Ostor

Ákos Östör, professor of anthropology, emeritus, and his wife, Lina Fruzzetti, a professor of anthropology at Brown University, co-produced six films that are now being included in a retrospective hosted by the Smithsonian’s Recovering Voices Initiative for the annual Mother Tongue Film Festival. The festival features diverse films which explore language and knowledge around the world. This year’s theme is “The Healing Power of Storytelling.” While the festival must take place online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, each film is available to stream throughout the spring for a certain window of time. Östör and Fruzzetti also participated in a virtual…

A chapter written by Ákos Östör, professor of anthropology, emeritus, is featured in the Flavours of the Arts:  From Mughal India to Bollywood exhibition catalog for Geneva's Musée d'ethnographie. This pertinently illustrated book focuses on the close relationship between music, painting and film in northern India. His chapter is titled, "Living with Pictures. Study, Film and Life in Naya (West Bengal)."

Ákos Östör, professor of anthropology, emeritus, was appointed to "Professor Catedratico" for the fall semester at the Instituto Superior de Ciencias do Trabalho e da Epresa - Lisbon University Institute. This is the highest appointment offered in the Portuguese University system. There, Östör is teaching a course on the "History of Visual in Anthropology" for the new master's program in Visual Anthropology. "Lisbon is a delightful place, deep histories and memories of ages and ethnicities, well reflected in the cuisine (the wine and seafood are superb and affordable in the numerous tascas, neighborhood eateries, throughout the city) definitely a place to visit and…

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The new film, Songs of a Sorrowful Man, directed by Ákos Östör, professor of anthropology, emeritus, and edited by film major Joe Sousa ’03, began its journey debuting at the biennial Royal Anthropological Film Festival, held at Leeds University in July. The film was then shown at the the American Anthropological Association meeting in Philadelphia, Pa. Dec. 2-6. It also was screened recently at at Brown where it was featured as the lead event in Brown's "Year of India" celebrations (2009-10). The “sorrowful man,” Dukhushyam Chitrakar is a charismatic figure who encourages women to take up the traditional craft of scroll painting and musical composition pursued…

Ákos Östör, professor of anthropology and professor of film studies, loaned 14 new paintings to an ongoing exhibition held at the National Museum of Etnologia in Lisbon. The paintings are created by women in the Naya Village in Bengal, India who have formed a scroll painters' cooperative in an effort to keep this centuries old practice alive. Östör is the co-director of a film, "Singing Pictures," which examines the ancient art of "singing-scroll making" in Bengali and features the Chitrakar women. The 14 new scrolls, part of the exhibit "Singing Pictures: Art and Performance of Naya Women," will substitute those that…

Östör Celebrates 6 Films Featured at Smithsonian Festival

Östör’s “Living with Pictures” Article in Museum Catalog

Östör Receives Highest Appointment at Portuguese University

Östör’s Visit, Film Appreciated by Third Graders in New York

Östör’s Film Screens at National Film Festivals

Professor Loans 14 Paintings to Libson Exhibit