Florian Walter studied Social Anthropology and Ethnology of Latin America in Göttingen, San Cristóbal de Las Casas (Mexico), Puebla (Mexico) and Berlin. He did three years of fieldwork in Chiapas, Mexico.He earned his master’s degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Freie Universität Berlin in 2006.

He completed two internships in the framework of the following media projects: Indigenous Photographers and Indigenous Filmmakers, which are associated projects of the CIESAS-Sureste (Research and Advanced Study Centre of Social Anthropology of the Southeast Mexico), San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico.

Since 2006 he has been in the doctorate program of the BIK (Institute of Cultural Research Bremen), Universität Bremen, and Guest Researcher at the CESMECA-Unicach (Advanced Study Centre of Mexico and Central America – University of Sciences and Arts in Chiapas) in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico.

From April to October 2005 he was a lecturer of Visual Anthropology at the BUAP (Autonomous University Benemérita of Puebla), Puebla, Mexico. Since April 2006 he has been a lecturer at the Institute of Social Anthropology, Freie Universität Berlin.

Besides working on various projects in his documentary film company „Filming Culture“, he organizes the film screening of anthropological documentaries at the LNdW (Long Night of Sciences) in Berlin.

His main fields of interest are theory and practice of anthropological filmmaking, art and anthropology, indigenous media projects, communication theory and post-modern theories of culture.

His regional focus comprises the following regions: Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, East Africa and Europe.

 

Filmography

Chiapas – Land of the Maya, Documentary, 2008 (work in progress), 16mm-Film, Super8, 24pA, Spanish and Tzotzil with English subtitles.(director, producer)

Lucha Libre– Mexican Wrestling, Documentary, 2007, 9min., Mini-DV, Spanish with German subtitles.(director, camera, editor)

Morokapel´s Feast– The Story of a Kara Hunting Ritual, Documentary, 2006, 26 min., MiniDV, Kara with English subtitles. (editor)

Schneeblind, Short fiction, Documentary, 2006, 8min., Super8, German. (director, editor)

K´uxa pas Maruch?, Documentary, 2004, 40min., Mini-DV, Spanish and Tzotzil with English subtitles.(director, camera, editor)

My Job: Traditional Healer, Documentary, 2002, 20min., Mini-DV, Tzotzil with English subtitles.(director, editor, translations)

 

Film Festivals

K´uxa pas Maruch (director, producer)

Ethnofilmfest, Berlin (2005)

Tagung Visuelle Ethnologie, Berlin (2005)

 

Morokapel´s Feast (editor)

EthnoFilmfest, Berlin (2007)

Festival of Ethnological Film, Belgrade (2007), -1^st Prize in student’s Competition

International Ethnographic Film Festival, Quebec (2008)

Dialëktus Festival, Budapest (2008)

Worldfilm Festival, Tartu (2008)

Göttingen International Ethnographic Film Festival (GIEFF), Göttingen (2008)