Beijing Ethnographic Film Festival presents award-winning films on Centennial Oroqen
The three films shot in different periods show the tremendous changes in the social and cultural life of the Oroqen people living near the Chol and Imin rivers in Khingan Tungus in northeastern China, between the early 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. They presents a truly multidimensional cultural panorama of the Oroqen people and their efforts to protect and pass on their cultures.
The Woodsmen
United Kingdom
30’, 1929
DIRECTED BY
Oscar Mamen, Ethel J. Lindgren
PRODUCED BY
The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge
The British anthropologist Ethel John Lindgren (1905–1988) conducted ethnographic research, together with her husband Oscar Mamen, in the north of China between 1929 and 1932. They made many photographs, filmed abundant video materials, and collected many objects, which are now housed in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, England. These materials are precious for the study of the history and culture of the Tungusic peoples in northern China.The Woodsmenis part of the previous video by Lindgren about the traditional hunting life of the Oroqenpeople. The film is a detailed record of the production practices and living habits of the Oroqen people, who lived near the Chol and Iminrivers in Khingan Range, China,one hundred years ago. It is about their hunting, shepherding, horses, migration and home construction, child raising, and interacting and learning from the outside world.
Wulubutie
China
60’ 2014
DIRECTED BY
Tao Gu
FILMED BY
Tao Gu and Lei Hong
EDITED BY
Zhang, Zhenzhong
SOUNDTRACK
Yong Shi and Hongri Yin
The documentary "Wulubutie" tells a story of the former Oroqen hunter Geilibao who contracted for the horse farm in the township and used traditional methods to raise more than 100 Oroqen hunting horses. Although game hunting is prohibited, Geilibao would occasionally go into the mountains, not for hunting, but to guard the ancestors’ hunting culture. Geilibao’s son Liang Liang and his peers are inseparable from the forest but are more enthusiastic about the modern extreme sports. They built a motocross team, giving vent to their passionate youth in the mountains and the wild. On a summer day, one of Geilibao’s horses is shot by a poacher's bullet, which led to a series of cultural collisions.
What Annoys Leilei
China
67’, 2017
DIRECTED BY
Mengting Yu
CINEMATOGRAPHER
JianBin Du, Yongpeng Shi
SOUNDTRACK
Yong Shi
Post-production
Yonghui Cen, Mengting Yu
Oroqen, a mysterious ethnic group with a long history of hunting, lives in the ecological landscape of forest in Xinsheng Oroqen Ethnic Township of Khingan Range in northern China. Leilei, the film's hero lives here. Leilei likes to name animals, feed roe deer, go fishing, play Shagai, hunt with his cousins, and build Cuoluozi (which means “wooden house”). However, after the summer of 2015, Leilei had to leave Xinsheng for Heihe (a prefecture-level city) where he would attend the primary school. Before going to school, Leilei would participate in an Oroqen Language Contest that was to be held in the Gulunmuta Festival. Leilei’s mother signed him up early. However, on the eve of the contest, Lei Lei broke out due to nervousness that he even wanted to quit. His mother talked to him patiently and attempted to build up his confidence. Will Leilei overcome his stage fright and participate in the contest with confidence? As a verbal symbol, the Oroqen language inherits the culture of this ethnic group. However, if the environmental soil of the Oroqen culture is changed, will it remain to nurture the culture, or will it hold back the development of the culture just as Leilei’s stage fright may affect his performance in the contest?