N!ai, The Story of a !Kung Woman

Synopsis

This film provides a broad overview of Ju/'hoan life, both past and present, and an intimate portrait of N!ai, a Ju/'hoan woman who in 1978 was in her mid-thirties. N!ai tells her own story, and in so doing, the story of Ju/'hoan life over a thirty year period. "Before the white people came we did what we wanted," N!ai recalls, describing the life she remembers as a child: following her mother to pick berries, roots, and nuts as the season changed; the division of giraffe meat; the kinds of rain; her resistance to her marriage to /Gunda at the age of eight; and her changing feelings about her husband when he becomes a healer. As N!ai speaks, the film presents scenes from the 1950's that show her as a young girl and a young wife. The uniqueness of N!ai may lie in its tight integration of ethnography and history. While it portrays the changes in Ju/'hoan society over thirty years, it never loses sight of the individual, N!ai.

Main Cast

Crew

Department	Role	Name
Camera	Director of Photography	Ross McElwee John Marshall Mark Erder
Directing	Director	John Marshall Adrienne Miesmer
Editing	Editor	John Marshall Adrienne Miesmer
Production	Executive Producer	Michael Ambrosino
Department	Role	Name

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