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About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
Prices
Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
RAI Film Festival 2025
RAI Film Festival 2025 Group passes
About RAI Film Festival
RAI Film Festival prizes and awards
Archive of past editions
RAI FILM
Login
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
Prices
Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
RAI Film Festival 2025
RAI Film Festival 2025 Group passes
About RAI Film Festival
RAI Film Festival prizes and awards
Archive of past editions
Menu
About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
Prices
Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
RAI Film Festival 2025
RAI Film Festival 2025 Group passes
About RAI Film Festival
RAI Film Festival prizes and awards
Archive of past editions
Login
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Films
54 Films
Series
“Disappearing World Series”
x
Showing 11
Title initial
“M”
x
films with a digital version
54
Title initial
A
4
B
1
C
2
D
1
E
2
H
1
I
1
K
9
L
4
M
11
x
N
1
O
1
P
1
Q
1
R
1
S
4
T
2
U
1
V
1
W
5
Region
Central Africa
1
Central America
1
Central Asia and Far East
6
Central Europe
1
East Africa
3
Melanesia
3
Middle and Near East
2
North America
2
North and Northeast Africa
10
South America
9
South Asia
6
South-East Asia
4
South-East Europe
2
West Africa
2
Western Europe
1
Western Mediterranean
1
Country
Afghanistan
1
Albania
1
Algeria
1
Bosnia and Herzegovina
1
Brazil
4
Cameroon
1
Canada
1
China
4
Colombia
3
Ethiopia
6
France
1
Ghana
1
Guatemala
1
Hungary
1
India
1
Indonesia
2
Iran
1
Kenya
3
Mongolia
2
Morocco
1
Myanmar
1
Nepal
1
Pakistan
3
Papua New Guinea
2
Peru
1
Russian Federation
1
Sierra Leone
1
Solomon Islands
1
Spain
1
Sri Lanka
1
Sudan
3
Venezuela
1
Keywords
Agriculture / Farming
3
Animals
4
Collective / Community identity
10
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
1
Death
1
Everyday Life
6
Family / Kinship
2
Festivals / Carnival
4
Film / Photography / Mass media
1
Gender Role and Identity
8
Health / Health care / Healing
4
Herding
9
History
2
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
5
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
8
Informant-researcher relationship
1
Inter-religious relations
1
Labour
3
Land Rights
7
Marriage
3
Memory
1
Migration
1
Nomads and Nomadism
6
Political Activists
2
Possession
2
Post-communism
1
Race / Racism / Antiracism
1
Refugees / Displaced populations
4
Religion / Belief / Faith
8
Resistance
2
Ritual
12
Rural
6
Shamans and Shamanism
2
Social Change
18
Social Conflict
8
Social Norms
1
Social Organisation
12
Socioeconomic conditions
2
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
1
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
2
Trade
2
Travellers / Roma
1
Urban
1
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
8
Directors
Ash, David
1
Beckham, Michael
2
Blake, John
2
Carr, Peter
1
Christie, Debbie
1
Cross, Stephen
1
Curling, Chris
5
Grigsby, Michael
1
Harries, Andy
3
Lasko, Claire
2
Llewelyn-Davies, Melissa
1
MacDonald, Bruce
3
Milne, Claudia
1
Moser, Brian
7
Nairn, Charlie
5
Pasini, Carlos
2
Sheppard, John
4
Singer, André
6
Wason, David
5
Winter, Pattie
1
Woodhead, Leslie
12
Series
Disappearing World Series
54
x
In Search of Cool Ground: The Mursi Trilogy
3
Country of production
United Kingdom
54
Year of production
1970
1
1971
3
1972
2
1973
2
1974
6
1975
4
1976
1
1977
5
1979
2
1980
2
1982
3
1983
3
1985
1
1987
4
1988
3
1989
3
1990
3
1991
3
1993
3
Film list
Masai Manhood
1975
52
‘
Directed by
Chris Curling
.
This film was made after ‘Masai Women’ and in the same area. Together the two films provide a vivid view of Masai men and women and their place in Masai society. The Masai are pastoral nomads in
East Africa
Gender Role and Identity
Social Change
Ritual
Social Organisation
Nomads and Nomadism
Herding
Masai Women
1974
52
‘
Directed by
Chris Curling
.
The Masai are cattle herders living in the East African rift valley: they grow no crops and are proud of being a non-agricultural people. Cattle are the all-important source of wealth and social
East Africa
Gender Role and Identity
Social Change
Ritual
Social Organisation
Nomads and Nomadism
Herding
The Mehinacu
1974
52
‘
Directed by
Carlos Pasini
.
The Mehinacu live near the head-waters of the River Xingu in Central Brazil, in a single village within the protective confines of the Xingu National Park. Although the film concentrates upon the
South America
Social Organisation
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Collective / Community identity
Ritual
The Mende
1990
52
‘
Directed by
Bruce MacDonald
.
This is a portrait of Kpuawala, Sierra Leone, a village of some 260 Mende people living in a clearing in the forest in houses of mud brick and tin. Like any village portrait it gossips, happy
West Africa
Everyday Life
Social Organisation
Rural
The Meo
1972
52
‘
Directed by
Brian Moser
Chris Curling
.
Over the last three thousand years the Meo (Miao or Hmong) have migrated south from north and central China to avoid oppression and protect their way of life. Today they live in scattered mountain
South-East Asia
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Shamans and Shamanism
Ritual
Social Organisation
Rural
The Migrants
1985
52
‘
Directed by
Leslie Woodhead
David Wason
.
The Migrants is the third film in the trilogy ‘In Search of Cool Ground’ for Granada Television’s Disappearing World series. It is about a drought-induced migration of Mursi from their traditional
North and Northeast Africa
Social Change
Collective / Community identity
Refugees / Displaced populations
Mongolia, part 1: On the Edge of the Gobi
1975
52
‘
Directed by
Brian Moser
.
Mongolia is a country the size of Western Europe with under 1.5 million people but over 23 million head of livestock. This film concentrates on life in the great plains of Mongolia, at the foot of
Central Asia and Far East
Herding
Social Change
Rural
Everyday Life
Mongolia part 2: The City on the Steppes
1975
52
‘
Directed by
Brian Moser
.
The second of two films on Mongolia made by Granada Television in 1974–75 looks at life in Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia and home of a quarter of the population. The city celebrates the 53rd
Central Asia and Far East
Festivals / Carnival
Urban
Everyday Life
The Mursi
1974
52
‘
Directed by
Leslie Woodhead
.
The Mursi are a cattle-keeping and agricultural group without chiefs or leaders from south-west Ethiopia. This film, made under extremely difficult conditions, focuses on the way decisions are made
North and Northeast Africa
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Social Organisation
Mursi: The Land is Bad
1991
52
‘
Directed by
Leslie Woodhead
.
A further visit to the Mursi of Southern Ethiopia with whom contact was established 17 years ago, for an important coming of age ceremony which has had to be postponed many times. An elder of the
North and Northeast Africa
Ritual
Social Conflict
Health / Health care / Healing
Mursi: Nitha
1991
52
‘
Directed by
Leslie Woodhead
.
The proper time for a man to go through the Age Set Ceremony, the nitha, is just as he reaches physical maturity. But many years may elapse from one nitha to the next, so it is inevitable that some
North and Northeast Africa
Ritual
Social Conflict
Gender Role and Identity