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In Pursuit of the Siberian Shaman

Anya Bernstein

In Pursuit of the Siberian Shaman
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About

Long suppressed by missionaries and then by Soviet anti-religious campaigns, Siberian shamanism has experienced an unprecedented revival following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the number of shamans continues to rise. But who are these new shamans? Are they tricksters, magicians, businessmen, or cultural activists? This film takes a behind-the-scenes look at a Buryat shaman living on an island in the Lake Baikal as he moves between intimate shamanic rituals performed for local clientele and shows performed at various resorts for Western tourists in search of "primitive" cultures. 

The film captures cross-cultural miscommunication as the shaman and tourists misunderstand one another, usually comically, sometimes disturbingly, made all the more poignant by the conflict between the dominant Russian Orthodox Church and the local shamanic tradition. Juxtaposing 1920s archival footage of a shamanic performance with its contemporary counterparts, the film grapples with the long-standing tension between the "indigenous" and the "cosmopolitan" in a rapidly transnational world.

“This is an excellent film for the classroom, appropriate to many different subjects, including anthropology, religion, Asian studies, globalization, tourism, and economic development. I fully intend to use it in my anthropology of religion class.” 
—Patty A. Gray, Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Fairbanks

“...In Pursuit of the Siberian Shaman is recommended for collections that concentrate in anthropology or in Asian, European and/or multicultural studies. ” 


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Credits

SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Bilan du Film Ethnographique, Paris, March 2006

Gottingen International Film Festival, Germany, 2006

5th Russian Festival of Anthropological Films, Salekhard, Russia, 2006

Sardinia Ethnographic Film Festival, Italy, 2006

Moscow International Festival of Visual Anthropology, Moscow, Russia, 2006

Society for Visual Anthropology/AAA Film and Video Festival, San Jose, CA, 2006

forumdoc.bh.2006 - Documentary and Ethnographic Film Festival, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Ethnographic Film Festival of Montréal, Canada, 2006

XV International Festival of Ethnological Film, Belgrade, Serbia, 2006 

Convention for the Study of Nationalities at Columbia University, 2007

Parnü: International Film Festival, Estonia, 2007

Festival of Visual Culture, Finland, 2007

Karelian Faces Festival, Russia, 2007

Eyes of Reality, Torun Second Review of Ethnographic Films, Poland, 2007

Learning Resources

In Pursuit of the Siberian Shaman

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Review in Visual Anthropology

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