Margaret Mead Film Festival
Encyclopedia
The Margaret Mead Film Festival is an annual film festival
held at the American Museum of Natural History
in New York
. It is the longest-running, premiere showcase for international documentaries in the United States, encompassing a broad spectrum of work, from indigenous
community media
to experimental nonfiction
. The Festival is distinguished by its outstanding selection of titles, which tackle diverse and challenging subjects, representing a range of issues and perspectives, and by the forums for discussion with filmmakers and speakers.
2011 Retrospective
and The Wrestler, Darren Aronofsky
, Karen Cooper, director of New York City's Film Forum
; Liz Garbus
, Academy Award-nominated director of Bobby Fischer Against the World
, The Farm and 2002 MacArthur Fellow Stanley Nelson, director of the Emmy-winning documentary The Murder of Emmett Till.
, who worked for 52 years at the American Museum of Natural History
. She acted as curator in the Museum's Department of Anthropology, where she helped create the Hall of Pacific Peoples, which bears her name. In her lifetime, Margaret Mead greatly advanced the academic standing and popular appeal of cultural anthropology, and was also one of the earliest anthropologists to integrate visual methods into her research, focus on the study of visual communication, and teach courses on culture and communication. "Pictures are held together," Dr. Mead wrote, "by a way of looking that has grown out of anthropology, a science in which all peoples, however contrasted in physique and culture, are seen as members of the same species, engaged in solving problems common to humanity."
In 1976, in commemoration of her 75th birthday, the museum decided to pay tribute to her work with a film festival of top ethnographic
and other documentary films. In its early years, the festival focused on ethnographic films and was hosted by the USC Center for Visual Anthropology
(directed by Mead's student, the late filmmaker Tim Asch
). Today, the Festival continues to exemplify Mead's teachings: that film is a tool for cross-cultural understanding and that it is possible, and important, for societies to learn from each other.
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
held at the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. It is the longest-running, premiere showcase for international documentaries in the United States, encompassing a broad spectrum of work, from indigenous
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
community media
Community media
Community media is any form of media that is created and controlled by a community, either a geographic community or a community of identity or interest. Community media is separate from commercial media, state run media, or public broadcasting. The fundamental premise is to engage those groups...
to experimental nonfiction
Experimental literature
Experimental literature refers to written works - often novels or magazines - that place great emphasis on innovations regarding technique and style.-Early history:...
. The Festival is distinguished by its outstanding selection of titles, which tackle diverse and challenging subjects, representing a range of issues and perspectives, and by the forums for discussion with filmmakers and speakers.
2011 Films
- At Night, They Dance (La nuit, elles dansent)by Isabelle Lavigne and Stéphane Thibault
- The Bengali Detectiveby Phil Cox
- Blue Meridian by Sofie Benoot
- Broad Channel by Sarah J. Christman
- Cinema and the Future of Space by Michael Shara
- Convento by Jarred Alterman
- The Creators by Laura Gamse
- Deus Ex Boltanski by Robert Gardner
- Empty Quarter by Alain LeTourneau and Pam Minty
- The End of the World (Kres Šwiata) by Mateusz Skalski
- Extraction by Myron Lameman
- Flames of God by Meshakai Wolf
- Grande Hotel by Lotte Stoops
- Guañape Sur by János Richter
- Hula and Natan by Robby Elmaliah
- Moroloja by Alexander Ingham Brooke
- The Observers by Jacqueline Goss
- Planet Kirsan (Planeta Kirsan) by Magdalena Pita
- Skydancer by Katja Esson
- Space Tourists by Christian Frei
- Voice Unknown by Jinhee Park
- White Elephant (Nzoku ya Pembe) by Kristof Bilsen
2011 Mead Filmmaker Award Nominees
- All for the Good of the World and Nošovice (Vše Pro Dobro Svêta a Nošovic)by Vit Klusák
- Kinder (Kids) by Bettina Büttner
- Memoirs of a Plague by Robert Nugent
- Rainmakers by Floris-Jan van Luyn
- Small Kingdom of Lo by Caroline Leitner, Daniel Mazza, and Giuseppe Tedesch
- Space Sailors (Fliegerkosmonauten) by Marian Kiss
- To the Light by Yuanchen Liu
2011 RetrospectiveRetrospectiveRetrospective generally means to take a look back at events that already have taken place. For example, the term is used in medicine, describing a look back at a patient's medical history or lifestyle.-Music:...
Series
- Jaguar by Jean RouchJean RouchJean Rouch was a French filmmaker and anthropologist.He is considered to be one of the founders of the cinéma vérité in France, which shared the aesthetics of the direct cinema spearheaded by Richard Leacock, D.A. Pennebaker and Albert and David Maysles...
- Jero on Jero: A Balinese Trance Séance Observed by Patsy Asch, Timothy Asch, and Linda ConnorLinda ConnorLinda Connor is an American photographer who photographs spiritual and exotic locations including India, Mexico, Thailand, Ireland, Peru, Nepal, Egypt, Hawaii and the American Southwest....
- Kanehsatake: 270 Years of ResistanceKanehsatake: 270 Years of ResistanceKanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance is a 1993 feature-length film documentary film by Alanis Obomsawin, chronicling the 1990 Oka Crisis.Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, the film won 18 Canadian and international awards, including the Distinguished Documentary Achievement Award from...
by Alanis ObomsawinAlanis ObomsawinAlanis Obomsawin, OC is a Canadian filmmaker of Abenaki descent. Born in New Hampshire, and raised primarily in Quebec, she has produced and directed many National Film Board of Canada documentaries on First Nations culture and history... - Les maîtres fousLes Maîtres FousLes maîtres fous is a short film directed by Jean Rouch, a well-known French film director and ethnologist. It is a docufiction, his first ethnofiction, genre of which he is considered to be the creator.-Historical background:...
(The Mad Masters) by Jean RouchJean RouchJean Rouch was a French filmmaker and anthropologist.He is considered to be one of the founders of the cinéma vérité in France, which shared the aesthetics of the direct cinema spearheaded by Richard Leacock, D.A. Pennebaker and Albert and David Maysles... - N!ai, The Story of a !Kung Woman by John MarshallJohn Marshall (filmmaker)John Marshall was an American anthropologist and acclaimed documentary filmmaker best known for his work in Namibia recording the lives of the Ju/'hoansi tribe...
and Adrienne Miesmer - Trance and Dance in BaliTrance and Dance in BaliTrance and Dance in Bali is a short documentary film shot by Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson during their visits to Bali in the 1930s. The film was not released until 1952...
by Gregory BatesonGregory BatesonGregory Bateson was an English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. He had a natural ability to recognize order and pattern in the universe...
and Margaret MeadMargaret MeadMargaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s.... - A Wife among Wives by David MacDougall and Judith MacDougall
- We Still Live Here (Âs Natayuneân) by Anne Makepeace
2011 Jury
The Mead Award jury is led by the Academy Award-nominated director of Black SwanBlack Swan (film)
Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological thriller film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis. Its plot revolves around a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet by a prestigious New York City company. The production requires a ballerina to...
and The Wrestler, Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...
, Karen Cooper, director of New York City's Film Forum
Film Forum
Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater located at 209 West Houston Street in New York City. It began in 1970 as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a US$19,000 annual budget. Karen Cooper became director in 1972 and under her leadership,...
; Liz Garbus
Liz Garbus
Liz Garbus is an award-winning documentary film director and producer. Her most recent film, Bobby Fischer Against the World, opened the Premiere Documentary Section of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, reserved for master American documentary filmmakers...
, Academy Award-nominated director of Bobby Fischer Against the World
Bobby Fischer Against the World
Bobby Fischer Against the World is the first documentary feature to explore the life of the late chess Grandmaster and 11th World Champion Bobby Fischer from USA. It incorporates interviews with chess players Anthony Saidy, Larry Evans, Sam Sloan, Susan Polgar, Garry Kasparov, Asa Hoffmann,...
, The Farm and 2002 MacArthur Fellow Stanley Nelson, director of the Emmy-winning documentary The Murder of Emmett Till.
Traveling Festival
The Margaret Mead Traveling Film & Video Festival presents highlights of the Festival that takes place in November. Each year titles are selected from the annual Mead Festival to participate in this year-long program which brings innovative non-fiction work to communities throughout the United States and abroad.Background
The festival owes its origins (and its name) to renowned anthropologist Margaret MeadMargaret Mead
Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s....
, who worked for 52 years at the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
. She acted as curator in the Museum's Department of Anthropology, where she helped create the Hall of Pacific Peoples, which bears her name. In her lifetime, Margaret Mead greatly advanced the academic standing and popular appeal of cultural anthropology, and was also one of the earliest anthropologists to integrate visual methods into her research, focus on the study of visual communication, and teach courses on culture and communication. "Pictures are held together," Dr. Mead wrote, "by a way of looking that has grown out of anthropology, a science in which all peoples, however contrasted in physique and culture, are seen as members of the same species, engaged in solving problems common to humanity."
In 1976, in commemoration of her 75th birthday, the museum decided to pay tribute to her work with a film festival of top ethnographic
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
and other documentary films. In its early years, the festival focused on ethnographic films and was hosted by the USC Center for Visual Anthropology
USC Center for Visual Anthropology
The USC Center for Visual Anthropology is a center located at the University of Southern California. It is dedicated to the field of visual anthropology, incorporating visual modes of expression in the academic discipline of anthropology...
(directed by Mead's student, the late filmmaker Tim Asch
Tim Asch
Timothy Asch , was a noted anthropologist, photographer, and ethnographic filmmaker. Along with John Marshall and Robert Gardner, Asch played an important role in the development of visual anthropology...
). Today, the Festival continues to exemplify Mead's teachings: that film is a tool for cross-cultural understanding and that it is possible, and important, for societies to learn from each other.
Margaret Mead Filmmaker Award
Margaret Mead Filmmaker Award recognizes documentary filmmakers who embody the spirit, energy, and innovation demonstrated by anthropologist Margaret Mead in her research, fieldwork, films, and writings. Each year the award is given to a filmmaker whose feature documentary offers a new perspective on a culture or community remote from the majority of our audiences' experience as well as displays artistic excellence and originality in storytelling technique. U.S., North American, or World Premiere documentaries (60 minutes or longer) are eligible for the Award. This award has a cash prize.- 2010 Winner: Marc Francis/Nick Francis for When China Met Africa
- 2011 Winner: Yuanchen Liu for To the Light
Further reading
- Lutkehaus, Nancy D. Margaret Mead: The Making of an American Icon. Princeton University Press, 2008.
- "Mead Film Festival." Yarrow, A. New York Times, Monday, September 14, 1987.
- "A World of Families" Press Release, American Museum of Natural History, 2002.