Our IMLS funded initiative to build up the collection of films streaming from the Folkstreams.net site is going full steam ahead.

We’re up to 36 films online now including a great one on herbalist and healer Tommy Bass

At the time of his death in 1996, “Tommie” Bass, was probably the most well-known herbalist in the United States. The subject of scholarly and popular books, television features, a front-page essay in the Wall Street Journal, and numerous articles in newspapers and magazines, Tommie Bass lived his entire life in the Ridge and Valley region of Alabama where he devoted himself to “trying to give ease” to the many people who sought his advice.. “Tommie Bass” is a biographical portrait of Mr. Bass, told almost entirely in his own words.

Painted Bride

This 1990 video features the exquisite mehndi body painting tradition as it is practiced among Pakistani immigrants living in Queens, New York City. The film follows a mehndi artist, Shenaz Hooda, as she prepares a henna paste and paints intricate designs on the hands and feet of a bride-to-be, while the bride’s friends sing humorous songs mocking the groom and the future in-laws.

Sadobabies: Runaways in San Francisco

A 1988 8mm video documentary about the street children of San Francisco. The video documents the expressive traditions of a group of young runaways who formed an alternative family in an abandoned high school building near Golden Gate Park. Shot in an urban setting with a “one-person crew,” Sadobabies demonstrates small-format, low-budget production.

And many others.

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