Day 2 of the World Nomads Ethnographic Film Festival features an interdisciplinary Commission for Nomadic Peoples roundtable alongside film screenings on steppe herders, ecological stewardship, youth, and Andean transhumance.
Block 5: Steppe Herders & Asian Pastoral Traditions ⏱️ 10:00 AM – 11:20 AM
Exploring Mongolian river basin herders and Southern Indian sheep pastoralists.
The Tes River flows from the Bulnai Mountains through three Mongolian provinces – Khuvsgul, Zavkhan and Uvs – feeds into Lake Uvs, registered by UNESCO in 2013 as a Natural World Heritage site.
For hundreds of years, the Dhangar nomads have kept sheep on the Deccan Plateau in Maharashtra State, India.
In this film, a nomadic woman shares her daily life in Ladakh’s high mountains.
Block 6: Pastoral Knowledge & Ecological Stewardship ⏱️ 11:30 AM – 12:45 PM
Documenting traditional ecological knowledge, rangeland biodiversity, and sustainable savannah livestock systems.
From inside his yurt in northern Mongolia, the reindeer herder Bayandalai ‒ an elder of the Dukhas tribe ‒ muses about the significance of life and death in the largest forest on Earth, the Taiga.
Canada’s native grasslands are disappearing at an alarming rate; they are one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world.
The Karamojong are herdsmen in the North-East of Uganda and guardians of their landscape.
Man-made climate change is creating conditions on our planet that are increasingly characterised by variability and unpredictability.
Commission for Nomadic Peoples Roundtable
Block 7: Youth and Intergenerational Knowledge ⏱️ 3:00 PM – 4:35 PM
Following Afar girls in Ethiopia, Maasai youth returning home, Nama community conservancies, and Irish transhumance.
This film tells the story of two girls in Afar, northeast Ethiopia, and how they face challenges in their young lives: Fatuma seeking to avoid the traditional arranged marriage and Asya trying to deal with livestock theft and conflict with the Somali Issa.
In this intimate and groundbreaking film, Laissa Malih, the first female Maasai filmmaker, returns to her ancestral village in Laikipia to explore how climate change is transforming Maasai lands and lives.
After several years of negotiations with the South African National Parks Board, the local Nama people were allowed to remain living and grazing their livestock in a designated nature conservation area – the Richtersveld World Heritage Site in Northern Cape Province bordering Namibia.
This film shows the living cultural heritage of transhumance in Europe: moving livestock to different grazing grounds in a seasonal cycle that goes back as long as people have been farming in the region.
Block 8: Andean Highlands & Rangeland Restoration ⏱️ 4:45 PM – 6:05 PM
Vicuña conservation in Bolivia, Nevada ranch restoration, Italian wolf co-existence, and Spanish transhumance.
In the high Andes of Peru and Bolivia, Quechua and Aymara families depend on alpacas and vicuñas for their livelihoods, selling the animals’ prized fiber.
In northeastern Nevada, the Humboldt Ranch is transforming more than 350,000 acres of public and private rangelands through innovative grazing practices.
In Italy’s Apennine Mountains, large carnivores are creating problems for herders.
This documentary brings the testimonies of three herders – Fernando, Juan and Sofía – who have learnt to live close to wolves.