October 11, 2018
Ilisa Barbash, Curator of Visual Anthropology, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology
Sue Marshall Cabezas, Former Executive Director, Documentary Educational Resources
Ross McElwee, Professor of the Practice of Filmmaking, Department of Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University
Moderated by Alice Apley, Executive Director, Documentary Educational Resources
Thirty years after its release, N!ai, the Story of a !Kung Woman remains an exemplar of ethnographic filmmaking. Directed and edited by John Marshall and Adrienne Miesmer, the film documents the life of N!ai, a Ju/hoan woman and the harsh realities of apartheid in 1980s Namibia, and it presents an intimate portrait of life in one of the last hunting and gathering communities. In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of Documentary Educational Resources, this program will explore the film’s importance to the preservation of intangible culture, and Marshall’s influence on the development of educational, personal, and activist documentaries.
Presented in collaboration with Documentary Educational Resources