Thursday 10th May 2012

2.30 pm (30 mins)

Writing Panare - Portrait of a Linguist Fieldwork
Director Paul Henley

Marie-Claude Muller is a linguist who has worked for many years with the Panare, an Amerindian people of Venezuelan Amazonia. She has now been commissioned by the government literacy programme to prepare reading primers in Panare. Writing Panare shows her gathering a range of materials for the primers, from zoological taxonomies to myths. She is also shown working with Panare schoolteachers on an alphabet to accommodate local dialectical variations. These scenes are intercut with an interview in which she describes the principles underlying the literacy programme and considers its role in helping the Panare confront the consequences of contact with the national society. The film also features three myths told at length by a senior Panare man as well as scenes of everyday life in a number of different Panare communities.

3:00 pm (57 mins)

Firekeepers

Director Rosella Ragazzi

Film Languages: Sami, English Norwegian

The joik, a traditional Sámi song form, has recently become more widely heard, mainly due to the popularity of the band Adjagas. This documentary film explores a fascinating, evolving mode of performance that is a healing force for the Sámi people. The documentary follows young joikers Sara Marielle Gaup and Lawra Somby of Adjagas from the stage to their homes to reveal how issues of colonization, identity, endangered language and spirituality are bound up with their music