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About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
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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
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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
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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Films
11 Films
Keywords
“Death”
and
“Ritual”
x
films with a digital version
4
short films
4
Region
Australia
2
British-Irish Isles
2
Central Asia and Far East
1
Melanesia
2
South-East Asia
3
West Africa
1
Country
Australia
2
Indonesia
3
Japan
1
Nigeria
1
Papua New Guinea
1
Solomon Islands
1
United Kingdom
2
Keywords
Archival material / Museum displays
1
Art / Artists / Artisans
1
Death
11
x
Elderly people
1
Environment
1
Film / Photography / Mass media
1
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
2
Informant-researcher relationship
1
Possession
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
4
Ritual
11
x
Social Change
1
Social Conflict
2
Directors
Asch, Patsy
1
Asch, Timothy
2
Bringas, Sylvie
1
Connor, Linda
2
Forge, Anthony
1
Gruber, Martin
1
Johnson, Dul
1
MacDougall, David
1
MacDougall, Judith
1
Nielsen, Christian Suhr
1
Otto, Ton
1
Woodhead, Leslie
1
Wright, Evie
1
not set
1
Series
ANU, Indonesia Series
3
Disappearing World Series
1
Granada Center for Visual Anthropology Student Film
1
not set
6
Country of production
Australia
5
Denmark
1
Japan
1
Nigeria
1
United Kingdom
4
United States
2
Year of production
1973
1
1977
1
1980
2
1982
1
1991
1
2003
1
2004
1
2007
1
2012
1
2014
1
Film list
A Balinese Trance Séance
1980
46
‘
Directed by
Timothy Asch
Linda Connor
.
Jero Tapakan is ‘entered’ by deities and spirits who converse with her clients. Unbeknown to her, they wish to contact the spirit of their dead son to learn the cause of his death and his wishes
South-East Asia
Death
Possession
Ritual
Beneath the Budding Greenwoods
2004
25
‘
Directed by
Evie Wright
.
Anne and Rosemary both chose to bury their husbands in the woods, whereas Tony was certain he didn’t want a vicar at his wife’s funeral. Focusing on the experiences of three grieving widows, the film
British-Irish Isles
Environment
Ritual
Death
Religion / Belief / Faith
Cultivating Death
2003
23
‘
Directed by
Martin Gruber
.
Cemeteries are not only places for the dead. They are also spaces in which the living interact with each other – and with the dead. “Cultivating Death” depicts the different ways in which
British-Irish Isles
Death
Ritual
Good-bye Old Man
1977
70
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
A last request of a Tiwi man on Melville Island was that a film be made of the pukumani (bereavment) ceremony to follow his death. The film follows his family, from the days of preparation to their
Australia
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Death
Elderly people
Film / Photography / Mass media
Ritual
The House-Opening
1980
45
‘
Directed by
Judith MacDougall
.
When Geraldine Kawanka’s husband died, she and her children left their house at Aurukun on Cape York Peninsula. In earlier times a bark house would have been burnt, but today a ‘house-opening’
Australia
Ritual
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Death
The Lau of Malaita
1982
52
‘
Directed by
Leslie Woodhead
.
*Pierre Miranda and a team from Granada Television have made a fine film exploring the trouble realities of the people of the lagoon in the 1980s.* (B. Shore) This film focuses on the people of
Melanesia
Social Change
Social Conflict
Ritual
Death
Religion / Belief / Faith
NGAT IS DEAD: STUDYING MORTUARY TRADITIONS
2007
59
‘
Directed by
Christian Suhr Nielsen
Ton Otto
.
A film about how anthropological knowledge is developed through active participation in traditional exchange ceremonies on the small island of Baluan in the South Pacific. The film follows the
Melanesia
Death
Ritual
Informant-researcher relationship
Social Conflict
Ngarap: fighting over a corpse
1973
17
‘
Directed by
Anthony Forge
.
In 1993, Anthony Forge filmed the cremation of an older woman from an affluent ‘commoner’ family. As her body was moved from her family compound to the cremation tower, men of the ward seized the
South-East Asia
Death
Ritual
Art / Artists / Artisans
Archival material / Museum displays
Releasing the Spirits: a village cremation in Bali
1991
44
‘
Directed by
Patsy Asch
Linda Connor
Timothy Asch
.
In 1978, as part of the preparations for the island-wide ceremony eka dasa rudra, religious officials urged all Balinese to cleanse the island by cremating their dead. Many were forced to pool
South-East Asia
Death
Ritual
There is Nothing Wrong with my Uncle
2012
78
‘
Directed by
Sylvie Bringas
Dul Johnson
.
Nigerian writer Dul Johnson returns to Tarok land to observe the local death rituals and the record of the Tarok ways of dealing with grief and honoring departed. This film provides a rare and
West Africa
Death
Religion / Belief / Faith
Ritual
We Don’t Need A Grave
2014
27
‘
.
‘We Don’t Need a Grave’ attempts to show how the people who choose Shizenso rather than the typical family grave try to accept one’s death. Shizenso is a natural mortuary practice that has no
Central Asia and Far East
Religion / Belief / Faith
Death
Ritual