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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
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
Login
Facebook
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Films
19 Films
shorter than 40 minutes
x
Region
“South-East Asia”
x
films with a digital version
5
short films
19
x
films available on demand
2
Region
South-East Asia
19
x
Country
China
4
Indonesia
11
Myanmar
4
Keywords
Animals
2
Archaeobotany / Ethnobotany
1
Archival material / Museum displays
1
Art / Artists / Artisans
1
Children/ Young people
1
Collective / Community identity
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
2
Death
1
Development projects
1
Education / Knowledge transmission
1
Environment
1
Everyday Life
1
Family / Kinship
3
Film / Photography / Mass media
1
Food
1
Food / Water
1
Gender Role and Identity
2
Health / Health care / Healing
4
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
1
Infrastructure / Transport
1
Labour
2
Linguistics / Language
1
Marriage
1
Material Culture
1
Memory
1
Possession
1
Public Figure
1
Reflexivity
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
3
Reproduction (biology)
1
Ritual
4
Rural
1
Sensory Ethnography
1
Sex / Sexuality
2
Shamans and Shamanism
1
Social Change
1
Socioeconomic conditions
1
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
1
Directors
Asch, Patsy
6
Asch, Timothy
5
Berg, Julia
1
Cai, Hua
2
Connor, Linda
3
Danusiri, Aryo
1
Forge, Anthony
1
Fox, J.
1
Fox, James J.
1
Hartford, Hugh
1
Htway, Aung Nwai
1
Hughes, Richard
1
Hughes-Freeland, Felicia
1
Lehto, Veera
1
Lwin, Kyaw Myo
1
Oo, Zaw Naing
1
Palmer, Lisa
1
Series
ANU, Indonesia Series
7
Granada Center for Visual Anthropology Student Film
4
Shorts Collection 2
2
Yangon Film School
3
not set
3
Country of production
Australia
8
China
2
Indonesia
1
Myanmar
3
United Kingdom
5
United States
1
Year of production
1973
1
1980
1
1983
3
1988
1
1992
1
1995
1
1996
1
1999
1
2000
1
2002
1
2004
2
2012
1
2013
1
2014
1
2018
1
2019
1
Film list
Behind the Screen
2012
35
‘
Directed by
Aung Nwai Htway
.
A son dissects his parents’ marriage – they were film icons in 1960s Myanmar. It turns out the heartrending scenes they acted out on the silver screen are a pretty accurate reflection of their
South-East Asia
Film / Photography / Mass media
Family / Kinship
Memory
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
Guiyang Beautiful Flavour Barbecue
2000
30
‘
Directed by
Richard Hughes
.
In the teeming cities of the most populated country on earth, 20 years of economic reform have brought new opportunity, new energy, and new dangers. This film follows one family’s efforts to navigate
South-East Asia
Food
Social Change
Labour
House No. 15
2018
7
‘
Directed by
Aryo Danusiri
.
Jakarta, Indonesia. Monsoon season. Children are at play in their flooded house, located in the riverside area of Ciliwung, known for its informal housing settlements. What unfolds before the camera
South-East Asia
Everyday Life
Children/ Young people
Sensory Ethnography
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
Jero Tapakan: Stories from the life of a Balinese Healer
1983
26
‘
Directed by
Timothy Asch
Linda Connor
Patsy Asch
.
Jero beings with an account of her family’s extreme poverty that culminated in her desire to leave her family and travel as a pedlar. She describes mystical experiences that led her to recognise
South-East Asia
Health / Health care / Healing
Socioeconomic conditions
Jero on Jero: A Balinese Trance Séance Observed
1980
16
‘
Directed by
Timothy Asch
Linda Connor
Patsy Asch
.
For the first time Jero sees herself on film as she watches ‘A Balinese Trance Séance’. Her spontaneous comments provide insights into her feelings while possessed, her understanding of her
South-East Asia
Possession
Reflexivity
Health / Health care / Healing
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
The Medium is the Masseuse: a Balinese Massage
1983
31
‘
Directed by
Timothy Asch
Linda Connor
Patsy Asch
.
Jero uses massage and traditional medicines to treat Ida Bagus, who suffers from sterility and seizures. Through her treatment and her words, Jero reveals her conceptions of the human body, the
South-East Asia
Health / Health care / Healing
Reproduction (biology)
The Most Admired Man
2002
29
‘
Directed by
Julia Berg
.
‘Wise’? ‘Serene’? ‘A Sage’? Mythologized as the Daoist physician from the Jade Dragon Mountain of Lijiang Province in southwest China , Dr Ho receives hundreds of visitors in search of the ‘Real
South-East Asia
Public Figure
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
Ngarap: fighting over a corpse
1973
17
‘
Directed by
Anthony Forge
.
In 1993, Anthony Forge filmed the cremation of an older woman from an affluent ‘commoner’ family. As her body was moved from her family compound to the cremation tower, men of the ward seized the
South-East Asia
Death
Ritual
Art / Artists / Artisans
Archival material / Museum displays
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
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
Spear and Sword: a Payment of Bridewealth on the Island of Roti
1988
22
‘
Directed by
James J. Fox
Timothy Asch
Patsy Asch
.
The film begins as the groom’s side gathers the animals and money for a bridewealth payment, and discusses problems that might arise in negotiating the exchange. In ritual silence, they walk to the
South-East Asia
Ritual
Marriage
Family / Kinship
Tayuban: Dancing the Spirit in Java
1996
30
‘
Directed by
Felicia Hughes-Freeland
.
Once a year a ritual is held in a Javanese village. After a distribution of food, men dance with professional female dancers. Their allegedly sexual ethos makes these ‘tayuban’ unacceptable as
South-East Asia
Ritual
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Sex / Sexuality
Gender Role and Identity
Tyres
2013
30
‘
Directed by
Kyaw Myo Lwin
.
A recycling workshop in South Okkalapa in Myanmar’s former capital of Yangon is a place where discarded tyres are transformed from their original shape and use, and are re-purposed to new uses.
South-East Asia
Material Culture
Labour
Infrastructure / Transport
The Water of Words: a cultural ecology of a small island in Eastern Indonesia
1983
30
‘
Directed by
J. Fox
Timothy Asch
Patsy Asch
.
This film examines the ecology and poetry of everyday life. Two Rotinese narrate this film, each offering his perception of the importance of the Lontar (Borassus) palm: a clan leader describes the
South-East Asia
Archaeobotany / Ethnobotany
Linguistics / Language
Environment
Wild Honey: Caring for bees in a divided land
2019
30
‘
Directed by
Lisa Palmer
.
For more than a century, the island of Timor has been divided by a colonial border. Timor’s migratory wild honey bees challenge this division. In community honey harvest rituals, queen bees are
South-East Asia
Animals
Food / Water
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
Without Fathers or Husbands
1995
26
‘
Directed by
Hua Cai
.
The Na are an ethnic group in south-east China. Their particularity is that all the members of each household are consanguineous relatives; their social organisation is absolutely matrilineal and as
South-East Asia
Family / Kinship
Collective / Community identity
Gender Role and Identity
Sex / Sexuality