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IN DEVELOPMENT

Vanishing Cultures, a documentary series

Exploring and preserving our cultural heritage

All over the world, indigenous people have faced extinction in the face of modern culture, and their unseen struggles continue to this day.  Society often fails to acknowledge the significance and value of these vanishing civilizations. As tribal elders die, their ancient knowledge and traditions are lost forever.

Today, roughly 300 million people, or five percent of the world’s population, still identify themselves as members of an indigenous culture¹, and the United Nations has recently declared the second “International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People”.  Still, most indigenous people are misunderstood, viewed either as idyllic societies living spiritual lives in tune with nature, or as primitive tribes standing in the way of progress.  In truth, neither is true.  In fact, indigenous people have had to adapt a great deal in order to survive, and are contemporary members of society. 

Still, most of these cultures are being pushed aside in today’s environment of rapid global change.  As each tribal culture dies out, we lose a piece of our collective humanity, from language to spiritual beliefs to the intimate knowledge of a specific environment.  “Vanishing Cultures” will seek out these unique cultures and bring forth each one’s individual vision of life.

From the San of Southern Africa to the Innu of North America to the Aborigines of Australia, “Vanishing Cultures” will showcase and celebrate the vast diversity of lifestyles and cultures that continue to persevere in the face of ever-encroaching modern society, and will provide an up-close-and-personal experience of the groups and individuals that make up our global family.

¹National Geographic, August 1999
WGA Registration #1091047

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FILMMAKER

BIO

Paula Ely has been involved in the entertainment industry since 1991, when she joined Carolco Television, the television production and syndication division of Carolco Pictures. Paula was involved in the sale and distribution of the Carolco and LIVE Entertainment libraries to the pay-per-view, cable, and free television markets before the company shuttered in 1993.  After consulting with Carolco on the sale of their library assets to the Worldvision company, Paula joined Jeff Kazmark, with whom she had worked at Carolco, to form Kazmark Entertainment Group, a firm created to create television advertising and programming trade opportunities in association with a major advertising agency and its media buying arm.   At Kazmark Entertainment, Paula oversees all of the company’s financial and personnel responsibilities and negotiates program acquisition agreements with leading production companies.   

Paula was an Executive Producer of a short film about the music of the Christmas season in Harlem entitled “Merry Christmas, Baby”, which has been entered into the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art.  She also oversaw the creation of Springbok Films, a division of Kazmark Entertainment created in 2002, and line produced its first feature, “The Enigma With A Stigma”, an improvised comedy to be released in the summer of 2006. 

In 2003, Paula traveled to Botswana to produce the recently completed documentary “Vanishing Cultures: Bushmen of the Kalahari”, which is now playing on the festival circuit and is being distributed by Filmakers Library. The film was named “Best Documentary” at the Gulf Coast Film & Video Festival, and Paula received the “Best Producer” award at the La Femme Film Festival.  She plans to continue the series on other endangered cultures around the world.

She has also long been involved in community service, and received the Volunteer of the Year award in 2004 from PAWS/LA, an organization working to keep people with debilitating illnesses together with their companion animals. Paula also produced and directed PAWS/LA’s showcase and fundraising video in 2006. She has also taught as a volunteer adult literacy tutor with the Los Angeles Public Library literacy program and has worked as a volunteer with service programs in Cartago, Costa Rica and Prampram, Ghana.  Paula has been recognized for her photography as well. She has been a featured artist in PAWS/LA’s annual fundraising art auction for the past two years, and was awarded an honorable mention in an international “decisive moment” competition by the renowned organization Women In Photography.

Paula’s latest project is in collaboration with Gretchen Wyler, former vice-president of the Humane Society of the United States, Hollywood Branch, and will focus on the issue of elephants in the zoo environment. 

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