Mark your calendars: the 2017 Margaret Mead Film Festival is coming back on October 19, with more than 40 films, an art installation, a slate of special events and dialogues, a Mead Mixed Media Lounge featuring augmented and virtual reality, and more.
2017 Mead Festival Trailer – Visual Cue Transcript
A needle drops onto a spinning vinyl record.
[MUSIC BEGINS]
Hands move slider knobs on an audio board.
Film reels spin.
A ballerina steps on the points of their feet in ballet slippers.
Two men are on a pier over a body of water at sunset, one stands and one exercises.
A man boards a train car and the train pulls out of a station.
A group of Tibetan monks play instruments while praying.
A person walks on rocks by the sea while a large wave crashes behind them.
Time-lapse of a sunset fades into a twinkling night sky.
A woman hugs a man on a bridge.
A young man kisses a young lady's shoulder at a dance.
A woman smiles warmly at her baby.
In quick succession, three different subjects look directly into the camera, ending on a man, draped in cloth to look like a lion, staring out triumphantly.
A film slate claps.
A foot in a sandal decorated with bells stomps and spins.
Sticks beat a drum.
A group of dancers move in a circle.
A group of men holding lacrosse sticks and wearing traditional Iroquois clothing dance.
A woman and baby wearing traditional Iroquois clothing dance.
A woman dressed in white holding a white and black cloth in either hand spins repeatedly.
A group of dancers in black outfits and gold accessories dance and clap in unison.
The word "ACTIVATE" animates on over a wide shot of a city skyline.
Over time-lapse footage of clouds blowing at sunset, the Mead Festival logo and dates appear on screen.
As always, the festival brings viewers fresh, cross-cultural perspectives, with international nonfiction films and stories that each offer a different take on this year’s theme, “Activate.”
On Thursday, October 19, Brimstone & Glory opens the festival with the vivid story of the pyrotechnics festival that transforms the small city of Tultepec, Mexico, into a blaze of sparks and flames every year. In the climactic “burning of the bulls,” the bravest participants run amid toritos, bull-shaped floats rigged with fireworks that rain burning ash and light on the city.
On Friday, October 20, a special presentation of the film Lunar Tribute, about astronaut Charlie Duke’s travels in space and his 1972 Moon walk, will include a conversation with Duke, filmmaker Robert Lewis, and Neil deGrasse Tyson, Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium. The film is presented with media partner MACH, the NBC News Digital tech, science, and innovation news source.
The Saturday, October 21, screening of Pre-Crime, also with media partner MACH, offers audiences an unsettling echo of Phillip K. Dick’s short story “The Minority Report.” Exploring the legal perils of ubiquitous surveillance that’s amplified by new technologies, the film asks viewers to consider the consequences of unprecedented access to citizens’ criminal records, mental-health records, and social-media activity on the internet.
The festival wraps on Sunday evening, October 22, with an encore screening of the film directed by the winner of the 2017 Margaret Mead Filmmaker Awards, which will be announced at the awards ceremony that night. This year, 13 filmmakers whose feature-length documentaries are making their U.S. premieres at the festival are vying for the prestigious award, which recognizes artistic excellence and originality of storytelling technique that offers a new perspective on a culture or community remote from the majority of the festival audiences’ experience.
To see all of the 2017 Margaret Mead Film Festival offerings, visit amnh.org/mead for trailers, program descriptions, and the full schedule of screenings and events. Be sure to join our mailing list for festival updates (select "Film at the Museum").