Latuko (1952)

Run Time - 56 min.  |   Countries - United States  |  
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson

Filmed in 16-millimeter Kodachrome and released in 35-mm Technicolor prints, Latuko is a record of the 1950 expedition led by Edgar M. Queeny on behalf of the American Museum of Natural History. It was Queeny's mission to journey into the heart of the Sudan region to photograph the curious customs of the Latuko tribe. Some of the ceremonies presented herein were rather rough-going for most American filmgoers; accordingly, the film was seldom shown intact in the U.S. The more explicit scenes include a grisly blood-drinking ritual and a stomach-churning self-mutilation vignette. Latuko was intended as the first of three feature-length documentaries dealing with the peoples of the Anglo-Egyptian province of Equatoria.