Fragile Beauty, A Visual Journey
Traveling to the remote Omo Valley in Southern Ethiopia Alan Kaplan and Wendy Stuart discover a culture of tribal people who worship, live, dress, and adorn themselves as they have for centuries. The question is, “How different are they than us and how long will they remain that way?”
Join us as we discover their colorful and often extreme fashion, traditional body paintings, the meaning of they’re elaborate piercings and a how their ordinary lives are being forced to change.
Today they live with the challenges of living in a developing world where their attempts to sustain their unique and diverse culture is already being threatened. These are beautiful people who are holding back as they are forced to accept current lifestyles of the outside world.
A Film By Alan Kaplan and Wendy Stuart Kaplan
Directed by Alan Kaplan
Hosted and Narrated by Wendy Stuart Kaplan
Video and Still Photography by Alan Kaplan
Location: Southern Omo Valley Ethiopia
Contact information: (917) 703-6688 | fluffie26@yahoo.com
"Fragile Beauty" Wins Award
Our film “Fragile Beauty” a 20 minute short about 3 remote tribes in Ethiopia, was a final selection and won an award! I hosted the Symposium on African Cinema, as well as interviewed African producers, directors, actors, and subjects of documentaries. I was honored to be included with such an amazing roster of notables from all over Africa!
As Pike County locals Alan and Wendy Stuart Kaplan’s short film “Fragile Beauty, A Visual Journey” is beginning to hit film festivals across the globe from Los Angeles to Wales and Miami to Northern Africa they’re taking time out and bring their film back to Milford for one night only.
When the Kaplans set out for the secluded Omo Valley in Ethiopia in December 2015 they planned to bring back a film that recorded the fashions of Ethiopian tribes. What they returned to the states with is a stark look at how quickly their culture is changing. Today the indigenous people are under attack by globalization that’s infiltrating their villages with disease, mistrust and discord and sadly we now find lifestyles that go back centuries on the verge of disappearing.
With spectacular visuals and impromptu one on one interviews the Kaplans capture many fascinating aspects of several indigenous tribes in the Omo Valley. From rituals for becoming a man and over the top fashions that make Vivienne Westwood look conservative “Fragile Beauty, A Visual Journey” is truly a journey for the mind, eye and heart.
“Fragile Beauty, A Visual Journey” will be screened at The Patisserie Saturday, March 4 at 5:30. Free Admission. It is open to the public.
“Limited edition prints from “Fragile Beauty” will be for sale or on order”
Fragile Beauty Images by Alan Ira Kaplan. Copyrighted 2015-17