Skip to content
RAI FILM
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
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
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Films
19 Films
with a digital version available
x
Region
“South-East Asia”
x
films with a digital version
19
x
short films
5
films available on demand
5
Region
South-East Asia
19
x
Country
China
3
Indonesia
13
Myanmar
2
Vietnam
1
Keywords
Animals
2
Archaeobotany / Ethnobotany
1
Children/ Young people
1
Collective / Community identity
3
Dance / Theatre / Performance
2
Development projects
3
Disasters
1
Education / Knowledge transmission
1
Environment
1
Everyday Life
2
Family / Kinship
1
Food / Water
1
Gender Role and Identity
4
Health / Health care / Healing
4
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
2
Infrastructure / Transport
1
Inter-religious relations
1
Land Rights
1
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
1
Marriage
1
Material Culture
1
Memory
1
Music / Ethnomusicology
1
Political Activists
1
Prison
1
Refugees / Displaced populations
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
4
Ritual
3
Rural
1
Sensory Ethnography
1
Sex / Sexuality
2
Shamans and Shamanism
4
Social Change
1
Social Organisation
1
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
2
Directors
Blake, John
1
Cai, Hua
2
Chabamier, Gabriel
1
Chabanier, Gabriel
1
Colucci, Erminia
2
Curling, Chris
1
Danusiri, Aryo
1
Hellwig, Jean
1
Hughes-Freeland, Felicia
1
Journet, Martine
2
Kawanami, Hiroko
1
Kerlogue, Fiona
1
Lansing, Steven
1
Moser, Brian
1
Nguyen, M. Trinh
1
Nougarol, Gérard
2
Palmer, Lisa
1
Sheppard, John
2
Singer, André
1
Wason, David
1
Wildenauer, Nora
1
Series
Disappearing World Series
4
Shorts Collection 2
2
not set
13
Country of production
Australia
2
China
2
France
2
Indonesia
4
Italy
1
Netherlands
1
United Kingdom
11
United States
2
Year of production
1972
1
1974
1
1988
2
1989
1
1993
1
1995
1
1996
2
1998
2
1999
1
2002
1
2005
1
2015
2
2018
1
2019
1
2021
1
Film list
Breaking the Chains
2015
64
‘
Student
Directed by
Erminia Colucci
.
The practice of using shackles and chains to physically restrain people with mental illness (known as pasung) is widespread in Indonesia (as in many other developing/low middle income countries) and
South-East Asia
Prison
Health / Health care / Healing
Political Activists
Development projects
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
Fatmawati’s Wedding: the Weddings of two Sisters, the Preparations
1998
50
‘
Directed by
Fiona Kerlogue
.
This film records the preparations for the wedding of two sisters in eastern Sumatra in December 1996. There is an emphasis on the importance of the role of women in the village. Ritual exchanges
South-East Asia
Gender Role and Identity
Marriage
Ritual
Material Culture
Fighting for Nothing to Happen
2015
48
‘
Student
Directed by
Nora Wildenauer
.
After the volcanic eruption of Mount Rokatenda, the people of the island of Pulau Palue in east Indonesia are to be relocated. But are the planned relocation and the "new" life at the
South-East Asia
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
Refugees / Displaced populations
Development projects
Disasters
Gods and Satans
2005
87
‘
Directed by
Martine Journet
Gérard Nougarol
Gabriel Chabanier
.
Among the Wana people, semi nomads from the Indonesian (Sulawesi) forest, Indo Pino is a shaman recognized by everybody. Her nephew, who is also a shaman’s son, converted to Christianity some
South-East Asia
Religion / Belief / Faith
Shamans and Shamanism
Inter-religious relations
HARMONI: HEALING TOGETHER
2021
98
‘
Directed by
Erminia Colucci
.
As a nation of 270 million, Indonesia is facing the grave task of caring for millions of people living with mental illness. Many have experienced human rights abuses in their lifetime. In communities
South-East Asia
Health / Health care / Healing
Religion / Belief / Faith
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
Indo Pino
2002
84
‘
Directed by
Martine Journet
Gérard Nougarol
Gabriel Chabamier
.
The small ethnic group of the Wana Wewaju live in Indonesia in the eastern part of Sulawesi (Celebes Island) among the dense equatorial rain forest of the Tokkala Mountains. The film documents the
South-East Asia
Shamans and Shamanism
Health / Health care / Healing
Keepers of the Faith: The Buddhist Nuns of Sagaing Hills
1996
51
‘
Directed by
Hiroko Kawanami
.
In the Sagaing Hills, 12 miles from the ancient capital of Mandalay are hundreds of pagodas, stupas, monasteries and nunneries which form a focal point of worship for Buddhism in Burma. In 1986 the
South-East Asia
Religion / Belief / Faith
Collective / Community identity
Gender Role and Identity
The Longest Struggle: The Karen of Burma
1993
52
‘
Directed by
John Sheppard
.
In the forested hills of eastern Burma, a war has been going on for more than 50 years. A war that is rarely reported and is often apparently at a stalemate. For the Karen people of this part of
South-East Asia
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Memory
The Meo
1972
52
‘
Directed by
Brian Moser
Chris Curling
.
Over the last three thousand years the Meo (Miao or Hmong) have migrated south from north and central China to avoid oppression and protect their way of life. Today they live in scattered mountain
South-East Asia
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Shamans and Shamanism
Ritual
Social Organisation
Rural
The Sakuddei
1974
52
‘
Directed by
John Sheppard
.
The Sakuddei are a small and ethnically separate community living on the island of Siberut off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. Their distinctive way of life and elaborate religious
South-East Asia
Collective / Community identity
Social Change
Land Rights
Sundanese Culture Alive
1988
46
‘
Directed by
Jean Hellwig
.
Jaipongan is a new style of music and dancing which was ‘invented’ about a decade ago on Western Java, Indonesia. Drawing on more classical Javanese music and taking elements from Japanese and
South-East Asia
Music / Ethnomusicology
Dance / Theatre / Performance
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
Tigers Apprentice
1998
57
‘
Directed by
M. Trinh Nguyen
.
Tiger’s Apprentice is the story of M. Trinh Nguyen’s journey to her native Vietnam. She observes and documents her great-uncle’s folk medicine practices treating many patients and making his
South-East Asia
Health / Health care / Healing
Archaeobotany / Ethnobotany
The Water Goddess and the Computer
1989
52
‘
Directed by
André Singer
Steven Lansing
.
The film demonstrates how in Bali, development projects can threaten a carefully balanced ecological irrigation system that is maintained by temple priests. A biologist and an anthropologist look at
South-East Asia
Infrastructure / Transport
Development projects
Environment
The Whale Hunters of Lamalera
1988
52
‘
Directed by
John Blake
David Wason
.
The Whale Hunters of Lamalera was filmed over a period of four weeks during June 1987. Lamalera is a village which is perched on the rocky slopes of an active volcano on the southern coast of the
South-East Asia
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
Animals
Everyday Life
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