Ritual Journeys
Bulgaria, Tibet 2011 | 75 Min. | miniDV, OmeU

Oppitz’s film is a documentary epic about the shamanic practices of a village in the north-western Himalayas. In the shadow of the Dhaulagiri Massif live the Northern Magar. Cut off from the world by location and language, these mountain dwellers developed and maintained a cultural tradition notable for its many peculiarities, among them their healing practices. The film attempts to capture these practices in all of their characteristic features: What do the nightly séances look like? Upon what ideological beliefs are they grounded? How does one become a shaman and what are the terms thereof? How does an initiation take place? How are the necessary ritual items produced? Which ceremonial dances and mythical songs does a shaman-to-be learn? The film connects these diverse questions and topics together to offer viewers a portrait of a regional society at a point in time before the standardized, digital age.
SHAMANS OF THE BLIND COUNTRY achieved cult status in many – especially art-interested – circles, was screened at famous film festivals the world over, and has, in the time since its release, come to be known as one of the classic ethnographic films of all time.