Margaret Mead Film Festival
The Margaret Mead Film Festival is an annual film festival held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. 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.
This year, the festival brought more than 40 ground-breaking, international, nonfiction films and media present fresh cross-cultural perspectives. Honoring legendary anthropologist Margaret Mead, the festival reinforces our search for deeper understanding of the limitless diversity and complex texture that is human experience.
In the picture above, the director of "Lunar tribute" discusses his work during the Q and After the film. A documentary inspired in a family portrait taken by Charlie Duke in the moon and that now resides in the galleries of the Natural History Museum. One of the most impressive things about this film was the use of sound and the recording sessions with drummer Jojo Mayer, who recreated musically the experience of ascending to the moon.
This year’s festival presented a rich and diverse group of filmmakers from around the world. Almost for the first time, I felt as if there were enough women directors showing their work and discussing the importance of their projects and political concerns. Three of the films that truly moved me were "Gulistan, Land of Roses"- a documentary that captures a group of women soldiers that are part of a revolutionary feminist group in the mountains of Kurdistan. This is the army with the largest number of women in the world, and also one where women are validated and respected as equals.
During the Q&A, film director Zayne discusses some of the obstacles and most frightening moments during the shooting.
In the film, each of these women describes powerfully a unique vision for a different society. They believe in a revolution that can transform the struggle of Kurds and women like themselves and dedicate their work to this mission-even to the cost of their lives.
“Bosque de Niebla -The Cloud Forest"-a mesmerizing and magical documentary that captures a small community in the Mexican tropics that have created a self-sustaining and independent society
Bosque de Niebla has a remote and meditative quality greatly achieved by the cinematography and use of natural sounds.
One more of the documentaries that captured my attention this weekend was “Four Faces of the Moon” by Amanda Strong (Michif) .
"Four Faces of the Moon" is an award winning animation that fallows a photographer traveling to the past to encounter her ancestors.
During the festival, The Museum of Natural History had on displayed an installation with five sets by Amanda Strong for her film. Her work is about the colonial invasions and the legacy of the Canadian railroads.
This particular set on the picture below speaks of the systematic slaughter of buffalo