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About RAI Film
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Ethnographic Film Catalogue
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RAI FILM
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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
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
28 Films
Directors
“MacDougall, David”
x
Country of production
“Australia”
x
short films
4
films available on demand
4
Region
Australia
10
East Africa
6
South Asia
11
Western Europe
1
Country
Australia
10
India
11
Italy
1
Kenya
3
Nepal
1
Uganda
3
Keywords
Animals
4
Children / Young people
11
Collective / Community identity
2
Death
1
Disasters
1
Education / Knowledge Transmission
6
Education / Knowledge transmission
7
Elderly people
1
Family / Kinship
4
Film / Photography / Mass media
2
Gender Role and Identity
2
Herding
5
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
10
Informant-researcher relationship
2
Infrastructure / Transport
2
Land Rights
4
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
2
Marriage
2
Music / Ethnomusicology
1
Nomads and Nomadism
3
Reflexivity
1
Resettlement
1
Resistance
1
Ritual
1
Rural
2
Social Change
2
Social Conflict
1
Social Organisation
1
Socioeconomic conditions
1
Sport
1
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
1
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
1
Directors
MacDougall, David
28
x
MacDougall, Judith
12
Series
Doon School Project
5
Turkana Conversations
3
not set
20
Country of production
Australia
28
x
India
2
Italy
1
United Kingdom
1
United States
7
Year of production
1970
1
1972
1
1973
1
1976
1
1977
2
1978
1
1980
2
1981
1
1982
1
1983
1
1984
1
1986
2
1993
1
1997
1
2000
1
2001
2
2003
1
2004
1
2005
1
2007
1
2008
1
2011
1
2012
1
2013
1
Film list
The Age of Reason
2004
87
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
In this fifth and final film in the Doon School quintet, MacDougall focuses on the life of one student whom he discovers at the school. The film was made in parallel with ‘The New Boys’ and
South Asia
Children / Young people
Education / Knowledge Transmission
Informant-researcher relationship
Arnav At Six
2012
28
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
Filmed as a collaborative project with Arnav Koshy in 2008, this film explores the mind and activities of an intelligent and observant child of six. Arnav is fascinated by the geology, plant-life,
South Asia
Children / Young people
Education / Knowledge Transmission
Awareness
2011
67
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
Judith MacDougall
.
Filmed in South India, Andhra Pradesh, at Rishi Valley School, founded by the 20th Century Indian thinker Krishnamurti, ‘Awareness’ explores the sensibilities of two groups of young Indian teenagers,
South Asia
Education / Knowledge transmission
Children / Young people
Collum Calling Canberra
1983
59
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
Judith MacDougall
.
An account of Aboriginal people steering their way through the often frustrating processes of official decision-making, as it is seen from their viewpoint far away from Canberra. Gordon Smith, head
Australia
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Doon School Chronicles
2000
140
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
David MacDougall’s long term visual study completed. The Doon School, located in Dehra Dun in Uttaranchal, is perhaps the most famous boys’ boarding school in India. Although it has sometimes been
South Asia
Education / Knowledge transmission
Children / Young people
Familiar Places
1980
50
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
Anthropologist Peter Sutton is taken by an Aboriginal family, the Naponans, to map hereditary clan country in northern Queensland where they hope to live one day. To the children it is all new; to an
Australia
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Land Rights
Education / Knowledge Transmission
Gandhi’s Children
2008
185
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
A monolithic building on the outskirts of Delhi provides food and shelter for 350 boys. Some are orphans, some have been abandoned, others have run away from home. About half are held under a court
South Asia
Children / Young people
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
Socioeconomic conditions
Good-bye Old Man
1977
70
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
A last request of a Tiwi man on Melville Island was that a film be made of the pukumani (bereavment) ceremony to follow his death. The film follows his family, from the days of preparation to their
Australia
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Death
Elderly people
Film / Photography / Mass media
Ritual
Karam in Jaipur
2001
54
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
This third film in the Doon School quintet follows the main protagonist of ‘With Morning Hearts’ into the next phase of his life in Jaipur House, one of the five main houses of the school. There he
South Asia
Children / Young people
Education / Knowledge transmission
Sport
Link-up Diary
1997
86
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
The filmmaker goes on the road with Link-Up, an organisation which re-unites Aboriginal families separated in earlier decades by the New South Wales government. As the film shows, being reunited
Australia
Resettlement
Family / Kinship
Collective / Community identity
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Lorang’s Way
1977
69
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
Judith MacDougall
.
The Turkana are a group of semi-nomadic pastoralists who inhabit a harsh environment of dry thorn country in northwestern Kenya. Lorang’s Way focuses upon a Turkana elder. Having spent time away
East Africa
Herding
Social Change
Nomads and Nomadism
Nawi
1970
20
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
Judith MacDougall
.
This classic ethnographic documentary, by the renowned filmmaking team of David and Judith MacDougall, explores the nomadic life of the Jie of Uganda. During the dry season the Jie leave their
East Africa
Herding
Music / Ethnomusicology
Nomads and Nomadism
The New Boys
2003
100
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
The social dynamics of the group is the focus of this study of life in Foot House, one of Doon School’s dormitories for new boys. It begins a few days before the boys appear and shows them
South Asia
Children / Young people
Education / Knowledge Transmission
Collective / Community identity
SchoolScapes
2007
77
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
Inspired by the cinema of Lumière and the ideas of the 20th century Indian thinker Jiddu Krishnamurti, David MacDougall follows up the Doon School Quintet, his series of films about a traditional
South Asia
Children / Young people
Education / Knowledge transmission
Film / Photography / Mass media
Some Alien Creatures
2005
74
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
A film about the famous experimental, co-educational boarding school in South India, the Rishi Valley School, founded by the influential Indian thinker Krishnamurti. In this film about a progressive
South Asia
Children / Young people
Gender Role and Identity
Education / Knowledge Transmission
Stockman’s Strategy
1984
52
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
Judith MacDougall
.
A film which explores the philosophy of teaching and learning of Sunny Bancroft, manager of an Aboriginal-run cattle station in northern New South Wales. It also tells the story of Shane Gordon, a
Australia
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Animals
Education / Knowledge transmission
Sunny and the Dark Horse
1986
86
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
Judith MacDougall
.
A true story of a country family’s gradual involvement and growing passion for ‘picnic racing’. Sunny Bancroft is an Aboriginal cattle-station manager in New South Wales. With his
Australia
Rural
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Animals
Takeover
1980
90
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
Judith MacDougall
.
On March 13, 1978 the Queensland Government announced its intention to take over management of Aurukun Aboriginal Reserve from the Uniting Church. The people of Aurukun complained bitterly, fearing
Australia
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Resistance
Land Rights
Social Conflict
Tempus de Baristas
1993
100
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
This film depicts the characters, and social dilemmas of three generations of Sardinian mountain shepherds. Although born roughly 20 years apart, Franchiscu (62), his son Pietro (17) and their
Western Europe
Herding
Social Change
Family / Kinship
Rural
Three Horsemen
1982
50
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
Judith MacDougall
.
Bob Massey Pootchemunka has spent most of his life as a stockman and drover. Now over 75, his ambition is to see an all-Aboriginal cattle station operating at Ti-Tree on his traditional clan land.
Australia
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Herding
Animals
Land Rights
To Get That Country
1978
70
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
An important historical film of events surrounding early meetings of the Northern Land Council in 1977, where uranium mining, land rights and Aboriginal leadership were the key issues.
Australia
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Land Rights
Social Organisation
To Live With Herds
1972
90
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
The Jie are semi-nomadic pastoral people living in North-eastern Uganda, who are striving to maintain their way of life in the face of unsympathetic government policy, and, at the time of filming, a dry-season famine.
East Africa
Nomads and Nomadism
Disasters
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
A Transfer of Power
1986
22
‘
Directed by
Judith MacDougall
David MacDougall
.
Replacing the engine in an old car is a familiar rural task, but how people go about it differs. For these Aboriginal men in New South Wales, it’s an occasion for affirming continuing
Australia
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Education / Knowledge transmission
Infrastructure / Transport
Under the Men’s Tree
1973
15
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
Judith MacDougall
.
At Jie cattle camps in Uganda men often gather under a special tree to make leather and wooden goods and talk, relax, and sleep. This brilliant ethnographic documentary by renowned filmmakers David
East Africa
Infrastructure / Transport
Informant-researcher relationship
Reflexivity
Under the Palace Wall
2013
53
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
From the 16th century the Indian village of Delwara in southern Rajasthan was ruled as a principality of the kingdom of Mewar. Its palace, which overlooks the village, is now a luxury hotel – a
South Asia
Education / Knowledge transmission
Children / Young people
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
The Wedding Camels
1976
108
‘
Directed by
Judith MacDougall
David MacDougall
.
Also about individuals from the Turkana in north-western Kenya (see ‘Lorang’s Way’ and ‘A Wife Among Wives’), this film chronicles a series of events which surround the marriage of Lorang’s
East Africa
Family / Kinship
Marriage
Animals
Herding
A Wife Among Wives
1981
72
‘
Directed by
Judith MacDougall
David MacDougall
.
This segment of the trilogy on the Turkana of northern Kenya (see ‘Lorang’s Way’ and ‘The Wedding Camels’ above) evolves around the role of women in the society. The audience follows the
East Africa
Gender Role and Identity
Marriage
Family / Kinship
With Morning Hearts
2001
110
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
This film continues MacDougall’s long-term study of an elite boys’ boarding school in northern India. It focuses on a group of twelve-year-olds during their first year in one of the ‘houses’ for new
South Asia
Children / Young people
Education / Knowledge Transmission