
Pam Kuso Kar (Breaking Pam's Vases)
★ 9 · 1974 · 12m · Documentary
In February 1974, Pam Sambo Zima, the oldest of the priests of possession in Niamey, Niger, died at the age of seventy-plus years. In his backyard, the followers from the possession cult symbolically break the dead priest's ritual vases and cry for the deceased while dividing up the clothes of the divinities.
More Like This

Color-Blind
2019 · ★ 4
A synaesthetic portrait made between French Polynesia and Brittany, Color-blind follows the restless ghost of Gauguin in excavating the colonial legacy of a post-postcolonial present.
More info →
Encounters in Yakutia
1970
Taking the form of a travel diary of a television journalist, this documentary tells about the life and work of the people of Yakutia: pilots, artists, drivers, and reindeer herders.
More info →
Sahel: Pátria ou Morte
2025
For decades, the countries of the African Sahel region have been targets of colonialism and exploitation by France and other Western powers. This documentary addresses the popular resistance and new paths of development forged by Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali after experiencing civil and military uprisings in recent years. The film explores the popular resistance that sustains the revolution in the three Sahel countries and was made after extensive coverage of the ongoing social dynamics and geopolitical disputes.
More info →Beauty and the Beast: Two Igbo Masquerades
★ 9
Beauty and the Beast: Comparing Two Igbo Masquerades By Herbert M. Cole
More info →
Ainu Neno An Ainu
2021
This documentary started as part of a photography project about the indigenous Ainu population in northern Japan, portraying people from tightly knit communities. They feel deeply connected by their culture and tradition. With gorgeous pictures, the directors explore how different generations of Ainu reflect on their identity after centuries of oppression.
More info →
Circumcision
1949 · ★ 4.8
Rites and operation of the circumcision of thirty Songhai children on the Niger. Material of this film has been used to make "Les Fils de l'Eau".
More info →
Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti
1993 · ★ 6.3
This intimate ethnographic study of Voudoun dances and rituals was shot by Maya Deren during her years in Haiti (1947-1951); she never edited the footage, so this “finished” version was made by Teiji Ito and Cherel Ito after Deren’s death.
More info →
Aloni
2022
A young student heads back to his village during the COVID-19 lockdown to collect ethnographic material for his thesis, but as quarantine stretches on, the rituals and everyday scenes he records start bringing back childhood memories-leading him to piece the footage together into something more personal.
More info →
An Unholy Dance
2026
Every winter, a small town in Castilla-La Mancha called Luzón transforms into a little hell. Its inhabitants, dressed as devils, venture into the darkness and roam its streets with horns, bells, and smeared with soot. Una dança non sancta could have been just an anthropological documentary. Instead, it delves into the inferno with the town’s residents to participate in and immortalize this unholy ritual.
More info →
Drums from the Past
1971 · ★ 6.4
Filmed in May 1971 in Niger, this short documentary records a possession ritual performed by the Simiri people in response to a locust invasion. The ceremony centers on the beating of the archaic drums Tourou and Bitti, used to invoke spirit forces through music, dance, and trance. Shot in a single continuous take, the film documents a concentrated moment of collective ritual practice, reflecting Jean Rouch’s first-person ethnographic approach and direct participation in the event.
More info →
The Bounty Hunter of Mongolia
2021 · ★ 8
In the Darhat valley in northern Mongolia, the horses of nomadic tribes are stolen by bandits who then sell them to Russian slaughterhouses. Shukhert, a brave horseman, relentlessly pursues them through the Mongolian taiga, bordering Siberia.
More info →Atilogivu: The Story of a Wrestling Match
1982
While no wrestling is actually depicted, Atilogivu: The Story of a Wrestling Match documents gymnastic dancing to drum and flute music of the Ibu people, east of the River Niger.
More info →