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About
About RAI Film
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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
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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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Films
33 Films
Keywords
“Migration”
x
films with a digital version
18
films hosted on Kanopy
2
short films
14
films available on demand
8
Region
British-Irish Isles
3
Central America
1
Central Asia and Far East
3
Middle and Near East
4
North America
1
North and Northeast Africa
3
Scandinavia
1
South America
4
South Asia
2
South-East Asia
1
South-East Europe
1
West Africa
3
Western Europe
7
Western Mediterranean
8
Country
Afghanistan
1
Belgium
1
Bolivia
1
Brazil
1
Cameroon
1
Colombia
1
Denmark
1
Ethiopia
1
France
3
Germany
1
Ghana
2
Greece
2
Ireland
1
Israel
1
Italy
5
Japan
2
Mexico
1
Morocco
2
Nepal
1
Norway
1
Pakistan
1
Peru
1
Philippines
1
Portugal
3
Singapore
1
Syria
1
Turkey
1
United Kingdom
2
United States
1
Keywords
Animals
1
Animation
1
Art / Artists / Artisans
1
Children / Young people
1
Collective / Community identity
3
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
1
Education / Knowledge Transmission
1
Elderly people
1
Ethnofiction
2
Family / Kinship
3
Film / Photography / Mass media
3
Gender Role and Identity
1
Health / Health care / Healing
1
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
1
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
1
Informant-researcher relationship
1
Intergenerational relations
3
Labour
7
Life Story / Life History
3
Linguistics / Language
1
Love
1
Memory
4
Migration
33
x
Music / Ethnomusicology
4
Participatory / Collaborative methods
3
Personal Narrative
1
Political Activists
1
Popular Culture
2
Possession
1
Race / Racism / Antiracism
2
Reflexivity
4
Refugees / Displaced populations
4
Refugees/ Displaced populations
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
2
Research methods
1
Resettlement
1
Sex / Sexuality
2
Social Conflict
2
Socioeconomic conditions
3
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
2
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
1
Trade
1
Urban
1
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
3
Directors
Alves-Costa, Catarina
1
Asare-Nyako, Afua
1
Baily, John
1
Bloching, Max
1
Brass, Anna
1
Christodoulou, Chris
1
Coppens, Sharis
1
D’onofrio, Alexandra
1
Demiralay, Hakan
1
Diaz, Juan Diego
1
Dukmak, Abd Alrahman
1
Dumont, Dirk
1
Grossman, Alan
1
Hopkins, Ben
1
Kaymak, Vedide
1
Kharel, Dipesh
1
Mai, Nick
2
Mekonen, Solomon
1
Merrun, Gabriel
1
Moore, Allen
1
O’Brien, Áine
1
Pereira, Nilton
1
Saito, Asami
1
Schillaci, Rosella
1
Schillaci, Rossella
2
Schlenker, Juana
1
Singer, André
1
Sturtevant, Chuck
1
Sørensen, Tanja Wol
1
Tari, János
1
Teo, Qi Yu
1
Torresan, Angela
1
Waage, Trond
1
Werner, Louis
1
Xu, Beina
1
van Lanker, Laurent
1
Øien, Cecilie
1
Series
Decolonising Shorts
1
Disappearing World Series
1
Granada Center for Visual Anthropology Student Film
7
Shorts Collection 2
1
Shorts collection 2
1
not set
22
Country of production
Belgium
2
Bolivia
1
Brazil
1
Cameroon
1
Colombia
1
France
2
Germany
4
Hungary
1
Ireland
1
Italy
4
Japan
1
Nepal
1
Norway
1
Singapore
1
United Kingdom
13
United States
1
Year of production
1980
1
1992
1
1996
1
1999
1
2002
1
2003
2
2004
1
2006
3
2007
1
2008
1
2009
1
2010
3
2011
1
2012
2
2013
1
2016
4
2017
2
2018
2
2019
1
2020
3
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
Afghan Exodus
1980
52
‘
Directed by
André Singer
.
When Granada Television visited Afghanistan to make the award-winning Disappearing World ‘The Kirghiz’, they were a proud, independent, nomadic people who made their living by rearing herds of yaks
South Asia
Refugees / Displaced populations
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Migration
Changes
2010
30
‘
Directed by
Afua Asare-Nyako
.
Kwabena wants to move back to Ghana, the country he left more than 30 years ago. This film shows one of the many journeys that he has to take in preparation for his return. It explores the motives
West Africa
Western Europe
Migration
A Colombian Family
2020
80
‘
Main Competition
Directed by
Tanja Wol Sørensen
.
A powerful mother-daughter drama is at the centre of this film. Rooted in disagreement—both personal and political—the film follows the consequences of a war that leaves them with an impossible
South America
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Family / Kinship
Gender Role and Identity
Intergenerational relations
Memory
Migration
Personal Narrative
Political Activists
Refugees / Displaced populations
Social Conflict
Distant Temple
2002
90
‘
Directed by
János Tari
.
The last orthodox synagogue in Makó was renewed and inaugurated in 2002. The little temple, as they call it, is more than hundred years old and represents the link between the Jews who emigrated
Middle and Near East
Migration
Religion / Belief / Faith
Emails to My Little Sister
2018
35
‘
Directed by
Solomon Mekonen
.
An autoethnographic phenomenology of blackness in Berlin via Ethiopia. The film explores the historical and ongoing relationship between the so-called West and Africa. A brother who lives north of
Western Europe
North and Northeast Africa
Migration
Race / Racism / Antiracism
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
Reflexivity
Forget Alberto For Now
2020
19
‘
Directed by
Beina Xu
.
A refugee known only as Alberto flies from Athens to Brussels on a fake passport. Three years later, a small crew from Berlin tries to make a film by shooting the landscape of his transit. Things
Western Europe
Western Mediterranean
Reflexivity
Migration
Resettlement
Refugees/ Displaced populations
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
From There to Here
2019
30
‘
Directed by
Qi Yu Teo
.
In 1949, the author’s young grandfather migrated from An Xi, China, to Singapore. Spending almost 70 years in Singapore, he has only been back home four times. As an immigrant from China,
Central Asia and Far East
Migration
Intergenerational relations
Life Story / Life History
The Gaijin
2008
24
‘
Directed by
Chris Christodoulou
.
‘The Gaijin’ tells the story of an individual negotiating his identity in a foreign country. It follows Luke Jonathan Driscoll, an American who has been residing in Japan for nearly 3 years and
Central Asia and Far East
Migration
Ghetto PSA
2016
15
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Rossella Schillaci
.
Jacob arrived in Italy alone from French Guinea when he was 11 years old. Today he is 27, and hip hop music is his whole world: it is his way to express dreams, hopes and frustrations, and to not
Western Europe
Music / Ethnomusicology
Migration
Education / Knowledge Transmission
Going Back Home
1992
35
‘
Directed by
Catarina Alves-Costa
.
For those who live in the city, each and every summer is about going back to Arga, the village in Northern Portugal, which they left to find work. For the few who have stayed, their return brings
Western Mediterranean
Migration
Memory
Growing Pains
2006
41
‘
Directed by
Cecilie Øien
.
Júlia is a young Angolan woman who lives in a poor neighborhood of Lisbon, together with her daughter Magui. The story of how she arrived in Portugal and what happen to her afterwards is dramatic,
Western Mediterranean
Family / Kinship
Intergenerational relations
Migration
Habilito – Debt for Life
2010
52
‘
Directed by
Chuck Sturtevant
.
This documentary explores many of the conflicts and tensions that arise at the point of contact between highland migrants and lowland indigenous peoples, focusing particularly on the system of debt
South America
Socioeconomic conditions
Migration
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Labour
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
Kalès
2017
63
‘
RAI Basil Wright
Directed by
Laurent van Lanker
.
A film of wind and despair, of fire and solidarity, of hope and hell. An intimate and inside perspective of the ‘jungle’ of Calais, evoked through a polyphony of bodies, tales, and
Western Europe
Migration
Refugees / Displaced populations
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
Participatory / Collaborative methods
Leaving Greece
2013
79
‘
Directed by
Anna Brass
.
When entering the EU for the first time, a refugee must submit an application for asylum. So much is clear. Less well known, however is the fact that for 90% of all refugees, the Aegean is the
Western Mediterranean
Children / Young people
Migration
Love
Living with Boko Haram
2016
37
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Trond Waage
.
January 2015. Boko Haram’s violent insurgency is approaching Mogdé, on the Nigerian/Cameroonian border, where Antoniette lives. Just outside Oslo, Norway, lives her son Vakote, worried and afraid
West Africa
Scandinavia
Religion / Belief / Faith
Social Conflict
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Migration
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
Only Thinking
2009
27
‘
Directed by
Gabriel Merrun
.
On the North African coast in Ceuta, illegal migrants wait and hope to eventually continue onto the Spanish peninsula where they can attain asylum. Whilst waiting there, they are caught bewteen the borders.
North and Northeast Africa
Migration
Other Europe
2011
75
‘
Directed by
Rossella Schillaci
.
What happens to African migrants once granted political refugee status? In Turin, a northern Italian city, an abandoned clinic has been squatted by more than 200 refugees since December 2008. Khaled,
Western Mediterranean
Migration
Urban
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
Pepe
2004
23
‘
Directed by
Juana Schlenker
.
Pepe is a Spanish immigrant who came to England more than forty years ago to work as a waiter. After working in several restaurants and hotels, he retired two years ago and now he fills his days with
British-Irish Isles
Migration
Elderly people
Playing with Nan
2012
88
‘
Directed by
Dipesh Kharel
Asami Saito
.
Playing with Nan is the story of a Nepali young man who migrated to work in a Nepali restaurant in northern Japan. The film explores his daily life at work and his family at home, which reflects
South Asia
Central Asia and Far East
Labour
Migration
Socioeconomic conditions
Promise and Unrest
2010
79
‘
Directed by
Alan Grossman
Áine O’Brien
.
Separated from her daughter Gracelle at 7 months, Noemi Barredo left the Philippines for work in Malaysia before arriving in Ireland in 2000. Filmed over a five-year period, ‘Promise and Unrest’ is
South-East Asia
British-Irish Isles
Family / Kinship
Labour
Migration
Linguistics / Language
Round Trip
1999
36
‘
Directed by
Angela Torresan
.
Portrait of a Brazilian woman and her friends, now living in Lisbon, exploring the basis of their sense of identity in the context of a transnational way of life.
Western Mediterranean
Collective / Community identity
Migration
Scenes of Afghan Music: London, Kabul, Hamburg, Dublin
2007
97
‘
Directed by
John Baily
.
Scenes of Afghan Music is Part IV of ‘A Quartet of Afghan Music Films’, made in the author’s personal “fieldwork movie” style. It reveals the diversity of music and dance practices in the
Middle and Near East
Music / Ethnomusicology
Migration
Collective / Community identity
Sea Boundary
2012
55
‘
Directed by
Rosella Schillaci
.
The film depicts the daily struggle of fishermen to earn a living in a harsh physical environment that brings out the social and economic tensions of modern society. Manning the Priamo are Cola, the
Western Mediterranean
Labour
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
Socioeconomic conditions
Migration
A Sheepherder’s Homecoming
1996
40
‘
Directed by
Allen Moore
Louis Werner
.
This film documents a migrant worker’s experiences as a herder on a Nevada sheep ranch who then returns to his family in Mexico after a long absence to renew ties and find a job at home. It
North America
Central America
Migration
Labour
Tabom in Bahia
2017
52
‘
Directed by
Juan Diego Diaz
Nilton Pereira
.
There is a small community in Ghana who identify as Brazilians. Their name is the Tabom. They are the descendants of former enslaved Africans and creoles who resettled from Bahia to Ghana during the
South America
West Africa
Music / Ethnomusicology
Collective / Community identity
Memory
Migration
Popular Culture
Race / Racism / Antiracism
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
Travel
2016
63
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Nick Mai
.
(This version of the film is edited using a single screen. For the split screen version see ‘Travel – double screen version’). Joy left Nigeria to help her family after her father’s death. She
Western Europe
Sex / Sexuality
Labour
Migration
Ethnofiction
Informant-researcher relationship
Reflexivity
Travel (double screen)
2016
63
‘
Directed by
Nick Mai
.
(This version of the film uses a split-screen device throughout. For the single screen version see ‘Travel’). Joy left Nigeria to help her family after her father’s death. She knew that she was
Western Europe
Sex / Sexuality
Labour
Migration
Ethnofiction
Reflexivity
Unwritten Letters
2020
59
‘
Directed by
Max Bloching
Abd Alrahman Dukmak
.
Abd is a 24-year-old Syrian who took part in the early days of the 2011 revolution and now lives in Padova, Italy. Together with his German friend Max he is working on a film called Unwritten
South-East Europe
Middle and Near East
Migration
Refugees / Displaced populations
Participatory / Collaborative methods
Life Story / Life History
Vivir la Chicha
2003
28
‘
Directed by
Sharis Coppens
.
Chicha music evokes the experiences of the many Peruvians who migrate from the high Andes down to the cities. This film tells the story of Aurora Ramos, a cobbler and market saleswoman, and the role
South America
Music / Ethnomusicology
Trade
Migration