Screening: A Documentary on Music and Language in Russia ‘Wild Honey’

Join for a screening in the DLT of Fifth Corner Films’ documentary on the music of indigenous groups of five regions across Russia. Guided by folk music, ‘Wild Honey’ presents a rare view of the ethnic communities of five regions of Russia: the Muslim Bashkirs of the Southern Ural Mountains, the Christian Molokans of the Caucasus, the Orthodox Cossacks of the Southern Steppe, the Jewish Ashkenazim and Krymchaks of the Black Sea, and the Shamanistic Teleuts and Telenguits of Central Siberia.

Each region comprises a chapter which, unadulterated by narration or commentary, offers a taste of authentic daily life. While the presented groups differ in location, religion, history, and language, they share a deep connection to music — for all of them, song is an integral part of everyday life, each note a trace of the ancestral past, each beat a conduit to the future. They represent a small cross-section of modern-day Russia, a vast six-million square mile territory inhabited by over 180 different ethnic groups who strive to maintain their ancient languages, religions, and cultural traditions despite environmental, social, and political challenges.

Farhad Akhmetov is an interdisciplinary digital media artist who works primarily in film, video, design, and interactive media. Ava Porter is a cross-disciplinary filmmaker, photographer, and installation artist. Akhmetov and Porter have been collaborating since 2012 and formed Fifth Corner Collective in 2018. They have exhibited work nationally and internationally, and have been the recipients of the Fulbright Documentary Fellowship, the Bruce Gellar Memorial WORD Artist Prize, and the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts Grant. ‘Wild Honey’ is their feature film debut.