The 32nd Annual Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival is fast
approaching‹November 14-16, 2008. We are thrilled about this year¹s line-up
and hope you will join us for a weekend filled with films from around the
world. You can find our complete line-up at www.amnh.org/mead. We also have
programs at the Museum and at theaters around town. Please pick up a copy or
let us know if you¹d like one mailed to you.

This year, the Mead Festival is proud to present 30 films featuring almost
as many countries, with 23 premieres, 17 in-person appearances by
filmmakers, and 15 women directors‹the most to date.  We have many great
films from all over the world including: China, The Himalayas, The Gambia,
Cambodia, Portugal, Finland, Russia and more.

The Mead is also presenting some films about CLIMATE CHANGE please check out
PEACE WITH SEALS and MARCH POINT.

Tickets are available online (www.amnh.org/mead), by phone (212.769.5200),
or in person (AMNH ­ 81st St Rose Center entrance).

Highlights include:
IN THE LAND of the HEAD HUNTERS (Edward S. Curtis, 1914) Found in a Chicago
area dumpster in 1947, this silent-era melodrama, has finally been restored
with help of the UCLA Film and TV Archive. Set in a time when the First
Nation peoples had not yet encountered Europeans, the film tells of Motana,
the chief's son, who must overcome many challenges in the spirit and
physical world to woo and win the lovely Naida, a young girl whose
bewitching dancing has the power to save her from the evil Sorcerer. This
film screens with live musical accompaniment by the Coast Orchestra, a
Native American classical ensemble. OPENING NIGHT

MARCH POINT (dir. Annie Silverstein in person) follows three Native American
teens as they fight for environmental rights.

HOLD ME TIGHT, LET ME GO (dir. Kim Longinotto) an intimate tale of
emotionally disturbed children sent to a last resort boarding school in
England. 

ALONE IN FOUR WALLS (dir. Alexandra Westmeier in person) a stunningly shot
portrayal of Russian teenagers imprisoned at a reform school.

BODY OF WAR (dirs. Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro in person) follows an Iraqi
vet, severely wounded during his service, as he faces his new reality of
being paralyzed from the chest down.  A riveting tale of military man turned
disability rights and anti-war activist.

NURSERY UNIVERSITY (dirs. Marc Simon and Matthew Makar in person) chronicles
a group of young parents as they enter the maelstrom of finding the perfect
pre-school for their toddlers.

BOMB HARVEST (dir. Kim Mordaunt in person) follows a team of Explosive
Ordnance Disposal technicians trying to rid Laos of unexploded bombs left by
the US military from the Vietnam War era.

THE LOST COLONY (dir. Astrid Bussink in person) visit the oldest primate
research laboratory in the world on the cusp of its 80th anniversary. With
beautiful archival footage and a wonderfully quirky staff, this film
highlights the ongoing conflict in Georgia.

REVISITING FRANZ BOAS and the NORTHWEST COAST (films and discussion) For the
celebration of the 150th year of Franz Boas's birth, the Mead honors his
contribution to anthropology and his revolutionary use of the visual image
to examine human behavior. Through films and discussions, we will examine
the impact of anthropological studies on the Kwakwaka'wakw and how this
First Nation has reclaimed their right to define themselves.

VISIONS OF ZORA NEALE HURSTON (multi-media presentation and discussion) Mead
honors this renowned writer and Harlem Renaissance intellectual. Deborah
Willis, photographer and historian of African American photography at NYU,
and Lonnie Graham, photographer and professor of fine art at Penn State U.,
present photographs from Embracing Eatonville, their collection of images of
the US¹s first all-Black municipality and childhood home of Hurston. Elaine
Charnov, director, Education, Exhibitions and Programs at the New York
Public Library, presents orphan archival footage from Hurston's fieldwork,
tells of their discovery, and discusses some of the author's pioneering work
as an early ethnographic filmmaker.

SHORTS PROGRAM Featuring The Pests, when termites, lice, bedbugs, and other
creepy crawlies invade, experts from entomologists to exterminators are
called in to do their chemical best to remove the pests. Neatniks and
entomophobes obsess about their worst fear, the common everyday bugs that
don't respect our human limits.  Recycle, a portrait of a homeless poet who
uses thrown-away items to make a community garden in the median of his
street.  And The Sinking Village, a Hungarian village slowly sinks into the
earth as its baffled inhabitants struggle to find out the source of the
problem.

View our full Festival lineup and order tickets on line at www.amnh.org/mead
or pick up a brochure. You can also buy tickets at the Museum (81st St Rose
Center entrance) or over the phone at 212 769-5200.

All screenings are held at the American Museum of Natural History.
For all films, and to pick up tickets, please enter on 77th Street between
Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.
http://www.amnh.org/mead
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