Traditional Culture Movies

In the summer of 1961, a group of young Italian anthropologists made a clandestine journey through Spain, in order to record popular songs that...

In the Faroe Islands, hundreds of pilot whales are slaughtered each year in a hunt known as the “Grind.” This gruesome tradition has...

In Peruvian Amazonia, for the first time in many years, a Shipibo–Konibo community prepare to perform the Aneshiati ceremony: a time of dance,...

On Yonaguni Island, the westernmost island of Japan, there is a language in danger of disappearing. How far can we take the language, culture and...

Live action documentary footage of a concert by the Kodo drummers of Japan at the Acropolis, Greece, in 1995, with commentary by members of the drum...

A documentary portrait of life in the Cook Islands, focusing on Rarotonga and neighboring islands. The film records traditional fishing, weaving,...

For thirty years in the late-twentieth century, the people of Tahiti survived dozens of offshore nuclear tests by the French government. Since the...

During the Cultural Revolution in China in the late 20th century, ethnic Manchu people were persecuted and forced to give up such cultural traditions...

A youngster begins to understand the wisdom hidden within legendary whaler-man Tall 12's sea shanty songs in the whaling town of Barrouallie, St....

"Monday's Girls" explores the conflict between modern individualism and traditional communities in today's Africa through the eyes of two young...

Through the unrelenting winter in the north of Japan, a small group of workers must brave unusual working conditions to bring to life a...

A New Yorker journeys to the jungle in the Darien Gap of Panama to reconnect with an indigenous tribe he met and photographed 20 years ago. Their...

A Batak family plans to perform Mangokal Holi — a ceremony to honor ancestors. However, chaos erupts when their great grandfather's skeleton is...

Without Bounds to Beat is an experimental documentary that recounts a town’s revival of an ancient folk tradition, placing it in contrast to...

This short documentary chronicles a four-month period between 1979 and 1980 when residents of Hawaii's Sand Island "squatter" community attempted to...

Shot during three seasons, Kenuajuak's documentary tenderly portrays village life and the elements that forge the character of his people: their...