N/um Tchai: The Ceremonial Dance of the !Kung Bushmen (1969)

Tchai is the word used by the !Kung to describe getting together to dance and sing; n/um can be translated as medicine, or supernatural potency. The !Kung gather for "medicine dances" often, usually at night, and sometimes such dances last until dawn. Women sit on the ground, clapping and singing and occasionally dancing a round or two, while men circle around them, singing and stamping rhythms with their feet. The songs are wordless but named: "rain," "sun," "honey," "giraffe," and other "strong things." The strength of the songs is their n/um, or medicine, thought to be a gift from the great god. N/um is also in the fire, and even more so in the "owners of medicine," or curers. Most !Kung men practice as curers at some point in their lives, and in this film we see several men in various stages of trance. A light trance gradually deepens, as the medicine grows "hot," and eventually some men will shriek and run about, falling on hot coals, entering the state the !Kung call "half-death."
The film opens with a brief introduction to the role of n/um tchai in healing and in warding off evil, followed by scenes from one all-night dance. The dance begins with a social gathering and becomes increasingly intense as the night wears on, finally concluding at dawn.