Endangered Civilizations

Between the Sahara and the equatorial rainforest of West Africa, the huge cliff of Bandiagara stretches across a desolate plateau. This vast wall of rock is home to one of the world's most unique civilizations - the Dogon. Their animist beliefs are founded on a refined tradition based on a beautiful legend : the Ark of the First Ancestor.

Toraja funerals are as they were 500 years ago. The tradition of letting into the inner circle of mourners anyone weeping for the deceased, is a ritual which brings together every rank of society. It is a huge ceremony which reinforces the social hierarchy and keeps alive the spirit of the Toraja culture. But it is also a tradition that threatens to put this people into financial ruin.

Ladakh is a high altitude desert in the heart of the Himalayas, lying between muslim Pakistan, communist China, and multi-racial India. They are a people that spend six months of the year in complete isolation. The cold and the snow of the harsh Himalayan winter eliminate all communication with the outside world, which has helped to preserve the traditional Ladakhi way of life.

The Punan are not relentless headhunters like their neighbours, the Dayaks, but instead non-violent nomads hiding in the heart of the Borneo jungle. Behind their primitive lifestyle lies a system of abstract, subtle and mystic beliefs. And so the search begins for our crew in the middle of the Borneo jungle, threading their way through what the Punan call the Kingdom of Illusion and Moving Space.

Driven out of Tibet and the eastern Himalayas, the Akha have fought their way to the extreme north of Thailand and Burma. Hostile to outsiders, the Akha today are the living remnants of a former time, the bygone era of the Chinese Middle Empire. The Akha have a dangerously bad reputation : smuggling, destroying the forest, ignoring frontiers, growing opium.

Twenty years ago, Mada used to live on a boat that he built himself : his "Cabang" was everything to him. He was a real nomad in those days, sailing all around the Bay of Bengal from India to Burma. The Mawken used to live in small communities to protect themselves from the local pirates. They made their living on skin diving : a good diver could stay 3 or 4 minutes under water to catch fish.

This boy riding a poney is called Josh Guerrero : he is 8 years old. He is a Lakota. 100 years after the "Massacre of Wounded Knee", the Sioux Lakota decided to commemorate the death of Big Foot. In spite of dreadful weather conditions, Josh decides to follow up this march, as if it were his own initiatic journey to become an Indian warior .

Leather jackets and skirts, smeared with red or black grease. The Himba have not changed in appearance, even if the gun has now replaced the spear. For 97% of the Himba population the conditions of daily life have not changed for over 200 years. But tribal and world wars, the loss of their motherland, and the threat of the SWAPO, have forced the Himba to seek shelter in the north of Namibia.

During the time of trans-Saharan trading, its strategic location along the caravan route enabled it to prosper. It was also the gathering place for the pilgrims from western Sahara as they began their journey to Mecca. It had already attained the position as a prestigious economic and spiritual center. Chinguetti was considered the capital of the "Land of the Moors".

Ainus live on the remote island of Hokkaïdo... They are bearded Japanese - who aren't truly Japanese. Their origin is highly controversial, but the most likely thezry is that these men and women actually came from Siberia ! The Ainus are the most ancient people in this part of the world : their ancestors lived here more than 15 thousand years ago.

"The Forgotten Bastion" is the story of an orthodox priest, originally from Prastos, who returns to the Tsakones ancient capital for Easter. For the past twenty years, this man has fought to defend the culture and language of his region. His work has paid off : Tsakones is now recognised as a language.

Imagine a minority who lived in an area for over 3 000 years. And imagine that this people have no other hope than living discreetly on its own land, simply because recent history, religion influences and politics have decided so. This is the daily life of the Pomak. Their ancient animist believes have almost been washed out by the endless conflicts between the christian and the muslims.

In Christ's time, the Valaques were shepherds leading a totally isolated and almost fully self sufficient life in the mountains of northern Greece. They were socially organized in close-knit clans whose great wish was to achieve progress. They acquired new power when they became Roman citizens and were able to leave their country and adapt to new conditions thereby making themselves indispensable.

Podlachia lies almost on the border between Bielorussia and Poland. It is a meeting place between Eastern and Western cultures, a unique blend of orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. In this remote area, the isolation of most villages enables pagan beliefs and practices to resist the teachings of the Orthodox Church.

When Mao-Dzedong took power, Xuan Ke was already a famous orchestra conductor. When he was freed after 21 years in prison, his love for all types of music was unscathed. From that moment, Xuan Ke was determined to assemble an orchestra of ancient Dongling music and include in his orchestra the musicians who had managed to save their old musical instruments during the Cultural Revolution.