John Marshall

Directing

John Marshall

Born November 12, 1932 · Massachusetts, USA

Died April 22, 2005 · aged 72

John Kennedy Marshall (November 12, 1932 – April 22, 2005) was an American anthropologist and acclaimed documentary filmmaker best known for his work in Namibia recording the lives of the Ju/'hoansi (also called the !Kung Bushmen). Marshall first traveled to the Kalahari Desert and met the Ju/'hoansi of the Nyae Nyae area in 1949 on a trip initiated by his father. Throughout the 1950s and 1960's …

Known For

Titicut FolliesTiticut Follies · 1967
Titicut Follies
★ 7.31967
MovieDocumentary
Employing methods of direct cinema–observation, limited stylization, and non-intervention–this stark look into the State Prison for the Criminally Insane in Bridgewater, Massachusetts shows its denizens, who were often kept in barren cells and infrequently bathed, forced to strip naked publicly, force feeding, and the indifference and bullying by many of the hospital's staff.
Bitter MelonsBitter Melons · 1971
Bitter Melons
★ 8.01971
MovieDocumentary
This film, shot in 1955, focuses on a small band of /Gwi San living in the arid landscape of the central Kalahari Desert in present-day Botswana.
Margaret Mead: A Portrait By a FriendMargaret Mead: A Portrait By a Friend · 1978
Margaret Mead: A Portrait By a Friend
★ 9.01978
Movie
Jean Rouch filmed this loving and humorous portrait of anthropologist and filmmaker Margaret Mead in September 1977 while he was a guest of the first Margaret Mead Film Festival. As both a friend and colleague, Rouch reveals a glimpse of the legendary Mead in her later years.
The HuntersThe Hunters · 1957
The Hunters
★ 6.51957
MovieDocumentary
An ethnographic documentary following four Ju/’hoansi (!Kung) men during a multi-day giraffe hunt in the Kalahari Desert, filmed during the Smithsonian–Harvard Peabody expedition of 1952–53.
The InformantThe Informant · 1973
The Informant
1973
Movie
This film focuses on a black burglary suspect who, during interrogation by police offers his services as an "undercover" informant - providing the police will suppress his charge.
Wrong KidWrong Kid · 1973
Wrong Kid
1973
Movie
The police, looking for a suspect, question the wrong youth.
To Hold Our Ground: A Field ReportTo Hold Our Ground: A Field Report · 1991
To Hold Our Ground: A Field Report
1991
MovieDocumentary
For thousands of years Ju/'hoansi have lived in the Nyae Nyae region in northeastern Namibia. In the 1950s, most Ju/'hoansi had been exterminated or were dispossessed by white colonists and black farmers, but in Nyae Nyae Ju/'hoansi were still the only permanent inhabitants. Waterless approaches isolated their ancient communal land and protected them from enslavement.
Yanomamo: A Multidisciplinary StudyYanomamo: A Multidisciplinary Study · 1968
Yanomamo: A Multidisciplinary Study
1968
MovieDocumentary
This film illustrates the field techniques used by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Michigan in collaboration with their Venezuelan colleagues. The film also includes a brief sketch of Yanomamo culture and society.

Filmography

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N!ai, The Story of a !Kung WomanN!ai, The Story of a !Kung Woman · 1981
N!ai, The Story of a !Kung Woman
★ 6.81981
MovieDocumentary
This film provides a broad overview of Ju/'hoan life, both past and present, and an intimate portrait of N!ai, a Ju/'hoan woman who in 1978 was in her mid-thirties. N!ai tells her own story, and in so doing, the story of Ju/'hoan life over a thirty year period. "Before the white people came we did what we wanted," N!ai recalls, describing the life she remembers as a child: following her mother to pick berries, roots, and nuts as the season changed; the division of giraffe meat; the kinds of rain; her resistance to her marriage to /Gunda at the age of eight; and her changing feelings about her husband when he becomes a healer. As N!ai speaks, the film presents scenes from the 1950's that show her as a young girl and a young wife. The uniqueness of N!ai may lie in its tight integration of ethnography and history. While it portrays the changes in Ju/'hoan society over thirty years, it never loses sight of the individual, N!ai.

Director