Sport and Entertainment in Batavia

Amateur film of fishing and geese-shooting trips by a British party in India.

Crafted from archive footage, There Once was A Puffin explores one aspect of the relationship between the Atlantic puffin and the European coastal populations, who consume it. Between traditional hunting, declining colonies and climate change.

One last time, Hubertus Meckelmann sounds the horns for a big drive hunt in the wild. In the central area of the former military training ground, hunting will soon be prohibited. For the hunting grounds in the area, this is quite an imposition: the populations of red deer, fallow deer and wild boar, limited only with great effort, will get out of control. Nor will the return of the wolf change anything – according to the hunters in the area, the wolf has no place here, anyway. The film accompanies three hunters in their forests and in long, tranquil shots provides insights into the hidden world behind hunting terminology and loden coats.

After an unsuccessful attempt in 1946 to film a traditional bangaoui (hippopotamus hunt) on the Niger River, Jean Rouch returns several years later to document the ritual in full. The film records the ceremonial preparations, spiritual practices, and seasonal hunt conducted by Sorko fishermen, situating the event within its cultural and ritual context rather than as spectacle.

In the Faroe Islands, hundreds of pilot whales are slaughtered each year in a hunt known as the “Grind.” This gruesome tradition has drawn outrage from activists, most notably the international conservation group Sea Shepherd, who routinely sail to the islands to try to block whaling boats. Yet the Faroese are equally determined to maintain their tradition, defending the practice as more sustainable and less cruel than getting meat from slaughterhouses. Director Vincent Kelner spends time with both Faroese hunters and Sea Shepherd crusaders, building to a nuanced look at a disturbing event with much larger implications for the way humans relate to other creatures.

MARLUKU WIRLINYI is a tale of kangaroo hunting that weaves its way through Dreamtime, to the present and back again. A group of old Warlpiri men transport us back to a time of rarely heard history and we follow their journey into the present. Songs, stories and dance relate the importances of the past to the present.

Fast on his feet with a fat mustache, short stature, and investigative gaze. For a couple of days in the mountain, in his native land, we approach a man, strange and loud but nevertheless genuine and sensitive, a hunter. In his own way, Mr. Sotiris shines light on our bond with nature, history and man.