The Roots of the Sky / Afonka Does Not Want to Herd Reindeer Anymore

The fundamental role of the Shaman in Northern Asia is magical healing. One of the most common causes of illness is considered to be the abduction or straying of one's soul. During the intricate ritual and the entering into a trance, the Shaman tries to retrieve the soul, capture it, and repeatedly return it to the body of the person who is suffering from the illness. In this film by Ilgar Safat, we are introduced to the form of the Shaman's healing for the ethnic Udege, of whom only two thousand currently survive. The filmmakers use a collage of primitive paintings, footage of the surrounding nature, and foreboding sounds from the local environs which evoke changing states of consciousness. This is supplemented with the commentary of indigenous women during the course of the Shaman's ritual. The main substance of this remarkable film is the unique footage of archival material from 1928 which captured authentic scenes of life in the Udege community and the Shaman's preparation for the healing ceremony. / "In my country, we say that he who lives in Siberia lives on the verge of ruin," says director Martin Ryšavý in an interview with the main figure of the film, Afonka, who responds to him: "They also say that here. It is a simple fate, from which you cannot escape." Afanasij (Afonka) Konstantinov comes from a Yakut-Even marriage, and is a member of one of the last families who make a living in Siberia by the herding of reindeer. Even if she would often like to end the difficult nomadic way of life and settle down in the town of Sakkyryr where she went to school, she has nothing other than reindeer herding in her blood. This picture, which was awarded at the 2004 Jihlava Documentary Film Festival, was filmed amidst the harsh beauty of the endless snow-covered landscape and reflects the contradictions in contemporary Siberian life. Footage of the everyday joy and concerns of a family from among Siberia's original inhabitants clearly shows the harsh reality that civilization destroys traditional ways of life even in the far ends of the earth.