Mbuti Pygmy Film Study
odd: label: General
content: Local Numbers: HSFA 1991.13.3
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Towles, Joseph A.
label: Collection Creator
content: Turnbull, Colin M.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Colin Turnbull and Joseph Towles films
physdesc: label: Extent
content: Film reels (1 hour 48 minutes, color silent; 3,870 feet, 16mm)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1954
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Film reels
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Footage shot among the Mbuti of the Ituri forest, Belgian Congo (Zaire). Footage includes documentation of both subsistence and ritual activities in forest and village contexts. Sequences include: a Pygmy forest camp, construction of domed leaf houses, barkcloth manufacture, hunting forest deer with nets, collection of honey, and Pygmy boys at play in a tree swing. Sequences of ritual include: an Elima camp on the banks of the Epulu River for a month-long seclusion of pubescent Mbuti girls, the Elima ritual held for the initiation of girls, and a village wedding ceremony. Bride is shown being rubbed with oil, carried on a palanquin into the village, and regailed by dancers. Documentation focuses prominently on the nature of social relations between Ndaka (Bantu) villagers and the nomadic Mbuti forest dwellers.

Supplementary materials: associated texts and annotations (recorded narratives).

Legacy keywords: Hunting nets Mbuti Ituri Rainforest, Zaire ; Housebuilding Mbuti Pygmies Zaire ; Subsistence activities gathering honey Mbuti Pygmies ; Barkcloth manufacture of Mbuti Pygmies Zaire ; Play Mbuti Pygmies Zaire ; Initiation rites elima Mbuti girls Zaire ; Weddings Mbuti Pygmies Zaire ; Dancing wedding ceremony Mbuti Pygmies Zaire

Cameraman: Frances Chapman