2007 | Ethnographic Documentary | DV | 26 minutes

 

This film tells the story of a hunt and its repercussions in the land of the Kara, Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia. Morokapel, a young man from the village Chellehte, has succeeded in killing a leopard, which had been attacking the livestock, with a self-made trap. He hands over the magnificent leopard skin to his mother-brother Samo in the village Labuk, who then holds for him a hunting ritual, a mirt, which endows Morokapel with fame and a new status. We follow Morokapel and his companions during these festivities, which take a surprising turn the morning after the ceremony: a discussion breaks out, in which Morokapel’s supporters try to deny Samo the right to the valuable trophy through bending and re-interpreting of ritual rules. Slowly, a social drama unfolds in which the act of filming becomes entangled in the economic and tactical interests of the filmed.

 

CREW

Director | Steffen Köhn

Anthropology and Translation  | Felix Girke

Translation Assistants | Naqwa Baca, Mulla Nukunnu, Ari Bala

Camera | Steffen Köhn

Editor | Steffen Köhn, Florian Walter

 

SCREENINGS (SELECTION)

Festival of Ethnological Film, Belgrade (Award for Outstanding Contribution to Ethnological Film“)

Royal Anthropological Society Film Festival Leeds

Göttingen International Ethnographic Film Festival

Beeld voor Beeld Festival Amsterdam

World Film Festival Tartu

Dialektus Festival Budapest