Spirits the documentary is now available on gumroad for download for $5. Click on the link below and you will arrive.
Scroll down for short films on other materials:
The Mysterious Paintings of the Gods
Joey Rositano and friends venture out to a countryside village to ask a charming grandma about paintings found on the walls of one of the shrines. The footage ends with some clashing traditional Korean samulnori drums.
[3:00]
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Fear the Goddess
Joey Rositano and Natasha Mistry descended into a cave at 3:30 a.m. on a frigid lunar mid-January night to film a ceremony that was being conducted at a shrine there. Some years ago the last shimbang (Jeju traditional shaman) in the village passed away. In those days hundreds of villages honored the Grandmother and Grandfather gods of the cave together in a ritual led by the shaman. Presently, the village leader has taken up performing the ceremony his own way. Between the hours of 3 to approximately 6 a.m. seven people came to the shrine. The shrine is still active throughout the year for private offerings.
[1:57]
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Great Shaman So Sun Shil
Shaman So Sun Shil asserts the great urgency for Jeju shamans to tell the Bonpuli Korean creation myths in order to forestall the loss of shamanistic beliefs and traditions on the island. We then see her in her traditional ceremonial garb performing a ritual of dance and drums at Jeju Harbor to commemorate the victims of the 4.3 uprising.
[1:12]
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Spirits
This mosaic of excerpts includes Joey Rositano telling the story of how his delving into the world of Jeju shamanism initially came to be. Shaman So Sun Shil then reiterates the urgency for Jeju shamans to tell the Bonpuli Korean creation myths. The footage moves onto the difficulty of preserving the myths while the local dialect, Jejueo, has become increasingly depleted overtime. This loss of voice could be originally attributed in part to the 4.3 uprising, but has now been exacerbated by Jeju’s transformation into an evermore globalized island. The footage ends with a Shaman Go San Ok’s hypnotizing Jeju shrine myth song.
[3:50]
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Wuljung Village’s Last Great Shaman
(English Subtitles)
월정리 마지막 심방 자막 : 영어
The current ‘Great Shaman’ of Wuljung village expounds upon how she became a traditional Jeju shaman, the future of Jeju shamanism, and the Wuljung village’s shrine myths of Soddang Grandmother Goddess and Grandfather God.
Correction Note: In the Soddang Grandmother myth the great shaman describes Soddang Grandmother as floating from village to village in the iron box in which she was abandoned to the sea. She actually disembarks at Gwakji village and walks eastward to Wuljung village. In this excerpt the archaic Jeju dialect word for ‘hobble’ or ‘walk slowly or awkwardly’ has been mistranslated. Usually the Bonpuli shrine myths of Jeju Island are sung. The telling of a myth in normal speech can be a bit awkward for the teller.
[23:17]
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Wuljung Village’s Last Great Shaman
(Korean Subtitles)
월정리 마지막 심방 자막: 표준어
Jeju Island has its own distinct dialect, Jejueo. For this, the footage has been translated to standard Korean as well.
[23:17]
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