The Hunters

Object Details

Collection Collaborator: McElwee, Ross; Blitz, Daniel; Bishop, John Melville; Baker, Peter; Ritchie, Claire; Young, Robert; Terry, John; Galvin, Frank; Bestall, Clifford; Gardner, Robert; Asch, Timothy, 1932-1994
Collection Creator: Marshall, John, 1932-2005
Collection Collaborator: Marshall, Lorna

See more items in: John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman film and video collection; John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman film and video collection / Series 2: Published Films and Videos

Sponsor: Finding aid has been funded through generous support from the Arcadia Fund.

Collection Citation: The John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman Film and Video Collection, 1950-2000, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

Collection Rights: Contact the repository for terms of use. Information on reproduction and fees available from repository.

Scope and Contents: THE HUNTERS, John Marshall's first film, was shot in 1952-53, with additional shooting in 1955. The feature-length film tells the story of a days-long giraffe hunt undertaken by four men. It also introduces many other aspects of Ju/'hoan culture. Now a classic in ethnographic film, THE HUNTERS was ground-breaking in its time for its personal depiction of individuals from a hunter-gatherer society, for its beautiful camerawork, and for its narrative style. In 1995, THE HUNTERS was added to the National Film Registry. It also received a film preservation grant from the National Film Preservation Fund and was restored in 2000. There is a Spanish language version of this title. Several unpublished early or alternate versions of THE HUNTERS also exist; see 2005.11.47, 2005.11.48, and 2005.11.49 in Series 3.

Collection Restrictions: The John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman Film and Video Collection is open for research. Please contact the Archives for availabilty of access copies of audio visual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played. Materials relating to Series 6 Production Files are restricted and not available for research until 2048, 2063, 2072. Kinship diagrams in Series 13 are restricted due to privacy concerns. Various copyrights and restrictions on commercial use apply to the reproduction or publication of film, video, audio, photographs, and maps.