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
27 Films
Keywords
“Film Photography Mass media”
x
films with a digital version
13
short films
9
films available on demand
6
Region
Australia
2
British-Irish Isles
2
Caribbean Islands
1
Central America
1
Central Asia and Far East
1
Middle and Near East
1
New Zealand and Polynesia
1
North America
2
North and Northeast Africa
1
South America
6
South Asia
4
South-East Asia
2
Various
1
West Africa
2
Western Mediterranean
1
Country
Anguilla
1
Australia
2
Brazil
2
Canada
1
Chile
1
China
1
Colombia
2
Ghana
1
India
4
Ireland
1
Italy
1
Myanmar
1
Peru
1
Russia
1
Samoa
1
Sierra Leone
1
Sudan
1
Turkey
1
United Kingdom
1
United States
1
Various
1
Venezuela
1
Keywords
Animals
1
Animation
2
Archival material / Museum displays
3
Art / Artists / Artisans
4
Children / Young people
2
Collective / Community identity
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
2
Death
1
Education / Knowledge Transmission
1
Education / Knowledge transmission
1
Elderly people
1
Ethnofiction
2
Everyday Life
1
Family / Kinship
2
Film / Photography / Mass media
27
x
Gender Role and Identity
2
Health / Health care / Healing
1
History of Anthropology
5
Indigenous Filmmaking
1
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
5
LGBTQI*
2
Labour
1
Land Rights
1
Life Story / Life History
2
Marriage
2
Material Culture
1
Memory
5
Migration
3
Myths / Fairy tales
1
Participatory / Collaborative methods
2
Political Activists
1
Popular Culture
2
Public Figure
1
Race / Racism / Antiracism
1
Reflexivity
3
Research methods
1
Resistance
1
Ritual
3
Sex / Sexuality
1
Social Change
1
Social Conflict
1
Social Organisation
1
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
2
Urban
1
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
1
Directors
Beckham, Michael
1
Cabezas Pino, Angélica
1
Curtis, Edward S.
1
D’onofrio, Alexandra
1
Demiralay, Hakan
1
Dietrich, Martha-Cecilia
1
Eaton, Michael
1
Eschenbach, Sebastian
1
Fossgard-Moser, Titus
1
Grossenbacher, Ulrich
1
Gómez Ruíz, Sebastián
1
Hanson, Kieran
1
Hardie, Amy
1
Hopkins, Ben
1
Howes, Arthur
1
Htway, Aung Nwai
1
Husmann, Rolf
1
Kashyap, Kumar
1
Kaymak, Vedide
1
Kumar, Shikha
1
Leizaola, Ricardo
1
Lloyd, Ravi Hart
1
Luethi, Damaris
1
MacDougall, David
3
MacDougall, Judith
2
Milner, George
1
Niglas, Liivo
1
Plessis, Nancy du
1
Shivhare, Ravi
1
Singh, Anshu
1
Sjøberg, Johannes
1
Tender, Priit
1
Villafaña Chaparro, Amado
1
Wendl, Tobias
1
Series
Disappearing World Series
1
Granada Center for Visual Anthropology Student Film
3
Sudan Trilogy
1
Yangon Film School
1
not set
21
Country of production
Australia
4
Canada
1
Chile
1
Colombia
1
Estonia
1
Germany
2
Italy
1
Myanmar
1
Norway
1
Peru
1
Sweden
1
Switzerland
1
United Kingdom
14
United States
1
Venezuela
1
Year of production
1972
1
1977
1
1979
1
1989
2
1991
1
1994
1
1997
1
1998
1
1999
1
2006
2
2007
3
2009
1
2010
1
2011
1
2012
1
2013
1
2015
1
2016
2
2017
1
2018
2
2019
1
Film list
37 Uses for a Dead Sheep
2006
85
‘
Directed by
Ben Hopkins
.
The Pamir Kirghiz are a tribe of some 2,000 people from the Pamir region of Central Asia. For the last 27 years they have lived in exile in Eastern Turkey. In 2005 an Anglo-Turkish film crew arrives
Middle and Near East
Film / Photography / Mass media
Animals
Migration
The Art of Regret
2007
60
‘
Directed by
Judith MacDougall
.
Photography is known in China as the “Art of Regret”. In the rapidly changing city of Kunming, people are ambivalent about whether they want photography to be a medium of preservation and
South-East Asia
Material Culture
Film / Photography / Mass media
Behind the Screen
2012
35
‘
Directed by
Aung Nwai Htway
.
A son dissects his parents’ marriage – they were film icons in 1960s Myanmar. It turns out the heartrending scenes they acted out on the silver screen are a pretty accurate reflection of their
South-East Asia
Film / Photography / Mass media
Family / Kinship
Memory
Cinema Pedregal
1994
27
‘
Directed by
Ricardo Leizaola
.
For forty years Alejandro Farfán has been making and showing films in El Pedregal. Now located in the heart of Caracas, this community was a small village when Alejandro first went to the cinema.
Central America
Popular Culture
Urban
Film / Photography / Mass media
Memory
Delhi at Eleven
2013
82
‘
Directed by
Ravi Shivhare
Anshu Singh
Kumar Kashyap
Shikha Kumar
.
This film presents the work of four young filmmakers of New Delhi. From March to May 2012 they took part in a video workshop at the CIE Experimental Basic School, a government primary school. Each of
South Asia
Film / Photography / Mass media
Children / Young people
Education / Knowledge Transmission
Fragments from the Past
2006
27
‘
Directed by
Vedide Kaymak
Hakan Demiralay
.
In the days before DVD and satellite television, the cinema was important to London’s Turkish speaking population as a place to meet and as a link with home. Eight individuals recount their
British-Irish Isles
Popular Culture
Migration
Film / Photography / Mass media
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
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
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
Ignacio’s Legacy
2016
52
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Titus Fossgard-Moser
.
Between 1960 and 1992, the acclaimed documentary filmmaker Brian Moser made four films concerning indigenous peoples of northwest Amazonia: "Piraparana" (1960), "War of the Gods"
South America
Film / Photography / Mass media
Social Change
Reflexivity
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
In the Land of the War Canoes
1972
47
‘
Directed by
Edward S. Curtis
.
The film was made in 1914 by Edward Curtis. The plot concerns the efforts of a young man, Motana, son of a great chief, to obtain a bride and how he is thwarted by a wicked sorcerer. Many of the
North America
Archival material / Museum displays
Marriage
Film / Photography / Mass media
Journey of the Maggot Feeder
2015
68
‘
Directed by
Liivo Niglas
Priit Tender
.
This film tries to solve the mystery of a bizarre Arctic fairy tale. Priit Tender, an Estonian animator, makes a film about an old Chukchi legend – The Maggot Feeder. The unconventional narrative
Central Asia and Far East
Animation
Film / Photography / Mass media
Myths / Fairy tales
Kafi’s Story
1979
53
‘
Directed by
Arthur Howes
Amy Hardie
.
Shot in 1989, Kafi’s Story captures Nuba life at the moment before it was engulfed in the Sudanese civil war. Kafi narrates his own story into a portable tape record as he travels from his village,
North and Northeast Africa
Film / Photography / Mass media
Marriage
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
The Kayapo: Out of the Forest
1989
52
‘
Directed by
Michael Beckham
.
Early in 1989 the Kayapo rallied other Brazilian Indians to attend a reunification of the tribes at Altamira«the proposed site of a massive hydro-electric dam, that will flood large parts of the
South America
Land Rights
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Resistance
Film / Photography / Mass media
Political Activists
Social Conflict
Looking for the Man Of Aran
1999
25
‘
Directed by
Sebastian Eschenbach
.
It is 60 years since Robert Flaherty made Man of Aran. How do the people of the Aran Islands remember the experience and what do they feel about the image the films gives of their land?
British-Irish Isles
Film / Photography / Mass media
History of Anthropology
Masks of Mer
2010
37
‘
Directed by
Michael Eaton
.
The film Alfred Haddon made in 1898 in the Torres Straits, lasting for less than a minute, is the world’s first example of anthropological cinema. ‘The Masks of Mer’ tells the extraordinary story of
Australia
History of Anthropology
Film / Photography / Mass media
Archival material / Museum displays
Ritual
Matai Samoa
1989
65
‘
Directed by
George Milner
.
The film is a valuable treatment of archival footage that George Milner shot while conducting fieldwork in 1955 and 1959. The footage (18 minutes of the total film) focuses on the traditional Samoan
New Zealand and Polynesia
History of Anthropology
Film / Photography / Mass media
Social Organisation
Archival material / Museum displays
Ritual
Photo Wallahs
1991
60
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
Judith MacDougall
.
This film is an exploration of the cultural and personal meanings of photographs in a hill station in northern India. The ‘photo wallahs’ are the local photographers of Mussoorie, a town which
South Asia
Film / Photography / Mass media
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
The Professional Foreigner
2009
60
‘
Directed by
Rolf Husmann
.
Asen Balikci has been a leading figure in making ethnographic films for many decades. In a series of talks between Balikci and filmmaker Rolf Husmann in different locations, the life and work of Asen
Various
Film / Photography / Mass media
History of Anthropology
Public Figure
SchoolScapes
2007
77
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
Inspired by the cinema of Lumière and the ideas of the 20th century Indian thinker Jiddu Krishnamurti, David MacDougall follows up the Doon School Quintet, his series of films about a traditional
South Asia
Children / Young people
Education / Knowledge transmission
Film / Photography / Mass media
Shooting Freetown
2011
29
‘
Directed by
Kieran Hanson
.
A decade since Sierra Leone’s devastating civil war, from the ashes rises a new dawn of creativity in audio-visual media. Inspired by Jean Rouch’s ‘shared anthropology’ and ‘ethno-fiction’,
West Africa
Film / Photography / Mass media
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Reflexivity
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
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
Transfiction
2007
58
‘
Directed by
Johannes Sjøberg
.
Transfiction explores ‘ethnofiction’ – an experimental ethnographic documentary film style in which the participants collaborate with the filmmaker to act out their own and others’ life experiences
South America
Reflexivity
Film / Photography / Mass media
Gender Role and Identity
Sex / Sexuality
LGBTQI*
Ethnofiction
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
Wási
2017
16
‘
Shorts
Directed by
Sebastián Gómez Ruíz
Amado Villafaña Chaparro
.
As the sun rises on a village in northern Colombia, we glimpse its inhabitants as they begin their day. As the scene emerges from obscurity, a voiceover reflects on the nature of sight. It is the
South America
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Indigenous Filmmaking
History of Anthropology
Film / Photography / Mass media