Search a film or person :
FacebookConnectionRegistration
Home > All films > Films Documentary > The Tailenders
The Tailenders is a film of genre Documentary

The Tailenders (2005)

The Tailenders
If you like this film, let us know!
  • Infos
  • Casting
  • Technical infos
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Film quotes
  • Characters
  • Music
  • Awards
Length 1h12

The Tailenders is a 2005 documentary directed, produced and narrated by Adele Horne, an American independent filmmaker based out of Los Angeles. It is in limited release and has been screened in the U.S., Mexico and Scotland. According to a P.O.V. press release, The Tailenders was broadcast nationally in the US on PBS on Tuesday, July 25, 2006.

The film follows Gospel Recordings, an evangelical Christian missionary group founded by Joy Ridderhof in California in 1939 to make audio recordings of Bible stories in every language on Earth. The group is part of the umbrella network GRN - Global Recordings Network which has sister offices in over 30 countries. The film claims there are over 8,000 languages and dialects in the world and, as of the making of the film, Global Recordings Network has recorded Bible stories in 5,485 of them. It is mentioned in the film that their archive houses more spoken languages in one place than any other single area in the world. The significance of this lies in the notion that the Bible is not only the most published book around the world, passages from it are also translated into the most spoken languages as well. Many of the languages utilized by Gospel Recordings do not have written counterparts, and even if they did, most who spoke the languages would not be able to read it anyway. A benefit of this group's work is the growing set of unspoken languages that are catalogued over the years, which act as a strong counterpart to historical records of various cultures. "The Tailenders" claim that half of all languages occur in eight countries.

Global Recordings Network, founded in Los Angeles in 1939, specifically targets indigenous people in remote areas of the world. In the years of 2002 and 2003 the organization prearranged trips to The Solomon Islands, Mexico, and India. Three countries termed the "tailenders" since they were the last group of people to be reached by missionaries transmitting the message of God, unchanged. In the three countries mentioned earlier, there are a total of 769 different languages and dialects spoken, 74 in The Solomon Islands, 295 in Mexico, and 400 in India.

The film attempts to explore the connection between missionary activity and global capitalism by using low-tech audio devices to speak to communities that face economic crisis. The missionaries targeted these communities that were in crisis because they found that displaced and desperate people were more receptive to evangelical recordings. Also because these people were more interested in the audio recordings because they were more comfortable with listening to their native language. It seems to provide an interesting view on mass-evangelization as the filmmaker shows the viewer that by placing a concentrated emphasis on these native people and using a recording of their own language as a way of connection to Christianity; to make them feel comfortable in learning a new way of thinking about the world.
Trailer of The Tailenders

Bluray, DVD

Streaming / VOD

Source : Wikidata

Comments


Leave comment :

Suggestions of similar film to The Tailenders

There are 8872 with the same cinematographic genres, 3314 films with the same themes (including 478 films with the same 2 themes than The Tailenders), to have finally 70 suggestions of similar films.

If you liked The Tailenders, you will probably like those similar films :
Jesus Camp
Jesus Camp (2007)
, 1h24
Directed by Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady
Origin USA
Genres Documentary
Themes Films about children, Films about religion, Documentaire sur une personnalité, Documentary films about religion
Rating73% 3.697263.697263.697263.697263.69726
Le film traite du centre Kids on Fire, un rassemblement évangélique néo-charismatique pour enfants près de Devils Lake (Dakota du Nord) créé par Becky Fisher et son ministère Kids in Ministry International. Les sujets principaux du film sont des enfants qui étaient au rassemblement pendant l'été 2005 : Levi, Rachael et Tory (Victoria). Le film inclut des extraits vidéos au rassemblement et à Christ Triumphant Church à Lee's Summit (Missouri).
Act Normal
Act Normal (2006)
, 1h20
Directed by Olaf de Fleur
Genres Documentary
Themes Films about religion, Documentary films about religion, Films about Buddhism
Rating74% 3.741053.741053.741053.741053.74105
The film revolves around Robert T. Edison who at 18 years of age left Britain for Thailand to become a Buddhist monk. Five years after he moves to Iceland in 1994 to form the first Buddhist sect in the country, he decides to disrobe and get married only to return later to Thailand to become a monk again [1].