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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
20 Films
with a digital version available
x
Keywords
“Labour”
x
films with a digital version
20
x
short films
6
films available on demand
2
Region
British-Irish Isles
1
Central America
1
Central Asia and Far East
1
Central Europe
2
Middle and Near East
1
North America
2
North and Northeast Africa
1
South America
2
South Asia
6
West Africa
1
Western Europe
3
Western Mediterranean
1
Country
Bolivia
1
France
2
Hungary
2
India
3
Italy
1
Japan
1
Jordan
1
Mexico
1
Morocco
1
Nepal
3
Paraguay
1
Senegal
1
Switzerland
1
United Kingdom
1
United States
2
Keywords
Agriculture / Farming
1
Animals
1
Children / Young people
1
Collective / Community identity
2
Dance / Theatre / Performance
1
Ethnofiction
2
Everyday Life
1
Festivals / Carnival
1
Film / Photography / Mass media
1
Gender Role and Identity
1
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
2
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
1
Informant-researcher relationship
1
Labour
20
x
Land Rights
1
Marriage
1
Material Culture
3
Migration
6
Political Activists
1
Reflexivity
2
Refugees / Displaced populations
1
Rural
1
Sex / Sexuality
2
Social Change
2
Social Norms
1
Socioeconomic conditions
5
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
1
Trade
1
Travellers / Roma
1
Directors
Al Akash, Ruba
1
Blake, John
1
Bonifacio, Valentina
1
Boswall, Karen
1
Grimshaw, Anna
1
Grossenbacher, Ulrich
1
Gupta, Meghna
1
Horat, Thomas
1
Hörmann, André
1
Kharel, Dipesh
2
Llewelyn-Davies, Melissa
1
Luethi, Damaris
1
Mai, Nick
2
Mollona, Massimiliano
1
Moore, Allen
1
Saito, Asami
1
Sarabi, Abtin
1
Schillaci, Rosella
1
Sturtevant, Chuck
1
Tari, János
1
Werner, Louis
1
Winter, Pattie
1
Woodhead, Leslie
1
Series
Disappearing World Series
3
Shorts collection 2
1
not set
16
Country of production
Bolivia
1
France
3
Germany
1
Hungary
1
India
1
Italy
1
Japan
1
Jordan
1
Nepal
1
Norway
1
Switzerland
2
United Kingdom
7
United States
2
Year of production
1977
2
1988
1
1996
1
1997
1
2005
1
2006
3
2009
1
2010
1
2012
3
2014
1
2016
4
2020
1
Film list
Across the Tracks – The Vlach Gypsies in Hungary
1988
52
‘
Directed by
John Blake
.
*’Across the Tracks’ is a gripping film for the general viewer. It is beautifully filmed in observational style (lingering scenes of muddy courtyards) with enough subtitled interview material to
Central Europe
Animals
Labour
Travellers / Roma
At Low Tide
2016
63
‘
Directed by
Anna Grimshaw
.
Every day, carrying the simplest of tools, diggers across coastal Maine set out at low tide to dig for clams on the wide mud flats that stretch far into the bay. It is backbreaking work. But it has
North America
Material Culture
Labour
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
Boya Boya (Shine Shine)
2014
18
‘
Directed by
Karen Boswall
Ruba Al Akash
.
A portrait of Syrian refugee Mohammed, a 12-year-old shoe shine boy, ‘Boya Boya (Shine Shine)’ looks at the reality of the growing population of urban refugees from a child’s point of view. While
Middle and Near East
Children / Young people
Refugees / Displaced populations
Labour
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
Casado’s Legacy
2009
49
‘
Directed by
Valentina Bonifacio
.
For 100 years Maskoy people worked in Carlos Casado’s tannin factory. The factory, which had been founded on their land, based its production on the exploitation of local natural resources. After
South America
Political Activists
Labour
Land Rights
The Devil’s Mills. Roundabouts don’t Build Houses any more
2006
56
‘
Directed by
János Tari
.
The everyday life of migrant fun fair operators is the filter through which we view the social and economic factors of the 20th and early 21st century that define the life and work of this social
Central Europe
Labour
Social Change
Trade
Festivals / Carnival
Habilito – Debt for Life
2010
52
‘
Directed by
Chuck Sturtevant
.
This documentary explores many of the conflicts and tensions that arise at the point of contact between highland migrants and lowland indigenous peoples, focusing particularly on the system of debt
South America
Socioeconomic conditions
Migration
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Labour
Land Lot S7
2020
28
‘
Directed by
Abtin Sarabi
.
Following sugar cane field workers in Senegal as they chop and burn their way through seemingly endless fields, this poetic film takes an unconventional approach to understanding the gruelling work
West Africa
Labour
Agriculture / Farming
A Life with Slate
2006
59
‘
Directed by
Dipesh Kharel
.
Alampu is a beautiful and exceedingly remote village in Nepal. The majority of the settlers there are Thami people, one of the indigenous groups of Nepal. More than 90 percent of them have been
South Asia
Labour
Socioeconomic conditions
The Log Rafters of Lake Aegeri
2016
29
‘
Material Culture
Directed by
Thomas Horat
.
Aegeri, in a remote part of Switzerland, is one of the few lakes in Central Europe where professional log rafters can still be found. This film is based on the gentle observation of the work of a
Western Europe
Material Culture
Labour
Rural
Playing with Nan
2012
88
‘
Directed by
Dipesh Kharel
Asami Saito
.
Playing with Nan is the story of a Nepali young man who migrated to work in a Nepali restaurant in northern Japan. The film explores his daily life at work and his family at home, which reflects
South Asia
Central Asia and Far East
Labour
Migration
Socioeconomic conditions
Sea Boundary
2012
55
‘
Directed by
Rosella Schillaci
.
The film depicts the daily struggle of fishermen to earn a living in a harsh physical environment that brings out the social and economic tensions of modern society. Manning the Priamo are Cola, the
Western Mediterranean
Labour
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
Socioeconomic conditions
Migration
A Sheepherder’s Homecoming
1996
40
‘
Directed by
Allen Moore
Louis Werner
.
This film documents a migrant worker’s experiences as a herder on a Nevada sheep ranch who then returns to his family in Mexico after a long absence to renew ties and find a job at home. It
North America
Central America
Migration
Labour
Sherpas of Nepal
1977
52
‘
Directed by
Leslie Woodhead
Pattie Winter
.
Thami is a village 12,000 feet up in the Himalayas in the Kingdom of Nepal. As the film’s opening shots illustrate, in a type of filmic short-hand, Thami is composed of a patchwork of individual
South Asia
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
Labour
Marriage
Social Change
Silk, Muthappar and VHS: Portraits from South India
1997
63
‘
Directed by
Ulrich Grossenbacher
Damaris Luethi
.
The documentary, filmed during ethnographic field research, shows three portraits of ‘ordinary’ personalities — Mala, a young weaver sharing a one-bedroom house with nine siblings; Santa Cruz,
South Asia
Labour
Everyday Life
Film / Photography / Mass media
Some Women of Marrakech
1977
52
‘
Directed by
Melissa Llewelyn-Davies
.
In Marrakech, traditional attitudes to women prevail perhaps more strongly than in other Moroccan cities. This is especially true for those women who live by the standards of traditional ideals in
North and Northeast Africa
Gender Role and Identity
Labour
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Social Norms
Steel Lives
2005
45
‘
Directed by
Massimiliano Mollona
.
The anthropologist spent several months working as unskilled labourer alongside Sheffield steelworkers at Morris for his PhD. This film is a look into the working lives of men who earn a living in
British-Irish Isles
Labour
Socioeconomic conditions
Collective / Community identity
Travel
2016
63
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Nick Mai
.
(This version of the film is edited using a single screen. For the split screen version see ‘Travel – double screen version’). Joy left Nigeria to help her family after her father’s death. She
Western Europe
Sex / Sexuality
Labour
Migration
Ethnofiction
Informant-researcher relationship
Reflexivity
Travel (double screen)
2016
63
‘
Directed by
Nick Mai
.
(This version of the film uses a split-screen device throughout. For the single screen version see ‘Travel’). Joy left Nigeria to help her family after her father’s death. She knew that she was
Western Europe
Sex / Sexuality
Labour
Migration
Ethnofiction
Reflexivity
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