Stage Frights

Son of Psycho Not a sequel...an obsession

Amal A sublime documentary on childhood and bereavement that’s one of several shorts the filmmaker completed while working in Algeria for Georges Derocles’s company Les Studios Africa, for whom he would shortly make his breakthrough feature The Olive Trees of Justice.

Hill Hikers A group of disillusioned couples compete in an obscure sport to obtain money and status.

Skull Art in Papua New G... This video documents the over-modeling in clay of a real human skull in Lae, Papua New Guinea, in the spring of 1997. A painted skull had been purchased from a trader. When Adam Kone visited, he found the skull poorly decorated and set out to mold a more elaborate skull-portrait, adding modern materials, in his friend's house. Asked to sculpt in the garden, he refused. Adam had nothing to do with the dead person, but was weary of head hunting suspicions, and feared arrest. Historically, skull art is associated with tribal warfare and headhunting, banned by the colonial administration in the 1920's, and equally outlawed in modern independent Papua New Guinea. Because of its association with a banned practice, skull art has become rare and is carried out in secrecy.

Kau Faito'o: Traditional... This is a documentary which not only shows the ancient traditional art form of healing, but also tries to capture the essence of being a traditional healer in an ever-changing environment. Traditional healers are shown collecting, preparing and administering herbal remedies that they have passed down from one generation to the next. Healers discuss where, why and how they gained their knowledge and why they choose to carry on age-old customs and practices despite the fact that Tonga is becoming a nation increasingly dependent on western medicine. Tonga's traditional healers are adapting to niches such as prenatal care and physical therapy. Interspersed throughout the film are beautiful scenes of water, agriculture, rainforest and people, all of which comprise current island life in the Kingdom of Tonga.

Myriam's Gaze Myriam tells her story. Like her mother¸ she decided to occupy a vacant lot to build a house to live in with her children. She constants aims to express affection towards her children, and avoid repeating her bitter childhood due to the harsh treatment she received from her mother and those around her. She wants to harness all her energy — which as a child she perceived in her gaze as having an enormous destructive capacity — to become a leader of her community.

Her Name Came on Arrows ... In the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea, French anthropologist Maurice Godelier invites five of his Baruya friends and informants to his house to discuss Baruya kinship and rules of marriage. As Godelier poses questions, the kinship rules that provide the cohesive fabric of Baruya culture are brought to life. Abstract terms are given practical meanings as Godelier investigates Baruya customs of stealing wives, exchanging sisters for wives, stealing names and exchanging 'food for blood.'

Dhaminis of Jumla: Spiri... Explores two spirit possession rituals in Western Nepal. Focuses on two women, known as dhaminis, to examine the role spirit possession plays in the religious life of their communities.

Apparence fminine... Through the unique story of a trans woman, this documentary shows what the experience of trans-identity could have been like in the 1970s.

Rassvet - "I Missed You" Rassvet presents I MISSED YOU Featuring Val Bauer, Tolya Titaev, Cambryan Sedlick, Patrick Franklin, Yaroslav Kondratiev, Igor smirnov, Lilian Fev, Alix Malnati & Joseph Biais. Filmed and edited by Trevor Dare during 2021 in Mexico City, Los Angeles, Moscow and Paris. Additional Filming by Ryan Lee, James Cruickshank and Romain Batard. RASSVET 2022.