Wednesday, June 18, 2008

A Tuesday apprenticeship in photos

Week 8 June 17 Sunny and Cool
Juliette of the Herbs


I look forward the first rainy rainy tuesday as an excuse to do a showing of my dear friend Tish Streeten's film" Juliette of the Herbs" But they were wrong! When I checked the weather yesterday it called for a stormy day- a stormy week infact! When I woke up it was bright and the sun was shinning.



Juliette of the Herbs is a beautifully filmed lyrical portrait of the life and work of Juliette de Bairacli Levy: herbalist, author, breeder of Afghan hounds, friend of the Gypsies, traveller in search of herbal wisdom and the pioneer of holistic veterinary medicine. For more than 60 years Juliette lived with the Gypsies, nomads and peasants of the world, learning the healing arts of these people who live close to nature, and learning from nature herself. Now 85 years of age, Juliette’s life story is as colourful and exciting as her tremendous wealth of herbal knowledge.

Filmed on location in Greece, Spain, France, Portugal, Switzerland, England and America, and interwoven with Juliette’s vast collection of archival photographs, together with scenes of Gypsies dancing and Bedouins with their herds, Juliette of the Herbs is an inspiring portrait of a remarkable woman.


about Tish Streeten - Filmmaker
Tish Streeten has been making documentary films for more than 15 years. She has been studying herbal medicine for more than 30 years. Juliette of the Herbs, a feature length documentary portrait of the grandmother of today's herbal movement, has won many awards and has been shown in festivals and theatres across the country and internationally. The success of this film is a result of Tish's deep understanding of the subject matter and her talent as a filmmaker.


Tish Streeten was born and grew up in Oxford, England. She studied agricultural botany at the University College of North Wales and then decided she could learn more from practical work in the field. For the next ten years she worked throughout Europe and America as an organic farmer, gardener, fruit picker and herbalist. In 1979 she went to work with Danilo Dolci in Sicily as the resident gardener for the Centro Studi e Iniziative. Tish was in Sicily for almost three years.

In 1982 Tish came to New York to make documentary films, studying for one year at New York University with George Stoney and Brian Winston. Here she made her first film, Community Dig, a short documentary about an archaeological excavation in Greenwich Village, which aired on public television. Tish has since worked as producer, editor, researcher, post-production supervisor, sound editor, sound recordist and assistant editor on many independent, cable and public television documentaries. Recently Tish produced, directed and edited Sicilian Sojourn, a 20 minute documentary on responsible tourism and the cultural traditions of Sicily. She also co-produced and edited Ecological Design: Inventing the Future, which has won many awards and was shown at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. She was researcher and co-producer of Sangoma, a film for Canadian television about traditional healers in South Africa. A few years ago Tish worked on the highly acclaimed television series, Healing and the Mind with Bill Moyers. She is currently producing two series - one called Green Witches, on women herbalists and traditional healers world wide; and another, Trees That Heal, about medicinal trees world wide. Juliette of the Herbs is Tish's first feature length documentary.

Tish formed her production company, Mabinogion Films, to produce and distribute documentaries on women, the environment and the cultural traditions of the world. The Mabinogion are a collection of mediaeval Welsh romances of Celtic origin. The word mabinogion means storytelling. Tish's films are made with an intimate knowledge, caring and respect for her subjects. Sicilian Sojourn grew out of three years living and working with the people of Sicily. Juliette of the Herbs was seven years in the making. For Tish, the film making process is one of organic growth. Tish produces, directs, writes, edits and records sound for her films. She also does the research, fund-raising and distribution.

Here is a great article on Juliette

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