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HUNTERS since the beginning of time

by carlos casas

HUNTERS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME Chukotka, Siberia, 2008 DVCAM Color, 87 min. Color 4:3 Russian/Chukchi with English Subtitles. Synopsis: Along the coast of the Bering Sea a community of whale hunters are struggling to survive keeping alive a millenary tradition. Surviving one of the most extreme environments of the planet. Director's Statement: I wanted to capture the millenary tradition of Chukchi whale hunters, their ability to survive using archaic hunting techniques forced by international Commissions. I wanted also to capture the hunting in all its splendor all its ritual with its inner times and cycles. I was interested in their survival and their feeding cycles I wanted to make a film on the food chain of a whale hunter, from the wintertime to the summer, from the fish to the seal to the whale. I wanted the film to be a sort of action film, without much dialogues a pure cinematic and visual experience. A film that captures the survival and determination of the worlds last whale…

4

ARAL. Fishing in an invisible sea

by carlos casas

ARAL FISHING IN AN INVISIBLE SEA Moynak. Uzbekistan. 2004 DVCAM Color, 52 min. Synopsis: A documentary film about the three remaining generations of fishermen in the Aral Sea, And their awaiting and everyday struggle to survive in one of the scarcest places on the planet. Life after one of man made biggest disasters. Director’s Statement: We wanted to portray the dying process of a sea through the three last affected generations, from the old fisherman, retired who lived the sea, to the adult generation who still survives through fishing in the remain lakes, till the desert generation that survives from nothing, trying to keep the traditions and hope of a return of a more hopeful future. It is a film about the process of death and strength and root ness of people connected to their land. Aral doesn’t speak about politics or ecology it speaks only about the human survival strength. Aral still lives as an invisible presence and memory of what is considered as one of man made biggest disasters…