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About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
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Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
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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
30 Films
shorter than 40 minutes
x
Keywords
“Religion Belief Faith”
x
films with a digital version
8
films hosted on Kanopy
1
short films
30
x
films available on demand
3
Region
British-Irish Isles
2
Central Asia and Far East
3
Eastern Europe and Baltic States
1
Middle and Near East
4
North America
2
Scandinavia
1
South America
2
South Asia
2
South-East Asia
3
South-East Europe
3
Southern Africa
2
West Africa
4
Western Europe
2
Western Mediterranean
1
Country
Afghanistan
1
Belgium
1
Cameroon
1
Chile
1
China
1
Germany
1
Greece
1
Guinea-Bissau
1
Hungary
1
India
1
Indonesia
1
Israel
1
Italy
1
Japan
1
Lesotho
1
Malta
1
Myanmar
1
Namibia
1
Nepal
1
Nigeria
2
Norway
1
Romania
1
Russian Federation
1
Syria
1
United Kingdom
2
United States
2
Uzbekistan
1
Venezuela
1
Yemen
1
Keywords
Alternative culture
1
Animation
1
Archival material / Museum displays
1
Art / Artists / Artisans
1
Children / Young people
1
Collective / Community identity
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
1
Death
3
Education / Knowledge transmission
1
Elderly people
1
Environment
1
Everyday Life
1
Festivals / Carnival
1
Gender Role and Identity
1
Inter-religious relations
3
Intergenerational relations
2
LGBTQI*
1
Labour
1
Life Story / Life History
1
Love
1
Marriage
1
Material Culture
2
Migration
1
Music / Ethnomusicology
2
Political Activists
2
Post-communism
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
30
x
Resistance
1
Ritual
6
Rural
1
Shamans and Shamanism
1
Social Conflict
1
Socioeconomic conditions
1
Urban
2
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
1
Directors
Asch, Patsy
1
Baily, John
1
Beier, Ulli
1
Bernstein, Anya
1
Cai, Hua
1
Clarissou, Priscilla
1
Fedda, Yasmin
1
Ferrarese, Adriana
1
Griggs, David
1
Grossman, Alyssa
1
Grégoire, Charlotte
1
Hatland, Line
1
Hill, Joanna
1
Huysmans, Carla
1
LaPin, Deirdre
1
Langer, Vanessa
1
Langhorst, Insa
1
Lu, Wanwan
1
Meliqo’ziev, Iqbol
1
Oo, Zaw Naing
1
Pedrosa, Patrícia
1
Richards, Naomi
1
Satija, Dhruv
1
Speed, Frank
2
Stefani, Fotini
1
Tucker, Andrew
1
Vella, Steve
1
Waage, Trond
1
Wright, Evie
1
Yezbick, Julia
1
not set
1
Series
ANU, Indonesia Series
1
Granada Center for Visual Anthropology Student Film
17
Shorts collection 2
1
Yangon Film School
1
not set
10
Country of production
Australia
1
Cameroon
1
China
1
France
1
Germany
1
India
1
Italy
1
Japan
1
Myanmar
1
Nigeria
1
Norway
1
Romania
1
Switzerland
1
United Kingdom
19
United States
1
Uzbekistan
1
not set
1
Year of production
1964
1
1983
1
1984
1
1992
1
1995
1
1997
1
1999
1
2000
1
2001
2
2002
1
2003
4
2004
4
2005
1
2008
2
2010
1
2014
2
2015
1
2016
2
2017
1
2019
1
Film list
75 Grams
2008
31
‘
Directed by
Priscilla Clarissou
.
Nestled below the rugged Chilean peaks of the Andes lies the gold mining town of Andacollo. The town’s remoteness and mining economy has nurtured religious beliefs in the power of the Virgin over the
South America
Labour
Material Culture
Religion / Belief / Faith
André and Nándi
2000
30
‘
Directed by
Charlotte Grégoire
.
Hungarian-born André Reinitz only discovered his Jewish identity when he moved to Brussels at the age of ten. Since then, in spite of the silence of his parents, he has become involved in the Jewish
Western Europe
Eastern Europe and Baltic States
Religion / Belief / Faith
Music / Ethnomusicology
Life Story / Life History
Beneath the Budding Greenwoods
2004
25
‘
Directed by
Evie Wright
.
Anne and Rosemary both chose to bury their husbands in the woods, whereas Tony was certain he didn’t want a vicar at his wife’s funeral. Focusing on the experiences of three grieving widows, the film
British-Irish Isles
Environment
Ritual
Death
Religion / Belief / Faith
Born Again
2003
19
‘
Directed by
Carla Huysmans
.
Carla last met Maureen Mulozi in 1998 in Lusaka, Zambia where they were colleagues and friends. Since then Maureen’s life has changed considerably: she became a ‘born again’ Christian and moved to
Southern Africa
Religion / Belief / Faith
Inter-religious relations
Daba – Portrait of a Na Shaman
1999
40
‘
Directed by
Hua Cai
.
After more than a quarter of a century without any form of religious ceremony, the Na, an ethnic group living on the Himalayan plateau, began openly practising their religion again in the early
South-East Asia
Education / Knowledge transmission
Religion / Belief / Faith
Shamans and Shamanism
Faith
2010
30
‘
Directed by
Insa Langhorst
.
Together with a Pentecostal youth group, teenagers Colin and Salo are on a mission trip to East Germany preaching the word of God. On the streets of Wismar they experience the highs and lows of what
Western Europe
Children / Young people
Religion / Belief / Faith
Guli Armug’on
2019
23
‘
Directed by
Iqbol Meliqo’ziev
.
Uzbek and Tajik women in eastern Uzbekistan celebrate the arrival of spring by gathering at the grave of an Islamic saint. The Afghan redbud trees growing on the site are in full bloom. The magical
Central Asia and Far East
Religion / Belief / Faith
Ritual
Herat Films: The Shrines of Herat
1983
30
‘
Directed by
John Baily
.
These videos were edited from seven hours of Super 8 film shot by John Baily during two years of ethnomusicological fieldwork carried out in the Herat region of western Afghanistan between 1973 and
Middle and Near East
Religion / Belief / Faith
Urban
In Our Blood
2003
26
‘
Directed by
Steve Vella
.
In Malta, devotion to the Virgin Mary is very fervent, particularly in the village of Naxxar, where the most important annual feast, taking place over several days, is dedicated to her honour. But
Western Mediterranean
Religion / Belief / Faith
Ritual
In the Play of Life: a wayang performance in East Java
1992
25
‘
Directed by
Patsy Asch
.
These companion films examine the philosophy and ritual practices of the followers of a holy man popularly known as Embah Wali. The movement, centred in Blitar, East Java, regards wayang as a model
South-East Asia
Ritual
Religion / Belief / Faith
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Into the Field
2005
28
‘
Directed by
Alyssa Grossman
.
‘Into the Field’ follows the everyday “secular” lives of nuns in a Orthodox nunnery in Romania. Documenting the nuns’ activities, relationships and roles within their community, the film also
South-East Europe
Religion / Belief / Faith
Animation
Join Me in Shambala
2001
30
‘
Directed by
Anya Bernstein
.
Once brutally persecuted under the Soviet regime, Buddhism is re-emerging in Siberia. But with a past where Lamas were killed in prisons and temples burnt to the ground, there are few masters left to
Central Asia and Far East
Religion / Belief / Faith
Post-communism
Lady of the Lake
2014
22
‘
Directed by
Zaw Naing Oo
.
Governments – even decades-old military regimes – may come and go but, like many rural communities in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), the lives of the villagers of Pyun Su on the banks of Moe
South-East Asia
Religion / Belief / Faith
Rural
Living with Boko Haram
2016
37
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Trond Waage
.
January 2015. Boko Haram’s violent insurgency is approaching Mogdé, on the Nigerian/Cameroonian border, where Antoniette lives. Just outside Oslo, Norway, lives her son Vakote, worried and afraid
West Africa
Scandinavia
Religion / Belief / Faith
Social Conflict
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Migration
Message from a Saint
2003
27
‘
Directed by
Andrew Tucker
.
During the celebration of the Feast of San Juan Bautista in the village of Chuao, on the Caribbean coast of Venezuela, an image of Jesus appeared on a drinks tray. The community is trying to find out
South America
Religion / Belief / Faith
Milking the Desert
2004
25
‘
Directed by
Yasmin Fedda
.
This film follows the lives and choices of two monks living at Mar Musa, the Abyssinian Monastery in the desert of Syria. Through their daily lives, the issue of dialogue with Islam emerges.
Middle and Near East
Inter-religious relations
Religion / Belief / Faith
New Images
1964
27
‘
Directed by
Ulli Beier
Frank Speed
.
The film is a brief description of life in a busy commercial centre that still depends upon and retains its ancient traditions. These are based on the history of the town which was founded on the
West Africa
Art / Artists / Artisans
Religion / Belief / Faith
Archival material / Museum displays
Processes
2016
23
‘
Directed by
Adriana Ferrarese
.
Like every year, Corigliano Calabro, a small village in the south of Italy, celebrates Easter: from the investiture of a man to embody Jesus during a night procession, to the passionate debates for
South-East Europe
Religion / Belief / Faith
Festivals / Carnival
The Ragged Ones
2002
30
‘
Directed by
David Griggs
.
The Basotho live in Lesotho, a kingdom of high mountains surrounded by South Africa. Afflicted by famine, poverty and AIDS, they carry on making a science out of their witchcraft beliefs.
Southern Africa
Religion / Belief / Faith
Socioeconomic conditions
Rock ‘n’ Pray
2001
24
‘
Directed by
Fotini Stefani
.
The monks from the monastery of Saints Augustine and Serapheim Sarow on mainland Greece have found modern ways to appeal to young people. The film explores how their traditional life co-exists with
South-East Europe
Religion / Belief / Faith
Intergenerational relations
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
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
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
Thanks Be to God
2008
31
‘
Directed by
Patrícia Pedrosa
.
Four Christian women work and live in a Muslim and patriarchic world. The ‘Sisters of the Consolata Missionaries’ are building a new library in Empada, a small village in the south of
West Africa
Religion / Belief / Faith
The Veil Unveiled
2004
29
‘
Directed by
Vanessa Langer
.
In Yemen, the land of Queen Saba, a wide variety of veils can be found. In the capital Sana’a, the women, although at first sight appearing to all be wearing but black, distinguish themselves one
Middle and Near East
Gender Role and Identity
Material Culture
Religion / Belief / Faith
We Don’t Need A Grave
2014
27
‘
.
‘We Don’t Need a Grave’ attempts to show how the people who choose Shizenso rather than the typical family grave try to accept one’s death. Shizenso is a natural mortuary practice that has no
Central Asia and Far East
Religion / Belief / Faith
Death
Ritual
Welcome Valentine 2017
2017
16
‘
Student
Directed by
Dhruv Satija
.
In a temple dedicated to Hanuman in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, a priest flouts convention by marrying couples who are shunned elsewhere: mostly those who have eloped from families who disapprove of their
South Asia
Marriage
Love
LGBTQI*
Religion / Belief / Faith
Women of a Divided Land
1997
22
‘
Directed by
Joanna Hill
.
This film follows the activities of Israeli and Palestinian women peace activists in Jerusalem and the West Bank, portraying both the collective and individual experiences of resistance.
Middle and Near East
Resistance
Political Activists
Religion / Belief / Faith
Worldwide, Streetwise
2003
32
‘
Directed by
Naomi Richards
.
A film that explores issues of faith and activism at a radical church in an ethnically and religiously diverse area of Leeds.
British-Irish Isles
Religion / Belief / Faith
Urban
Political Activists
Youth Group
2015
28
‘
Student
Directed by
Wanwan Lu
.
Set in the predominantly Asian “ethnoburbs” of Los Angeles County, this film follows a vibrant Buddhist youth group in a Chinese-American temple. Youth group members, most raised by immigrant
North America
Collective / Community identity
Religion / Belief / Faith
Intergenerational relations