Hermann Schlenker is a maker of exceptional non-narrated ethnographic films,
distributed in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. His work documents social
customs, arts, and crafts in mostly non-Western nations. Edited versions of his
films (many of which were originally one hour or longer) were distributed in the
US by Julien Bryan's International
Film Foundation, including fourteen Afghan, eight Venezuelan
(Orinoco Indians), five Melanesian, and twelve Malian (Bozo people) films.
Films include:
'African Village Life' series: (1967)
- Annual Festival of the Dead (Dogon)
- Building a Boat (Bozo people)
- Building a House (Bozo)
- Cotton Growing and Spinning (Dogon)
- Daily Life of the Bozo People
- Fishing on the Niger River (Bozo)
- Herding Cattle (Peul)
- Hunting Wild Doves (Dogon)
- Magic Rites: Divination by Animal Tracks (Dogon)
- Magic Rites: Divination by Chicken Sacrifice (Dogon)
- Onion Farming (Dogon)
Black Forest Family Celebrates Christmas (1968)
Christmas Eve Service in the Black Forest (1968)
'Mountain Peoples of Central Asia' series, consisting of one
tribal, five Pushtu, eight Tajik films:
Buzkashi: the National Game (Tribal) (1968)
Pushtu Peoples (1971)
- Making Felt
- Man's Dance
- Boys' Games
- Baking Bread
- Weaving
Tajik Peoples (1971)
- Making Gun Powder
- Grinding Wheat
- Building a Bridge
- Making Bread
- Casting Iron Plow Shares
- Pottery Making
- Shearing Yak
- Threshing Wheat
'Indians of the Orinoco - the Makiritare' series (1972)
- Blowgun
- Craftsmen
- Food Gathering (Snake, Fish, and Worms)
- Journey to the Makiritare
- Jungle Farming
- Manioc Bread
- Village Life
- Woodwinds and Dance
Indian Village Life: Two Villages in Orissa Province
(1972)
'Pacific Island Life' series(1977)
- Coconut Tree
- Family Life
- Fishing
- Food From the Sea
- Village Life
