BAMPFA

Chamisso’s Shadow: A Journey to the Bering Sea in Three Chapters. Chapter 1: Alaska and the Aleutian Islands

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The four parts of Chamisso's Shadow are also available as a bundle with a discounted rental fee; the link above is for Chapter 1 only.


Rental fee: $12

Discounted fee for BAMPFA members: $8

Members: to receive your discount, you must log in to Eventive with the same email address you use to receive BAMPFA member communications.

In 2014, Ulrike Ottinger journeyed to the distant regions of the Bering Sea—to Alaska, then Chukotka and Wrangel Island, and on to Kamchatka and Bering Island—following along the paths of historic expeditions and explorers, such as the naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller and Vitus Bering; later, Captain James Cook; and, still later, the poet and botanist Adelbert von Chamisso, who traveled with Otto von Kotzebue. Over a three-month period, Ottinger filmed the remarkable landscape, flora, and fauna; documented encounters with local residents, who subsist off the land and sea; and kept a logbook of her experiences. In the resulting multipart film, her observations enter into a fascinating dialogue with the logbooks and records of past explorers. A work of great beauty—possibly Ottinger’s magnum opus—Chamisso’s Shadow holds appeal for those interested in nature, history, geography, science, ethnography, indigenous cultures, art, and cinema, and should be more widely known.


—Susan Oxtoby

 

  • Year
    2016
  • Runtime
    193 minutes
  • Language
    German, English
  • Country
    Germany
  • Director
    Ulrike Ottinger
  • Screenwriter
    Ulrike Ottinger
  • Cinematographer
    Ulrike Ottinger, Stefan Gohlke