The 11th RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film

This film takes a behind-the-scenes look at an indigenous shaman Valentin Khagdaev living on a remote Siberian island as he moves between intimate shamanic rituals performed for local clientele and shows performed at various resorts for Western tourists in search of “primitive” cultures. The film captures cross-cultural miscommunication as the shaman and tourists misunderstand one another, usually comically, sometimes disturbingly, made all the more poignant by conflict between the dominant Russian Orthodox Church and the local shamanic tradition.