Welcome

We produce, distribute and promote quality ethnographic, documentary and non-fiction films from around the world. We were founded in 1968 by independent filmmakers whose collaborations reflect a lifetime of engagement and respect for their subjects. Documentary Educational Resources' films foster cross-cultural understanding through educational video and film.

IN THE NEWS

The !Kung Series


John Marshall's collected Ju/'hoan (!Kung Bushmen) films were recently added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. For more, read an article in the UNESCO Courier, or visit the Human Studies Film Archives' new web exhibit on the John Marshall Collection.

NEW RELEASE

Owners of the Water: Conflict and Collaboration Over Rivers


Owners of the Water sees a central Brazilian Xavante, a Wayuu from Venezuela, and a US anthropologist explore an indigenous campaign to protect a river from devastating effects of uncontrolled Amazonian soy cultivation.

NEW RELEASE

The Left Eye of God: Caodaism Travels from Vietnam to California


Caodaists practice an Asian synthesis of eastern and western traditions, and tell their stories of exile, anti-colonial struggle and building immigrant congregations in California. This film provides a personal perspective on a largely unknown mystical tradition.

NEW RELEASE

Horses of Life and Death


A two part story, Horses shows a gendered perspective on calendar rituals in Sumba such as the Pasola - a traditional jousting battle with hundreds of horses and riders - which is the Sumbanese New Year celebration.

NEW RELEASE

The Feast in Dream Village


On the eastern Indonesian island of Sumba the majority of the people still follow their ancestral religion, called marapu. Feast focuses on a village ritual to intended restore fertility after a fire and famine.

NEW RELEASE

Fully Awake: Black Mountain College


Fully Awake explores the existence of the experimental Black Mountain College, based in North Carolina from 1933 to 1957, and how its progressive pedagogy influenced many of America's most important twentieth-century artists.

COMING SOON

Masters of the Balafon Series


Hugo Zemp's Masters of the Balafon series examines the fascinating world of musical tradition surrounding the balafon, a West African xylophone with calabash resonators, which is emblematic of the Senufo people of the Côte d'Ivoire.