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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
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
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Twitter
Films
20 Films
Keywords
“Material Culture”
x
Series
“0”
x
films with a digital version
11
films hosted on Kanopy
1
short films
7
films available on demand
2
Region
Australia
1
Central America
1
Middle and Near East
2
North America
3
North and Northeast Africa
1
South America
2
South Asia
4
South-East Asia
2
West Africa
2
Western Europe
1
Western Mediterranean
1
Country
Australia
1
China
1
Colombia
1
Ghana
1
India
4
Indonesia
1
Ivory Coast
1
Mexico
1
Spain
1
Sudan
1
Switzerland
1
Syria
1
Togo
1
United States
3
Venezuela
1
Yemen
1
Keywords
Alternative culture
1
Archaeology
1
Archival material / Museum displays
2
Art / Artists / Artisans
10
Collective / Community identity
1
Development projects
2
Environment
1
Film / Photography / Mass media
1
Gender Role and Identity
2
Gender Role and identity
1
History
1
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
1
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
3
Infrastructure / Transport
3
Labour
4
Marriage
1
Material Culture
20
x
Music / Ethnomusicology
2
Religion / Belief / Faith
2
Ritual
1
Rural
2
Social Change
1
Trade
3
Directors
Barbash, Ilisa
1
Deger, Jennifer
1
Engelbrecht, Beate
1
Fruzzetti, Lina
1
Grimshaw, Anna
2
Gupta, Meghna
1
Haensch, Valerie
1
Horat, Thomas
1
Kerlogue, Fiona
1
Langer, Vanessa
1
MacDougall, Judith
2
Marrero-Guillamon, Isaac
1
Saltman, Carlyn
1
Shalygin, Cliff Orloff and Olga
1
Sharma, Aparna
1
Taylor, Lucien
1
Uribe, Simón
1
Visser, Mara Lin
1
Wessels, Joshka
1
Wunungmurra, Paul
1
Östör, Ákos
1
Series
not set
20
x
Country of production
Australia
3
Colombia
1
Germany
2
India
1
Netherlands
2
Switzerland
2
United Kingdom
3
United States
7
Year of production
1993
1
1997
1
1998
1
2001
2
2002
1
2004
1
2005
1
2007
1
2009
1
2012
2
2013
1
2014
1
2016
3
2018
1
2019
2
Film list
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
At Low Tide
2016
63
‘
Directed by
Anna Grimshaw
.
Every day, carrying the simplest of tools, diggers across coastal Maine set out at low tide to dig for clams on the wide mud flats that stretch far into the bay. It is backbreaking work. But it has
North America
Material Culture
Labour
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
The Blooms of Benjeli: Technology and Gender in West African Ironmaking
1997
29
‘
Directed by
Carlyn Saltman
.
The filmmaker and two historians went into the village of Banjeli in 1985 to recreate for the film the traditional iron smelting techniques (which are no longer used) of the area. By focusing on the
West Africa
Art / Artists / Artisans
Archival material / Museum displays
History
Material Culture
A Chair: in six parts
2013
42
‘
Student
Directed by
Anna Grimshaw
.
A poem about a chair. In 1960, Bill Coperthwaite bought 300 acres of wilderness in Machiasport, Maine. Influenced by the poetry of Emily Dickinson and by the back to the land movement of Scott and
North America
Material Culture
Alternative culture
Art / Artists / Artisans
Copperworking in Santa Clara del Cobra, Michoacán, Mexico – Artisans Facing Change
2001
52
‘
Directed by
Beate Engelbrecht
.
Santa Clara del Cobre, a village in Mexico’s province Michoacán, is well-known for its copperwork, a craft originating from pre-Spanish times. In the late 1940s the people of Santa Clara tried to
Central America
Material Culture
Labour
Art / Artists / Artisans
Diya
2001
55
‘
Directed by
Judith MacDougall
.
A diya is a small terra cotta oil lamp used throughout India in Hindu ceremonies. The film follows the life history of an object through the every day experience of people who make, sell and use it
South Asia
Trade
Material Culture
Religion / Belief / Faith
Art / Artists / Artisans
Fatmawati’s Wedding: the Weddings of two Sisters, the Preparations
1998
50
‘
Directed by
Fiona Kerlogue
.
This film records the preparations for the wedding of two sisters in eastern Sumatra in December 1996. There is an emphasis on the importance of the role of women in the village. Ritual exchanges
South-East Asia
Gender Role and Identity
Marriage
Ritual
Material Culture
In and Out of Africa
1993
59
‘
Directed by
Ilisa Barbash
Lucien Taylor
.
A classic in ethnographic filmmaking, In and Out of Africa traces the transnational trade of African Art between West Africa and the USA, providing an insight into how value, commoditization and
North America
Art / Artists / Artisans
Trade
Material Culture
Little Waterfall
2002
52
‘
Directed by
Joshka Wessels
.
Shallalah Saghirah (‘Little Waterfall’) is a small village of about 20 households located in the Khanasser valley, in north Syria. The village has no electricity and still uses an ancient ganat
Middle and Near East
Infrastructure / Transport
Material Culture
Development projects
The Log Rafters of Lake Aegeri
2016
29
‘
Material Culture
Directed by
Thomas Horat
.
Aegeri, in a remote part of Switzerland, is one of the few lakes in Central Europe where professional log rafters can still be found. This film is based on the gentle observation of the work of a
Western Europe
Material Culture
Labour
Rural
Ringtone
2014
30
‘
Directed by
Jennifer Deger
Paul Wunungmurra
.
Yolngu Aboriginal families offer glimpses into their lives and relationships through their choice of ringtones. From ancestral clan songs to 80s hip hop artists and local gospel tunes, these songs
Australia
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Music / Ethnomusicology
Material Culture
Sifinja – The Iron Bride
2009
70
‘
Directed by
Valerie Haensch
.
A film about mobility, human creativity, and technology in a Sudanese truck community. The English Bedford-Lorry was introduced to Sudan in the late 1960s. Since then, local craftsmen technically
North and Northeast Africa
Infrastructure / Transport
Material Culture
Art / Artists / Artisans
Singing Pictures – Women Painters of Naya
2005
45
‘
Directed by
Lina Fruzzetti
Ákos Östör
.
For generations the Patua (Chitrakara) communities of West Bengal have been painters and singers of stories depicted in scrolls. The film follows the daily lives of Muslim Patua women from Naya
South Asia
Material Culture
Art / Artists / Artisans
Music / Ethnomusicology
Suspension
2019
73
‘
Werbner Award
Directed by
Simón Uribe
.
This film documents the building of a modern road through the imposing geography of southern Colombia. It brilliantly captures some of the absurdities and contradictions of a construction project
South America
Development projects
Infrastructure / Transport
Material Culture
Rural
Tindaya Variations
2018
40
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Isaac Marrero-Guillamon
.
The mountain of Tindaya (Fuerteventura, Canary Islands) is more than a mountain. It was a sacred site for the indigenous people of Fuerteventura; later, its rock was quarried and sold for ornamental
Western Mediterranean
Archival material / Museum displays
Art / Artists / Artisans
Environment
Material Culture
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Archaeology
Unity: Dress-scapes of Accra
2016
37
‘
Directed by
Mara Lin Visser
.
This is a film about African fashion in the capital of Ghana. African printed fabrics seem to making a comeback in the fashion system of Accra. While following Allan, a fashion designer and his wife
West Africa
Trade
Material Culture
Art / Artists / Artisans
Unravel
2012
14
‘
Directed by
Meghna Gupta
.
‘Unravel’ follows the Western worlds least wanted clothes, on a journey across Northern India, from sea to industrial interior. They get sent to Panipat, a sleepy town and the only place in the world
South Asia
Labour
Material Culture
Collective / Community identity
The Veil Unveiled
2004
29
‘
Directed by
Vanessa Langer
.
In Yemen, the land of Queen Saba, a wide variety of veils can be found. In the capital Sana’a, the women, although at first sight appearing to all be wearing but black, distinguish themselves one
Middle and Near East
Gender Role and Identity
Material Culture
Religion / Belief / Faith
The Women Weavers of Assam
2019
98
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Aparna Sharma
.
The Women Weavers of Assam focuses on the craft, labour and the everyday lives of a group of women weavers in India’s northeastern state of Assam. The weavers belong to a non-profit collective
South Asia
Art / Artists / Artisans
Gender Role and identity
Material Culture
Yanomami: From Machetes to Mobile Phones
2012
58
‘
Directed by
Cliff Orloff and Olga Shalygin
.
The Yanomami Indians are one of the last large relatively unacculturated indigenous groups remaining in the world. In November 2000 filmmakers Orloff and Shalygin documented the lives of a small
South America
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Material Culture
Social Change