It takes a vast array of individuals to sustain an ecosystem, and the sum exceeds the parts. When humans come together, in collective action but also in collective joy, what cannot be attained? This issue looks at such occasions of vital connection: celebration, ritual, festival, and amplified communal will for a better world. Not to mention dinner parties, holidays, birthdays, bachelorettes, and even other less definable occasions. everything else that brings us together (or else, alas, becomes opportunity for friction). All these Festivities form a network that spans biology, sociology, and culture, linking rites across the world.
In a family made up of a grandmother, daughter and a 9-year old granddaughter, granddaughter is forced to eat. The moral supporter of this little girl who feels contented about her games and within her own world, is a man behind the curtain only visible to her and no one has any clue whether this ma
Trinitario – On The Edge is a 16mm analog short documentary directed by Denise Speck and Oliver Milne. The documentary is about stories in the cocoa industry in Trinidad and Tobago that are worth being told. Four cocoa farmers across Trinidad share their very unique perspectives about the past
On a remote German island, the inhabitants of a village gather to smash crockery as part of a traditional eve-of-wedding celebration. Ten-year-old Fina has been looking forward to this event for weeks, but the day takes an unexpected turn. While the guests immerse themselves in the excitement of the
This home video documents how a mother and a daughter celebrated Norooz at home. As they aren't surrounded by an Iranian community, some of the rituals such as jumping over fire have been adapted to living in a flat. The film looks at the small but important domestic gestures that constitute the set
The inhabitants of a village witness an unusual event. The religious figures that surround them come alive and leave their accustomed places. The statues step down from shrines and niches, from altars and pedestals. They turn their backs on the village. Nobody knows where they are heading and why th
An 11-minute tape focused on greenish night-vision textures and certain high-camp performance values, organized around a dysfunctional family "celebrating" several birthdays. We see an elderly woman in apparent dementia staring as her "party" goes on around her, squares of blood-red sheet cake passe
Through dancing, the Motherfucker's Birthday shows the evil of the dictator and the horror people endure under powerful political leaders. The film presents dancing, a universal and uniquely human activity often representing joy, with eerie footage of Saddam and his sons' torture tools while they da
TERREIRO TIA MARIA DA BAHIA a film by Vincent Moon & Priscilla Telmon, Petites Planètes produced by Fernanda Abreu, Feever Filmes ▼ An Umbanda ritual happening during New Year's Eve on the beach of Copacabana, Brazil's biggest new year party that attracts thousands of people wearing white, pr
On the night of August 14, 1791, a Vodou ritual that took place in Bois-Caïman became the precursor to the first mass uprising against slavery and the birth of Haiti, the world's first Black independent republic. Since then, these ceremonies of artistic expression have been a mainstay of Haitia
Dreaming of Baroque Biology is a short video captured during a live performance by Canadian artist Jennifer Willet as part of the Ontario Culture Days Festival at Point Pelee National Park in 2024. Inspired by Felinni's Juliette of the Spirits (1965), this dream like sequence captures the confusion
Every four years, we can find a generous paper flower garden in the arid landscape of Alentejo, Portugal. This strange mirage is made possible thanks to the people of Campo Maior who gather for months to transform their village into the image of their dreams. The "Flower Festival", an ephemeral art
In the small town of Harrisville, NH, a joyful tradition takes center stage in "The 2nd Annual Zucchini Festival," a short film from 1983. The residents, known for their abundant zucchini harvests, celebrate their bounty with a series of delightfully quirky events. The film captures the spirit of co
Today is a day of celebration for Ajju: his father is turning 90. However, the old man no longer recognises his loved ones and embarks on a single-minded quest to find his lost dentures. In this playful and humorous film, the protagonist's constant memory losses result in disorienting time slips, an
TONARI (となり) is the Japanese word in common vernacular for "next to" or "neighbor." Typically we think of our neighbors as the people closest to us. The ones we wave to in the morning on our way to work, or the barista at the local coffee shop who already knows your order. But in the modern world, y
A mesmerising account of the lives of women in Kosovo made from archival VHS footage.
A Taiwanese celebration, a Nigerian Harvest thanksgiving, a Turkish wedding, the official state holiday of the Ivory Coast, a Thai New Year, a Roma meeting, a Czech booze up. Almost every country, every culture, every ethnicity is represented in a large Middle European city such as Vienna, and has i
Filmed during two 'San Juan Bautista' celebrations in Caracas and Naiguatá, Venezuela, in June 2026, this short film brings together fragments of an experience observed firsthand. Through a montage built from impressions, gestures, bodies, and rhythms, the film approaches a tradition recogniz
Mau: The Spirit Dreams of Cheraw is a film from Mizoram, through Cheraw (Bamboo dance)and ritual folklore, revealing the forgotten memory of the story of the mother who dies at childbirth. The film shows a re-imagined dance of the mother spirit. Bamboo Dance was performed as a way to pacify the soul
The film "Dessert Dachshund" directed by Betina Bożek is an original and surreal story about a Dachshund, who, enclosed in a wedding cake, bodes for the happiness of the young couple. The joyful disposition of the dog gives the mood to the animation, which in light and humorous way tackles the unive
FESTA DE IEMANJÁ a film by Vincent Moon & Priscilla Telmon, Petites Planètes produced by Fernanda Abreu, Feever Filmes ▼ Celebrations in Salvador de Bahia on February 2nd, known as the annual Day for Iemanjá, the Sea Goddess of the Orixás pantheon, the most important deit
Filmed at NYC's Wigstock Festival in 1990 and 1991, Ken Brown's super 8 camera creates a choreography of colors, patterns and vibes in this celebration of liberation style. With pulsing psychedelic sounds by Caleb Sampson and Ken Winokur.
"Messages from Earth" is a documentary that presents the feelings, opinions and views of four indigenous people about the so-called "civilization" and explains their life system called: "Mother Earth". Filmed in February 2020 and edited during the coronavirus exploitation, the film presents importan
Cheo is a restless and rebellious boy, mistreated by his father whenever he drinks too much. The night of "San Juan" (Saint John's Eve) that his Mapuche community prepares could be the moment when Cheo finds his revenge.
June 2042. The organic farm of "L'aiguille" is bustling with activity. Midsummer is near, announcing, like every year, the end of the compulsory ecological service. It is time for Nour, Léon and the others to say goodbye and to choose the life they wish to lead.
There are 365 days in a year, and at the end of it, millions of euros' worth of fireworks go up in smoke in the Netherlands, as in many other parts of the world. Many people enjoy this, but for animals, New Year's Eve is a total nightmare. To make their experience tangible, Sebastian Mulder's docume
Remnants of hand-processed textures animate a flame framed between the artists's heels.
Every winter, a small town in Castilla-La Mancha called Luzón transforms into a little hell. Its inhabitants, dressed as devils, venture into the darkness and roam its streets with horns, bells, and smeared with soot. Una dança non sancta could have been just an anthropological documentary. Instead,
Mylène, 45 years old is a cleaning maid on a ferry boat. Tonight her colleagues are organizing a surprise party for her birthday. But on the gift voucher, Mylène reads her old name, a name that she doesn't' want to see anymore, her male name. Who wants to blackmail her? Whereas the par
Shot with a handheld telephoto lens, Semana Santa is a short experimental documentary filmed during the centuries-old Holy Week processions of a small town on the Andalusian coast. Its unstable gaze lingers on hands, faces, gestures, and religious figures, transforming acts of collective devotion in
Powwow People is a radically immersive, durational portrait and cinematic celebration of a contemporary powwow by Sky Hopinka, one of the most vital artists working today.
Death and life dance together in this poetic short filmed in the streets of Mexico City. It is the fall of 2017, 32 years after the 1985 earthquake. While cracked buildings testify to the violence of a new quake, preparations for the Day of the Dead are in full swing. Flowers, music and masks come o
Obscuro Barroco is a documentary-fiction about the dizzying heights of gender and metamorphosis. It is also a cinematographic hommage to a land of extremes; the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Following the path of iconic transgender figure Luana Muniz (1961-2017), the film explores different quests
We walk towards the highest that our legs and mind allow us. Here, where oxygen is diluted with every step, our breaths are intertwined with music and are lost among the explosions, screams and endless mountains. The wind carries all the live weight on its shoulders and sings in the language that on
What is a "Schützenfest" (shooting festival) and what is it for? According to the websites of shooting clubs and club supply stores, these celebrations serve a dual purpose: on the one hand, they preserve traditions, and on the other hand, they offer a wide range of entertainment for the local
Featuring Indigenous women of various generations, Pidikwe integrates traditional and contemporary dance in an audiovisual whirlwind that straddles the border between film and performance, somewhere between the past and the future. The film explores the links between the intoxication of the Roaring
A contemplation on the similarities between insects' life cycles and humans' desires for celebration, festivity, and consumption.
After enduring three years of the Zero-COVID policy, the Chinese government suddenly relaxed its pandemic control measures in early 2023. The lives of many elderly individuals faded away before the onset of spring. Following the careful handling of the funeral arrangements for both parents, a young
Garden of Eden, jardin à la française, English, Zen, Bahai, Arab-Islamic: Gardens reflect history, culture and heritage. They are some of the rare places where intimacy, gatherings, fun and religion coexist. Jardins Paradise ironically diverts the image of the garden as the embodiment
रक़ीब is a short experimental film staged as a Dadaist dinner party where love, rivalry, and collective joy collide inside an intimate social microcosm. It treats the dinner table as a political and emotional ecosystem in which everyday performances of desire and worldliness become a shared festivity
" The ancient Bulgarian ritual of fire dancing is preserved on hand-processed 16mm film, and images of movement, fire and landscape burn like imprints of light left behind when we close our eyes." - DOXA, 2024. All images and sounds are recorded during Zheravna Festival of Costume in Bulgaria, where
Feasting the Lab was an art/science cabaret curaited by Jennifer Willet in January 2018 in celebration of the opening of the new INCUBATOR bioart lab in the School of Creative Arts, at the University of Windsor. The party was hosted in the lab the night before the facility was certified to house che
It's the time of celebration and merriment in the Alto Xingu. The dry season is coming to an end. The smell of the damp earth is mixed with the sweet perfume of pequi. But it has not always been like that: if it had not been for a death, the pequi would possibly not exist. Linking the past to the pr
Observational documentary. Tultepec, Mexico's Feria Nacional de la Pirotecnia (National Pyrotechnic Festival). Parading families push handmade papier-mâché bulls down crowded streets, built in honor of the saint of fireworks, San Juan de Dios (St. John of God). Night comes. Bulls loaded
In September 1986, the city of Cleveland attempted to set a special record: the simultaneous launch of 1.5 million balloons. But fate intervened, and the result was both crazier and more tragic than anyone could have imagined. More from the Mixtape: go.topic.com/2snbncu
A group of facilitators, apprentices, volunteers, people living with dementia, and their supporters gather in a community hall. Together, they re-enact a wedding, an experience in which the past is revisited and new memories are created.
Chicago's summertime blazes, unanchored. Skywriting out of time. Part of a series of nighttime long exposures, Blue Loop, July creates an odd document of a long-standing celebratory tradition in one of Chicago's lower west side neighborhoods. By leaving the camera's shutter open for seconds at a tim
A young Pribumi woman confronts the realities of how she is valued by her society in an imagined scenario of post-New Order Indonesia.
Sprout. In the vacant lots against the hammering of buildings always under construction, between walls of granite, cement and sheet metal with rust, moss and cats; on the hillside between the train and the river, next to the traffic on the highway, facing the subway, vegetable gardens sprout. In thi
This film was commissioned by the Austrian television ORF. Kren was asked to document the anniversary celebration for the program "Kunststücke," a cultural magazine. He shot single frames of the events and used the actual recorded sounds as the soundtrack. (Hans Scheugl)
A 30-year-old scholar, intelligent and beautiful yet socially crippled, is forced to attend a bachelorette party where her quest for authenticity leads to an unavoidable confrontation with old acquaintances.
A family visits Bahia de Kino, Sonora, for a Seri coming-of-age ceremony.
This is a music video for the song "Insect Express" by Brooklyn-based musician, El Tryptophan. The video explores an intersection of species; insect flight patterns and modes of industrial travel merge as collective rituals in a fever dream.
In 19th-century Paris at the Salpêtrière Hospital, patients were hypnotized onstage to reproduce the symptoms of hysteria for public audiences. Over a century later, high school cheerleaders are fainting en masse.
This visual essay blends animation and live-action footage to take the audience on a journey through the Andean mountains and snowy peaks of Cusco, Peru. The film traverses the director's reflections on walking as a metaphor for embracing life's fragility and transformation. By revisiting Andean rel
A cat lover, Jesus leaving the cross and Christmas carollers holding pitchforks are set against a snowy and icy scenery. 'Zima', a psychodelic journey to a small fishing village, collects as if in a lens the behaviour, customs and vices of the Polish provinces. In this small community, different vie
Depicts pagan festivals where nothing is spared: neither violence, nor danger, nor blood. In Paucartambo, during the Feast of the Virgin, people drink and dance until exhaustion, going from night to day without interruption, for five days. They dance in the streets, in the houses, and on the graves.
Over a day, Giulia Grossmann follows the Huichols, one of Mexico's most ancient Indian ethnic groups, in search of the peyote they use to reconnect with divinity. In the night, the bodies unwind around the fire. Under the effect of this hallucinogenic drug, the celebrants decide which sacrifice will
We follow this colorful parade as the ants traverse the forest and enter their underground colony. They descend through a labyrinth of tunnels to the heart of their colony where they lay their offerings at the feet of their idol – a golden ant.
Happy-End is a found footage film about oral ritual (…), about seasonal celebrations, and about a married couple, who quite obviously understand how to enrich and enliven companionship. We see a pair pouring drinks, cutting cakes, drinking toasts... (Bert Rebhandl)
This stop-motion short film explains how the human digestive system works in a cut-out and colorful universe.
After swallowing a caterpillar in a tequila shot, Tristan falls into a coma. Now he's alone with his thoughts: that cute girl, the annoying nurse, his overbearing mother, and, of course, his social media presence.
A family of migrants brought the Vaquero traditions to the land of the Bison weaving yearned connectios with the past that until today stay strong to the resiliance of the culture but above all there is something bigger than all human history and migrations stories, nature and specifically plants wi