Anthropology

Produced by the directors of Sweetgrass and Leviathan, Manakamana is an exhilarating, one-of-a-kind documentary experience. Filmed entirely inside the narrow confines of a cable car, high above a jungle in Nepal, that transports villagers to an ancient mountaintop temple, it is an acute ethnographic investigation into culture, religion, technology and modernity.

A forbidden love story played out in a decade that would soon spawn the sexual revolution, Suitcase of Love and Shame reconstructs a mesmerizing and erotic narrative from 60 hours of reel-to-reel audiotape discovered in a suitcase purchased on eBay. A fascinating, one-of-a-kind documentary, it addresses issues of morality, sexism, privacy vs. exhibitionism, and the impact of technology in yesterday's America as well as today's.

A collaboration between two Chinese artists, Xu Ruotao and Huang Xiang, and acclaimed American filmmaker J.P. Sniadecki, Yumen is a documentary-fiction hybrid that tells the story of a ghost town, a once-thriving oil-rich community in China's western Gansu province, through a series of wandering characters and inventive vignettes. Produced with the support of SEL

A lost masterpiece, now exquisitely restored, Dominique Benicheti's Cousin Jules is a beautiful, immersive documentary portrait of a farmer living with his wife in the French countryside. One of the earliest documentaries to be shot in CinemaScope with stereo sound, it is a record of a time and a way of life that has long ago vanished.

Like many instances of discrimination faced by people with disabilities around the world, the troubling escalation of violence against people with Albinism in Tanzania has been fueled by societal prejudices, lack of education and deep-rooted superstition. In The Shadow of the Sun follows the efforts of two individuals who are risking their lives to combat this virulent prejudice.

Produced at Harvard's groundbreaking Sensory Ethnography Lab (Sweetgrass, Leviathan, the upcoming Manakamana), People's Park is an exhilarating single shot documentary that immerses viewers in an unbroken journey through an urban park in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, offering a fresh gaze on public interaction, leisure and self-expression in China.

After decades of sold out shows and international recognition, musician Gilberto Gil embarks on a new kind of world tour. Traveling from Brazil to Australia and Africa, where he meets with local indigenous communities, Gil continues the work he began as Brazil's first black Minister of Culture - promoting the power of cultural diversity in a globalized world and sharing his vision for the future: a diverse, interconnected planet filled with hope, exchange… and of course music!

A compelling, thought-provoking documentary, F*ck for Forest explores a unique form of modern environmental activism where sexual liberation merges with global altruism. This critically acclaimed film follows several members of the eponymous organization as they raise money for struggling indigenous tribes in the Amazon by distributing home-made erotic films on the internet.

Featuring extensive interviews, rare photographs and archival footage, this is a fascinating, candid portrait of Dennis Banks ("Nowa Cumig" in Ojibwe), co-founder of the American Indian Movement. The film chronicles the history of the American Indian Movement, from the Custer Trail to Wounded Knee to the Longest Walk.

On a remote archipelago in the Pacific Northwest, an uncommon abundance of animal and vegetable life has sustained the Haida people for countless generations. Following traditional food harvesters as they gather and prepare for the winter, Survival Prayer is an intimate ethnographic portrait of an indigenous community and the conditions - environmental and man-made - that threaten their way of life.

The Young Ancestors explores the growing movement within American Indian communities to revitalize their native languages before they become extinct. An inspiring documentary, it follows a group of teenagers, who as part of a pilot program created by the Indigenous Language Institute, are learning their native language for the first time.

A heart-wrenching documentary, Restoring the Light observes the work of a dedicated ophthalmologist who operates a non-profit mobile eye clinic in one of China's poorest regions, as well as the lives of his patients. It captures the adversities and hopes of a population that has been left behind in the wake of China's dizzying economic boom.

A gorgeously filmed ethnographic portrait of an elderly Kenyan shark fisherman who has a primeval bond with the ocean and its creatures, Wavumba: They Who Smell of Fish delivers an enchanting depiction of Africa's storytelling tradition, where fantasy, dreams, belief and reality blend.

An engrossing ethnographic work, Canícula is a study of the rich cultural heritage and traditions of the Totonac people of Veracruz, Mexico, who have resided in this region for thousands of years. Beautifully photographed, this documentary features rare footage of the Totonac's "voladores" ritual ("the flying dance"), named an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.

In her Oscar nominated documentary Promises, filmmaker Justine Shapiro took us into the lives of Palestinian and Israeli children in and around Jerusalem. Her new documentary, Our Summer in Tehran, transports us into the seldom seen realm of middle class family life in Iran, transcending overt politics for a perspective Western media has little interest in showing.

A landmark documentary trilogy, Sun, Moon, Stars captures the tumultuous changes taking place in Indonesia by following three generations of a single Jakarta family for over a decade. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich, it offers an unparalleled, vibrant portrait of the world's fourth most populous nation; and home to the largest Muslim community.

For over a decade, noted filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich followed the lives of an Indonesian family in Jakarta. In this final film of his acclaimed Sun, Moon, Stars trilogy, Helmrich confronts the most important issues facing the country's fast-changing society: corruption, conflict between religions, gambling addiction, the generation gap, and the widening disparity between rich and poor.

The end of the Suharto regime ushered in an era of rapid sociopolitical upheaval in Indonesia. In this second installment of the Sun, Moon, Stars trilogy, filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich returns to the Sjamsuddin family to intimately capture the changes taking place in their country, including the troubling rise of Islamic fundamentalism.

Against a backdrop of social unrest that led to the ouster of Indonesia's long-time dictator President Suharto, The Eye of the Day begins filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich's award-winning trilogy Sun, Moon, Stars. It introduces us to an ordinary family living in the slums of Jakarta; a family Helmrich would return to and document for more than a decade.

When FSA photographer Arthur Rothstein came to Virginia in 1935, his assignment was to photograph local residents displaced by Shenandoah National Park. But as this documentary uncovers, Rothstein would play a role in the forced institutionalization and sterilization of many of the area's residents, establishing a disturbing connection between the American eugenics movement and Depression-era documentary work.