Title: Rivers of sand /
Authors: Gardner, Robert, 1925-2014,; Harvard University.; Studio 7 Arts (Firm).
Publisher: The Film Study Center,
Year: 1974
Subjects: Harvard University.; Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts.; Anthropology Research; Hamar (African people).; Women Ethiopia Social conditions.; Sex role Ethiopia.; Ethnology Ethiopia; Africa Civilization.; Africa, East Civilization.
Abstract: This documentary film portrays the people called the Hamar, who live in the scrubland of Southwestern Ethiopia. The film examines an African tribal society where men and women live separate and unequal lives, a community where the men are masters and the women are slaves. Rivers of Sand is an attempt to disclose not only the activities of the Hamar, but also the frustrations of a life governed by sexual inequality. In several interviews Hamar women speak frankly about the difficulties of their lives. The film observes the women of the Hamar as they dig for water in the dried out river beds surrounding the village and follows the men as they hunt and attend to their personal appearance. Like Robert Gardner's other documentary films, the camerawork and the visual aspects of this documentary carry equal weight with the ethnographic content.