Sama in the Forest Documentary Film

Sama in the Forest (2023 / Dir. Carlos G. Gómez / Maithili, English / 75 mins), a hybrid documentary produced by Coralynn V Davis and based on her research, is set in contemporary Mithila, where a rich cultural identity extends from the mythical past into a globalized present in which pressures on tradition are accelerating. Maithil identity is passed on in part through its renowned painting tradition, as well as through its lesser known wealth of orally transmitted folktales. Women play a central role in both of these expressions. In a creative collaboration with local community members, we highlight the tale of Sama, a young princess who wanders into the forest and befriends a young man, only to be slandered by a muckraking confidante of the king, and subsequently cursed and banished by her father. The film combines footage of women telling different versions of the tale, the making of elaborate narrative paintings, a dramatization of the story, a yearly festival that celebrates Sama, and in-depth conversations about the morals and meanings of this and other traditional tales. The girls and women at the heart of our film are students and teachers at the Mithila Art Institute, a small school for young aspiring artists. Additional participants — community members of different genders, castes, and generations — help paint a complex picture of the social tensions evident in Mithila today.

Scenes from the Sama in the Forest film

The Sama in the Forest website encompasses a tripart project that explores the interfaces among women’s evolving expressive arts, shifting gender and other social norms, and cultural preservation in the Mithila region of South Asia. The project, situated at the cross-section of social scientific method, humanistic subject focus on story narrative in multiple media – some traditional and some modern – entails the creation of three distinct but integrated digital resources:

1. A hybrid, participatory documentary film, Sama in the Forest, described above;
2. The public digital archive of Maithil women’s orally transmitted tales on which primary site you are currently located;
3. An educational resource designed for engagement with the film and archive.