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WEDDING CAMELS, THE
Year: 1979
Classification: G
Runtime: 108 min
Produced In: USA
Directed By: David MacDougall, Judith MacDougall
Produced By: David MacDougall, Judith MacDougall
Language: English subtitles
A girl of the homestead, Akai, is to marry Kongu, an old friend and age-mate of her father, Lorang. Because of the close ties between Lorang and Kongu, everything should go smoothly, but the pressures within the two families are such that the wedding negotiations become increasingly tense and almost break down altogether. Arranging the number and type of animals to be given as bridewealth demands an intricate balance between psychology and economics: Kongu must offer enough to please Lorang and his relatives but not so many that he appears weak or foolish or depletes his own family's herds. The outcome depends not only on traditional forms but also on the influence exerted by Lorang's wives and the manner in which Lorang chooses to resolve the dilemma that confronts him.
THE WEDDING CAMELS was named the winner of Great Britain's First Royal Anthropological Institute Film Prize, for best ethnographic film of the preceding five years. It was also chosen for screening at the Edinburgh Film Festival; the Hong Kong Film Festival; the Festival dei Popoli, Florence; the Film Forum; the Conference on Visual Anthropology; the Margaret Mead Film Festival; and the American Film Festival.