17 May 1999
My Best Fiend
A film that describes the love-hate relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski, the deep trust between the director and the actor, and their independently and simultaneously hatched plans to murder one another.
Choqela: Only Interpretation
This provocative and profound film documents the Choqela ceremony, an agricultural ritual and song of the Aymara Indians of Peru. By offering several different translations of the proceedings, the film acknowledges the problems of interpretation as an inherent dilemma of anthropology.
Top Billed Cast
Similar movies
My Best Fiend My Best Fiend When the Mountains Tremble 
When the Mountains Tremble 30 Sep 1983
When the Mountains Tremble
A documentary on the war between the Guatemalan military and the Mayan population, with first hand accounts by Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú.
The Hunters 
The Hunters 01 Jan 1957
The Hunters
An ethnographic film that documents the efforts of four !Kung men (also known as Ju/'hoansi or Bushmen) to hunt a giraffe in the Kalahari Desert of Namibia. The footage was shot by John Marshall during a Smithsonian-Harvard Peabody sponsored expedition in 1952–53. In addition to the giraffe hunt, the film shows other aspects of !Kung life at that time, including family relationships, socializing and storytelling, and the hard work of gathering plant foods and hunting for small game.
A Wife Among Wives 
A Wife Among Wives 01 Jan 1981
A Wife Among Wives
David and Judith MacDougall are exploring the marriage rituals and roles of Turkana women in this ethnographic documentary. The film's biggest part is taken up by talks between the Turkana people. As one of the first ethnographic documentaries "A Wife Among Wives" subtitles these talks so that the viewer can get a better and probably more personal understanding of the life of the Turkana.
Piripkura 
Piripkura 01 Mar 2018
Piripkura
The last two surviving members of the Piripkura people, a nomadic tribe in the Mato Grosso region of Brazil, struggle to maintain their indigenous way of life amidst the region's massive deforestation. Living deep in the rainforest, Pakyî and Tamandua live off the land relying on a machete, an ax, and a torch lit in 1998.
Naked Spaces: Living Is Round 
Naked Spaces: Living Is Round 01 Oct 1985
Naked Spaces: Living Is Round
Shot with stunning elegance and clarity, NAKED SPACES explores the rhythm and ritual of life in the rural environments of six West African countries (Mauritania, Mali, Burkino Faso, Togo, Benin and Senegal). The nonlinear structure of NAKED SPACES challenges the traditions of ethnographic filmmaking, while sensuous sights and sounds lead the viewer on a poetic journey to the most inaccessible parts of the African continent: the private interaction of people in their living spaces.
A Wealth of Nations A Wealth of Nations 28 Jul 2014
A Wealth of Nations
Experimental ethnographic digital feature exploring International student and teacher identity expressed through musical performance at the University of Jinan, Shandong, China.
Kwaheri Kwaheri 09 Dec 1964
Kwaheri
Early Mondo film featuring primitive rituals, animals being butchered, unusual birth defects, and a legit trepanation scene.
Congo 
Congo 01 Jan 1972
Congo
An experimental ethnographic documentary that criticizes the colonizer view of anthropology.
The Turn The Turn 01 Jan 2016
The Turn
'Mod' is an attempt by the filmmaker at communicating with the young men who hang out at the ‘notorious’ water tank in her neighbourhood in Pratap Vihar, Ghaziabad. The water tank is a space that is frequented by the so-called ‘no-gooders’ of the locality, a place where they play cricket, play cards, drink and smoke up. When she enters the space with her camera, the boys are curious and at the same time wary of it and her. They sometimes resist, sometimes protest, and at times, open up. As the film unfolds we get a hint of the lives the boys lead and the fragile world they create for themselves at the water tank.
Untitled Untitled 21 Mar 2010
Untitled
A revealing one-shot portrait of two Nepali newlyweds in a moment of rest and playful interaction, Stephanie Spray's Untitled challenges our perception of two themes at the very core of ethnographic filmmaking: human relationships and the ways in which they can be experienced by the viewer. Only fourteen minutes long, Untitled is uncut, rejecting the implications of edited sequences and also purposefully excluding subtitles over the couple's conversation. The style of the film confronts the history of ethnography as a controversial study of the "other" by refusing us any clear messages or meanings behind what is being presented, challenging the viewer to come up with their own answers to any questions that may arise.
Granito: How to Nail a Dictator 
Granito: How to Nail a Dictator 14 Sep 2011
Granito: How to Nail a Dictator
A story of destinies joined by Guatemala's past, and how a documentary film intertwined with a nation's turbulent history emerges as an active player in the present.
Corporate Accountability 
Corporate Accountability 21 Feb 2020
Corporate Accountability
Images of Argentinian companies and factories in the first light of day, seen from the inside of a car, while the director reads out documents in voiceover that reveals the collusion of the same concerns in the military dictatorship’s terror.
Wheat Cycle Wheat Cycle 01 Jan 1975
Wheat Cycle
The people and their labor are bound to the land in the cycle of activities to the sowing to the harvesting of wheat. Without narration or subtitles, the film conveys a sense of unity between the people and the land. Filmed in the Balkh Province, an area inhabited by Tajik and other Central Asian peoples. The town of Aq Kupruk is approximately 320 miles northwest of Kabul. The theme of the film focuses on rural economics. The film and accompaning instructor notes focus on herding, and fishing under diverse environmental conditions. The impact of technological change, human adaptation, and governmental extension of market systems are parallel themes.
Barrage du Nil 
Barrage du Nil 18 Apr 1897
Barrage du Nil
Travellers, nomads and salesmen make their way along a dam next to the Nile.
Ghostland: The View of the Ju'Hoansi 
Ghostland: The View of the Ju'Hoansi 02 Nov 2017
Ghostland: The View of the Ju'Hoansi
Remember the culture clash in THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY? This time it's real. One of the most ancient cultures on our planet is undergoing a major change. The Ju/Hoansi Bushmen in Namibia are not allowed to hunt anymore and need to converge with our so called “civilized” lifestyle. For the first time the Ju/Hoansi Bushmen travel through the Kalahari and then right into the heart of Europe. What starts as a look at their fascinating culture becomes an even more fascinating look at our Western lifestyle. A warm and humorous reflection of our habits through the eyes of people who are about to give up their million year old traditions.
Carving Thy Faith 
Carving Thy Faith 21 Oct 2018
Carving Thy Faith
A five-year visual ethnography of traditional yet practical orchestration of Semana Santa in a small town where religious woodcarving is the livelihood. An experiential film on neocolonial Philippines’ interpretation of Saints and Gods through many forms of rituals and iconographies, exposing wood as raw material that undergoes production processes before becoming a spiritual object of devotion. - A sculpture believed to have been imported in town during Spanish colonial conquest, locally known as Mahal na Señor Sepulcro, is celebrating its 500 years. Meanwhile, composed of non-actors, Senakulo re-enacts the sufferings and death of Jesus. As the local community yearly unites to commemorate the Passion of Christ, a laborious journey unfolds following local craftsmen in transforming blocks of wood into a larger than life Jesus crucified on a 12-ft cross.
Lost Pyramids of the Aztecs 
Lost Pyramids of the Aztecs 28 Jun 2020
Lost Pyramids of the Aztecs
For centuries, archaeologists have been trying to understand the Aztec empire and reveal the truth about their origins. Now, new excavations could reveal astonishing secrets about how they lived and what life was like inside one of the greatest empires in history. Where did this group of nomadic people originate from? How did they undertake building their towering pyramids and other ambitious engineering feats using manpower alone? And how was such a powerful empire wiped out after just 200 years of power?
Euskal herri-musika 
Euskal herri-musika 11 Apr 1978
Euskal herri-musika
An ethnographic documentary which looks at the relationship between music and work in predominantly rural cultures. It depicts the lives of fisherman, shepherds and farmers and their relationship with music. The film also describes Basque ancestral instruments, with special emphasis on the origin and history of ‘bertsolarism’ (Basque verse singing) as a form of oral communication.
He Is God 
He Is God 01 Jan 1965
He Is God
About the "concheros", dancers in México City that keep aztec traditions alive.