Strange and Sacred Noise

A film by Leonard Kamerling,
Country: USA,
Duration: 82min,
Language: English,
Subtitles: N/A,
Year: 2011

“What would it sound like if the wilderness could sing, and I could hear it singing…” asks Alaska’s preeminent composer, John Luther Adams, in Strange and Sacred Noise, a visual and aural exploration of his “sonic geography” of Alaska. Five renowned musicians travel to Alaska to perform Strange and Sacred Noise in the wilderness environment that inspired its creation. The film chronicles this rare performance of Adams’ monumental percussion cycle on the remote tundra of the Alaska Range over an Arctic summer night.
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In Our Own Image

A film by Leonard Kamerling,
Country: USA,
Duration: 30min,
Language: English,
Subtitles: N/A,
Year: 1999

In Our Own Image takes viewers into the world of seven accomplished Alaska Native doll-makers, where we learn first-hand about the traditional, spiritual, cultural, and financial realities of being a contemporary Alaska Native artist. 
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The Reindeer Thief

A film by Leonard Kamerling, Sarah Elder,
Country: USA,
Duration: 15min,
Language: English,
Subtitles: N/A,
Year: 1974

Lincoln Pelaasi is an elder from the village of Gambell, St. Lawrence Island.  He tells a mythical story about a man who goes out in search of a reindeer thief. The ensuing encounter becomes a test of supernatural powers and human/animal transformation. Pelaasi’s story is called an ungipaghaq, a tale that has been passed down unchanged through generations and is believed to be based on truth. Like many St. Lawrence Island legends, this story is set in Siberia.
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Ryan Matthews: Basically Me

A film by Leonard Kamerling,
Country: USA,
Duration: 18min,
Language: English,
Subtitles: N/A,
Year: 2014

Ryan Matthews is an accomplished artist with Asperger’s Syndrome. Since childhood, he has been perfecting the expression of his singular subject: TRAINS. Ryan talks about the evolution of his work, how art opened him to the colors of the world, and how it shaped his journey from isolation to a bright future expanding before him.
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A Trip to the White Peoples Jungle

A film by Djesa Rachel,
Country: Norway,
Duration: 12min,
Language: English,
Subtitles: N/A,
Year: 1998

A very personal film-essay made by Rachel Issa Djesa shortly after coming to Tromsø in northern Norway to study visual anthropology. Looking at the new environment from her Cameroonian point of view, she expresses her thoughts and feelings about the place and its inhabitants.

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