The final day of the World Nomads Ethnographic Film Festival features environmental justice documentaries, Saharan caravan features, the premier 370-minute continuous screening An Afternoon on the Pasture, and the festival closing ceremony.
Block 9: Environmental Justice ⏱️ 10:00 AM – 11:50 AM
Re-visiting environmental justice in Mongolia, Nenets reindeer herding, and Slovenian youth transhumance.
An ethnographic documentary examining how climate change, overgrazing, and destructive mining practices threaten Mongolian nomadic herders.
Filmed in the Arctic tundra of the Yamal Peninsula, Russia (produced in 2024), this intimate documentary follows Nika, a young Nenets girl living with her nomadic reindeer herding family as she prepares to leave her tundra home for a remote boarding school.
A student workshop documentary about a Slovenian urban family who moved to the countryside to dedicate themselves to goat herding, capturing their daily commitment, hard manual labor, and family bond.
Block 10: Saharan Caravans & Desert Stewardship ⏱️ 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM
Ancient trade routes across the Sahara and desert camel herd preservation in Rajasthan.
Filmed in 2000 with lightweight equipment in harsh desert conditions, this documentary follows a Tuareg (Kel Eway Imjaghan) camel caravan traveling across the Sahara to Bilma, documenting traditional trade routes, desert survival, and social organization.
A 10-minute participatory documentary made by a freshly trained-in-filmmaking group of young Kenyan Maasai women and men from the Maasai Mara, sharing their firsthand observations on climate change, changing seasons, land privatization, and cultural transformation.
Features community-led initiatives in Rajasthan to create sustainable livelihoods from camel milk and camel wool products, aiming to save endangered camel herds and preserve the traditional Raika way of life.
Highlights the struggle of the Raika camel herders of Rajasthan, India, as they advocate for grazing access rights within the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary, demonstrating their role as stewards of forest biodiversity.
Block 11: Slow Film ⏱️ 1:30 PM – 4:40 PM
A dedicated 370-minute continuous screening documenting traditional Hungarian herder ecological knowledge and fine-tuned pasture decisions in real-time.
László Sáfián – born into a Hungarian family that has been herding for generations – explains how he, with his dog, manages close-herded grazing on a patchy semi-natural pasture.
Block 12: Alpine Transhumance & Closing Ceremony ⏱️ 4:50 PM – 7:00 PM
Festival closing screening featuring Macedonian sheep transhumance and Bolivian vicuña stewardship.
A feature-length documentary produced in 2025 following young brothers herding sheep in the rugged mountains of North Macedonia, delving into family relationships, loneliness, and the struggle to sustain high-altitude 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.