Films - RAI FILM

RAI FILM

Film list

[across-the-border-afghan-musicians-exiled-in-peshawar--Film-image]

Across the Border: Afghan Musicians exiled in Peshawar 2008 54‘

Directed by John Baily .

It is the year 2000 and most of Afghanistan is under the control of the Taliban. Hearing that many of Afghanistain’s musicians are now in exile across the border in Pakistan, ethnomusicologist John

South Asia Refugees / Displaced populations Music / Ethnomusicology Religion / Belief / Faith

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Amir – An Afghan Refugee Musician’s Life in Peshavar, Pakistan 1985 52‘

Directed by John Baily .

The film investigates and portrays the life of Afghan refugees living in and around the city of Peshawar in northern Pakistan through the experiences of the musician Amir. The aspirations of Afghan

South Asia Music / Ethnomusicology Refugees / Displaced populations

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Ballad on the Shore 2017 98‘

Intangible Culture Directed by Chi-hang Ma .

On the small isle of Tap Mun, Hong Kong, veteran fishermen sing ballads with pitches and tones that alternate and repeat themselves as if they were synchronising with the ocean waves. But as fewer

Hong Kong Hunting / Gathering / Fishing Music / Ethnomusicology

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Body Games – Capoeira and Ancestry 2014 87‘

Student Directed by Richard Pakleppa Matthias Röhrig Assunção Christine Dettmann .

The film follows master Cobra Mansa and his friends in the search for the African roots of the Brazilian martial art Capoeira. A powerful myth links Capoeira to a legendary Angolan game called Engolo

South America Southern Africa Dance / Theatre / Performance Music / Ethnomusicology Festivals / Carnival

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Cine Rabeca 2022 55‘

Directed by Marcia Mansu .

Time dimensions emerge from the relation between the visible and the imagined, between memory and the experience of the present. A unique place emerges through the entanglement of music and archive

Latin America Music / Ethnomusicology Art / Artists / Artisans Dance / Theatre / Performance

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Dor, Low is Better 1988 47‘

Directed by Robert Boonzajer-Flaes .

The film offers an experimental approach to the comparative study of cultures: the monks of a Tibetan monastery compare their own flutes with the Swiss alphorn and the Dutch windhorn introduced to

South Asia Music / Ethnomusicology Ritual

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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

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The Good Wife of Tokyo 1992 52‘

Directed by Kim Longinotto Clare Hunt .

Kazuko Hohki goes back to Tokyo with her band, the ‘Frank Chickens’, after living in England for 15 years. This wry and delightful film records her re-experiencing of Japan after a long absence,

Central Asia and Far East Music / Ethnomusicology Gender Role and Identity Marriage Social Change

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Herat Films: The Annual Cycle of Music in Herat 1983 54‘

Directed by John Baily .

These videos were edited from seven hours of Super 8 film shot by John Baily during two years of ethnomusicological fieldwork carried out in the Herat region of western Afghanistan between 1973 and

Middle and Near East Dance / Theatre / Performance Music / Ethnomusicology

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A Kabul Music Diary 2003 52‘

Directed by John Baily .

Ethnomusicologist John Baily returns to Kabul to see what is happening in the world of music one year after the defeat of the Taliban. The film documents a variety of musical activities, including

Middle and Near East Music / Ethnomusicology War / Conflict / Reconciliation

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Komian 2015 72‘

Directed by Jordi Esteva .

Four years after the filming of “Return to the Land of Souls”, about the rituals of trance and possession, the narrator travels to Ivory Coast in search of a priestess possessed by the Spirit of

West Africa Possession Ritual Music / Ethnomusicology

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Lessons from Gulam 1986 52‘

Directed by John Baily .

A detailed study of musical enculturation within the Asian community of Bradford in northern England. Gulam Musa is the principal character and he is shown as a teacher and as a musician. The film

British-Irish Isles Music / Ethnomusicology Education / Knowledge Transmission

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Messages by Music – Senegal in Transition 2013 76‘

Directed by Cornelia Strasse .

The traditional musicians in Senegal were in charge of retaining the history of their ethnic group, along with ways of thinking and behaving. Their aim was to conserve the society. Nowadays the

East Africa Music / Ethnomusicology Colonialism / Postcolonialism Social Change Political Activists Resistance

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Nawi 1970 20‘

Directed by David MacDougall Judith MacDougall .

This classic ethnographic documentary, by the renowned filmmaking team of David and Judith MacDougall, explores the nomadic life of the Jie of Uganda. During the dry season the Jie leave their

East Africa Herding Music / Ethnomusicology Nomads and Nomadism

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Nodas. Launeddas at the time of crisis. 2015 29‘

Intangible Culture Directed by Umberto Cao Andrea Mura .

Dating back 3000 years to the Nuragic civilisation on Sardinia, ‘launeddas’ are wind instruments that testify to contacts from across the Mediterranean. Although they nearly vanished in the 1960s, in

Western Mediterranean Music / Ethnomusicology Festivals / Carnival Intergenerational relations

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The Poet’s Salary 2008 59‘

Directed by Eric Wittersheim Alexandre Francois .

For the first time in many years, on the little island of Motalava in Vanuatu, a new song will be composed in the island’s ancestors’ language, the language of god Quat, and become part of the

Melanesia Music / Ethnomusicology Linguistics / Language Informant-researcher relationship

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Polka 1986 50‘

Directed by Robert Boonzajer-Flaes .

The film confronts the accordion music of Chicano immigrants in southern Texas with the traditional music of accordion players in Austria. Without making any final judgements on the ‘roots’ of

North America Music / Ethnomusicology Collective / Community identity

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Return of the Nightingales 2013 33‘

Directed by John Baily .

In 2010 Afghan musicologist Dr. Ahmad Sarmast opened the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), a coeducational vocational music school in Kabul that teaches Afghan, Indian and Western

South Asia Music / Ethnomusicology Education / Knowledge Transmission Children / Young people

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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

[scenes-of-afghan-music-london-kabul-hamburg-dublin--Film-image]

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

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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

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Sons of the Moon 1984 25‘

Directed by Frank Speed Deirdre LaPin .

In isolated mountain hamlets in Nigeria’s Jos Plateau the Ngas have traditionally observed the movements of the moon in the night sky. The moon is a key symbol in Ngas cosmology, believed to

West Africa Religion / Belief / Faith Music / Ethnomusicology Everyday Life Ritual

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Sundanese Culture Alive 1988 46‘

Directed by Jean Hellwig .

Jaipongan is a new style of music and dancing which was ‘invented’ about a decade ago on Western Java, Indonesia. Drawing on more classical Javanese music and taking elements from Japanese and

South-East Asia Music / Ethnomusicology Dance / Theatre / Performance

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Tablas and Drum Machines: Afghan Music in California 2001 58‘

Directed by John Baily .

Ethnomusicologist John Baily visits Fremont, California, the new home of the large community of exiled Afghans. He is joined by Kabuli master-musician, Ustad Asif Mahmoud, who plans to open a small

North America Music / Ethnomusicology Education / Knowledge transmission Refugees / Displaced populations

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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

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Tara’s footprint 2018 70‘

Intangible Culture Directed by Georgina Barreiro .

Tara’s Footprint skilfully conjures the atmosphere of Khechuperi, a village in the Himalayas in north eastern India. Eschewing standard exposition the film follows four young siblings as they go

South Asia Children / Young people Dance / Theatre / Performance Everyday Life Music / Ethnomusicology Religion / Belief / Faith Rural

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Ustad Rahim 2008 55‘

Directed by John Baily .

Shot in the city of Heart, western Afghanistan 1994, in the period between the fall of the last leftist government and the coming of the Taliban, this is a portrait film of an outstanding musician,

South Asia Music / Ethnomusicology Education / Knowledge Transmission Personal Narrative

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Vasile Nedea 2009 43‘

Directed by Sjoerd van Grootheest .

The film tells the story of Vasile Nedea, a Romanian gypsy musician an Amsterdam. Due to his former illegal status there have been times in which he was forced to show his skills whilst busking the

Western Europe Travellers / Roma Music / Ethnomusicology