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
Login
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Films
9 Films
Keywords
“Death”
x
Series
“0”
x
films with a digital version
4
short films
2
Region
Australia
3
British-Irish Isles
1
Central Asia and Far East
1
Latin America
1
Melanesia
2
West Africa
1
Country
Australia
3
Costa Rica
1
Japan
1
Nigeria
1
Papua New Guinea
2
United Kingdom
1
Keywords
Archaeology
1
Art / Artists / Artisans
1
Death
9
x
Elderly people
1
Film / Photography / Mass media
1
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
3
Informant-researcher relationship
2
Personal Narrative
1
Reflexivity
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
2
Ritual
6
Social Change
1
Social Conflict
1
Directors
Bringas, Sylvie
1
Gruber, Martin
1
Iteanu, Andre
1
Johnson, Dul
1
Kapon, Eytan
1
MacDougall, David
1
MacDougall, Judith
1
McKenzie, Kim
1
Nielsen, Christian Suhr
1
Ortiz, Carolina Arias
1
Otto, Ton
1
not set
1
Series
not set
9
x
Country of production
Australia
3
Costa Rica
1
Denmark
1
France
1
Japan
1
Nigeria
1
United Kingdom
2
United States
1
Year of production
1977
1
1980
2
2002
1
2003
1
2007
1
2012
1
2014
1
2020
1
Film list
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
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
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
Rebel Objects
2020
70
‘
Main Competition
Directed by
Carolina Arias Ortiz
.
Anthropologist and filmmaker Carolina Arias Ortiz returns to Costa Rica to visit her estranged father. When he is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, death suddenly draws close. During this time she
Latin America
Archaeology
Death
Personal Narrative
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
Waiting for Harry
1980
57
‘
Directed by
Kim McKenzie
.
Although the events around which this film was planned were the final mortuary rites for Les Angabarraparra, the subject of the film became interaction. Interaction between the anthropologist Les
Australia
Informant-researcher relationship
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Death
Reflexivity
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