Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival

“Perspectives on Pastoralism” Film Festival & “An Uncertain World” Photo Exhibition

Cinema Galeries, Brussels, Belgium

On 8 December, the Cinema Galeries will host an evening dedicated to pastoralism. Our screening is organised in the framework of ‘Perspectives on Pastoralism’, a film festival born in 2019 in an attempt to deepen understanding of this undervalued lifestyle. After a successful first edition with numerous screening across Europe, the festival is back with 18 new films to enrich its catalogue.

Four of them have been selected for the occasion. ‘An afternoon on the pasture’ (Hungary, 2022) offers a dive into the daily life of László, a traditional Hungarian herder practising close herded grazing. ‘Cowherds of the Savannah’ (Uganda, 2021) will then take you to north-east Uganda, where Karamojong herders manage to turn the driest fibres into meat and milk, while struggling with regular epidemic outbreaks and conflicts. ‘Shepherds of the Deccan’ (India, 2022) follows the Dhangar nomads on the Deccan plateau in the middle of India, where they are faced with the ever-growing threat of climate change. Finally, ‘Bayandalai: lord of the Taiga’ (Mongolia, 2018) explores the largest forest on earth through the eyes of a reindeer herder in the north of Mongolia.

Experts from 3 continents speak out

After the screening, we invited speakers from three continents to comment the movies and share their own pastoralist experiences with the public. Nitya Ghotge, veterinarian, author, filmmaker and director of the NGO Anthra, will travel from India to present her movie ‘Shepherds of the Deccan’ and talk about the challenges of the people. Emmanuel Emaruk, VSF-Belgium‘s country director in Uganda, was born in Karamoja where herding livestock is the main livelihood. For more than ten years, he develops projects with the local population to enhance livestock keeping and veterinary services. Finally, we will have the pleasure to welcome Michele Nori, a tropical agronomist, rural sociologist and core-researcher at PASTRES (Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience: Global Lessons from the Margins) research programme, who has devoted the past 25 years to the study of agro-pastoral livelihood systems.

Photo exhibition: An Uncertain World

Increased market volatility, the climate crisis, rapid technological change, the spread of a pandemic – it’s difficult to keep up with the unfolding reality. And pastoralists are far from being spared. How do they navigate through such an uncertain world? Such will be the focus of the photo exhibition ‘An Uncertain World’, presented in the exhibition hall of the cinema. Through a curated selection of images, we invite you to discover the way they embrace uncertainty to meet the challenges of a turbulent world.

Programme

18h00: Photo exhibition opening remarks
19h00: Film festival opening remarks
19h15: Start of the film screening
20h35: Panel discussion and Q&A with Emmanuel Emaruk (VSF-B Country Director in Uganda), Michele Nori (PASTRES core researcher) and Nitya Ghotge (veterinarian and filmmaker from India), moderated by Koen Van Troos
21h15: Reception in the photo exhibition space

Practical info

Thursday 8 December from 18h00.
At Cinema Galeries (Galerie de la Reine 26, 1000 Brussels)
Please note that the event will take place in English.
The event is free, but you are invited to register here.

An event co-organised by Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Belgium, the Coalition of European Lobbies for Eastern African Pastoralism (CELEP) and the PASTRES (Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience: Global Lessons from the Margins) research programme.

More info

Films

Global, 2021, 2 min

Pastoralism is the future

CELEP (Coalition of European Lobbies for Eastern African Pastoralism)

Man-made climate change is creating conditions on our planet that are increasingly characterised by variability and unpredictability. Pastoralists use variability to their advantage. Their production systems guide us to a sustainable future. This video was created in support of the International Year of Rangelands & Pastoralists (IYRP) 2026.

Subtitles in Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, German, Hindi, Italian, Spanish and Mongolian).

Also available in French, Fulfulde, Swahili and Amharic

Scenario by Saverio Krätli, Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Belgium, Agrecol and Misereor; funded by Misereor and the Belgian Government; produced by Cartoonbase Belgium.

Watch it here

Hungary, 2022, 22 min

An afternoon on the pasture

Zsolt Molnár & Sándor Karácsony

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. He speaks about the relationship between pasture and livestock, how he portions the pasture, and how he learnt and transmits this knowledge. This “slow film” documents traditional ecological knowledge of herders in their setting and at their pace, using herder–scientist dialogue about the fine-tuned decisions the herder made on this afternoon.

Watch the full 3-hour film here

Uganda, 2021, 26 min

Cowherds of the Savannah

Mark Michel / Neue Celluloid Fabrik

The Karamojong are herdsmen in the North-East of Uganda and guardians of their landscape. This film illustrates how the Karamojong herdsmen make productive use of the highly variable landscape, turning even the driest plant fibers into meat and milk, whilst simultaneously dealing with frequent animal disease outbreaks and intertribal conflicts in the region.

This film was produced in collaboration with a CELEP partner, DADO (Dodoth Agro-pastoral Development Organization). It is part of a documentary series ‘Herders – Guardians of the Earth’.

Watch the series trailer here

India, 2022, 14 min

Shepherds of the Deccan

Anthra

For hundreds of years, the Dhangar nomads have kept sheep on the Deccan Plateau in Maharashtra State, India. Their biggest problem was wolves, which they also worship, knowing full well that wolves will take a few animals each year, often the weakest. Now they face a new threat: climate change, bringing extreme weather events. The film traces the path of a few migratory families and the loss they felt when several animals died during unprecedented rains. The nomads ask government to take notice of their situation and create policies to protect their sheep and their livelihoods.

Watch the full film here

Mongolia, 2018, 11 min

Bayandalai: Lord of the Taiga

Aner Etxebarria Moral and Pablo Vidal Santos

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. Through his connection with the reindeer and with the Taiga, Bayandalai has access to spiritual truths and higher consciousness that he may not be able to pass on to his family members before the lures of city life — jobs, money, houses, things — entice them away.

Watch the trailer here