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About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
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Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
Film Festival 2025 Group passes
Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
Archive of past editions
RAI FILM
Login
Facebook
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Twitter
About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
Prices
Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
Film Festival 2025 Group passes
Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
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
About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
Film Festival 2025 Group passes
Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
Archive of past editions
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Films
12 Films
Country
“Brazil”
x
Country of production
“United Kingdom”
x
films with a digital version
7
short films
5
Region
South America
12
Southern Africa
1
Country
Angola
1
Brazil
12
x
Keywords
Children / Young people
2
Collective / Community identity
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
3
Ethnofiction
1
Festivals / Carnival
1
Film / Photography / Mass media
2
Gender Role and Identity
3
Health / Health care / Healing
2
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
5
LGBTQI*
1
Land Rights
3
Music / Ethnomusicology
1
Political Activists
2
Possession
1
Reflexivity
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
2
Resistance
2
Ritual
3
Sex / Sexuality
1
Social Conflict
2
Social Organisation
1
Socioeconomic conditions
1
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
1
Directors
Assunção, Matthias Röhrig
1
Beckham, Michael
2
Cross, Stephen
1
Davidson, John Paul
1
Dettmann, Christine
1
Juárez-Allen, Gema
1
Kurc, Julia
1
Lipsanen, Heidi
1
Marin, Nadja
1
Pakleppa, Richard
1
Pasini, Carlos
1
Pinhheiro, Joceny
1
Sjøberg, Johannes
1
Series
Disappearing World Series
4
Granada Center for Visual Anthropology Student Film
5
not set
3
Country of production
Brazil
1
South Africa
1
Sweden
1
United Kingdom
12
x
Year of production
1974
1
1977
1
1987
1
1989
1
1990
1
2001
1
2003
2
2007
1
2008
2
2014
1
Film list
Bailarinas
2003
32
‘
Directed by
Heidi Lipsanen
.
Majê Molê is an Afro-Brazilian dance group which offers girls and young women in Olinda, Northeast Brazil, the opportunity to rise above the poverty, drug addiction and crime that scars their
South America
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Gender Role and Identity
Children / Young people
Body Games – Capoeira and Ancestry
2014
87
‘
Student
Directed by
Richard Pakleppa
Matthias Röhrig Assunção
Christine Dettmann
.
The film follows master Cobra Mansa and his friends in the search for the African roots of the Brazilian martial art Capoeira. A powerful myth links Capoeira to a legendary Angolan game called Engolo
South America
Southern Africa
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Music / Ethnomusicology
Festivals / Carnival
Dreamland
2001
30
‘
Directed by
Gema Juárez-Allen
.
This film explores the dreams and frustrations of camp squatters in Rio de Janeiro State, as, supported by the MST (Landless People’s Movement), they wait for permission to settle on unused land close by.
South America
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
Land Rights
Healer on the Street
2003
28
‘
Directed by
Joceny Pinhheiro
.
During the day, Isnar is a community paramedic who works in the local clinic and runs an arts and drugs rehabilitation centre for young people in Fortaleza on the coast of Northeast Brazil. But by
South America
Health / Health care / Healing
Ritual
Hillside Beauties
2008
25
‘
Directed by
Julia Kurc
.
In a violent, marginalized and discriminated environment such as the favelas in Rio de Janeiro, women create a time and a space to construct their identities and their beauty. Marcella, Thuany and
South America
Gender Role and Identity
Socioeconomic conditions
The Kayapo
1987
52
‘
Directed by
Michael Beckham
.
This film focuses on the conflicts and determination of a group of people trying to survive and maintain their ethnic identity in the face of almost overpowering odds. The film contrasts the
South America
Land Rights
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Political Activists
Resistance
Social Conflict
The Kayapo: Out of the Forest
1989
52
‘
Directed by
Michael Beckham
.
Early in 1989 the Kayapo rallied other Brazilian Indians to attend a reunification of the tribes at Altamira«the proposed site of a massive hydro-electric dam, that will flood large parts of the
South America
Land Rights
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Resistance
Film / Photography / Mass media
Political Activists
Social Conflict
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 Storyteller
1990
50
‘
Student
Directed by
John Paul Davidson
.
Unaware of the written word until the 1950s, the Waura tribe who live in the headwaters of the Xingu river in Brazil still practise the art of storytelling. Tribal storyteller Aruta recounts one of
South America
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Religion / Belief / Faith
Tenonde’i – a Beautiful Future
2008
30
‘
Directed by
Nadja Marin
.
In a village inside the world’s fifth largest and tough city, São Paulo, a young Guaraní created a children’s choir to raise money for his community. Filled with beautiful sounds, the film is a
South America
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Children / Young people
Transfiction
2007
58
‘
Directed by
Johannes Sjøberg
.
Transfiction explores ‘ethnofiction’ – an experimental ethnographic documentary film style in which the participants collaborate with the filmmaker to act out their own and others’ life experiences
South America
Reflexivity
Film / Photography / Mass media
Gender Role and Identity
Sex / Sexuality
LGBTQI*
Ethnofiction
Umbanda
1977
52
‘
Directed by
Stephen Cross
.
Umbanda is a syncretic religious movement, combining elements from orthodox Catholicism with submerged African and indigenous Indian spiritual beliefs. In spite of past attempts to suppress it,
South America
Possession
Health / Health care / Healing
Religion / Belief / Faith
Ritual