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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
10 Films
Keywords
“Art Artists Artisans”
and
“Material Culture”
x
Colour / Black and white
“Colour”
x
films with a digital version
4
films hosted on Kanopy
1
short films
3
Region
Central America
1
North America
2
North and Northeast Africa
1
South Asia
3
West Africa
2
Western Mediterranean
1
Country
Ghana
1
India
3
Ivory Coast
1
Mexico
1
Spain
1
Sudan
1
Togo
1
United States
2
Keywords
Alternative culture
1
Archaeology
1
Archival material / Museum displays
2
Art / Artists / Artisans
10
x
Environment
1
Gender Role and identity
1
History
1
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
1
Infrastructure / Transport
1
Labour
1
Material Culture
10
x
Music / Ethnomusicology
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
1
Trade
3
Directors
Barbash, Ilisa
1
Engelbrecht, Beate
1
Fruzzetti, Lina
1
Grimshaw, Anna
1
Haensch, Valerie
1
MacDougall, Judith
1
Marrero-Guillamon, Isaac
1
Saltman, Carlyn
1
Sharma, Aparna
1
Taylor, Lucien
1
Visser, Mara Lin
1
Östör, Ákos
1
Series
not set
10
Country of production
Australia
1
Germany
2
India
1
Netherlands
1
United Kingdom
1
United States
5
Year of production
1993
1
1997
1
2001
2
2005
1
2009
1
2013
1
2016
1
2018
1
2019
1
Colour / Black and white
Film list
The Blooms of Benjeli: Technology and Gender in West African Ironmaking
1997
29
‘
Directed by
Carlyn Saltman
.
The filmmaker and two historians went into the village of Banjeli in 1985 to recreate for the film the traditional iron smelting techniques (which are no longer used) of the area. By focusing on the
West Africa
Art / Artists / Artisans
Archival material / Museum displays
History
Material Culture
A Chair: in six parts
2013
42
‘
Student
Directed by
Anna Grimshaw
.
A poem about a chair. In 1960, Bill Coperthwaite bought 300 acres of wilderness in Machiasport, Maine. Influenced by the poetry of Emily Dickinson and by the back to the land movement of Scott and
North America
Material Culture
Alternative culture
Art / Artists / Artisans
Copperworking in Santa Clara del Cobra, Michoacán, Mexico – Artisans Facing Change
2001
52
‘
Directed by
Beate Engelbrecht
.
Santa Clara del Cobre, a village in Mexico’s province Michoacán, is well-known for its copperwork, a craft originating from pre-Spanish times. In the late 1940s the people of Santa Clara tried to
Central America
Material Culture
Labour
Art / Artists / Artisans
Diya
2001
55
‘
Directed by
Judith MacDougall
.
A diya is a small terra cotta oil lamp used throughout India in Hindu ceremonies. The film follows the life history of an object through the every day experience of people who make, sell and use it
South Asia
Trade
Material Culture
Religion / Belief / Faith
Art / Artists / Artisans
In and Out of Africa
1993
59
‘
Directed by
Ilisa Barbash
Lucien Taylor
.
A classic in ethnographic filmmaking, In and Out of Africa traces the transnational trade of African Art between West Africa and the USA, providing an insight into how value, commoditization and
North America
Art / Artists / Artisans
Trade
Material Culture
Sifinja – The Iron Bride
2009
70
‘
Directed by
Valerie Haensch
.
A film about mobility, human creativity, and technology in a Sudanese truck community. The English Bedford-Lorry was introduced to Sudan in the late 1960s. Since then, local craftsmen technically
North and Northeast Africa
Infrastructure / Transport
Material Culture
Art / Artists / Artisans
Singing Pictures – Women Painters of Naya
2005
45
‘
Directed by
Lina Fruzzetti
Ákos Östör
.
For generations the Patua (Chitrakara) communities of West Bengal have been painters and singers of stories depicted in scrolls. The film follows the daily lives of Muslim Patua women from Naya
South Asia
Material Culture
Art / Artists / Artisans
Music / Ethnomusicology
Tindaya Variations
2018
40
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Isaac Marrero-Guillamon
.
The mountain of Tindaya (Fuerteventura, Canary Islands) is more than a mountain. It was a sacred site for the indigenous people of Fuerteventura; later, its rock was quarried and sold for ornamental
Western Mediterranean
Archival material / Museum displays
Art / Artists / Artisans
Environment
Material Culture
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Archaeology
Unity: Dress-scapes of Accra
2016
37
‘
Directed by
Mara Lin Visser
.
This is a film about African fashion in the capital of Ghana. African printed fabrics seem to making a comeback in the fashion system of Accra. While following Allan, a fashion designer and his wife
West Africa
Trade
Material Culture
Art / Artists / Artisans
The Women Weavers of Assam
2019
98
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Aparna Sharma
.
The Women Weavers of Assam focuses on the craft, labour and the everyday lives of a group of women weavers in India’s northeastern state of Assam. The weavers belong to a non-profit collective
South Asia
Art / Artists / Artisans
Gender Role and identity
Material Culture