SchoolScapes

Produced by David MacDougall. 77 min. Color. 2007. Available as: VHS and DVD Captioned: No Catalog #: 0161 Order this title Sale Price: $295.00 Apply for Discount

Inspired by the cinema of Lumiere and the ideas of the 20th-century Indian thinker Krishnamurti, renowned ethnographic filmmaker David MacDougall explores the Rishi Valley School, a famous progressive co-educational school in Andhra Pradesh, South India, founded on the educational philosophy of Krishnamurti.

This memorable and innovative film, in which each scene is a single shot, attempts to recapture the freshness of observing the world and is dedicated to the simple act of looking. There are no subtitles and no narration.

SchoolScapes will challenge, engage, and inspire students and faculty alike. It will richly reward viewing and discussion in a wide range of courses in film studies, cultural anthropology, Asian and Indian studies, and education. It will certainly take its place among the long list of classic documentaries produced by David MacDougall.

Reviews

"[The jury] were particularly taken with the formal rigour of SchoolScapes, its observational prowess, affinities to structural filmmaking, and rejection of the expository and narrative inclinations that continue to characterise almost everything that is still subsumed under the rubric of ethnographic and documentary film." -- Official Jury Citation for the 2007 Basil Wright Film Prize, Royal Anthropological Institute Intl. Festival of Ethnographic Film

Awards

• Basil Wright Film Prize, Royal Anthropological Institute (UK) Intl. Festival of Ethnographic Film
• Margaret Mead Film Festival honoree
• Munich International Documentary Film Festival honoree
• Beeld voor Beeld Festival (Amsterdam) honoree
• Tartu Festival of World Culture (Estonia) honoree
• International Festival of Visual Culture (Joensuu, Finland) honoree
• Festival Internacional de Cinema Documental de Lisboa honoree
• Astra Film Festival (Romania) honoree