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North Dakota is a ‘breadbasket’ state where the fields aren’t so fertile, a seat of US nuclear might in a post-Soviet age, and – before you Google it – the Dakota without any presidents carved into its mountains. Facing soil erosion and decades of near-flat population growth, in the 1980s it was even proposed that most of the state be restored to native prairie grassland where American bison herds could roam free – a concept named ‘Buffalo Commons’.
Predating an oil boom that revitalised North Dakota’s economy (while giving rise to new environmental and human rights controversies), the documentary Buffalo Common (2002) finds the state a depleted landscape, with little in the way of identity or hope. The Texas-born filmmaker Bill Brown provides an outsider’s tour of North Dakota – suffused with a Scandinavian and agrarian heritage, and pockmarked by remnants of the Cold War. Lending his distinctive monotone to the narration and capturing the region’s quaint grandeur in stark black-and-white, Brown’s understated piece is both a haunting snapshot of time and place, and an accomplished work of auteur filmmaking.
Director: Bill Brown
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Wellbeing
Born in China, Zee seeks a gender-affirming life in the American Midwest
11 minutes
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Rituals and celebrations
A whale hunt is an act of prayer for an Inuit community north of the Arctic Circle
8 minutes
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Music
The peculiar beauty of a song caught between composition and improvisation
3 minutes
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Rituals and celebrations
A beginner’s guide to a joyful Persian tradition of spring renewal and rebirth
3 minutes
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Politics and government
How it looked to Afghan women to see the Taliban return to power
33 minutes
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Love and friendship
Love looks a bit different for a chain-smoking couple in a small apartment
11 minutes
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Biography and memoir
Passed over as the first Black astronaut, Ed Dwight carved out an impressive second act
13 minutes
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The ancient world
The six priestesses who kept the flame of ancient Rome alight at risk of death
5 minutes
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Engineering
A close-up look at electronic paper reveals its exquisite patterns – and limitations
9 minutes