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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
RAI Film Festival 2025
RAI Film Festival 2025 Group passes
About RAI Film Festival
RAI Film Festival prizes and awards
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
RAI Film Festival 2025
RAI Film Festival 2025 Group passes
About RAI Film Festival
RAI Film Festival prizes and awards
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
RAI Film Festival 2025
RAI Film Festival 2025 Group passes
About RAI Film Festival
RAI Film Festival prizes and awards
Archive of past editions
Login
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Films
13 Films
Keywords
“Religion Belief Faith”
x
Series
“0”
x
Festival Prize Category
“0”
x
films with a digital version
11
short films
4
films available on demand
3
Region
Central Asia and Far East
1
Central Europe
1
Melanesia
1
Middle and Near East
1
South America
1
South Asia
3
South-East Asia
1
South-East Europe
1
West Africa
4
Western Europe
1
Country
Bosnia-Herzegovina
1
Brazil
1
France
1
Ghana
1
India
2
Indonesia
1
Italy
1
Japan
1
Nigeria
3
Pakistan
1
Papua New Guinea
1
Spain
1
United Kingdom
1
Yemen
1
Keywords
Agriculture / Farming
1
Archival material / Museum displays
1
Art / Artists / Artisans
1
Children / Young people
1
Collective / Community identity
1
Death
2
Education / Knowledge Transmission
1
Essay film
1
Everyday Life
1
Gender Role and Identity
1
Health / Health care / Healing
2
History
1
History of Anthropology
1
Intergenerational relations
1
Material Culture
1
Music / Ethnomusicology
2
Reflexivity
1
Refugees / Displaced populations
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
13
x
Ritual
4
Social Change
1
Directors
Ahmed, Akbar
1
Baily, John
1
Balikci, Asen
1
Balikci-Denjongpa, Anna
1
Beier, Ulli
1
Bhattachary, Nilanjan
1
Bringas, Sylvie
1
Colucci, Erminia
2
Johnson, Dul
1
LaPin, Deirdre
1
Langer, Vanessa
1
Lepcha, Dawa T
1
Mukhopadhayay, Kanchan
1
Owen, Chris
1
Speed, Frank
2
not set
1
van de Port, Mattijs
1
Series
not set
13
x
Country of production
Ghana
1
India
2
Indonesia
1
Japan
1
Netherlands
1
Nigeria
2
Switzerland
1
United Kingdom
7
United States
1
Year of production
1964
1
1981
1
1984
1
2004
1
2005
1
2008
1
2012
2
2014
1
2015
1
2016
1
2021
2
Festival Prize Category
Film list
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
HARMONI: HEALING TOGETHER
2021
98
‘
Directed by
Erminia Colucci
.
As a nation of 270 million, Indonesia is facing the grave task of caring for millions of people living with mental illness. Many have experienced human rights abuses in their lifetime. In communities
South-East Asia
Health / Health care / Healing
Religion / Belief / Faith
Journey into Europe
2015
122
‘
Directed by
Akbar Ahmed
.
In Journey into Europe, Akbar Ahmed, a world-renowned anthropologist, Islamic scholar, and filmmaker who the BBC has called “the world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam,” explores Islam
Central Europe
Western Europe
South-East Europe
History
Religion / Belief / Faith
Collective / Community identity
NKABOM: A LITTLE MEDICINE, A LITTLE PRAYER
2021
79
‘
Directed by
Erminia Colucci
.
A mother is caring for her son at a healing shrine on the edge of a village in the central belt of Ghana. In another village, a father has taken his son to several Christian and traditional healers
West Africa
Health / Health care / Healing
Religion / Belief / Faith
New Images
1964
27
‘
Directed by
Ulli Beier
Frank Speed
.
The film is a brief description of life in a busy commercial centre that still depends upon and retains its ancient traditions. These are based on the history of the town which was founded on the
West Africa
Art / Artists / Artisans
Religion / Belief / Faith
Archival material / Museum displays
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
Rain in the Mirror
2012
48
‘
Directed by
Nilanjan Bhattachary
Kanchan Mukhopadhayay
.
Dorji Bhutia, a Buddhist monk and a reputed mask-maker with supernatural powers of bringing or stopping rain chose a self-determined death at the age of eighty-six. Dorji leaves his mystic image
South Asia
Religion / Belief / Faith
Children / Young people
Education / Knowledge Transmission
Intergenerational relations
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
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
There is Nothing Wrong with my Uncle
2012
78
‘
Directed by
Sylvie Bringas
Dul Johnson
.
Nigerian writer Dul Johnson returns to Tarok land to observe the local death rituals and the record of the Tarok ways of dealing with grief and honoring departed. This film provides a rare and
West Africa
Death
Religion / Belief / Faith
Ritual
Tingvong: A Lepcha Village in Sikkim
2005
60
‘
Directed by
Dawa T Lepcha
Anna Balikci-Denjongpa
Asen Balikci
.
The film illustrates the changes the Lepcha of the Dzongu reserve, North Sikkim, have been through in the last 60 years. From the 1940s, the Lepcha of Tingvong village gradually abandoned hunting,
South Asia
Social Change
Religion / Belief / Faith
Agriculture / Farming
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
We Don’t Need A Grave
2014
27
‘
.
‘We Don’t Need a Grave’ attempts to show how the people who choose Shizenso rather than the typical family grave try to accept one’s death. Shizenso is a natural mortuary practice that has no
Central Asia and Far East
Religion / Belief / Faith
Death
Ritual