Mammy Water
Sustainable Communities • 19m
Directed by Jean Rouch • Documentary • 1956 • 18 minutes
In MAMMY WATER, Jean Rouch depicts the surf boys of the coastal village of Shama, at the foot of the Pra River. Their success is governed by water spirits ('Mammy Water'). When the catch is bad, villagers must honor the spirits with a ceremony if they wish to change their fortunes.
More strictly observational than most of Rouch's films, MAMMY WATER takes an intimate look at the spiritual traditions and the wider life of a West African fishing village.
"After a ritual sacrifice is held to appease the angry ocean spirits, fishermen return to shore with a copious catch, young boys play in the gentle waves of a now-tranquil ocean, and the voice declines to comment as the images are left to communicate the relaxed joy of the moment."—Matt Losada, Senses of Cinema
Up Next in Sustainable Communities
-
Thinking Existenz - Ep 10 - Braden Al...
Directed by Graça Castanheira • Documentary • With Braden Allenby • 2013 • 30 minutes
Ten personalities from diverse social and geographical backgrounds reflect on the world and its future. A portrait in multiple voices of contemporary reality, revealing the deep connections that exist between o...
-
Company Town
Directed by Natalie Kottke-Masocco & Erica Sardarian • Documentary • 2017 • 90 minutes
Crossett, Arkansas is home to about 5,500 people, one Georgia-Pacific paper and chemical plant owned by the billionaire Koch brothers, and a startling rate of cancer and illness. This documentary follows l...
-
Modern Life
Directed by Raymond Depardon • Documentary • 2014 • 83 minutes
Photographer and filmmaker Raymond Depardon is renowned for his documentation of the French countryside. In Modern Life he casts an affectionate and irreverent eye on a small community of farmers as they are confronted by the problem...
