania on the western shores of Lake Victoria, Tree of Iron explores the subject of African iron smelting, presenting evidence that early indigenous technologies were far more complex than previously believed.PRODUCTION ORGANIZATIONS: Foundation for African Prehistory and
Archaeology, Gainesville, FL, and Audio-Visual Institute, Tanzania AWARDS: National Film and Video Festival, Gold Apple; Society of Visual Anthropology, Award of Excellence; American Film and Video Festival, Red Ribbon FORMAT: 16mm, Video (57:50) English and Swahili DISTRIBUTOR: Indiana University, Audio-Visual Center Wayfinders: A Pacific OdysseyDocumentaryThis documentary sweeps viewers into a seafaring adventure with a community of Polynesians, as they build traditional sailing canoes, learn how to follow the stars across the open ocean, and embark upon a 2,000-mile voyage in the wake of their ancestors. Wayfinders is told primarily from the point of view of the Pacific Islanders, who use archival sources, oral traditions, archaeological discoveries, and experimental voyages to resolve controversial issues of their own history and reclaim their heritage as accomplished oceanic explorers.PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION: Maiden Voyage Productions, Half Moon Bay, CA
AWARDS/FESTIVALS: Gold Apple-National Educational Media Network PRINT MATERIAL: Curriculum available through Maiden Voyage Productions FORMAT: Video (60:00) DISTRIBUTOR: PBS Video |