The Margaret Mead Film Festival is an annual

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

held at the American Museum of Natural History in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. It is the longest-running, premiere showcase for international documentaries in the United States, encompassing a broad spectrum of work, from

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

community media Community media are any form of media that function in service of or by a community. It is the rise of all kinds of alternative, oppositional, participatory and collaborative media practices that have developed in the journalistic context of ‘comm ...

to experimental nonfiction. The Festival is distinguished by its outstanding selection of titles, which tackle diverse and challenging subjects, representing a range of issues and perspectives, and by the forums for discussion with filmmakers and speakers. The Mead Festival has a distinguished history of “firsts,” including being the first venue to screen the now-classic documentary Paris Is Burning (1990) about the urban transgender community. Furthermore the Mead Festival has introduced New York audiences to such acclaimed films as the Oscar-winning documentary The Blood of Yingzhou District (2006), Oscar-winning animated short The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation (2005),

The Future of Food :''You may also be looking for Future food technology.'' ''The Future of Food'' is a 2004 American documentary film written and directed by Deborah Koons Garcia to describe an investigation into unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods ...

(2004), Power Trip (2003), and Spellbound (2002).

Background

The festival owes its origins (and its name) to renowned anthropologist

Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard C ...

, who worked for 52 years at the American Museum of Natural History. She acted as curator in the Museum's Department of Anthropology, where she helped create the Hall of Pacific Peoples, which bears her name. In her lifetime, Margaret Mead greatly advanced the academic standing and popular appeal of cultural anthropology, and was also one of the earliest anthropologists to integrate visual methods into her research, focus on the study of visual communication, and teach courses on culture and communication. "Pictures are held together," Dr. Mead wrote, "by a way of looking that has grown out of anthropology, a science in which all peoples, however contrasted in physique and culture, are seen as members of the same species, engaged in solving problems common to humanity." In 1976, in commemoration of her 75th birthday, the museum decided to pay tribute to her work with a film festival of top

ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

and other documentary films. In its early years, the festival focused on ethnographic films and was hosted by the USC Center for Visual Anthropology (directed by Mead's student, the late filmmaker

Tim Asch Timothy Asch (July 16, 1932 – October 3, 1994) was an American anthropologist, photographer, and ethnographic filmmaker. Along with John Marshall and Robert Gardner, Asch played an important role in the development of visual anthropology. He i ...

). Today, the Festival continues to exemplify Mead's teachings: that film is a tool for cross-cultural understanding and that it is possible, and important, for societies to learn from each other.

Margaret Mead Filmmaker Award

Margaret Mead Filmmaker Award recognizes documentary filmmakers who embody the spirit, energy, and innovation demonstrated by anthropologist Margaret Mead in her research, fieldwork, films, and writings. Each year the award is given to a filmmaker whose feature documentary offers a new perspective on a culture or community remote from the majority of our audiences' experience as well as displays artistic excellence and originality in storytelling technique. U.S., North American, or World Premiere documentaries (60 minutes or longer) are eligible for the Award. This award has a cash prize. * 2010 Winner: Marc Francis/Nick Francis for ''When China Met Africa'' * 2011 Winner: Yuanchen Liu for ''To the Light'' * 2012 Winner: Adam Isenberg for ''A Life Without Words''

Traveling Festival

The Margaret Mead Traveling Film & Video Festival presents highlights of the Festival that takes place in November. Each year titles are selected from the annual Mead Festival to participate in this year-long program which brings innovative non-fiction work to communities throughout the United States and abroad.

2012 Mead Festival

* 18 Days in Egypt by Jigar Mehta and Yasmin Elayat * Bad Weather by Giovanni Giommi - Mead Filmmaker Award Nominee * Bay of All Saints * Bury the Hatchet by Aaron Walker * Buzkashi! * Children of Srikandi * A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet * George Stoney Tribute: How the Myth Was Made * Grab * Himself He Cooks by Valérie Berteau and Philippe Witjes - Mead Filmmaker Award Nominee * The Human Tower by Ram Devineni and Cano Rojas - Mead Filmmaker Award Nominee * Jai Bhim Comrade * Keep Me Upright (Tiens moi droite) by Zoé Chantre - Mead Filmmaker Award Nominee * A Life Without Words (Una Vida Sin Palabras) by Adam Isenberg - Mead Filmmaker Award Nominee * The Light in Her Eyes * Manapanmirr, in Christmas Spirit by Miyarrka Media - Mead Filmmaker Award Nominee * Maori Boy Genius by Pietra Brettkelly - Mead Filmmaker Award Nominee * Mead Arcade * Meanwhile in Mamelodi by Benjamin Kahlmeyer * Nagaland: The Last of the Headhunters by Patrick Morell - Mead Filmmaker Award Nominee * Re-Seeing the Century: The Expedition on Film * Sun Kissed * Sweet Dreams * The Other Half of Tomorrow by Sadia Shepard and Samina Quraeshi - Mead Filmmaker Award Nominee * Through Navajo Eyes * Tropicália * Tundra Book. A Tale of Vukvukla, the Little Rock (Kniga Tundry. Povest' o Vukvukaye - malen'kom kamne) * Tunniit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos (Atuaqsiniq Inuit Tunninginnik) * Wheat and Tares (Het Kaf en Het Koren) by Stefan Wittekamp and Suzanne Arts - Mead Filmmaker Award Nominee * Whose Story Is It? Story Lounge

2011 Mead Festival

2011 Films

* ''At Night, They Dance (La nuit, elles dansent)'' by Isabelle Lavigne and Stéphane Thibault * ''The Bengali Detective'' by Phil Cox * ''Blue Meridian'' by Sofie Benoot * ''Broad Channel'' by Sarah J. Christman * ''Cinema and the Future of Space'' by Michael Shara * ''Convento'' by Jarred Alterman * ''

The Creators ''The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination'' is a non-fiction work of cultural history by Daniel Boorstin published in 1992. It was preceded by ''The Discoverers'' and succeeded by ''The Seekers''. ''The Creators'' is put forward a ...

'' by Laura Gamse * ''Deus Ex Boltanski'' by Robert Gardner * ''Empty Quarter'' by Alain LeTourneau and Pam Minty * ''The End of the World (Kres Šwiata)'' by Mateusz Skalski * ''Extraction'' by Myron Lameman * ''Flames of God'' by Meshakai Wolf * ''Grande Hotel'' by Lotte Stoops * ''Guañape Sur'' by János Richter * ''Hula and Natan'' by Robby Elmaliah * ''Moroloja'' by Alexander Ingham Brooke * ''The Observers'' by Jacqueline Goss * ''Planet Kirsan (Planeta Kirsan)'' by Magdalena Pita * ''Skydancer'' by Katja Esson * ''Space Tourists'' by Christian Frei * ''Voice Unknown'' by Jinhee Park * ''White Elephant (Nzoku ya Pembe)'' by Kristof Bilsen

2011 Mead Filmmaker Award Nominees

* ''All for the Good of the World and Nošovice'' (Vše Pro Dobro Svêta a Nošovic)by Vit Klusák * ''Kinder (Kids)'' by Bettina Büttner * ''Memoirs of a Plague'' by Robert Nugent * ''Rainmakers'' by Floris-Jan van Luyn * ''Small Kingdom of Lo'' by Caroline Leitner, Daniel Mazza, and Giuseppe Tedesch * ''Space Sailors (Fliegerkosmonauten)'' by Marian Kiss * ''To the Light'' by Yuanchen Liu

2011 Retrospective Series

* ''Jaguar'' by

Jean Rouch Jean Rouch (; 31 May 1917 – 18 February 2004) was a French filmmaker and anthropologist. He is considered one of the founders of cinéma vérité in France. Rouch's practice as a filmmaker, for over 60 years in Africa, was characterized b ...

* ''Jero on Jero: A Balinese Trance Séance Observed'' by Patsy Asch, Timothy Asch, and Linda Connor * '' Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance'' by

Alanis Obomsawin Alanis Obomsawin, (born August 31, 1932) is an Abenaki American Canadian filmmaker, singer, artist, and activist primarily known for her documentary films. Born in New Hampshire, United States and raised primarily in Quebec, Canada, she has wri ...

* ''

Les maîtres fous ''Les maîtres fous'' (; "The Mad Masters") is a 1955 short film directed by Jean Rouch, a well-known French film director and ethnologist. It is a docufiction, his first ethnofiction, a genre he is considered to have created. Historical backg ...

(The Mad Masters)'' by

* ''N!ai, The Story of a !Kung Woman'' by John Marshall and Adrienne Miesmer * ''

Trance and Dance in Bali ''Trance and Dance in Bali'' is a short documentary film shot by the anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson during their research on Bali in the 1930s. It shows female dancers with sharp ''kris'' daggers dancing in trance, eventually ...

'' by Gregory Bateson and

* '' A Wife Among Wives'' by

David MacDougall David MacDougall (born November 12, 1939) is an American-Australian visual anthropologist, academic, and documentary filmmaker, who is known for his ethnographic film work in Africa, Australia, Europe and India. For much of his career he co-pro ...

and

Judith MacDougall Judith MacDougall (born 1938) is an American visual anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, who has made over 20 ethnographic films in Africa, Australia and India. For many of the films, she worked with her husband, David MacDougall, also an ...

* ''We Still Live Here (Âs Natayuneân)'' by Anne Makepeace

2011 Jury

The Mead Award jury is led by the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-nominated director of Black Swan and The Wrestler,

Darren Aronofsky Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His films are noted for their surrealistic, melodramatic, and sometimes disturbing elements, often in the form of psychological fiction. Arono ...

, Karen Cooper, director of New York City's

Film Forum Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater at 209 West Houston Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. It began in 1970 as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a $19,000 annual budget. Kare ...

;

Liz Garbus Elizabeth Freya Garbus (born April 11, 1970) is an American documentary film director and producer. Notable documentaries Garbus has made are '' The Farm: Angola, USA,'' ''Ghosts of Abu Ghraib,'' ''Bobby Fischer Against the World,'' ''Love, Maril ...

-nominated director of Bobby Fischer Against the World, The Farm and 2002

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

Stanley Nelson Stanley Earl Nelson Jr. (born June 7, 1951) is an American documentary filmmaker and a MacArthur Fellows Program, MacArthur Fellow known as a director, writer and producer of documentaries examining African-American history and experiences. He i ...

, director of the Emmy-winning documentary The Murder of Emmett Till.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official Website