Bella Coola is a valley in British Columbia, inhabited by the Nuxalk First Nation for countless generations. In 1885, animal importer and German businessman Carl Hagenbeck sent an artifact collector to Canada to hire Indians to perform in his animal zoo in Hamburg and a number of other cities (Hagenbeck liked employing native people to work with the exotic animals—such as Laplanders to handle the reindeer). Nine Bella Coola men were hired to go to Germany for 13 months, where they demonstrated traditional dances, crafts, and folkways, but while the men did well financially (earning $20 a month plus expenses), the tour never came close to matching the success of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. As filmmaker Barbara Hager's absorbing documentary points out, the story of the Germany tour was largely forgotten until a curator from Berlin's Ethnological Museum visited Bella Coola in 1979, sparking renewed interest in the subject and the 200 Nuxalk artifacts housed at the museum (the program also includes a thoughtful discussion about repatriating the artifacts). Effectively combining archival stills with contemporary interviews, From Bella Coola to Berlin is recommended. Aud: C, P. (R. Reagan)
From Bella Coola to Berlin
(2007) 60 min. DVD: $39.95. Hiline Videoworks. PPR. Volume 22, Issue 4
From Bella Coola to Berlin
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