The Power of Ritual – Jack Stokesbury

Program Notes:

    In the academic field of ritual studies, there has been a longstanding debate over whether or not a line should be drawn between the everyday and the religious. Some have argued that only religious activities can be ritual, and therefore a divide is necessary. Others have argued that ritual is based solely in the activity, the movement. Meaning is assigned to the actions, but they have no intrinsic value. Through this train of thought, it has even been argued that ritual is meaningless.

    This program will rebut that notion and showcase the power ritual has in each of our lives. We understand our world through ritual. Some of these rituals are grand, some are routine, but they all influence our perceptions. Institutionalized rituals shape individuals, often without them asking why. This program will attempt to bring that power to the forefront, and explore its effects.

    Ritual provides order, both to individuals’ benefit and disadvantage. Ritual can be soothing and directing, and it can be overbearing or limiting. Through cultural expectations, people may simply accept either outcome. They have always done the ritual, be it a religious ceremony or a daily way of life, and it is simply how things are. However, it is imperative that we explore our relationship with rituals, to better understand ourselves. Rituals are too powerful and determining in our life journeys to follow blindly. Only through introspection can we decide the role specific rituals should play in our lives, and redefine the power that rituals can have.

Voor Film

Douwe Dijkstra, 2015, Netherlands, 11:39

    “Voor Film,” translated to “Supporting Film,” combines comments from film watchers of all ages. They explain their likes and dislikes, expectations, and experiences with film and moviegoing. Some of the interviewees provide more general insights, while others provide perspectives that the audience may not even consider. Cliches and narrative types are critiqued by some, but enjoyed by others. As a film itself, “Voor Film” makes its audience hyper aware of the internalized expectations that they may have for a film experience.  

Bacon & God’s Wrath

Sol Friedman, 2015, Canada, 8:56

In this interview-based documentary, 89-year-old Razie is preparing to eat bacon for the first time in her life, after following kosher dietary restrictions most of her life. Razie explores her upbringing and the evolution of her relationship with religion while maintaining a level of deep self-awareness. Leading into the film’s anticlimax, it transitions into an absurd conversation between a pig’s head and an iPad. When the film declines to show Razie’s first taste of bacon, it emphasizes our ingrained, ritualized expectations as audiences of narratives.

Ramadan Kareem

Abounaddara Collective, 2016, Syria, 1:11

In this short, one-minute film, images of a woman calmly preparing a meal are juxtaposed with explosions and gunfire in the background. The Abounaddara Collective formed shortly before the Syrian uprising began in 2011. Since the revolution, it has focused on portraying the counterimage to the bloody, apocalyptic imagery that has tended to reach the internet at large. Guided by a small directorate tasked with managing editorial direction, the network of civilian filmmakers posted a new film every week, many of which focused on everyday life.

Fortunes, an Experimental Comedy

Greg Barth, 2014, England, 2:53

    “Fortunes, an Experimental Comedy,” is a self-aware parody of the “traditional” Westernized lifestyle. The film opens with a warning that “this prediction of your future is sorely speculation,” which immediately makes the viewer an active participant in the narrative. Filmmaker Greg Barth tackles themes of consumerism and modernity through extensive use of repetition. Through this technique, the film creates a sense of stasis to parallel the habitual rituals individuals may fall into, including the viewer potentially.

Ritual in Transfigured Time

Maya Deren, 1946, USA, 14:27

Explaining her inspiration for “Ritual in Transfigured Time,” surrealist filmmaker Maya Deren said that “ritual is art; and even historically, all art derives from ritual.” The film itself reflects this, as it explores dance as a form of art and movement. Notably, however, the dance evolves beyond ritualized steps. As the film flows through different settings, there is a freedom of thought and expression that builds as the experimental narrative progresses. The film also makes use of frozen frames that halt the movement, challenging the viewer’s notion of time.

End of Broadcast

Abounaddara Collective, 2016, Syria, 1:48

“End of Broadcast” focuses on a striking visual and audio contrast. The film consists of a single shot, focused on a broadcast of Russian propaganda over an image of the Syrian flag. Building on this beyond the film itself, the Abounaddara Collective also uploaded the film to Vimeo with its title in Russian, as well as English and Arabic. This breaks form with the typical upload subsisting of just English and Arabic, and it showcases the invasiveness of Russian into Syria. On that note, as well, it must be noted that the collective uploads with English subtitles and titles, due to the global prevalence of English through anglophone colonialism.

Questions for the Filmmakers:

Douwe Dijkstra, “Voor Film”:

  1. When producing “Voor Film,” how many people were interviewed in total to be included in the film potentially? Are there any perspectives that were left out but provided additional insights? Similarly, of the people included in the film, were there any other thoughts that were excluded?
  2. As “Voor Film” is “a short film about film,” were creative choices made specifically to create an experience that would or would not fit neatly into the film or moviegoing ritual? 

Sol Friedman, “Bacon & God’s Wrath”:

  1. How did your relationship with Razie come to be? How common of a story do you think hers is today, of elderly individuals becoming disillusioned with their lifelong religion or rituals? 
  2. Was the intention of the onscreen conversation between the pig’s head and the tablet to put objects of worship, both directly and indirectly, face to face? Does the conversation suggest that religion and the secular world are inherently at odds in modern society due to conflicting ritualized activities?

Abounaddara Collective, “Ramadan Kareem”: 

  1. Is the audio of the violent conflict from the same time as the moving images shown on screen? Do you think that it matters whether they did occur simultaneously, or is it irrelevant to the narrative truth?
  2. How do extreme circumstances like revolution affect our relationship with our rituals? Do exterior factors influence the meaning or power of ritual?

Greg Barth, “Fortunes, an Experimental Comedy”:

  1. The film includes cultural elements from different eras and places. Is this done to suggest stasis across time and place in regards to how expectations of daily life have become ritualized? 
  2. In the film, a grass figure uses a safety razor to shave across their face, in a visual similar to Bunuel’s Un Chien Andelou. Is this reference intentional, and if so, is it meant to relate the earlier film’s surrealism to the absurdity of routine showcased in “Fortunes, an Experimental Comedy”?   

Maya Deren, “Ritual in Transfigured Time”:

  1. Was the decision to end the film with negative images done to emphasize a notion of inversion as the widow becomes the bride? How does this inversion relate to our understanding of ritual?
  2. Throughout the film, freeze films capture singular moments of expression. Does this privileging of certain moments relate to our relationship with ritual as we grant greater meaning to ritual over the ordinary?

Abounaddara Collective, “End of Broadcast”:

  1. Similar to “Ramadan Kareem,” this film explores our relationship to rituals when they are perverted in some manner. How did the undermining of ritualized expectations affect people during the Syrian Revolution, beyond the effects of violence and destruction?
  2. How does anonymity affect the filmmaking process? Especially in a world that continues to promote auteurism, does breaking the expected process of releasing film change artists’ relationship with their own work?