35 mins., b&w, silent
Source : NAFC, catalogue number AF-91.13.6
This is rather random footage of the Mbuti ‘pygmies’ of the Ituri Forest, then in the Belgian Congo (later Zaïre and now the Democratic Republic of Congo). It includes sequences of Mbuti camp life near an Ndaka (Bantu) village; nkumbi male initiation ceremonies in the Ngwana village of Musafu and the Bira village of Eboyo; and at the colonial Station de Chasse on the Epulu River organized for capturing elephants and okapis for export.
This footage was based on the field research of anthropologist Colin Turnbull, who comments on the material in the NAFC version, and was shot by his cousin, Francis S. Chapman, a Canadian Broadcast Corporation cameraman. The NAFC also hold a longer set of rushes in colour (AF 91.13.3, 108 mins.), also accompanied by a recording of Turnbull commenting on them. These rushes cover a wide range of topics, including subsistence activities and the female elima initiation ceremony.
Chapman and Turnbull also made an edited colour film about the nkumbi ceremony (AF-91.13.4). Further details here.
They also collaborated in making audio recordings of Mbuti music, released in 1992 in the Smithsonian Folkways series. See here for further details
Texts : Turnbull (1962), Turnbull (1965), Grinker (2000)