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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
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
18 Films
shorter than 40 minutes
x
Region
“South Asia”
x
films with a digital version
6
films hosted on Kanopy
1
short films
18
x
films available on demand
4
Region
South Asia
18
x
Country
Afghanistan
1
Bangladesh
1
India
12
Nepal
3
Pakistan
1
Keywords
Archaeobotany / Ethnobotany
1
Art/ Aritists/ Artisans
1
Children / Young people
5
Collective / Community identity
1
Death
1
Education / Knowledge Transmission
4
Education / Knowledge transmission
1
Elderly people
1
Environment
1
Everyday Life
1
Family / Kinship
1
Food / Water
1
Gender Role and Identity
4
Health / Health care / Healing
2
Informant-researcher relationship
1
Inter-religious relations
1
Intergenerational relations
1
LGBTQI*
1
Labour
2
Life Story / Life History
1
Love
1
Marriage
2
Material Culture
1
Music / Ethnomusicology
3
Music/Ethnomusicology
1
Refugees / Displaced populations
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
2
Rural
2
Social Change
1
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
2
Travellers / Roma
1
Urban
4
Directors
Arif-Bashir, Abeera
1
Baily, John
1
Banks, Marcus
1
Burstin, Costanza
1
Cooper, Timothy
1
Engels, Claudia
1
Fruzzetti, Lina
1
Gupta, Meghna
1
Guzzetti, Alfred
1
Hansen, Anne-Katrine
1
Hörmann, André
1
Johnston, Ned
1
Kirk, Laura
1
Levaulx-Vrecourt, Henriette
1
MacDougall, David
1
Olatunji, Ife
1
Rosen, Jennifer
1
Satija, Dhruv
1
Sowa, Remigiusz
1
Webster, Rachel
1
Yezbick, Julia
1
Östör, Ákos
1
Series
Granada Center for Visual Anthropology Student Film
8
Shorts Collection 2
1
Shorts collection 2
1
not set
8
Country of production
Australia
1
Germany
1
India
4
Pakistan
1
United Kingdom
11
United States
2
not set
1
Year of production
1988
1
1989
1
1998
1
2001
1
2002
1
2004
1
2006
1
2007
1
2008
1
2009
1
2010
1
2012
2
2013
1
2017
1
2018
1
2020
2
Film list
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
Barah Pal
2009
30
‘
Directed by
Jennifer Rosen
.
12 castes of gypsy artists ended their nomadic ways nearly 45 years ago to squat in New Delhi. Now the slum is being dismantled and rehabilitated. These are their last months in the colony as they
South Asia
Refugees / Displaced populations
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
Travellers / Roma
Urban
Calcutta Calling
2006
16
‘
Directed by
André Hörmann
.
“Business Process Outsourcing” is the fastest growing industry in the world. In India, approximately 350,000 people are currently working in call centres to maintain the contact between western
South Asia
Labour
Gula – Music for a sacred time
2020
15
‘
Directed by
Remigiusz Sowa
.
Introduces the rich and varied Hindu-Buddhist religious and ritual musical heritage of the ancient royal city of Bhaktapur (Nepal).
South Asia
Music / Ethnomusicology
Lessons from the Tiger
2010
22
‘
Directed by
Ife Olatunji
.
A brief glimpse into the Foundation Fior Di Loto girls’ school, this film explores the competing ideas of traditional and contemporary womanhood in Rajasthan, India. Four girls introduce us to the
South Asia
Gender Role and Identity
Children / Young people
Education / Knowledge Transmission
A Little Bit of Freedom
1998
34
‘
Directed by
Laura Kirk
.
This film is set in a traditional household in Nepal and documents a servant girl, Nani; a married woman, Sarita; and a mother-in-law, Ama. In interesting mixture of entrapment, duty and tradition unfold.
South Asia
Gender Role and Identity
Intergenerational relations
Marriage
Paani: of women and water
2018
22
‘
Student
Directed by
Costanza Burstin
.
Against the bleached sky of Rajasthan, we encounter the women of a small Muslim village as they engage in their work. Here, water binds their daily labour rituals: they collect and carry water in
South Asia
Environment
Food / Water
Gender Role and Identity
Rural
Everyday Life
Raju and His Friends
1988
40
‘
Directed by
Marcus Banks
.
This film is set in the city of Jamnagar, western India. The film focuses on the emotions, quality of life, and on duty. Raju’s friendship with different people, including the director, provide a
South Asia
Urban
Informant-researcher relationship
Life Story / Life History
Ravi and Bhajay
2002
26
‘
Directed by
Rachel Webster
.
Street boys Ravi and Bhajay lead a tough life on the pavements of Mumbai in India. To get away from it, they visit the nearby holy city of Ujjain with the film-maker. But the call of life on the streets is still strong.
South Asia
Children / Young people
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
Urban
Return of the Nightingales
2013
33
‘
Directed by
John Baily
.
In 2010 Afghan musicologist Dr. Ahmad Sarmast opened the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), a coeducational vocational music school in Kabul that teaches Afghan, Indian and Western
South Asia
Music / Ethnomusicology
Education / Knowledge Transmission
Children / Young people
Sangita Priya: Lover of Music
2007
30
‘
Directed by
Anne-Katrine Hansen
.
From temples to recording studios of Kochi, Kerala in South India, we follow four musicians -a student and his master, a professional and a promoter – all uniquely devoted to the music that permeates
South Asia
Music / Ethnomusicology
Education / Knowledge transmission
Seed and Earth
1989
36
‘
Directed by
Lina Fruzzetti
Alfred Guzzetti
Ned Johnston
Ákos Östör
.
Seed on Earth is a film about everyday life in rural Bangladesh (village of Janta, near Bishnupur town). It follows the daily schedule of two families and observes the complementary and difference of
South Asia
Rural
Family / Kinship
Gender Role and Identity
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
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
This Is A Majlis – A Sound Essay
2020
17
‘
Directed by
Timothy Cooper
Abeera Arif-Bashir
.
This short film is a multi-platform sound essay. It is primarily illustrated with still images, that conjure an atmosphere of intimacy and intensity of the majlis-e-aza, a mourning gathering central
South Asia
Music/Ethnomusicology
Urban
Art/ Aritists/ Artisans
Social Change
Those who Care: Faith and Freedom in a Ladakhi Village
2001
31
‘
Directed by
Henriette Levaulx-Vrecourt
.
In Tia village, in an isolated area of Ladakh – North West India – lives an amchi (a local herbal doctor) and his wife. It is summer – a short season in the Indian Himalayas and the only period of
South Asia
Health / Health care / Healing
Archaeobotany / Ethnobotany
Unravel
2012
14
‘
Directed by
Meghna Gupta
.
‘Unravel’ follows the Western worlds least wanted clothes, on a journey across Northern India, from sea to industrial interior. They get sent to Panipat, a sleepy town and the only place in the world
South Asia
Labour
Material Culture
Collective / Community identity
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