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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
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Instagram
Twitter
Films
25 Films
Keywords
“Art Artists Artisans”
x
Series
“0”
x
films with a digital version
12
films hosted on Kanopy
1
short films
6
films available on demand
4
Region
Australia
1
Central Africa
1
Central America
2
Central Asia and Far East
1
Latin America
1
Melanesia
1
North America
2
North and Northeast Africa
1
South America
2
South Asia
4
West Africa
4
Western Europe
3
Western Mediterranean
3
Country
Australia
1
Belgium
2
Brazil
1
Cameroon
1
Chile
1
Germany
1
Ghana
2
India
4
Italy
2
Ivory Coast
1
Japan
1
Mexico
2
Nigeria
1
Papua New Guinea
1
Peru
1
Spain
1
Sudan
1
Togo
1
United States
2
Keywords
Alternative culture
3
Animation
1
Archaeology
2
Archival material / Museum displays
3
Art / Artists / Artisans
25
x
Children / Young people
1
Collective / Community identity
2
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
4
Death
1
Elderly people
1
Environment
1
Ethnofiction
1
Film / Photography / Mass media
4
Gender Role and Identity
3
Gender Role and identity
1
Health / Health care / Healing
2
Herding
1
History
1
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
3
Infrastructure / Transport
1
LGBTQI*
1
Labour
1
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
2
Life Story / Life History
3
Marriage
1
Material Culture
10
Memory
3
Migration
1
Music / Ethnomusicology
2
Participatory / Collaborative methods
2
Personal Narrative
1
Political Activists
1
Prison
1
Public Figure
1
Race / Racism / Antiracism
1
Reflexivity
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
2
Research methods
1
Social Change
1
Social Norms
1
Social participation
1
Trade
4
Directors
Arcé, Adrian
1
Barbash, Ilisa
1
Beier, Ulli
1
Cabezas Pino, Angélica
1
D’onofrio, Alexandra
1
Davies, Sera
1
Dietrich, Martha-Cecilia
1
Engelbrecht, Beate
1
Fruzzetti, Lina
1
Grieco, Anthony
1
Grimshaw, Anna
1
Haensch, Valerie
1
Hunt, Claire
1
Iteanu, Andre
1
Kapon, Eytan
1
Longinotto, Kim
2
MacDougall, Judith
1
Mansu, Marcia
1
Marrero-Guillamon, Isaac
1
Mora, Alba
1
Mora, Yves
1
Papenbrook, Jana
1
Plessis, Nancy du
1
Saltman, Carlyn
1
Sanmartí, Anna
1
Sharma, Aparna
1
Speed, Frank
1
Taylor, Lucien
1
Visser, Mara Lin
1
Wendl, Tobias
1
Zirión, Antonio
1
Östör, Ákos
1
Series
not set
25
x
Country of production
Australia
2
Belgium
1
Brazil
1
Canada
1
Chile
1
France
1
Germany
4
India
2
Italy
2
Mexico
1
Netherlands
1
Nigeria
1
Peru
1
Spain
1
United Kingdom
6
United States
5
Year of production
1964
1
1989
1
1993
1
1997
1
1998
1
2001
2
2002
1
2005
1
2009
2
2011
1
2013
3
2016
2
2017
2
2018
3
2019
2
2022
1
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
Cine Rabeca
2022
55
‘
Directed by
Marcia Mansu
.
Time dimensions emerge from the relation between the visible and the imagined, between memory and the experience of the present. A unique place emerges through the entanglement of music and archive
Latin America
Music / Ethnomusicology
Art / Artists / Artisans
Dance / Theatre / Performance
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
Eat the Kimono
1989
60
‘
Directed by
Kim Longinotto
Claire Hunt
.
A compelling biography of Hanayagi Genshu, a feminist and dancer who spent her lifetime defying the conservative traditions of Japanese society with her radical politics and unconventional
Central Asia and Far East
Public Figure
Gender Role and Identity
Art / Artists / Artisans
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Alternative culture
Future Remembrance – Photography and Image Arts in Ghana
1998
54
‘
Directed by
Tobias Wendl
Nancy du Plessis
.
The film portrays a vibrant range of contemporary and historical images by artists and photographers in Ghana. While glancing through the history of black & white photography in Ghana, the film
West Africa
Film / Photography / Mass media
Art / Artists / Artisans
Memory
Horror in the Andes
2019
33
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Martha-Cecilia Dietrich
.
Horror in the Andes is a behind-the-scenes documentary that follows the process of making a horror movie in Ayacucho, Peru. Directed by audio-visual anthropologist Martha-Cecilia Dietrich, it
South America
Art / Artists / Artisans
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Ethnofiction
Film / Photography / Mass media
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
IT WAS TOMORROW
2018
53
‘
Student
Directed by
Alexandra D’onofrio
.
After living in Italy for almost ten years without documents, three Egyptian men – Ali, Mahmoud and Mohamed – are suddenly awarded legal residence. As a whole new world of opportunities opens up to
Western Mediterranean
Animation
Art / Artists / Artisans
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Film / Photography / Mass media
Life Story / Life History
Memory
Migration
Research methods
Participatory / Collaborative methods
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
Je ne suis pas moi-même
2009
50
‘
Directed by
Alba Mora
Anna Sanmartí
.
Shot in Cameroon and Brussels, ‘Je ne suis pas moi-même’ examines the complex network surrounding the international market of African antiquities, and the contradictions in a European art market
Central Africa
Western Europe
Art / Artists / Artisans
Trade
Letter to the Dead
2002
62
‘
Directed by
Andre Iteanu
Eytan Kapon
.
The film is about the encounter between tradition and modernity. In a small village of Papua New Guinea three exceptional men rival with each other in the field of rituals and artistic creation in
Melanesia
Social Change
Art / Artists / Artisans
Death
Namatjira Project
2017
87
‘
Directed by
Sera Davies
.
An extraordinary first-hand account of the international battle to reclaim the artwork and heritage of one of Australia’s most important Indigenous figures: Albert Namatjira. Albert Namatjira was
Australia
Art / Artists / Artisans
Collective / Community identity
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
Political Activists
Race / Racism / Antiracism
New Images
1964
27
‘
Directed by
Ulli Beier
Frank Speed
.
The film is a brief description of life in a busy commercial centre that still depends upon and retains its ancient traditions. These are based on the history of the town which was founded on the
West Africa
Art / Artists / Artisans
Religion / Belief / Faith
Archival material / Museum displays
Out of Focus
2013
37
‘
Directed by
Adrian Arcé
Antonio Zirión
.
This is a collaborative documentary about arts, culture and everyday life inside a prison for minors. It was shot during a photography and video workshop with young inmates at the Juvenile Community
Central America
Children / Young people
Prison
Art / Artists / Artisans
Reflexivity
Rockerill: Rekindling the Fire
2011
53
‘
Directed by
Yves Mora
.
Five years ago, one of the oldest industrial buildings of Charleroi- ‘les Forges de la Providence’- was saved from demolition being brought by two citizens: Thierry Camuy and Mika Hell. Together
Western Europe
Alternative culture
Art / Artists / Artisans
Salma
2013
90
‘
Directed by
Kim Longinotto
.
When Salma, a young Muslim girl in a south Indian village, was 13 years old, her family locked her up for 25 years, forbidding her to study and forcing her into marriage. During that time, words were
South Asia
Gender Role and Identity
Social Norms
Marriage
Art / Artists / Artisans
Shepherds in the Cave
2016
87
‘
Material Culture
Directed by
Anthony Grieco
.
An international team of art restorers, archaeologists and volunteers begin work on the restoration of religious frescoes inside a network of ancient caves. Faced with local bureaucratic challenges
Western Mediterranean
Archaeology
Herding
Art / Artists / Artisans
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
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
This is My Face
2018
57
‘
Student
Directed by
Angélica Cabezas Pino
.
In Chile, people living with HIV fear stigma, and often conceal their condition and remain silent about what they are going through. This is My Face explores what happens when a range of men living
South America
LGBTQI*
Participatory / Collaborative methods
Health / Health care / Healing
Gender Role and Identity
Film / Photography / Mass media
Memory
Life Story / Life History
Art / Artists / Artisans
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
Why is Mr W. Laughing?
2017
76
‘
Directed by
Jana Papenbrook
.
Jana Papenbroock with Horst Wässle, Michael Gerdsmann, Bernhard Krebs WHY IS MR W. LAUGHING? is a portrait of three members of a community of artists with different disabilities. Rather than
Western Europe
Art / Artists / Artisans
Collective / Community identity
Elderly people
Health / Health care / Healing
Life Story / Life History
Personal Narrative
Social participation
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