The Garden of Stones
★ 6.5 · 1976 · 81m · Documentary
Secrets and mysteries lose power when they are spread too widely. This is what the villagers discover when they invade an old man's vision-inspired shrine to the namelessly holy.
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The Story of the Weeping Camel
2004 · ★ 7.1
When a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.
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Wolves Return
2019
Wolves divide and fascinate us. 150 years after they were driven to extinction in Central Europe, they are returning slowly but inexorably. Are they dangerous to humans? Is it possible to coexist? Using Switzerland as a point of departure, where wolves have returned in the very recent past, this documentary sheds light on the wolf situation in Austria, eastern Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, and even Minnesota, where freely roaming packs of wolves are more common sight.
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Existence
2005
After reading I Am the Sultan of the Law of Existence by Youssef Idris, a five-day journey through Egypt’s Western Desert, traveling from north to south., covering 2,800 km and shooting for 35 hours, the expedition became both physical and existential. The desert’s vastness and silence echo the text’s meditation on the relationship between man, nature and the universe, transforming the landscape into an active force that reshapes perception and confronts the nature of existence.
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Out of State
2017 · ★ 5.8
Out of State is the unlikely story of native Hawaiians men discovering their native culture as prisoners in the desert of Arizona, 3,000 miles, and across the ocean, from their island home.
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Le Grand Désert
1950 · ★ 10
In 1950, the explorer Roger Frison-Roche made a crossing of more than a thousand kilometers on the back of a camel with the photographer Georges Tairraz II, in the heart of the Sahara, from Hoggar then Djanet in Algeria to Ghat in Libya. From their journey they brought back a large number of color films and documents. Among thousands of photos, they selected 47 images which reflect the various aspects of these immense spaces which occupy a third of Africa in the book "The Great Desert". “The Great Desert, 1000 kilometers on camelback” is the eponymous 85-minute documentary of this epic, released in 1950.
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Survival!
1980
Survival! is a 22-minute, Alan Madison-directed instructional wilderness survival film focusing on safety techniques. It is often described as a surprisingly cinematic, educational piece. Four scenarios depict the dangers of hyperthermia and hypothermia and how common sense, being prepared and following a few important tips can save your life: Scenario 1: A fisherman falls in icy water and suffers from hypothermia. Scenario 2: An unprepared family hikes into the mountains and is surprised by a sudden change in the weather. Scenario 3: A couple guys make multiple mistakes in the desert and experience the consequences. Scenario 4: A hunter gets lost in the forest during a winter storm.
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Gifting It: A Burning Embrace of Gift Economy
2002 · ★ 10
If you think Burning Man is all about naked dancers tripping on substances, think again. This debut documentary by Renea Roberts takes an intelligent and thoughtful look at how the promotion of a gift economy ethic influences a host of social elements. The focus is on community and the power of gifting.
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The Hunters
1957 · ★ 6.5
An ethnographic documentary following four Ju/’hoansi (!Kung) men during a multi-day giraffe hunt in the Kalahari Desert, filmed during the Smithsonian–Harvard Peabody expedition of 1952–53.
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Brotherhood
2022 · ★ 6.3
Jabir, Usama and Uzeir are three young brothers in a Sunni family of shepherds. Since childhood, their father Ibrahim has rigidly trained them in the principles of the Quran and has filled their minds with stories of the Bosnian War.
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Element of Survival
2014
Beyond the sprawl of the urban jungle, 150 race teams meet to do battle in the heart of the Mojave Desert in southern California. The format is "run what ya brung" Unlimited 4 Wheel Drive Racing, and the stakes are higher than ever. Only 20% of the teams that take the green flag will make it to the end, the remainder being left strewn across the desert floor in the wake of one of the hardest off road races on the planet, the King of the Hammers. Follow teams in 'Element of Survival' as they set out to conquer harsh desert at speeds in excess of 100mph, as well as some of the hardest rock crawling North America has to offer, all in an effort to be crowned "King" at the setting of the sun.
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Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa
2008 · ★ 6.5
Twenty-Five miles from town, a million miles from mainstream society, a loose-knit community of eco-pioneers, teenage runaways, war veterans and drop-outs, live on the fringe and off the grid, struggling to survive with little food, less water and no electricity, as they cling to their unique vision of the American dream.
More info →Desert View
2017
The film Desert View is dedicated to the study of building and living in the semi - built satellite city Madinaty, located in the desert east of Cairo. The movie was made during a four-week residency experiment, to which the filmmakers had invited the three-generation Barakat family from ashweyat (informal residential district) Bashtil as a sort of cinematic diary. The temporary residents of Madinaty, filmmaker and Barakat family, captured their observations and experiences of architecture and their use from their respective perspectives and cameras. Two external perspectives on the desert dreams of the Egyptian middle and upper classes.
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