Ethnographic Film Programme



Documentary FilmÂ byÂ Georgina Barreiro

Direction and Script: Georgina Barreiro
Production: Georgina Barreiro & Matias Roth
Cinematography: Leonardo Val
Editing: Georgina Barreiro
Sound: Emiliano BiaiÃ±
(2014, Argentina, 71 minutes)

Icaros explores the spiritual universe of the Shipibo indigenous people who live by the Ucayali river, one of the main tributaries of Peruvian Amazon.
Mokan Rono is a young man who is determined to start on his own journey to become a healer. He travels along the river to the ancient land of Canchahuaya, cradle of the Shipibo culture. There, he meets Sene Nita a wise shaman who teaches him to follow a special diet in order to be initiated in the traditional knowledge of the ayahuasca.
Back in his community, Mokan Rono collects the necessary plants to prepare this sacred medicine. Following the advise of his mentor and accompanied Â by his mother, Wasanyaca, a master healer. The young manâ€™s story unveils scenes of lightness and darkness, life and death, reality and illusion, showing the depth of the Shipibo Culture.

Tibetan Shamans: Protectors of All Living

Ethnographic FilmÂ byÂ Leslie Conton

Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies,Â Western Washington University

Direction and Script: Leslie ContonÂ (2011, Nepal, 40 minutes)

This ethnographic documentary depicts nine of the last Tibetan shamans-in-exile in Nepal and Northern India, practitioners of an ancient healing tradition — their shamanic calling, healing and divination practices. The film was made primarily in service to the shamans and their descendants, as testament to the richness and power of these ancient Tibetan practices, and to honor the contributions of these lhapa and lhamo, pau and paumo, to the health and well-being of their communities. The film may also serve as a resource for any young descendants of these shamans, who may be divinely elected in the future to assume this healing role.Â  It was filmed in West Bengal, Sikkim, and Dharamsala, N. India; and Pokhara and Kathmandu, Nepal.

After the screening, I look forward to discussing how these Tibetan shamans help maintain the Tibetan sacred landscape by preserving this ancient healing tradition in exile in Nepal and Northern India, and how these ancient practices offer healing and enhanced wellbeing to dislocated Tibetan communities in Hindu-dominant regions.