UB Plans Margaret Mead Traveling Film Festival

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The American Museum of Natural History's Margaret Mead Traveling Film and Video Festival is the longest-running showcase for independent cultural documentaries in the United States, encompassing a broad spectrum of work from indigenous community media to experimental nonfiction. Each year titles are selected from the annual Mead Festival to participate in this program, which brings innovative work to communities throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Films will be shown in the Screening Room in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. Admission is free, although seating is limited.

The University at Buffalo presentation of the traveling film and video festival is sponsored by: The Department of Anthropology; Samuel P. Capen Chair of American Culture (Bruce Jackson); Center for the Arts; Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender; Humanities Institute; James H. McNulty Chair (Dennis Tedlock); and Department of Media Study, all of UB.

Program 1: Transnational Love -- Sept. 22, 6:30 p.m.
Introduction by: Bruce Jackson
"Marry Me"
Uli Gaulke & Jeannette Eggert. 2003. 105 min. (Germany/Cuba)
This intense portrayal of a transcultural marriage defies the stereotypical representation of Cuban women marrying foreign men for money and a visa. The filmmakers take us through the couple's first two years as they struggle with unexpected obstacles. "Marry Me" presents a highly original observation of cross-cultural identity and alienation.

Program 2: Women and Healing – Sept. 29, 6:30 p.m.
Afghanistan Unveiled
Brigitte Brault & Aina Women Filming Group. 2003. 52 min. Video (Afghanistan)
Filmed by the first team of women video-journalists trained in Afghanistan, this rare film explores the effects of the Taliban's repressive rule and recent U.S. military campaign on Afghani women. Shot in rural regions of the country, the filmmakers present footage of Hazara women whose lives have been decimated by recent events, and yet manage also to find moving examples of hope for the future. The film demonstrates the power of independent film to bear witness and reveal truth.

Madanm Ti Zo (Mrs. Littlebones)
David Belle. 2004. 60 min. (Haiti)
Madanm Ti Zo, a midwife and herbal doctor, runs her own clinic in Jacmal, Haiti. This vrit-style film shot primarily in the courtyard and the thatched-roof hut where "Mrs. Littlebones" examines pregnant women, helps to birth babies, and aids the steady stream of men, women, and children seeking her expertise provides an intimate look into traditional health practices.

Program 3: Radical Politics – Oct. 6, 6:30 p.m.
Introduction by Bruce Jackson
A Panther in Africa
Aaron Matthews. 2004. 71 min. (Tanzania)
In 1969, Black Panther Pete O'Neal was arrested on a gun charge in Kansas City, Missouri. To avoid conviction, he fled to Africa, where he has spent the last 34 years living in exile in Tanzania. During the past three decades, he and his wife have devoted themselves to intense community work dealing with health, literacy, and anti-racism. Now, faced with the possibility of returning to America, O'Neal reflects on his life and confronts his radical past.

a/k/a Mrs. George Gilbert
Coco Fusco. 2004. 31 min. (U.S.)
This hybrid video blends fictional and documentary source material in an imaginative re-creation of a crucial political moment in U.S. history. Co-scripted by Rick Moody (The Ice Storm), it tells the story of an FBI agent who confesses to his involvement in the nationwide search for Angela Davis, the famous radical philosopher and black activist who was on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list in 1970 and an underground fugitive for two months.

Program 4: Honoring Rouch -- Oct. 27, 6:30 p.m.
Margaret Mead: A Portrait by a Friend
Jean Rouch. 1978. 30 min. (U.S.)
Jean Rouch filmed this loving and humorous portrait of anthropologist and filmmaker Margaret Mead in September 1977 while he was a guest of the first Margaret Mead Film Festival. As both a friend and colleague, Rouch reveals a glimpse of the legendary Mead in her later years.

Jaguar
Jean Rouch. 1957. 92 mins. (Niger/Ghana)
Part documentary, part fiction, and part reflective commentary, Jaguar tells the story of three young men from the Savannah of Niger who leave their homeland to seek wealth and adventure on the coast and in the cities of Ghana. This seminal film, which was the result of improvised on-screen action and then later, improvised narrative voice-over, is the story of their travels, their encounters along the way, their experiences in Accra and Kumasi, and, after three months, their return to their families and friends at home.

Program 5: Alternative Ideologies – Nov. 3, 6:30 p.m.
How to Fix the World
Jacqueline Goss. 2004. 28 min. (U.S./Uzbekistan)
This highly inventive digitally animated film brings to life the celebrated work of A.R. Luria's research with the Uzbek Soviet farm collectives in the 1930s. Photographs of the collectives taken during this same period serve as the basis for the animated images. The restaged conversations between the famed cognitive psychologist and the "subjects" reveal the impact of Soviet socialism on these Muslim oral-based agricultural communities.

Oscar
Sergio Morkin. 2004. 61 min. Video. (Argentina)
Oscar is a taxi driver, family man and intrepid guerilla artist who rebels against the bombardment of advertisements in Buenos Aires. In doing so, he attracts attention from both the media and academia as an artist/activist whose story resonates strongly. But can he pay his bills without selling out?

Program 6: The Future of Food – Nov. 10, 6:30 p.m.
The Future of Food
Deborah Koons Garcia. 2003. 88 min. Video. (U.S./Canada/Mexico)
What will food look like for future generations? Will all plant species become private property? The Future of Food raises important questions about genetically modified food. It highlights the role of corporations and government in agriculture, and the role consumers have yet to play in determining what we will eat in the decades to come. Viewing this film, you'll never look at food the same way again.