FOREST OF THE DANCING SPIRITS

Date: Monday, April 6, 2015

Time: 7PM

Location: Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

Details: 2013, Sweden/Canada, 104 min

Director: Linda Västrik

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Sponsorship for this event is provided by the Quebec Government Office in Boston

Winner of  Peter Wintonick Special Jury Award for First Appearance at IDFA 2013

Best Director and Best Overall Sound at 2014 ONE World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival

Official Selection of the 2014 HotDocs Film Festival and the 2014 True/False Film Festival

In-person Q&A with Co-producer Mila Aung-Thwin and with Director Linda Västrik via Skype, moderated by Erin Trahan, film journalist and editor of the Independent.

Synopsis: “In the beginning, women lived apart, unaware of the existence of men. Until one day, when the first woman, Toli, who was brave and adventurous traveled deep into the forest. Toli discovered solitary creatures with big muscles who knew how to climb trees and harvest wild honey. When Toli tasted their honey, she thought they should all live together….”

That is how one of the creation stories of the Aka people from the tropical rainforest of the Congo Basin goes.

Akaya, Kengole, Dibota and their friends and family are hunters-gatherers (and also great story-tellers) who guide us through their world. They explain their origins, myths, and the very spiritual meaning of life.

The film follows their unique community life as it unfolds over many years. We experience the practice of their spirituality in the most difficult situations. Their religion is playful and highly creative in dealing with deeply serious matters of life and death, and may be the oldest human religion practiced on earth today.