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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
Instagram
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
16 Films
with a digital version available
x
shorter than 40 minutes
x
Keywords
“Ritual”
x
films with a digital version
16
x
short films
16
x
films available on demand
1
Region
Australia
1
British-Irish Isles
1
Central Asia and Far East
6
Melanesia
1
South-East Asia
1
West Africa
6
Country
Australia
1
China
2
Indonesia
1
Japan
3
Nigeria
6
Papua New Guinea
1
United Kingdom
1
Uzbekistan
1
Keywords
Agriculture / Farming
1
Animals
1
Archival material / Museum displays
1
Children / Young people
1
Collective / Community identity
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
3
Death
2
Everyday Life
1
Family / Kinship
1
Festivals / Carnival
3
Film / Photography / Mass media
1
Gender Role and Identity
4
Health / Health care / Healing
1
History
1
History of Anthropology
1
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
1
Music / Ethnomusicology
1
Possession
2
Religion / Belief / Faith
3
Ritual
16
x
Sex / Sexuality
1
Shamans and Shamanism
1
Social Conflict
1
Directors
Bradbury, Ray
1
Eaton, Michael
1
Gruber, Martin
1
Harper, Peggy
2
Horton, Robin
1
Hughes-Freeland, Felicia
1
Jerstad, Jon
1
Kuentz, Gaspard
1
LaPin, Deirdre
1
Lewis, Ariane
1
Meliqo’ziev, Iqbol
1
Munro, Neil G.
1
Prince, Raymond
1
Rousso-Schindler, Steven
2
Seaman, Gary
2
Song, Zhifang
2
Speed, Frank
6
not set
1
Series
Shorts collection 2
1
Song Family Village
2
not set
13
Country of production
China
2
Japan
2
Nigeria
5
United Kingdom
10
United States
3
Uzbekistan
1
Year of production
1931
1
1963
2
1966
1
1970
1
1975
1
1984
1
1988
1
1996
1
2003
1
2009
2
2010
1
2014
1
2015
1
2019
1
Film list
The Ainu Bear Ceremony
1931
27
‘
Directed by
Neil G. Munro
.
The RAI has reedited the original film of this ceremony among the Ainu people of Japan. In the bear ceremony, now no longer performed, a specially reared bear was reverently killed and its flesh and
Central Asia and Far East
Ritual
Animals
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Benin Kingship Rituals
1963
20
‘
Directed by
Frank Speed
Ray Bradbury
.
Until it was conquered by the British in 1897, the city of Benin, in what is now Nigeria, was the centre of a powerful kingdom. Its rulers, the Obas of Benin, were mysterious, secluded figures who
West Africa
Ritual
Dance / Theatre / Performance
History
Cultivating Death
2003
23
‘
Directed by
Martin Gruber
.
Cemeteries are not only places for the dead. They are also spaces in which the living interact with each other – and with the dead. “Cultivating Death” depicts the different ways in which
British-Irish Isles
Death
Ritual
Duminea: A Festival for the Water Spirits
1966
20
‘
Directed by
Frank Speed
Robin Horton
.
The communal rituals of most villages of the Eastern Niger Delta focus on two great classes of spirits – the heroes and the water people. The heroes once lived with the men, founded their
West Africa
Ritual
Possession
Garden Days: Village in Papua New Guinea
1988
25
‘
Directed by
Ariane Lewis
Jon Jerstad
.
A detailed account of domestic life in the Sepik area of Papua New Guinea, mainly from the women’s point of view. It describes their everyday activities in the ‘gardens’ in order to produce
Melanesia
Agriculture / Farming
Children / Young people
Ritual
Gelede: A Yoruba Masquerade
1970
30
‘
Directed by
Frank Speed
Peggy Harper
.
Among the Yoruba of Western Nigeria and Dahomey the Gelede cult honours the earth spirits, the ancestors and especially the Great Mother. The festival filmed here emphasises the status of women and
West Africa
Gender Role and Identity
Ritual
Festivals / Carnival
Social Conflict
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
The Heavenly Court in Song Family Village
2009
30
‘
Directed by
Zhifang Song
Gary Seaman
Steven Rousso-Schindler
.
Religious life in the village is highly gendered, with female shamans dominating most religious activities. These shamanesses and their gods are organised as a “court”, which expresses a
Central Asia and Far East
Gender Role and Identity
Shamans and Shamanism
Ritual
Kwagh Hir
1975
30
‘
Directed by
Frank Speed
Peggy Harper
.
Four million Tiv people form the major culture of the Benue state of southern Nigeria. They are popularly known as the greatest democrats in Africa as their society is based on fraternal cooperation
West Africa
Festivals / Carnival
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Ritual
Masks of Mer
2010
37
‘
Directed by
Michael Eaton
.
The film Alfred Haddon made in 1898 in the Torres Straits, lasting for less than a minute, is the world’s first example of anthropological cinema. ‘The Masks of Mer’ tells the extraordinary story of
Australia
History of Anthropology
Film / Photography / Mass media
Archival material / Museum displays
Ritual
The Secret of the Stone
2009
39
‘
Directed by
Zhifang Song
Gary Seaman
Steven Rousso-Schindler
.
Located on the North China Plain about 200 miles south of Beijing, ‘Song Family Village’ is home to about 1,300 people. Some 80% of all villagers are members of a single lineage of the Song surname.
Central Asia and Far East
Family / Kinship
Collective / Community identity
Ritual
Festivals / Carnival
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
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
Uzu
2015
27
‘
Directed by
Gaspard Kuentz
.
Held every October in the city of Matsuyama, the Dogo Autumn Festival is one of the most violent religious festivals celebrated in Japan. Eight teams of men carrying massive portable wood shrines
Central Asia and Far East
Ritual
Gender Role and Identity
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
Were Ni! He is a Madman
1963
30
‘
Directed by
Frank Speed
Raymond Prince
.
This ethnopsychiatric film shows the management of psychiatric disorders by the Yoruba of Nigeria. There are two basic types of institutions to deal with psychiatric disorders. First there are
West Africa
Health / Health care / Healing
Ritual
Possession