Films - RAI FILM

RAI FILM

Film list

[autumns-work--Film-image]

Autumn’s Work 2013 47‘

Directed by Anna Grimshaw .

"Autumn’s Work" follows Bill Coperthwaite as he prepares for winter. Wrestling with a large felled tree amidst its vast tangle of branches, Bill slowly and methodically breaks it down

North America Alternative culture Rural Everyday Life Art / Artists / Artisans

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Confluences – Emerillon of French Guiana 2007 78‘

Directed by Perle Møhl .

Like self-fulfilling prophecies, scientific reports have hitherto depicted the Emerillon of French Guiana as cultureless and doomed to disappear. With this film, an anthropologist proposes to defy

South America Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Everyday Life

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Depending on Heaven 1988 56‘

Directed by Peter Entell .

The film is in two parts and focuses on the Mongols living in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. Part One (28 minutes) follows the life of a nomadic Mongol family on their yearly journey

Central Asia and Far East Environment Nomads and Nomadism Herding Everyday Life

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Enet Yapai – an Ambonwari Girl 2008 25‘

Directed by Daniela Vávrová .

Enet Yapai was six years old when Vavrova met her for the first time in 2005 in Ambonwari village, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. Between November 2007 and April 2008 she followed Enet and

Melanesia Children / Young people Rural Everyday Life

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The Ethnographer 2012 86‘

Directed by Ulises Rosell .

John Palmer arrived in a Wichí community, located in Argentina, thirty years ago as an anthropologist – today he has married a Wichí woman with whom he has five sons in the last 5 years, who babble

South America History of Anthropology Everyday Life Informant-researcher relationship

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Family Subsistence in the Hills of Hamar. We are guests of Shawa 2019 58‘

Directed by Jean Lydall Kaira Strecker .

The film is a sequel to former films on Hamar directed by Jean Lydall and Kaira Strecker, and contributes to the Guardians of Productive Landscapes series. Kaira’s childhood friend Shawa moved as a

North and Northeast Africa Agriculture / Farming Everyday Life Food / Water

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House No. 15 2018 7‘

Directed by Aryo Danusiri .

Jakarta, Indonesia. Monsoon season. Children are at play in their flooded house, located in the riverside area of Ciliwung, known for its informal housing settlements. What unfolds before the camera

South-East Asia Everyday Life Children/ Young people Sensory Ethnography

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The Light on Mykines Island 1992 66‘

Directed by Ulla Rasmussen .

Ulla Boje Rasmussen’s at once historical and contemporary documentary from 1992 about the life and nature of the sparsely populated and spellbound island of Mykines. With outstanding footage she

Scandinavia Everyday Life Social Organisation Rural

[the-mende--Film-image]

The Mende 1990 52‘

Directed by Bruce MacDonald .

This is a portrait of Kpuawala, Sierra Leone, a village of some 260 Mende people living in a clearing in the forest in houses of mud brick and tin. Like any village portrait it gossips, happy

West Africa Everyday Life Social Organisation Rural

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Mongolia, part 1: On the Edge of the Gobi 1975 52‘

Directed by Brian Moser .

Mongolia is a country the size of Western Europe with under 1.5 million people but over 23 million head of livestock. This film concentrates on life in the great plains of Mongolia, at the foot of

Central Asia and Far East Herding Social Change Rural Everyday Life

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Mongolia part 2: The City on the Steppes 1975 52‘

Directed by Brian Moser .

The second of two films on Mongolia made by Granada Television in 1974–75 looks at life in Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia and home of a quarter of the population. The city celebrates the 53rd

Central Asia and Far East Festivals / Carnival Urban Everyday Life

[paani-of-women-and-water--Film-image]

Paani: of women and water 2018 22‘

Student Directed by Costanza Burstin .

Against the bleached sky of Rajasthan, we encounter the women of a small Muslim village as they engage in their work. Here, water binds their daily labour rituals: they collect and carry water in

South Asia Environment Food / Water Gender Role and Identity Rural Everyday Life

[the-rendille--Film-image]

The Rendille 1977 52‘

Directed by Chris Curling .

The Rendille are camel herders who live in villages and camps dotted over 10,000 square miles of desert and scrub bush in Northern Kenya. As the terrain they occupy is so dry, the Rendille grow no

East Africa Herding Animals Social Organisation Everyday Life

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The School and the Village 1992 50‘

Directed by Heimo Lappalainen .

Taiga Nomads is a film series about the Evenki (previously the Tungus), a nomadic people scattered all over eastern Siberia, and living under harsh conditions in the taiga ± an area predominated by

Central Asia and Far East Nomads and Nomadism Everyday Life

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Silk, Muthappar and VHS: Portraits from South India 1997 63‘

Directed by Ulrich Grossenbacher Damaris Luethi .

The documentary, filmed during ethnographic field research, shows three portraits of ‘ordinary’ personalities — Mala, a young weaver sharing a one-bedroom house with nine siblings; Santa Cruz,

South Asia Labour Everyday Life Film / Photography / Mass media

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The Skills You Passed On 1992 50‘

Directed by Heimo Lappalainen .

The second of three films about the Evenki people of eastern Siberia. Focuses on Nikolaj Pavlovich Archemku, who experienced the very beginning of Soviet power, two World Wars, and the

Central Asia and Far East Nomads and Nomadism Everyday Life

[sons-of-haji-omar--Film-image]

Sons of Haji Omar 1978 58‘

Directed by Timothy Asch Asen Balikci David Newman Richard Sorensen .

Haji Omar and his three sons belong to the Lakenkhel, a Pashtun tribal group in northeastern Afghanistan. Concentrating within one family, the film draw sharp, colourful portraits of the protagonists

Middle and Near East Everyday Life Nomads and Nomadism Herding

[sons-of-the-moon--Film-image]

Sons of the Moon 1984 25‘

Directed by Frank Speed Deirdre LaPin .

In isolated mountain hamlets in Nigeria’s Jos Plateau the Ngas have traditionally observed the movements of the moon in the night sky. The moon is a key symbol in Ngas cosmology, believed to

West Africa Religion / Belief / Faith Music / Ethnomusicology Everyday Life Ritual

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Spirit 2019 19‘

Directed by Jane Dyson Ross Harrison .

Saraswati is a new arrival in an Indian Himalayan village. She wonders how she will ever feel at home in the new setting. “Spirit” by Jane Dyson and Ross Harrison is a story of longing and

Central Asia and Far East Gender Role and identity Agriculture/ Farming Everyday Life Family/ Kinship

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Spring in Dickinson’s Reach 2013 83‘

Directed by Anna Grimshaw .

"Spring in Dickinson’s Reach" provides an introduction to the unique environment that Bill Coperthwaite has crafted in the Maine forest. Beginning in early spring, the film follows

North America Alternative culture Rural Everyday Life Art / Artists / Artisans

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A Summer Task 2013 47‘

Directed by Anna Grimshaw .

"A Summer Task" examines the rhythm and tempo of work in the forest. The film follows Bill Coperthwaite and his cousin, Steve, as they fell and haul trees to build a bridge and begin

North America Alternative culture Everyday Life Rural Art / Artists / Artisans

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Tara’s footprint 2018 70‘

Intangible Culture Directed by Georgina Barreiro .

Tara’s Footprint skilfully conjures the atmosphere of Khechuperi, a village in the Himalayas in north eastern India. Eschewing standard exposition the film follows four young siblings as they go

South Asia Children / Young people Dance / Theatre / Performance Everyday Life Music / Ethnomusicology Religion / Belief / Faith Rural

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The Trobriand Islanders 1952 58‘

Directed by Harry Powell .

During his field work in the region of Omarakana, H.A.Powell filmed various sequences from which the film is assembled. In spite of the technical handicaps under which he was operating — shooting

Melanesia Everyday Life

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The Way We Live Now 2016 32‘

Student Directed by Sophia Hersi Smith .

‘The Way We Live Now’ is an intimate portrait of the daily routines and rituals of the Hadza; modern-day hunter-gatherers living in the acacia-baobab woodlands surrounding Lake Eyasi in North-Central

East Africa Hunting / Gathering / Fishing Everyday Life

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Western Outposts – Faroese Cinematic Narratives 2014 140‘

Directed by Ulla Boje Rasmussen .

WESTERN OUTPOSTS – Faroese Cinematic Narratives is a DVD box set containing newly digitised versions of Ulla Buje Rasmussen’s 1990s films about Faroese life, a 2015 epilogfilm and a 32 page booklet

Scandinavia Land Rights Infrastructure / Transport Everyday Life

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The Whale Hunters of Lamalera 1988 52‘

Directed by John Blake David Wason .

The Whale Hunters of Lamalera was filmed over a period of four weeks during June 1987. Lamalera is a village which is perched on the rocky slopes of an active volcano on the southern coast of the

South-East Asia Hunting / Gathering / Fishing Animals Everyday Life

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Winter Days 2013 59‘

Directed by Anna Grimshaw .

"Winter Days" evokes the stillness and quietness of the forest in winter. Life is lived close to the stove. It’s a time for small tasks and chores – making a wedge, sewing a pocket, the

North America Alternative culture Rural Everyday Life Art / Artists / Artisans

[wives--Film-image]

Wives 2017 85‘

RAI Basil Wright Directed by Lisbet Holtedahl .

Alhajji Ibrahim is an Islamic scholar who has served as judge at the Sultanate of Ngaoundéré in Northern Cameroon for 46 years. The film follows Alhajji during the last years of his life, focusing

West Africa Family / Kinship Everyday Life Gender Role and Identity Marriage Personal Narrative Religion / Belief / Faith Social Norms

[the-wodaabe--Film-image]

The Wodaabe 1988 52‘

Directed by Leslie Woodhead David Wason .

*Is the Wodaabe world disappearing? How are we to place the painted male faces? The very considerable success of this film is the ways it answers these questions.* J. Picto The Wodaabe follow

Central Africa Herding Animals Everyday Life Ritual