DER Documentary
Yanomamo Shorts
From the Yanomamo series
color, 87 minutes (disc 1) / 52 minutes (disc 2), 1968-1975
by Timothy Asch and Napoleon Chagnon
Discs One and Two are also available for individual sale:
Yanomamo Shorts Disc One Only
Yanomamo Shorts Disc Two Only
Pricing information and conditions
These DVDs combine 17 short Yanomamo films.
Disc One contains all previously released titles:
Arrow Game
Children's Magical Death
Tug-of-War
A Father Washes His Children
A Man and His Wife Weave a Hammock
Weeding the Garden
Climbing the Peach Palm
Firewood
Tapir Distribution
Disc Two collects eight previously unreleased short films from the series. They only exist as what Asch called "slopticals," duplicated workprints with optical tracks that he assembled in order to receive feedback from fellow filmmakers. Although they lack narration or translated subtitles, they show many interesting aspects of social life:
Dedeheiwa Rests in His Garden — The warmth of adult-child interaction is shown as children play with the resting Dedeheiwa. (6 min)
Children Roasting Meat — Several children sit and play together. One roasts meat and bananas over a small fire. (5 min)
A Woman Spins — A woman reclines in the shade, spinning while a baby tries to play with her thread. (8 min)
Children Make a Toy Hammock — While running around and playing, a few children work on a smaller version of the hammocks their parents make. (7 min)
Sand Play — Boys and girls aged four to seven sit in a tight circle and play around a sand pile. (19 min)
Playing in the Rain — Children and adults play tug of war in the rain. (8 min)
Mouth Wrestling — Teenagers wrestle over a wad of tobacco. (5 min)
Young Shaman — A young shaman, still an initiate, gets sick and loses control on the hallucinogen ebene. (10 min)
This is a 2007 re-mastered/authored compilation and contains additional information about the series.
Other films in the Yanomamo series:
The Ax Fight
Bride Service
The Feast
Jaguar, a Yanomamo Twin Cycle Myth
Magical Death
Man Called Bee: Studying the Yanomamo
Moonblood: A Yanomamo Creation Myth
Myth of Naro, as told by Dedeheiwa
Myth of Naro, as told by Kaobawa
New Tribes Mission
Ocamo is My Town
Yanomamo: A Multidisciplinary Study
Yanomamo of the Orinoco
