John Marshall

Biography

John Kennedy Marshall (November 12, 1932 – April 22, 2005) was an American anthropologist and acclaimed documentary filmmaker best known for his work in Namibia recording the lives of the Ju/'hoansi (also called the !Kung Bushmen). Marshall first traveled to the Kalahari Desert and met the Ju/'hoansi of the Nyae Nyae area in 1949 on a trip initiated by his father. Throughout the 1950s and 1960's members of the Marshall family returned to the Kalahari Desert numerous times to conduct an ethnographic study of the Ju/'hoansi. From 1950-1958 Marshall filmed the hunting and gathering life of the Ju/'hoansi. His first edited film, The Hunters, was released in 1957 and was an almost instant classic of ethnographic film. During the 1960s and 1970s, Marshall produced many short films about the Ju/'hoansi of Nyae Nyae and pursued other film projects in the United States. He was the cinematographer and co-director for Fred Wiseman's first documentary film, Titicut Follies. In 1968-1969, he shot, edited and directed the ground-breaking Pittsburgh Police series of short films. In 1968, Marshall and Tim Asch founded Documentary Educational Resources, a non-profit organization dedicated to faci…

Directed

1. The Hunters (1957) — Director
2. An Argument About a Marriage (1969) — Director
3. N!ai, The Story of a !Kung Woman (1981) — Director
4. Baobab Play (1974) — Director
5. Bitter Melons (1971) — Director
6. Inside Outside Station 9 (1970) — Director
7. A Curing Ceremony (1969) — Director
8. To Hold Our Ground: A Field Report (1991) — Director
9. Playing with Scorpions (1972) — Director
10. A Joking Relationship (1962) — Director
11. A Group of Women (1961) — Director
12. 901/904 (1972) — Director
13. After the Game (1973) — Director
14. A Forty Dollar Misunderstanding (1973) — Director
15. Investigation of a Hit and Run (1972) — Director
16. The Informant (1973) — Director
17. The 4th, 5th, and the Exclusionary Rule (1973) — Director
18. Twenty-One Dollars or Twenty-One Days (1973) — Director
19. Manifold Controversy (1973) — Director
20. Vagrant Woman (1971) — Director
21. Nothing Hurt But My Pride (1973) — Director
22. Wrong Kid (1973) — Director
23. You Wasn't Loitering (1973) — Director
24. Youth and the Man of Property (1973) — Director
25. Two Brothers (1973) — Director
26. N/um Tchai: The Ceremonial Dance of the !Kung Bushmen (1969) — Director
27. The Lion Game (1970) — Director
28. N!owa T'ama: The Melon Tossing Game (1970) — Director
29. A Rite of Passage (1972) — Director
30. The Meat Fight (1974) — Director
31. The Wasp Nest (1972) — Director
32. Debe's Tantrum (1972) — Director
33. Men Bathing (1973) — Director
34. Three Domestics (1971) — Director
35. If It Fits (1978) — Director
36. Inside/Outside Station Nine (1970) — Director
37. A Kalahari Family (2001) — Director

Also appeared in

1. The Hunters (1957) — Narrator
2. A Kalahari Family (2001) — Himself