Skip to content
RAI FILM
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
RAI FILM
Login
Facebook
Instagram
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
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Films
11 Films
Keywords
“Reflexivity”
x
Series
“0”
x
Colour / Black and white
“Colour”
x
films with a digital version
6
films hosted on Kanopy
1
short films
3
films available on demand
4
Region
Australia
1
Central America
1
East Africa
1
North and Northeast Africa
1
South America
5
Western Europe
2
Country
Australia
1
Brazil
4
Colombia
1
Ethiopia
1
France
2
Mexico
1
Uganda
1
Keywords
Art / Artists / Artisans
1
Children / Young people
2
Death
1
Essay film
3
Ethnofiction
3
Film / Photography / Mass media
2
Folklore
1
Gender Role and Identity
2
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
2
Informant-researcher relationship
4
Infrastructure / Transport
1
LGBTQI*
1
Labour
2
Love
1
Migration
2
Prison
1
Reflexivity
11
x
Religion / Belief / Faith
1
Sex / Sexuality
3
Social Change
1
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
1
Directors
Arcé, Adrian
1
Fossgard-Moser, Titus
1
Kawase, Itsushi
1
MacDougall, David
1
MacDougall, Judith
1
Mai, Nick
2
McKenzie, Kim
1
Sjøberg, Johannes
1
Zirión, Antonio
1
van de Port, Mattijs
3
Series
not set
11
x
Country of production
Australia
2
France
2
Japan
1
Mexico
1
Netherlands
3
Norway
1
Sweden
1
United Kingdom
1
United States
1
Year of production
1973
1
1980
1
2006
1
2007
1
2013
1
2016
4
2018
1
2020
1
Colour / Black and white
Film list
The Body Won’t Close
2020
74
‘
Main Competition
Directed by
Mattijs van de Port
.
Our bodies are semi-permeable. All over the world, stories are being told about heroes who magically “close” their bodies, so as to become invincible. This film follows one such story, as it is
South America
Essay film
Gender Role and Identity
Folklore
Reflexivity
Ignacio’s Legacy
2016
52
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Titus Fossgard-Moser
.
Between 1960 and 1992, the acclaimed documentary filmmaker Brian Moser made four films concerning indigenous peoples of northwest Amazonia: "Piraparana" (1960), "War of the Gods"
South America
Film / Photography / Mass media
Social Change
Reflexivity
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Knots and Holes. An Essay Film on the Life of Nets.
2018
74
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Mattijs van de Port
.
A singular anthropological essay film that observes the various nets we find across different contexts in Bahia (from fishing nets to delicate nets of lace), and the emotions and sensations
South America
Essay film
Reflexivity
Love
Out of Focus
2013
37
‘
Directed by
Adrian Arcé
Antonio Zirión
.
This is a collaborative documentary about arts, culture and everyday life inside a prison for minors. It was shot during a photography and video workshop with young inmates at the Juvenile Community
Central America
Children / Young people
Prison
Art / Artists / Artisans
Reflexivity
The Possibility of Spirits
2016
72
‘
Directed by
Mattijs van de Port
.
What is it that you film when you film a spirit? I was brought up to believe that spirits do not exist. Years of research on an afro-Brazilian spirit possession cult taught me the limits of such
South America
Essay film
Religion / Belief / Faith
Reflexivity
Room 11, Ethiopia Hotel
2006
23
‘
Directed by
Itsushi Kawase
.
The film recounts the life of children living on the street in Gondar, Ethiopia, by witnessing the interaction between two children and the filmmaker. The entire film was shot in the room of Ethiopia
North and Northeast Africa
Children / Young people
Squatter Settlements / Homelessness
Informant-researcher relationship
Reflexivity
Transfiction
2007
58
‘
Directed by
Johannes Sjøberg
.
Transfiction explores ‘ethnofiction’ – an experimental ethnographic documentary film style in which the participants collaborate with the filmmaker to act out their own and others’ life experiences
South America
Reflexivity
Film / Photography / Mass media
Gender Role and Identity
Sex / Sexuality
LGBTQI*
Ethnofiction
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
Under the Men’s Tree
1973
15
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
Judith MacDougall
.
At Jie cattle camps in Uganda men often gather under a special tree to make leather and wooden goods and talk, relax, and sleep. This brilliant ethnographic documentary by renowned filmmakers David
East Africa
Infrastructure / Transport
Informant-researcher relationship
Reflexivity
Waiting for Harry
1980
57
‘
Directed by
Kim McKenzie
.
Although the events around which this film was planned were the final mortuary rites for Les Angabarraparra, the subject of the film became interaction. Interaction between the anthropologist Les
Australia
Informant-researcher relationship
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Death
Reflexivity