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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
42 Films
Keywords
“Collective Community identity”
x
films with a digital version
26
films hosted on Kanopy
1
short films
15
films available on demand
6
Region
Australia
3
British-Irish Isles
2
Caribbean Islands
1
Central Africa
1
Central Asia and Far East
3
Central Europe
1
Melanesia
2
Middle and Near East
2
North America
5
North and Northeast Africa
4
Scandinavia
1
South America
3
South Asia
4
South-East Asia
3
South-East Europe
4
Southern Africa
2
West Africa
1
Western Europe
3
Western Mediterranean
2
Country
Afghanistan
1
Anguilla
1
Australia
3
Bosnia and Herzegovina
2
Bosnia-Herzegovina
1
Brazil
2
Cameroon
1
Canada
1
China
3
Colombia
1
Ethiopia
2
France
1
Germany
2
Ghana
1
India
4
Indonesia
1
Italy
1
Los Angeles
1
Myanmar
1
Norway
1
Papua New Guinea
2
Portugal
1
Romania
1
Russian Federation
1
South Africa
2
Spain
2
Sudan
2
Turkey
1
United Kingdom
3
United States
3
Keywords
Agriculture / Farming
3
Alternative culture
1
Archaeobotany / Ethnobotany
1
Art / Artists / Artisans
2
Children / Young people
1
Collective / Community identity
42
x
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
3
Digital media
1
Education / Knowledge Transmission
1
Elderly people
1
Family / Kinship
4
Festivals / Carnival
2
Film / Photography / Mass media
1
Gender Role and Identity
3
Health / Health care / Healing
1
Herding
1
History
1
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
2
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
5
Inter-religious relations
2
Intergenerational relations
1
Internet
1
LGBTQI*
1
Labour
2
Land Rights
1
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
1
Life Story / Life History
1
Marriage
1
Material Culture
2
Memory
1
Migration
3
Music / Ethnomusicology
3
Nomads and Nomadism
1
Participatory / Collaborative methods
1
Personal Narrative
1
Political Activists
1
Popular Culture
1
Possession
1
Race / Racism / Antiracism
5
Refugees / Displaced populations
2
Religion / Belief / Faith
6
Resettlement
1
Ritual
2
Rural
2
Sex / Sexuality
2
Social Change
3
Social Conflict
3
Social Organisation
3
Social participation
1
Socioeconomic conditions
1
Sport
2
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
2
Trade
1
Travellers / Roma
1
Urban
1
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
2
Directors
Ahmed, Akbar
1
Baily, John
1
Balanydjarrk, Meredith
1
Balpatji, Warren
1
Baskin Coffey, Victoria
1
Boonzajer-Flaes, Robert
1
Bringa, Tone
1
Cai, Hua
1
Carr, Peter
1
Christie, Debbie
1
Curling, Chris
1
Davies, Sera
1
Deger, Jennifer
1
Diaz, Juan Diego
1
Diengdoh, Wanphrang
1
Djingadjingawuy, Kayleen
1
Eagle, Rob
1
Finnestad, Mari
1
Ganambarr, James
1
Greenwood, Rachel
1
Grigsby, Michael
1
Gupta, Meghna
1
Gurrumuruwuy, Paul
1
Guruŋulmiwuy, Enid
1
Harries, Andy
1
Husmann, Rolf
1
Kaserci, Zeynep
1
Kawanami, Hiroko
1
Kharel, Dipesh
1
Kildea, Gary
1
Lindner, Tobias
1
Lloyd, Ravi Hart
1
Loizos, Peter
1
Lowe, Sebastian
1
Lu, Wanwan
1
MacDougall, David
2
Mollona, Massimiliano
1
Moser, Brian
1
Otto, Ton
1
Papenbrook, Jana
1
Pasini, Carlos
1
Pereira, Nilton
1
Rousso-Schindler, Steven
1
Samir-Shakir, Yasmin
1
Schiltz, Anne
1
Seaman, Gary
1
Sheppard, John
1
Simon, Andrea
1
Singer, André
1
Song, Zhifang
1
Sperschneider, Werner
1
Storaas, Frode
1
Suhr, Christian
1
Tanlaka, Kilian Lamtur
1
Torresan, Angela
1
Wason, David
1
Willerslev, Rane
1
Woodhead, Leslie
2
Series
Decolonising Shorts
1
Disappearing World Series
10
Doon School Project
1
Granada Center for Visual Anthropology Student Film
6
In Search of Cool Ground: The Mursi Trilogy
2
Pleasure Shorts
1
Shorts collection 2
1
Song Family Village
1
not set
21
Country of production
Australia
5
Brazil
1
China
2
Denmark
1
Germany
3
India
2
Netherlands
1
Norway
2
Turkey
1
United Kingdom
23
United States
4
Year of production
1971
1
1974
2
1976
1
1977
1
1979
1
1983
1
1985
1
1986
1
1989
1
1991
1
1993
1
1995
1
1996
1
1997
2
1999
1
2001
1
2002
3
2003
1
2005
2
2007
1
2009
1
2010
1
2011
1
2012
2
2013
1
2014
1
2015
2
2016
1
2017
3
2018
1
2020
3
Film list
The Eskimos of Pond Inlet
1977
52
‘
Directed by
Michael Grigsby
.
For the Eskimos of Pond Inlet – a new village in North Baffin Island in which they have been settled by the Canadian Government – the life of the semi-nomadic hunter has given way to that of
North America
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
Collective / Community identity
Social Conflict
Journey into Europe
2015
122
‘
Directed by
Akbar Ahmed
.
In Journey into Europe, Akbar Ahmed, a world-renowned anthropologist, Islamic scholar, and filmmaker who the BBC has called “the world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam,” explores Islam
Central Europe
Western Europe
South-East Europe
History
Religion / Belief / Faith
Collective / Community identity
A Kali Temple Inside Out
2018
83
‘
Werbner Award
Directed by
Dipesh Kharel
Frode Storaas
.
Religious boundaries in India are not necessarily as sharp and antagonistic as news media lead us to believe. This film portrays everyday life inside and around a Kali temple in the city of Kanpur,
South Asia
Religion / Belief / Faith
Collective / Community identity
The Kazakhs of China
1983
52
‘
Directed by
André Singer
.
The Kazakhs of Xinjiang (Sinkiang) are one of the fifty-five national minorities that now live within the borders of the People’s Republic of China. The policy of the Chinese Communist Party toward
Central Asia and Far East
Social Change
Nomads and Nomadism
Collective / Community identity
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
Koriams Law and the Dead who Govern
2005
110
‘
Directed by
Gary Kildea
Andrea Simon
.
In ‘Koriam’s Law’ Australian anthropologist Andrew Lattas meets his match in philosopher-informant Peter Avarea of Matong village, Pomio, Papua New Guinea. Motivated by their lively dialogue the
Melanesia
Religion / Belief / Faith
Collective / Community identity
Possession
The Kwegu
1979
52
‘
Directed by
Leslie Woodhead
Andy Harries
.
*’The Kwegu’ is an entirely tasteful and dignified presentation of the harsh realities of subsistence living, and it may help us understand how, even in stateless societies, dominated groups come to
North and Northeast Africa
Collective / Community identity
Agriculture / Farming
Social Organisation
Marriage
Trade
Link-up Diary
1997
86
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
The filmmaker goes on the road with Link-Up, an organisation which re-unites Aboriginal families separated in earlier decades by the New South Wales government. As the film shows, being reunited
Australia
Resettlement
Family / Kinship
Collective / Community identity
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Making Worlds Otherwise
2020
28
‘
Directed by
Paul Gurrumuruwuy
Jennifer Deger
Enid Guruŋulmiwuy
Warren Balpatji
Meredith Balanydjarrk
James Ganambarr
Kayleen Djingadjingawuy
Victoria Baskin Coffey
Sebastian Lowe
.
An exuberant experiment in the ethnographic art of remix that gives new form to Miyarrka Media’s project of yuṯa, or new, anthropology. Sound, images, colour, light, and deeply felt patterns of
Australia
Collective / Community identity
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
Internet
Digital media
Participatory / Collaborative methods
The Mehinacu
1974
52
‘
Directed by
Carlos Pasini
.
The Mehinacu live near the head-waters of the River Xingu in Central Brazil, in a single village within the protective confines of the Xingu National Park. Although the film concentrates upon the
South America
Social Organisation
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Collective / Community identity
Ritual
The Migrants
1985
52
‘
Directed by
Leslie Woodhead
David Wason
.
The Migrants is the third film in the trilogy ‘In Search of Cool Ground’ for Granada Television’s Disappearing World series. It is about a drought-induced migration of Mursi from their traditional
North and Northeast Africa
Social Change
Collective / Community identity
Refugees / Displaced populations
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
Native
2002
29
‘
Directed by
Rachel Greenwood
.
Through his clothing, a young South African fashion designer of mixed race urges freedom and unity in post-apartheid South Africa. His message is reaching not only his fellow South Africans, but also
Southern Africa
Collective / Community identity
Material Culture
The New Boys
2003
100
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
The social dynamics of the group is the focus of this study of life in Foot House, one of Doon School’s dormitories for new boys. It begins a few days before the boys appear and shows them
South Asia
Children / Young people
Education / Knowledge Transmission
Collective / Community identity
Nuba Wrestling
1991
42
‘
Directed by
Rolf Husmann
Werner Sperschneider
.
The weekly wrestling tournaments of the Sudanese Nuba migrants in Khartoum usually take place between Northern and Southern Nuba men. The sport helps them strengthen their ethnic identity in a
North and Northeast Africa
Collective / Community identity
Gender Role and Identity
Urban
Sport
Ocak
2020
28
‘
Directed by
Zeynep Kaserci
.
The story of a family who earns their livelihood as hazelnut cultivators in rural north-eastern Turkey. Filmed in an observational style, it offers glimpses into the local social life of the village
Middle and Near East
Collective / Community identity
Agriculture / Farming
Rural
Oink!
2020
22
‘
Directed by
Rob Eagle
.
An experimental research documentary offering a portrait of gay men who‚ in different ways‚ relate to the “pig” sexual imaginary. It provides insight into their experiences of identity,
Western Europe
North America
Sex / Sexuality
LGBTQI*
Collective / Community identity
Orania
2012
94
‘
Directed by
Tobias Lindner
.
Orania is situated in South Africa’s barren Northern Cape province. All of its 800 inhabitants are white Afrikaners. They live here on private property which was bought in 1991. People of other
Southern Africa
Race / Racism / Antiracism
Collective / Community identity
Social Conflict
Polka
1986
50
‘
Directed by
Robert Boonzajer-Flaes
.
The film confronts the accordion music of Chicano immigrants in southern Texas with the traditional music of accordion players in Austria. Without making any final judgements on the ‘roots’ of
North America
Music / Ethnomusicology
Collective / Community identity
Returning Home: Revival of a Bosnian Village
2001
48
‘
Directed by
Tone Bringa
Peter Loizos
.
The film is the sequel to ‘We are all Neighbours’, the 1993 Granada Disappearing World film, about the breakdown of relations between Muslims and Croats as war overtakes their ethnically mixed
South-East Europe
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Collective / Community identity
Refugees / Displaced populations
Round Trip
1999
36
‘
Directed by
Angela Torresan
.
Portrait of a Brazilian woman and her friends, now living in Lisbon, exploring the basis of their sense of identity in the context of a transnational way of life.
Western Mediterranean
Collective / Community identity
Migration
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
Scenes of Afghan Music: London, Kabul, Hamburg, Dublin
2007
97
‘
Directed by
John Baily
.
Scenes of Afghan Music is Part IV of ‘A Quartet of Afghan Music Films’, made in the author’s personal “fieldwork movie” style. It reveals the diversity of music and dance practices in the
Middle and Near East
Music / Ethnomusicology
Migration
Collective / Community identity
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
The Shilluk of Southern Sudan
1976
52
‘
Directed by
Chris Curling
.
This film presents a compelling visual and aural analysis of Shilluk kingship in 1975, and provides a very useful complement to Evans-Pritchard’s 1948 text, The Divine Kingship of the Shilluk.
North and Northeast Africa
Collective / Community identity
Social Organisation
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
The Sweet Life and All That Goes With It
2002
29
‘
Directed by
Anne Schiltz
.
Although the Saxons arrived in Transylvania, Romania over 800 years ago, they have retained a strong sense of their distinctive identity and still speak German. After the Revolution of 1989, most
South-East Europe
Collective / Community identity
Travellers / Roma
Tabom in Bahia
2017
52
‘
Directed by
Juan Diego Diaz
Nilton Pereira
.
There is a small community in Ghana who identify as Brazilians. Their name is the Tabom. They are the descendants of former enslaved Africans and creoles who resettled from Bahia to Ghana during the
South America
West Africa
Music / Ethnomusicology
Collective / Community identity
Memory
Migration
Popular Culture
Race / Racism / Antiracism
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
They Say We’re All Winners
2002
32
‘
Directed by
Mari Finnestad
.
The Zimbabwean girls’ team comes to Norway to take part in the world’s largest kids’ football tournament. The film questions the outcome of this well-intentioned cultural exchange because some of the
Scandinavia
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
Sport
Collective / Community identity
Together as One
2013
39
‘
Directed by
Kilian Lamtur Tanlaka
.
Nso’ is the biggest kingdom of the Western Grassfields and an ethnic group in the northeast corner of Cameroon’s northwest region. Its capital Kumbo is where the ruler (Fon) lives. The Nso’
Central Africa
Archaeobotany / Ethnobotany
Collective / Community identity
Inter-religious relations
Treasured Moments
2016
33
‘
Student
Directed by
Ravi Hart Lloyd
.
This is the personal story of a boy who grew up mixed in every aspect of his life, his parents, where he was from, his race. The black kid who thought that he was white. The white kid who thought
Caribbean Islands
North America
Family / Kinship
Race / Racism / Antiracism
Collective / Community identity
Film / Photography / Mass media
Unity through Culture
2011
69
‘
Directed by
Christian Suhr
Ton Otto
.
Soanin Killangit is determined to unite the people and attract international tourism through the revival of culture on Baluan Island, Manus, Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific. He organizes the
Melanesia
Festivals / Carnival
Social Conflict
Collective / Community identity
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
The Villagers of Sierra de Gredos
1989
52
‘
Directed by
Peter Carr
.
The 130 villagers of Navalguijo in the Sierra de Gredos of Central Spain live in a village perched high in the mountains and they face an extreme climate with very cold winters and hot summers. The
Western Mediterranean
Herding
Rural
Collective / Community identity
War of the Gods
1971
52
‘
Directed by
Brian Moser
.
While relying on a polemical stance directed against the cultural genocide wrought by missionaries, ‘War of the Gods’ also contains a wealth of information and detail about Amazonian Indian
South America
Religion / Belief / Faith
Collective / Community identity
Agriculture / Farming
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
We Are All Neighbours
1993
52
‘
Directed by
Debbie Christie
.
The film shows the effect of war on families in a racially mixed village outside Sarajevo, Bosnia, where Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Moslems lived peacefully together. Norwegian anthropologist Tone
South-East Europe
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Collective / Community identity
Inter-religious relations
Where the Clouds End
2014
52
‘
Directed by
Wanphrang Diengdoh
.
“My late great grandfather was a Bengali who came to Shillong in the early 1900s – long before the present political border divided the lands.” After the creation of borders between India and
South Asia
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
Race / Racism / Antiracism
Collective / Community identity
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
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
Youth Group
2015
28
‘
Student
Directed by
Wanwan Lu
.
Set in the predominantly Asian “ethnoburbs” of Los Angeles County, this film follows a vibrant Buddhist youth group in a Chinese-American temple. Youth group members, most raised by immigrant
North America
Collective / Community identity
Religion / Belief / Faith
Intergenerational relations
Yukaghir Stories
1997
30
‘
Directed by
Rane Willerslev
.
The Yukhagirs are one of the small indigenous peoples of Northern Siberia. This film, shot in the village of Nelemnoye, explores what it means to be a Yukhagir.
Central Asia and Far East
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Collective / Community identity
[S+P2]
2010
30
‘
Directed by
Yasmin Samir-Shakir
.
Following various members of The Forest Collective in the run-up to the ‘DIY’ arts space’s Tenth Birthday celebrations, we observe some of the internal and external struggles faced by this
British-Irish Isles
Alternative culture
Collective / Community identity