David MacDougall

Black and white UCLA Student Film, Preserved by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. A boy hitchhikes in the desert. A man gets out of his car and follows him, then collapses. The boy tries reviving the man to no avail. The boy takes the man's wallet, smokes a cigarette, eats a sandwich, and catches a ride.

Renowned ethnographic filmmakers David and Judith MacDougall explore the many meanings of photography in this profound and penetrating documentary. The film focuses on the photographers of Mussoorie, a hill station in the Himalayan foothills of northern India whose fame has attracted tourists since the 19th century. Through a rich mixture of scenes that includes the photographers at work, their clients, and both old and new photographs, this extraordinary film examines photography as art and as social artifact — a medium of reality, fantasy, memory, and desire.

An unsentimental elegy to the American West, Sweetgrass follows the last modern-day cowboys to lead their flocks of sheep up into Montana's breathtaking and often dangerous Absaroka-Beartooth mountains for summer pasture, revealing a world in which nature and culture, animals and humans, vulnerability and violence are all intimately meshed.

Traditionally confined to the roles of life-givers, nurturers and homemakers, Boran women of Kenya are slowly realizing the importance of education and the difference it can make in their lives. They attach great importance to the traditional role of women in a herding society and perform dawn to dusk tasks with little deviation from customary ways. Remarkable though is the obvious independence they demonstrate in performing tasks which normally would fall under the male domain, like building their own houses. The film is principally observational with occasional segments in which the women speak directly to the camera.

Filmed during the production of the Columbia Pictures western "Mackenna’s Gold," this short work presents a non-narrative visual study of the Arizona desert. Rather than documenting the film set itself, "6-18-67" assembles landscape images, time-lapse photography, and ambient sound into an abstract record of place and duration.

This film demonstrates the time-honored solutions to the problems associated with the Boran's dependence on cattle for living. Direct government intervention and the indirect impact of modernization are forcing the old patterns to change. The film depicts herding practices, movement patterns, watering strategies, and the lifestyle of the herdsmen. The film has special currency for issues in rural development and agricultural, environmental, and human adaption.

This classic ethnographic documentary, by the renowned filmmaking team of David and Judith MacDougall, explores the nomadic life of the Jie of Uganda. During the dry season the Jie leave their homesteads in large numbers and take their cattle to temporary camps (nawi) in western Karamoja District, where water and grass are more abundant.

About Aborigines and Australian politics. On 13 March 1978 the Queensland Government announced its intention to take over management of the Aurukun Aboriginal Reserve from the Uniting Church. The people of Aurukun complained bitterly, believing that the Church was more sympathetic to their aims and fearing that the State was merely seeking easier access to the rich bauxite deposits on their Reserve. When the Federal Government took the side of the Aborigines the stage was set for national confrontation. Shows the situation at Aurukun during those crucial three weeks.

At the request of a dying Tiwi man and his family on Melville Island, this film was made of the pukumani (bereavement) ceremony to follow his death. The film observes the family through the long period of preparation for the ceremony, following age-old traditions. Dancing and face-painting are rehearsed, to the family’s satisfaction, and because “things should be right for this film”. For the two days of ceremony, the community moves to Carslake Beach where a smoking ritual is held to protect the participants from spirits. The cemetery poles are erected, traditional dances are performed along with personal dances by family members. Facial and body decoration is elaborate and spectacular. After saying a final farewell to the old man, the community and the family leave the Beach and return to the village where routine life resumes.

An ethnographic study of a Turkana family filmed in north western Kenya in the early 1970's.

At Jie cattle camps in Uganda men often gather under a special tree to make leather and wooden goods and talk, relax, and sleep. This brilliant ethnographic documentary by renowned filmmakers David and Judith MacDougall captures one particularly riveting discussion one afternoon under the men's tree. The conversation on this particular afternoon becomes a kind of reverse ethnography, centering on the European's most noticeable possession, the motor vehicle. This is a uniquely delicate and intimate film, filled with the humor of the Jie and, implicitly, the ironic wit of the filmmakers.

A shelter for children on the outskirts of Delhi provides food and accommodation for 350 boys. Some are orphans, others have been abandoned, still others have run away from home. About half are held under a court order, having been picked up from the streets for petty crimes. Living at the institution for several months, the filmmaker explores its routines and the varied experiences of several boys. Despite the harshness of their lives, many show remarkable strength of character, knowledge, and resilience. One day 181 child labourers arrived, placing additional strain on the building's deteriorating facilities. The institution does what it can, but is it enough?

A documentary portrait of the Jie of northeastern Uganda, examining pastoral life during a dry season as government policies and economic pressures challenge traditional patterns of herding, movement, and subsistence.

David and Judith MacDougall are exploring the marriage rituals and roles of Turkana women in this ethnographic documentary. The film's biggest part is taken up by talks between the Turkana people. As one of the first ethnographic documentaries "A Wife Among Wives" subtitles these talks so that the viewer can get a better and probably more personal understanding of the life of the Turkana.

Set among the Turkana pastoralists of northwestern Kenya, the film chronicles the marriage negotiations between Lorang’s daughter Akai and Kongu, a friend and age-mate of her father. Much of the film focuses on extended discussions over the bridewealth—goats and camels to be given to the bride’s family—which draw in relatives from both sides and grow increasingly tense. Filmed in an observational style without narration, the documentary records the negotiations and social dynamics that shape the marriage arrangement.

An extraordinarily insightful and intimate exploration of the social and cultural landscape of India's most elite boys' boarding school. In following the boys' daily routines and dramas, the film also affords us a rare glimpse at processes of postcolonial Indian identity formation.

This film continues MacDougall's long-term study of an elite boys' boarding school in northern India. It focuses on a group of twelve-year-olds during their first year in one of the 'houses' for new boys. The film concerns their attachment to the house, but, more importantly, their attachment to one another in a communal life. It follows, in particular, the experiences of one boy and several of his close associates, from their initial homesickness, to their life as member of the group, to their separation from the house at the end of the year.

Three Horsemen: 1978/1982 An old Aboriginal stockman, his nephew, and his 13-year-old grandnephew on Cape York peninsula, northern Queensland, try to get an old cattle station going again in their traditional clan country. 54 minutes. Presents the Pootchemunka family and life at the TiTree settlement in Northern Queensland Australia.

This documentary focuses on the vanishing lifestyle of a family of rural residents of the island of Sardinia. For many generations, they have been goatherds in the mountains, and it was a respected and acceptable occupation. Now tourism and the lure of other occupations deeply affects the younger generation, and soon there may be no goatherds left.

In this fifth and final film in the Doon School quintet, MacDougall focuses on the life of one student whom he discovers at the school. The film was made in parallel with 'The New Boys' and intersects with it at several points. However, instead of looking at the group, it explores the thoughts and feelings of Abhishek, a 12-year-old from Nepal, during his first days and weeks as a Doon student. This is at once the story of the encounter between a filmmaker and his subject and a glimpse of the mind of a child at “the age of reason”. This is the most intimate and interactive film of the series.

Harambee is a traditional Swahili chant meaning heave-ho or pull together the slogan for a united Kenya. Harambee Day or Independence Day is celebrated in this small town in North Kenya with political speeches and an auction at the native school. The film shows how North Kenya- isolated for years- tries to adapt to the new concept of nationhood. Government officials from South Kenya are appointed as ambassadors to spread the idea of national unity to a people unaccustomed to it.

The social dynamics of the group is the focus of this study of life in Foot House, one of Doon School’s dormitories for new boys. It begins a few days before the boys appear and shows them arriving, struggling with their trunks and suitcases. It then follows them for the next two months of their lives in the house. The film provides a comparison to the group viewed in With Morning Hearts, for these boys appear more divided and class-conscious. Within the group there is a range of personalities and backgrounds—some are natural leaders, some subject to teasing and bullying, some argumentative, some peace-makers. An important feature of the film is the inclusion of conversations among the boys about the causes of aggression and warfare, homesickness, restaurant food, and how to speak to a ghost.

This third film in the Doon School quintet follows the main protagonist of 'With Morning Hearts' into the next phase of his life in Jaipur House, one of the five main houses of the school. There he plays hockey, sings, studies, and struggles to settle into the House. He must keep up with his classmates, contend with the authority of older boys, and try to find a way to make his mark. He finds it in gymnastics, for which he has an aptitude.

This observational documentary follows an episode in the routine life on Collum Collum cattle-station in northern New South Wales. But, as the filmmaker notes, it's a story that could have occurred anywhere.