Ethnographic Films
An overview of documentations and videos using film as research method - published videos or work in progress
Members and associates of the Department ‘Integration and Conflict’ published or will publish the following Ethnographic Films.
Published Videos
Harald Müller-Dempf and his research in Sudan & Kenya
Since 2006, I have been taking along my video film camera on my fieldwork trips to the Toposa in the eastern South Sudan and the Turkana in north-western Kenya. The resulting filmic notes document certain aspects of the life there, each with different focuses and thus in their sum allow for an insight into the local life. My main priority was authenticity. None of the scenes were staged or reshot, everything was filmed in a trusting atmosphere and with the consent of the participants. I deliberately refrained from dramatic shots and sound backdrops, in order to avoid turning the scenes into some exotic sensation but rather show them for what they are: a part of the normal, local life. This also involves adjusting the rhythm of the films to the living pace of the people.
Detail films on various aspects of Toposa/Turkana life, recorded during field research from 1983 until 2016
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Emperor Haile Selassie I. His Burial and the Rastafarians in Shashamane, Ethiopia. A two-part Documentary
Part I: The Burial of Emperor Haile Selassie I. Germany, 2018. 45 min
Part II: Emperor Haile Selassie I and his ‘Burial’ – Perspectives of the Rastafarians in Shashamane, Ethiopia. Germany, 2019. 45 min.
The main topic of the two-part documentary is the burial of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. He died in 1975 but was buried 25 years later. The burial took place in Addis Ababa on the 5th of November 2000. The burial lasted the whole day and was mainly conducted at three places: Meskel Square, St. George Church and Holy Trinity Cathedral. Some Rastafarians attended parts of the ceremony. They still worship Emperor Haile Selassie I as God and Messiah. The first part of the documentary accompanies and comments on the burial. The second part points out the perspectives of the Rastafarians about the burial through interviews with Rastafarians in Shashamane, Ethiopia and relatives of the Emperor (Interview period: 2012, 2013, 2017, 2018).
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Work in Progress
Ina Schroeder