MANAKAMANA is a feature documentary film co-directed by Pacho Velez and Stephanie Spray. It is composed of eleven cable car rides to the temple of the Hindu goddess Manakamana. This sample features short pieces from several of these rides.
“Manakamana” was made under the aegis of Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab, which, in its mission statement, explains that it
provides an academic and institutional context for the development of creative work and research that is itself constitutively visual or acoustic—conducted through audiovisual media rather than purely verbal sign systems—and which may thus complement the human sciences’ and humanities’ almost exclusive reliance on the written word and quantification. It opposes the traditions of art that are not deeply infused with the real, those of documentary that are derived from broadcast journalism, and those of visual anthropology that mimic the discursive inclinations of their mother discipline.
Here’s a 12 minute sample from the film:
