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About RAI Film
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Ethnographic Film Catalogue
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About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
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Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
Archive of past editions
RAI FILM
Login
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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
160 Films
shorter than 40 minutes
x
Country of production
“United Kingdom”
x
Showing 26
Title initial
“S”
x
films with a digital version
39
short films
160
x
films available on demand
9
Title initial
A
1
B
12
C
7
D
7
E
5
F
7
G
9
H
10
I
9
J
3
K
1
L
9
M
10
N
3
O
3
P
4
R
9
S
26
x
T
12
U
3
V
4
W
4
Y
2
Region
Australia
2
British-Irish Isles
34
Caribbean Islands
5
Central America
4
Central Asia and Far East
9
Central Europe
2
Melanesia
2
Middle and Near East
8
New Zealand and Polynesia
1
North America
9
North and Northeast Africa
2
Scandinavia
6
South America
17
South Asia
11
South-East Asia
5
South-East Europe
9
Southern Africa
6
West Africa
13
Western Europe
12
Western Mediterranean
9
Country
Afghanistan
3
Anguilla
1
Australia
2
Austria
1
Botswana
1
Brazil
5
Canada
1
Cape Verde
1
Chile
1
China
3
Colombia
2
Cyprus
1
Czech Republic
1
Denmark
4
Ecuador
1
Eritrea
1
France
2
Germany
5
Ghana
2
Greece
2
Greenland
1
Guinea-Bissau
1
Haiti
1
India
7
Indonesia
2
Ireland
1
Israel
1
Italy
3
Jamaica
2
Japan
4
Jordan
1
Lesotho
1
Los Angeles
1
Malawi
1
Malta
2
Mexico
3
Mongolia
1
Morocco
1
Myanmar
1
Namibia
1
Nepal
4
New Zealand
1
Nigeria
7
Norway
2
Palestine
2
Papua New Guinea
2
Peru
4
Portugal
2
Romania
5
Russian Federation
2
Sierra Leone
2
South Africa
1
Spain
2
Sweden
2
Switzerland
1
Syria
1
The Netherlands
2
Togo
1
Trinidad and Tobago
1
United Kingdom
35
United States
6
Venezuela
3
Yemen
1
not set
3
Keywords
Agriculture / Farming
4
Agriculture/ Farming
1
Alternative culture
14
Animals
8
Animation
1
Archaeobotany / Ethnobotany
1
Archaeology
2
Archival material / Museum displays
7
Art / Artists / Artisans
8
Art/ Artists/ Artisans
2
Children / Young people
17
Collective / Community identity
9
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
2
Dance / Theatre / Performance
10
Death
4
Development projects
6
Disasters
1
Education / Knowledge Transmission
4
Education / Knowledge transmission
3
Elderly people
5
Environment
3
Ethnofiction
2
Everyday Life
2
Family / Kinship
7
Family/ Kinship
1
Festivals / Carnival
3
Film / Photography / Mass media
7
Food
3
Gender Role and Identity
10
Gender Role and identity
1
Health / Health care / Healing
7
Health/ Health care/ Healing
1
Herding
1
History
3
History of Anthropology
2
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
4
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
10
Informant-researcher relationship
1
Inter-religious relations
3
Intergenerational relations
5
Internet
1
LGBTQI*
3
Labour
7
Land Rights
4
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
4
Life Story / Life History
1
Life Story/ Life History
1
Linguistics / Language
1
Love
3
Marriage
5
Material Culture
6
Memory
8
Migration
8
Music / Ethnomusicology
7
Nationalism
1
Personal Narrative
3
Political Activists
4
Popular Culture
3
Possession
1
Post-communism
4
Prison
1
Public Figure
2
Race / Racism / Antiracism
3
Reflexivity
3
Refugees / Displaced populations
6
Religion / Belief / Faith
19
Reproduction (biology)
1
Resistance
2
Ritual
16
Rural
2
Sex / Sexuality
4
Shamans and Shamanism
1
Social Change
6
Social Conflict
4
Social Organisation
1
Socioeconomic conditions
5
Sport
5
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
7
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
6
Trade
5
Travellers / Roma
4
Urban
12
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
10
Directors
Al Akash, Ruba
1
Allward, Caroline
1
Alves-Costa, Catarina
1
Anttila, Birgitta H.
1
Asadullah, Sara
1
Asare-Nyako, Afua
1
Austena, Aunund
1
Baily, John
3
Banks, Marcus
1
Basu, Paul
1
Beier, Ulli
1
Belkind, Lukas
1
Benfield, Andy
1
Berg, Julia
1
Bernstein, Anya
1
Bolchover, James
1
Boswall, Karen
1
Bradbury, Ray
1
Brewer, Teri F.
1
Calugareanu, Ilinca
1
Campbell, Karlia
1
Cheetham, Ben
1
Christodoulou, Chris
1
Clarissou, Priscilla
1
Clay, Charlie
1
Clifford-Jaeger, Simone
1
Contreras, Elisa
1
Cook, Alistair
1
Coppe, Alexia
1
Coppens, Sharis
1
Corral Paredes, Carolina
1
Demiralay, Hakan
1
Dietrich, Martha-Cecilia
2
Drion, Georges
1
Dyson, Jane
1
Eagle, Rob
1
Eaton, Michael
1
Edwards, Bob
1
Elliot, Dominic
1
Engels, Claudia
1
Eschenbach, Sebastian
1
Fales, Ludovica
1
Farrell, Emma
1
Fassnidge, Matthew
1
Fedda, Yasmin
1
Finnestad, Mari
1
Ford, Ellie
1
French, Dominic
1
Goldberg, Claudia
1
Grasseni, Cristina
1
Greenwood, Rachel
1
Griggs, David
1
Grossman, Alyssa
2
Grove-White, Will
1
Gruber, Martin
1
Gupta, Meghna
1
Hammill, Ruth
1
Hann, Amelia
1
Hanson, Kieran
1
Harper, Peggy
2
Harrison, Ross
1
Hartford, Hugh
1
Hatland, Line
1
Heer, Madelief de
1
Henley, Paul
3
Hertog, Ester
1
Hill, Amanda
1
Hill, Joanna
1
Hirl, Alexander
1
Hogel, Jakob
1
Horton, Robin
1
Hughes, Richard
1
Hughes-Freeland, Felicia
1
Huysmans, Carla
1
Ihle, Johanne Haaber
1
Jeppesen, Kira de Hemmer
1
Jerstad, Jon
1
Johnston, Graham
1
Juárez-Allen, Gema
1
Kaymak, Vedide
1
Kenneil, Alastair
1
Kirk, Laura
1
Kirkwood, Nick
1
Kriszio, Janina
1
Kurc, Julia
1
LaPin, Deirdre
1
Langhorst, Insa
1
Lawrence, Andy
1
Lehto, Veera
1
Leizaola, Ricardo
1
Levaulx-Vrecourt, Henriette
1
Lewis, Ariane
1
Lipsanen, Heidi
1
Lloyd, Ravi Hart
1
Loïzos, Peter
1
Lutz, Peter
1
Maagdenberg, Ester
1
MacDonald, Caro
1
Marcus, Alan
1
Marin, Nadja
1
Marrero-Guillamon, Isaac
1
McGuirk, Siobhan
1
Meriwether, Maria
1
Merli, Laetitia
1
Merrun, Gabriel
1
Milling, Julie
1
Moderbacher, Christine
1
Moggan, Julie
1
Morris, Bessie
1
Munro, Neil G.
1
Namondwe, Charles
1
Navarro Smith, Alejandra
1
Nicolau, João
1
Okojie, Paul
1
Olatunji, Ife
1
Ono, Ray
1
Owles, Ed
1
Owles, Edward
1
Pardee, Lucy
1
Paterek, Austin
1
Patriarca, Niccolo
1
Payne, Becky
1
Pedrosa, Patrícia
1
Pinhheiro, Joceny
1
Planas, María Elena
1
Pratt, Helen
1
Read, Rosie
1
Reed, Alex
1
Rens, Maarten
1
Rice, Tom
1
Richards, Naomi
1
Robertson, Rachel
1
Rosen, Jennifer
1
Ross, Nina
1
Samir-Shakir, Yasmin
1
Sandberg, Eirik
1
Savage, Rebecca
1
Schiltz, Anne
1
Schlenker, Juana
1
Schädler, Natalie
1
Schäuble, Michaela
1
Shakerifar, Elhum
1
Sonderegger, Ramona
1
Sowa, Remigiusz
1
Speed, Frank
6
Stefani, Fotini
1
Taylor, Jamie
1
Thomas Allen, Christopher
1
Torresan, Angela
1
Tovey, Ana
1
Tucker, Andrew
1
Vella, Steve
1
Vinken, Polly
1
Vybiral, James
1
Waddell, Anna
1
Webster, Rachel
1
Werbner, Richard
2
Willerslev, Rane
1
Williams, Stacey
1
Wright, Evie
1
Yezbick, Julia
1
Youngstein, Theo
1
de Bromhead, Toni
1
Series
Decolonising Shorts
1
Granada Center for Visual Anthropology Student Film
116
Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology Staff Film
1
National Film and Television School
4
Pleasure Shorts
1
Shorts Collection 2
3
Shorts collection 2
1
The Well-Being Quest in Botswana
1
not set
32
Country of production
Austria
1
Canada
1
Denmark
1
Germany
2
Jordan
1
Netherlands
1
Nigeria
5
Peru
1
Romania
1
Switzerland
1
United Kingdom
160
x
United States
3
Venezuela
1
Year of production
1931
1
1963
1
1964
1
1966
1
1970
1
1975
1
1982
1
1983
3
1984
1
1985
1
1987
2
1988
2
1991
2
1992
4
1993
1
1994
4
1995
4
1996
4
1997
5
1998
6
1999
4
2000
6
2001
7
2002
10
2003
11
2004
8
2005
2
2006
2
2007
7
2008
12
2009
11
2010
13
2011
4
2012
2
2013
1
2014
1
2015
2
2016
2
2018
3
2019
3
2020
3
Film list
A Saint from New York
1995
30
‘
Directed by
Line Hatland
.
Dorothy Day, ex-communist, anarchist, single mother and co-founder of the widespread ‘Catholic Worker’ movement — died in New York in 1980. Soon after the Claretian Fathers started a campaign
North America
Alternative culture
Religion / Belief / Faith
Saliendo Adelante
2011
28
‘
Directed by
Ben Cheetham
.
Growing up on the streets of Bogotá, where drugs and violence dominate, it seemed as though José might never escape this cycle. It is the job of Orlando and those at the Institution for the
South America
Children / Young people
Socioeconomic conditions
Development projects
Scenes of Resistance
2000
30
‘
Directed by
Alejandra Navarro Smith
.
A series of portraits of life in a Zapatista indigenous community in Chiapas, Southern Mexico. This film invites us into the people’s everyday lives, and presents their own views of the fight against
Central America
Resistance
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
The Second Red Line
2004
25
‘
Directed by
Veera Lehto
.
In HIV testing, the second red line is the indication of a positive result. This film follows two volunteers working with HIV & Aids sufferers in the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana. In the
South-East Asia
Health / Health care / Healing
Development projects
Self Defence
2002
28
‘
Directed by
María Elena Planas
.
With the Shining Path guerilla movement in decline, the government in Peru set up a Commission for Peace and Reconciliation to hear the testimonies of those who had suffered in the war. Framed by the
South America
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Memory
Shonar Bangla
2009
28
‘
Directed by
Sara Asadullah
.
Four scenes from a Bangladeshi community in London. Each scene is an encounter with a different generation (children, teenagers and adults) until the final scene where all generations are brought together in a wedding.
British-Irish Isles
Intergenerational relations
Marriage
Shooting Freetown
2011
29
‘
Directed by
Kieran Hanson
.
A decade since Sierra Leone’s devastating civil war, from the ashes rises a new dawn of creativity in audio-visual media. Inspired by Jean Rouch’s ‘shared anthropology’ and ‘ethno-fiction’,
West Africa
Film / Photography / Mass media
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Reflexivity
The Shrimpers
2008
30
‘
Directed by
Austin Paterek
.
For the past 10 years the shrimping industry in United States has been on a steady decline. Estimates show that only 15 percent of the original fleet is still in operation, due to overseas
North America
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
Trade
Sin tierra, no somos Shuar
2009
23
‘
Directed by
Stacey Williams
.
Shuar traditions and land are intimately tied to another. This film explores how the traditions and relationships change when foreign mining companies enter their territory.
South America
Land Rights
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Social Conflict
A Small Light
2004
32
‘
Directed by
Julia Yezbick
.
Through following the daily life of a home for the elderly in Kathmandhu, Nepal, run by Catholic nuns but situated beside the cremation ghats of Pashupathinath Hindu temple, this film explores
South Asia
Death
Inter-religious relations
Religion / Belief / Faith
Elderly people
Small Man of the Forest
2004
37
‘
Directed by
Hugh Hartford
.
Murray Collins leaves his city life in search of a bipedal ape. On his journey to highland Sumatra, he meets an academic, three farmers, two conservationists and a shaman, all of whom advise him on
South-East Asia
Animals
Smell the Roses
2003
28
‘
Directed by
Julie Milling
.
Christiania is a self-governing community in the heart of Copenhagen set up by squatters at the height of 1970s idealism. Faced with extinction or urban redevelopment, residents struggle to redefine a fading ideology.
Scandinavia
Alternative culture
Urban
Smoke
1991
28
‘
RAI Basil Wright
Directed by
Maarten Rens
.
The film deals with fish smoking in Monnickendam, a small town twelve miles north of Amsterdam. Using archival footage, interviewing old fishermen, and contrasting the traditional and the modern
Western Europe
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
Food
Archival material / Museum displays
Sons of the Moon
1984
25
‘
Directed by
Frank Speed
Deirdre LaPin
.
In isolated mountain hamlets in Nigeria’s Jos Plateau the Ngas have traditionally observed the movements of the moon in the night sky. The moon is a key symbol in Ngas cosmology, believed to
West Africa
Religion / Belief / Faith
Music / Ethnomusicology
Everyday Life
Ritual
Sophia and Her People
1985
35
‘
Directed by
Peter Loïzos
.
Sofia and her family lost their village home in 1975 when Turkey invaded Cyprus. The film, mainly set in Nicosia in 1983, shows the pressures of refugee economic recovery through shift work in a
South-East Europe
Refugees / Displaced populations
Social Change
Family / Kinship
Southeast London Ethnography – Three Student Films: Anglesea Road; The Good Ol’ Days; Talk of Trade
2007
13
‘
Directed by
Elhum Shakerifar
Ed Owles
Jamie Taylor
.
These 3 films on Southeast London were made by GCC college students who took a course in anthropology & film. ANGLESEA ROAD: Situated in Woolwich, South East London, Anglesea Road is a small
British-Irish Isles
Urban
A Spark in Him
2008
28
‘
Directed by
Claudia Engels
.
‘A Spark in Him’ is a film about the life story of Sajay Kumar, a young man without arms who lives in a home for disabled children in Kerala, India, and studies at the College of Fine Arts. By
South Asia
Health / Health care / Healing
Children / Young people
Education / Knowledge Transmission
Spirit
2019
19
‘
Directed by
Jane Dyson
Ross Harrison
.
Saraswati is a new arrival in an Indian Himalayan village. She wonders how she will ever feel at home in the new setting. “Spirit” by Jane Dyson and Ross Harrison is a story of longing and
Central Asia and Far East
Gender Role and identity
Agriculture/ Farming
Everyday Life
Family/ Kinship
Staging a Return
1994
30
‘
Directed by
Jakob Hogel
.
The Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic are a Danish dependency and for generations, young people have gone to Denmark to complete their studies. When they return for the summer, there is a tradition
Scandinavia
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Standing Places
2007
31
‘
Directed by
Ana Tovey
.
A model of Stonehenge has been built in rural New Zealand, functioning like the original not only in its astronomical alignment but also in its role as a ceremonial site. The film explores what
New Zealand and Polynesia
Alternative culture
Ritual
Still Life
2009
26
‘
Directed by
Siobhan McGuirk
.
“I am here because I can’t go home.” Subject to strict controls in the UK, three women asylum seekers wait for claims to be processed and decisions made. Here they find the lives which they
British-Irish Isles
Refugees / Displaced populations
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
Street Fiction
2002
32
‘
Directed by
Dominic Elliot
.
Through combining their own dramatic reconstructions and real life observation, this film tells the story of children who run away from their homes in search of a better life on the streets of Blantyre, Malawi.
Southern Africa
Urban
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
Children / Young people
Ethnofiction
Suspend your Beliefs
2004
29
‘
Directed by
Simone Clifford-Jaeger
.
Suspension of the living body from hooks has been practiced in various cultural contexts and places in the past, but today forms part of a growing global interest in body modification. This film
British-Irish Isles
Alternative culture
The Sweet Life and All That Goes With It
2002
29
‘
Directed by
Anne Schiltz
.
Although the Saxons arrived in Transylvania, Romania over 800 years ago, they have retained a strong sense of their distinctive identity and still speak German. After the Revolution of 1989, most
South-East Europe
Collective / Community identity
Travellers / Roma
Swings and Roundabouts
1994
30
‘
Directed by
Helen Pratt
.
Five years after the downfall of Ceausescu and Romania still receives an influx of Western European aid workers to help with rural orphanage projects. Temporary and full-time volunteers at an
South-East Europe
Children / Young people
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
Development projects
[S+P2]
2010
30
‘
Directed by
Yasmin Samir-Shakir
.
Following various members of The Forest Collective in the run-up to the ‘DIY’ arts space’s Tenth Birthday celebrations, we observe some of the internal and external struggles faced by this
British-Irish Isles
Alternative culture
Collective / Community identity