The Twilight of the Primitive
Object Details
- Local Number
- HSFA 1985.11.4
- Collection Creator
- Cotlow, Lewis, 1898-1987
- See more items in
- Lewis Cotlow films
- Sponsor
- Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
- Extent
- Film reels (50 minutes, color sound; 1800 feet)
- Date
- circa 1969
- Archival Repository
- Human Studies Film Archives
- Type
- Archival materials
- Film reels
- Collection Rights
- Contact the repository for terms of use.
- Scope and Contents
- Edited film by explorer Lewis Cotlow of the Matto Grosso region of Brazil shot in 1968. Film begins with a visit to Orlando Villas Boas who escorts Cotlow and party to the settlements of the upper Xingu people. Ethnographic footage includes village dwellings, body painting, ritual dances, and a wrestling match among unidentified neighboring groups. Other footage of indigenous people includes the Shavante, their village settlements, and the initiation rituals of young men. The filmmakers also visit the Shuar (Jivaro) of the Morona River area and film a simulated "hostile encounter" with male members of the group and the reenactment of a headhunting raid, head shrinking, and tsantsa dance. Included are scenes of women harvesting and preparing manioc and plantains, bathing children, and making clay pots. Footage shot among the men includes gathering, spinning, and weaving of cotton; harvesting of sugarcane; making of blow guns, poison darts, and spears; and gathering of achiote plants for body painting.
- Collection Restrictions
- The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
- Record ID
- ebl-1633111215902-1633111215922-0
- Metadata Usage
- CC0