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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
Login
Facebook
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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
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Films
20 Films
Keywords
“History of Anthropology”
x
films with a digital version
13
films hosted on Kanopy
1
short films
3
films available on demand
2
Region
Australia
1
British-Irish Isles
2
Melanesia
1
New Zealand and Polynesia
1
South America
2
Various
10
West Africa
1
Western Europe
2
Country
Argentina
1
Australia
1
Belgium
2
Colombia
1
Ireland
1
Mali
1
Papua New Guinea
1
Samoa
1
United Kingdom
1
Various
10
Keywords
Archaeology
1
Archival material / Museum displays
4
Archival materials / Museum displays
1
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
2
Education / Knowledge Transmission
1
Education / Knowledge transmission
1
Everyday Life
1
Film / Photography / Mass media
5
History of Anthropology
20
x
Indigenous Filmmaking
1
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
1
Informant-researcher relationship
1
Public Figure
7
Race / Racism / Antiracism
2
Religion / Belief / Faith
1
Ritual
6
Social Organisation
1
Directors
De Groof, Matthias
2
Eaton, Michael
1
Eschenbach, Sebastian
1
Gómez Ruíz, Sebastián
1
Heusch, Luc de
1
Husmann, Rolf
2
Loizos, Peter
1
Milner, George
1
Owen, Chris
1
Rosell, Ulises
1
Sheahan, Tom
1
Singer, André
9
Sperscheinder, Werner
1
Villafaña Chaparro, Amado
1
Series
Forbidden Rites
3
Granada Center for Visual Anthropology Student Film
1
Strangers Abroad
6
not set
10
Country of production
Argentina
1
Belgium
3
Colombia
1
Germany
2
United Kingdom
13
not set
1
Year of production
1981
1
1983
1
1986
6
1989
1
1993
1
1999
4
2009
1
2010
1
2012
1
2017
1
2019
2
Film list
Cannibalism
1999
60
‘
Directed by
André Singer
Tom Sheahan
.
The history of cannibalism around the world and its role in different culture, from ancient Britain to Papua New Guinea. The Forbidden Rites trilogy explores cannibalism, head hunting and human
Various
Ritual
Archival material / Museum displays
History of Anthropology
Coming of Age – Margaret Mead (1901-1978)
1986
52
‘
Directed by
André Singer
.
Central Television’s major documentary series looks at the first anthropologists to stop ‘armchair theorising’ and go out to live among the peoples who so interested them. The six part series
Various
History of Anthropology
Public Figure
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
Everything is Relatives – William Rivers (1864-1922)
1986
52
‘
Directed by
André Singer
.
Central Television’s major documentary series looks at the first anthropologists to stop ‘armchair theorising’ and go out to live among the peoples who so interested them. The six part series
Various
History of Anthropology
Public Figure
Fieldwork – Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer (1860-1929)
1986
52
‘
Directed by
André Singer
.
Central Television’s major documentary series looks at the first anthropologists to stop ‘armchair theorising’ and go out to live among the peoples who so interested them. The six part series
Various
History of Anthropology
Firth on Firth
1993
49
‘
Directed by
Rolf Husmann
Peter Loizos
Werner Sperscheinder
.
In a series of interviews in his London home and the London School of Economics, Sir Raymond Firth talks about his life and some of his personal views. The film focuses thus on his Maori studies,
British-Irish Isles
History of Anthropology
Public Figure
Head Hunting
1999
60
‘
Directed by
André Singer
.
The history of human decapitation, featuring the story of two British engineers beheaded by rebels in modern Russia and the psychological and religious implications of contemporary headhunting in
Various
Ritual
History of Anthropology
Human Sacrifice
1999
60
‘
Directed by
André Singer
.
The documentary gives insight into the ancient rituals and religious practices involved in human sacrifice. The Forbidden Rites trilogy explores cannibalism, head hunting and human sacrifice. This
Various
Ritual
History of Anthropology
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
Off the Verandah – Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942)
1986
52
‘
Directed by
André Singer
.
Central Television’s major documentary series looks at the first anthropologists to stop ‘armchair theorising’ and go out to live among the peoples who so interested them. The six part series
Various
History of Anthropology
Public Figure
Palimpsest of the Africa Museum
2019
69
‘
Directed by
Matthias De Groof
.
In 2013, the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Brussels (Belgium) closed for renovation. It is not only the building and the museum cabinets that are in need of renewal: the spirit of the museum has
Western Europe
Archival material / Museum displays
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
Race / Racism / Antiracism
Education / Knowledge Transmission
History of Anthropology
Palimpsest of the Africa Museum
2019
69
‘
Decolonising the Archive
Directed by
Matthias De Groof
.
In 2013, the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Brussels (Belgium) closed for renovation. It is not only the building and the museum cabinets that are in need of renewal: the spirit of the museum has
Western Europe
Archival materials / Museum displays
Archaeology
Education / Knowledge transmission
History of Anthropology
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
Race / Racism / Antiracism
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
The Red Bowmen
1981
50
‘
Directed by
Chris Owen
.
In a remote part of the West Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea, the Umeda people eke out a difficult living from the sago swamps and primary rain forest that surround them. Until recently, these
Melanesia
Ritual
Religion / Belief / Faith
History of Anthropology
The Shackles of Tradition – Franz Boas (1858-1942)
1986
52
‘
Directed by
André Singer
.
Central Television’s major documentary series looks at the first anthropologists to stop ‘armchair theorising’ and go out to live among the peoples who so interested them. The six part series
Various
History of Anthropology
Public Figure
Strange Beliefs – Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard (1902-1973)
1986
52
‘
Directed by
André Singer
.
Central Television’s major documentary series looks at the first anthropologists to stop ‘armchair theorising’ and go out to live among the peoples who so interested them. The six part series
Various
History of Anthropology
Public Figure
Tracking the Pale Fox: Studies on the Dogon
1983
48
‘
Directed by
Luc de Heusch
.
This film tells with verve and a touch of self-irony the history of research on the Dogon since the famous 1931 expedition of Marcel Griaule. The film establishes the original expedition in the
West Africa
History of Anthropology
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