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Time in Culture

Time in Culture is a short documentary that shows how ideas of time are expressed in different cultures and languages. In Western cultures, time is measured by clocks and calendars using numbers. Calendars and clocks enable us to measure time intervals: years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds. The past is thought of as located behind our backs, while the future is in front or ahead. Is this the way that everyone, in every culture, thinks and talks about time? This documentary tells the story of how three indigenous cultures of Brazil, think about, talk about and experience time. The Huni Kuĩ, Kamaiurá, and Awetýpeople talk about time very differently from us. These cultures do not use clocks and calendars. So individuals do not count their birthdays. Instead, they think about their lives in terms of life stages and the process of learning and acquiring skills throughout the life span. For these cultures, time is thoughtabout in terms of events and happenings, in nature and in the social world. The sounds of the crickets, the sun and the sunlight, the stars, the water level inthe rivers, the rain, the breeze and the stars indicate time. The relationship between people and the environment is crucial for understanding time. Time, they say, is not behind or in front of me, but it is in my heart, in my eyes or in my mind.

  • Vera da Silva Sinha
    Director
  • Vera da Silva Sinha
    Writer
  • Vera da Silva Sinha
    Producer
  • Chris Sinha
    Producer
  • Wary Kamaiurá Sabino
    Producer
  • Alberto Hijazo-Gascón
    Producer
  • Luna Filipovic
    Producer
  • Alfredo Castro
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    29 minutes 51 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 11, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    1,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    Brazil
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes
Director Biography - Vera da Silva Sinha

Vera da Silva Sinha is a postdoctoral researcher whose research topic is cultural and linguistic conceptualizations of time in indigenous languages of Brazil. Through field research she tries to understand the way in which indigenous Amazonian concepts of time are organized and expressed in language structure, cosmologies and myths. Vera obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Portuguese language and literature at the Federal University of Rondônia in 1994. She has successfully completed two Master’s degrees in Social Sciences (Anthropology, Federal University of Pernambuco, 2000; Comparative Criminal Justice Studies, University of Portsmouth, 2004). She obtained her PhD in anthropological linguistics at the University of East Anglia in 2019. She has worked in diverse academic and non-academic professional settings, from the criminal justice system, through heritage and community engagement to anthropological and linguistic research in Brazil, Sweden and the UK. Vera’s research interests include indigenous and minority identities, mythic and historical narratives, immaterial heritage, number and quantificational concepts, motion, space and time. In October 2019, Vera gave a talk on her research on time in culture at TEDxVienna 2019, whose theme was "About Time", and she has also contributed to a a podcast series with the same name, produced by the Norwegian App company "Timely".

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Director Statement

"Time in Culture" is my first documentary film. It was self-produced from the video footage that I made during my PhD fieldwork in Acre State and Xingu Park, Brazil.