Ethnographic Films
Below are some examples of Video Ethnography created by Dr. Wesley Shrum.
Women of the Storm
Are women better at civic activism than men? “Women of the Storm” provides an affirmative
answer through the story of a group of women from New Orleans. Following in the tradition
of the fight for voting rights, the Women emerged after the disastrous hurricanes
and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. They were more important than any other other
association in rebuilding the city. Through strategy sessions and insider footage
of Congressional meetings, “Women of the Storm” asks why they were successful, how
they coped with setbacks, and their shift from a local to national agenda.
Keywords: Civic Activism, Women, & Disaster
Screened at these Film Festivals:
Big Easy International Film Festival, Cinema on the Bayou, Delhi Women’s International
Film Festival, Ellensburg Film Festival, Flagler Film Festival, Freedom Film Festival,
Lady Filmmakers Festival, Long Island Film Festival, Rails to Reels Film Festival,
Sunscreen Film Festival
Chick
Illicit brewers, greedy landlords, and cheating recipients of aid. Chick takes up
the challenges of a young American woman who starts a self-help group for disabled
persons. In the Kenyan context, where a hundred years of missionary work has led some
to “wait for donations from America,” even the simple task of building a chicken house
is tricky. Their group development is shown in a weekly meeting beset with both frustration
and success. How do you give, without giving? Where gifts have multiple meanings,
generosity must be redefined.
Keywords: Africa, NGOs, Disability, Women
Brother Time: A Kenyan Tale of Violence and Humanity
Brother Time is a tale of neighbors from different tribes caught in a wider conflict.
After the last presidential election, Kenya erupted in ethnic violence. Most of the
1500 killed lived in the Rift Valley, where members of different groups had lived
peacefully. Like many others, the two friends fell apart during the post-election
period, when suddenly, it was ‘not the brother time’. Filmed during and immediately
after the election, the roots of tribal conflict are explored during a journey through
the Rift Valley. One who saw the worst of the conflict returns home to see his neighbor,
while interviews with Kenyans reveal the political and social causes of violence.
Released during the 2013 election campaign, this message of hope shows it can be Brother
Time once again.
Keywords: Africa, Ethnicity, Civil Strife, Politics, Kenya
Screened at these Film Festivals:
Black Hills Film Festival, Macon Film Festival, Africa World Documentary Film Festival,
Buffalo Niagara Film Festival, Humanity Explored Film Festival, Winnipeg Real to Real
Film Festival, Bay Street Film Festival, Kratovo Ethnographic Film Festival
Light Years
The International Year of Light asked Ethnografilm to create a short film to launch
their event at UNESCO in Paris (January 2015).
Since the beginning of modern cinema, viewers and critics alike have been transfixed
by light contrasted with darkness. This interplay of light and dark was typical of
film noir, a metaphor of good and evil in plots that featured crime, detectives, and
mystery. We celebrate this genre through a salute to Augustin-Jean Fresnel, the inventor
of a lens for lighthouses that was later used for movie and theatre lighting. Light
Years features serial murder and a star-studded group of suspects over a half-century
of film. Whodunnit? Ultimately, we learn that the Fatal Fresnel Lens has incinerated
five cameras that recorded their own demise.
Wesley Shrum and Greg Scott (Directors). Brett Dietz (Composer)
Greg and I love film noir. We were talking about how people get murdered, when we
wondered what it would look like if the technology of filming itself caused the crime?
That is, what if the camera itself kills someone? What if the camera itself is killed?
A fresnel lens-long used in Hollywood to light films sets-will melt a penny in a few
seconds…so Greg stripped one out of a projector and we used it to focus the sun on
the cameras that were filming. We burned up five of them, and they filmed up until
their moment of destruction. Our tribute to light and noir.
Screened at these Film Festivals:
Amarcord Arthouse Television & Video Fest, Baton Rouge Horror Film Festival, Boomtown
Film and Music Festival, Comme Il Faut International Film Festival, Cut to the Chase
Film Festival, Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival, Fantasmagorical Film Festival, Fargo
Film Festival, Geek Out Film Fest, Heritage Film Festival, Los Angeles CineFest, The
Strange Film Awards, WorldFest-Houston International Film & Video Festival