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About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
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Ethnographic Film Catalogue
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About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
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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
24 Films
Keywords
“Health Health care Healing”
x
Series
“0”
x
films with a digital version
20
short films
1
films available on demand
6
Region
Australia
1
British-Irish Isles
2
East Africa
2
North and Northeast Africa
1
South America
2
South Asia
3
South-East Asia
5
South-East Europe
1
Southern Africa
1
West Africa
4
Western Europe
2
Country
Australia
1
Bolivia
1
Bulgaria
1
Chile
1
Germany
1
Ghana
1
India
3
Indonesia
3
Ivory Coast
1
Japan
1
Kenya
2
Morocco
1
Netherlands
1
Nigeria
1
South Africa
1
Togo
1
United Kingdom
2
Vietnam
1
Keywords
Archaeobotany / Ethnobotany
1
Art / Artists / Artisans
2
Children / Young people
5
Collective / Community identity
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
2
Development projects
2
Education / Knowledge Transmission
1
Elderly people
2
Ethnofiction
1
Family / Kinship
1
Film / Photography / Mass media
1
Gender Role and Identity
2
Health / Health care / Healing
23
x
Health / Healthcare / Healing
1
History
1
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
1
Informant-researcher relationship
1
LGBTQI*
1
Life Story / Life History
2
Memory
2
Migration
1
Participatory / Collaborative methods
2
Personal Narrative
1
Political Activists
1
Possession
4
Post-communism
1
Prison
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
4
Ritual
4
Sex / Sexuality
1
Shamans and Shamanism
2
Social Change
1
Social participation
2
Socioeconomic conditions
1
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
1
Directors
Aaltonen, Jouko
1
Akin, Dorcas
1
Atieno, Lavine
1
Awino, Effie
1
Balikci, Anna
1
Basu, Helene
1
Cabezas Pino, Angélica
1
Chabamier, Gabriel
1
Colucci, Erminia
3
Deveson, Philippa
1
Domenig, Aya
1
Dontchev, Antonii
1
Dumont, Dirk
1
Dunlop, Ian
1
Folly, Anne Laure
1
Geißler, Wenzel
1
Journet, Martine
1
Kurutuac, Judith
1
Lancker, Laurent Van
1
Lawrence, Andy
1
Lepcha, Dawa
1
Longinotto, Kim
1
Meyknecht, Steef
1
Ndinya, June
1
Nguyen, M. Trinh
1
Njoki, Ruth
1
Nougarol, Gérard
1
Pakaslahti, Antti
1
Papenbrook, Jana
1
Prince, Raymond
1
Prince, Ruth
1
Robinson, Paul
1
Shuffield, Robin
1
Solomons, Natasha
1
Speed, Frank
1
Tuchtenhagen, Ruth
1
Series
not set
24
x
Country of production
Australia
2
Belgium
2
Bulgaria
1
Chile
1
Finland
2
France
2
Germany
2
India
1
Indonesia
2
Italy
1
Kenya
2
Netherlands
1
Nigeria
1
Switzerland
1
United Kingdom
7
United States
3
Year of production
1963
1
1974
1
1984
1
1989
1
1991
1
1998
2
1999
1
2000
1
2001
1
2002
1
2003
1
2005
1
2007
1
2008
1
2009
1
2011
1
2015
2
2017
1
2018
2
2021
2
Film list
Adhiambo – Born in the Evening
2001
66
‘
Directed by
Ruth Prince
Wenzel Geißler
Ruth Tuchtenhagen
.
‘Adhiambo’ means ‘the one born in the evening’ in the language of the Luo of western Kenya. The film follows NyaSeme, a married mother and grandmother in her late 30s, during the last month
East Africa
Children / Young people
Health / Health care / Healing
Atieno
2018
64
‘
Directed by
June Ndinya
Effie Awino
Ruth Njoki
Lavine Atieno
Dorcas Akin
.
Atieno is a collaborative fiction film scripted, acted and directed by DreamGirls, a group of adolescent girls and young women from Nairobi and Kisumu. The film tells of Atieno, a 16 year old girl
East Africa
Health / Healthcare / Healing
Children / Young people
Gender Role and Identity
Ethnofiction
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Participatory / Collaborative methods
Sex / Sexuality
Born
2008
56
‘
Directed by
Andy Lawrence
Judith Kurutuac
.
*Our hope is to create a magical-real environment in which to go beyond the limits of our historical perspective on childbirth and its culturally bound rites, and to demonstrate an emotionally
British-Irish Isles
Health / Health care / Healing
Family / Kinship
Children / Young people
Breaking the Chains
2015
64
‘
Student
Directed by
Erminia Colucci
.
The practice of using shackles and chains to physically restrain people with mental illness (known as pasung) is widespread in Indonesia (as in many other developing/low middle income countries) and
South-East Asia
Prison
Health / Health care / Healing
Political Activists
Development projects
Conversations with Dundiwuy Wanambi
1984
50
‘
Directed by
Ian Dunlop
Philippa Deveson
.
A series of interviews with Dundiwuy Wanambi, shot over twelve years. They reveal the struggles of one man in the face of the huge changes brought about by the coming of a mining project, and
Australia
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Health / Health care / Healing
Social Change
The Day the Sun Fell
2015
78
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Aya Domenig
.
Swiss-Japanese filmmaker Aya Domenig, the granddaughter of a doctor on duty for the Red Cross during the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, approaches the experience of her deceased grandfather by
South-East Asia
History
Memory
Health / Health care / Healing
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Doctors of Two Worlds
1989
55
‘
Directed by
Natasha Solomons
.
In the Bolivian highlands an English doctor is setting up a network of health care for remote mountain villages. While teaching the inhabitants the essentials of Western medicine the doctor is
South America
Health / Health care / Healing
Informant-researcher relationship
Development projects
Drugs & Prayers
2009
55
‘
Directed by
Helene Basu
.
The Sufi shrine of Mira Datar in North Gujarat is a large pilgrimage centre specialising in healing possession and mental illness. It has become a site of experimenting with new forms of community
South Asia
Health / Health care / Healing
Ritual
Religion / Belief / Faith
The Guardian of the Forces
1991
52
‘
Directed by
Anne Laure Folly
.
‘The Guardian of the Forces’ introduces the viewer to the world of Sikavi, a ‘fetish priest’ in Lome, Togo. He controls the spirits of several voodoos or gods. The film explores the significance
West Africa
Health / Health care / Healing
Possession
Ritual
HARMONI: HEALING TOGETHER
2021
98
‘
Directed by
Erminia Colucci
.
As a nation of 270 million, Indonesia is facing the grave task of caring for millions of people living with mental illness. Many have experienced human rights abuses in their lifetime. In communities
South-East Asia
Health / Health care / Healing
Religion / Belief / Faith
Heal the Whole Man
1974
50
‘
Directed by
Paul Robinson
.
The ‘Barolong boo Ratshidi’ are one of the group of Tswana peoples, who together form a culturally homogeneous population of over two million. The Barolong themselves number about 75’000 and
Southern Africa
Religion / Belief / Faith
Health / Health care / Healing
Hold Me Tight Let Me Go
2007
99
‘
Directed by
Kim Longinotto
.
*The main reason I wanted to shoot is that when the kids misbehave, the teachers don’t punish them but try to find out why they are acting in such a way. The driving idea behind the school is to
British-Irish Isles
Children / Young people
Education / Knowledge Transmission
Health / Health care / Healing
A Hospice in Amsterdam
2005
62
‘
Directed by
Steef Meyknecht
.
At the end of Van Goghstraat in Amsterdam is the Veerhuis. A normal residential house in a normal urban area, where children play outside in front of the door. But people come to the Veerhuis to die.
Western Europe
Health / Health care / Healing
Elderly people
Indo Pino
2002
84
‘
Directed by
Martine Journet
Gérard Nougarol
Gabriel Chabamier
.
The small ethnic group of the Wana Wewaju live in Indonesia in the eastern part of Sulawesi (Celebes Island) among the dense equatorial rain forest of the Tokkala Mountains. The film documents the
South-East Asia
Shamans and Shamanism
Health / Health care / Healing
Kusum
2000
69
‘
Directed by
Jouko Aaltonen
Antti Pakaslahti
.
Kusum is a 14-year-old Indian girl. She lives and attends school in Delhi. Kaushal, her father, drives a motorised rickshaw and works his fingers to the bone to support his family. Sumitra, Kusum’s
South Asia
Children / Young people
Health / Health care / Healing
Possession
Living with the Invisibles
2003
52
‘
Directed by
Dirk Dumont
.
When they emigrated to Europe in the 60’s and 70’s, Moroccans brought with them their culture and their “diseases” ( caused by the the jinn that inhabit some of them). In Europe, most North
North and Northeast Africa
Health / Health care / Healing
Possession
Migration
A Month in the Life of Ephtim D.
1999
56
‘
Directed by
Antonii Dontchev
.
Ephtim D., 73 years old, is a retired postman. He lives in Sofia with his wife Ghinka in a three room suburban apartment. As a socialist he feels confused by the ‘crazy’ democracy and the
South-East Europe
Health / Health care / Healing
Post-communism
Socioeconomic conditions
Nkabom: A little medicine A little prayer
2021
79
‘
Werbner Award
Directed by
Erminia Colucci
.
A mother is caring for her son at a healing shrine on the edge of a village in the central belt of Ghana. In another village, a father has taken his son to several Christian and traditional healers
West Africa
Health / Health care / Healing
Religion / Belief / Faith
Ritual Journeys
2011
75
‘
Directed by
Dawa Lepcha
Anna Balikci
.
The film is an intimate portrait of Merayk, an 80 years old Lepcha shaman or Padim. Merayk lives with his family in Dzongu, a Lepcha reserve in North Sikkim. He performs healing rituals for
South Asia
Ritual
Shamans and Shamanism
Health / Health care / Healing
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
Tigers Apprentice
1998
57
‘
Directed by
M. Trinh Nguyen
.
Tiger’s Apprentice is the story of M. Trinh Nguyen’s journey to her native Vietnam. She observes and documents her great-uncle’s folk medicine practices treating many patients and making his
South-East Asia
Health / Health care / Healing
Archaeobotany / Ethnobotany
Were Ni! He is a Madman
1963
30
‘
Directed by
Frank Speed
Raymond Prince
.
This ethnopsychiatric film shows the management of psychiatric disorders by the Yoruba of Nigeria. There are two basic types of institutions to deal with psychiatric disorders. First there are
West Africa
Health / Health care / Healing
Ritual
Possession
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
Ymako
1998
52
‘
Directed by
Laurent Van Lancker
Robin Shuffield
.
Ymako Teatri, a theatre company based in the Ivory Coast, uses street theatre to question some contemporary West African problems. Their originality consists in using the ‘invisible theatre’
West Africa
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Health / Health care / Healing
Social participation