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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
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
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Films
16 Films
Keywords
“Religion Belief Faith”
x
Series
“0”
x
Country of production
“United Kingdom”
x
films with a digital version
14
short films
3
films available on demand
3
Region
Melanesia
1
Middle and Near East
1
South America
3
South Asia
3
South-East Asia
2
Southern Africa
1
West Africa
5
Country
Afghanistan
1
Brazil
1
Burkina Faso
1
Ghana
1
India
2
Indonesia
1
Myanmar
1
Nigeria
3
Pakistan
1
Papua New Guinea
1
South Africa
1
Venezuela
2
Keywords
Archival material / Museum displays
1
Art / Artists / Artisans
1
Collective / Community identity
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
1
Death
1
Education / Knowledge Transmission
1
Everyday Life
1
Festivals / Carnival
1
Gender Role and Identity
1
Health / Health care / Healing
3
History of Anthropology
1
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
1
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
1
Inter-religious relations
2
Music / Ethnomusicology
2
Refugees / Displaced populations
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
16
x
Ritual
6
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
2
Urban
1
Directors
Baily, John
2
Beier, Ulli
1
Bringas, Sylvie
1
Colucci, Erminia
2
Davidson, John Paul
1
Ferrarini, Lorenzo
1
Hajee, Amin
1
Henley, Paul
2
Johnson, Dul
1
Kawanami, Hiroko
1
LaPin, Deirdre
1
Owen, Chris
1
Robinson, Paul
1
Speed, Frank
2
Whitby-Coles, Charlotte
1
Yorke, Michael
1
Series
not set
16
x
Country of production
India
1
Indonesia
1
Nigeria
2
United Kingdom
16
x
Year of production
1964
1
1974
1
1981
1
1983
1
1984
1
1987
2
1990
1
1996
1
2005
1
2008
2
2012
1
2014
1
2021
2
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
Black Mountain
2008
84
‘
Directed by
Charlotte Whitby-Coles
Amin Hajee
.
A once unremarkable site of multi-faith pilgrimage to a Sufi Saint has been transformed and its local history rewritten – the film documents the journey of Charlotte, a student undertaking her PhD
South Asia
Religion / Belief / Faith
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
Inter-religious relations
Cuyagua – Devil Dancers
1987
52
‘
Directed by
Paul Henley
.
The men of the Afro-Caribbean population of Cuyagua enact a ritual that occurs 60 days after Easter. The film is a portrait of two men who direct the devil dancing. They tell the history of the
South America
Ritual
Religion / Belief / Faith
Cuyagua – the Saint With Two Faces
1987
56
‘
Student
Directed by
Paul Henley
.
The film centres on the predominantly female celebration of the feast of Saint John. The women sing the songs associated with the Feast, describe their beliefs and how they organise the feast.
South America
Ritual
Religion / Belief / Faith
Festivals / Carnival
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
Heal the Whole Man
1974
50
‘
Directed by
Paul Robinson
.
The ‘Barolong boo Ratshidi’ are one of the group of Tswana peoples, who together form a culturally homogeneous population of over two million. The Barolong themselves number about 75’000 and
Southern Africa
Religion / Belief / Faith
Health / Health care / Healing
Herat Films: The Shrines of Herat
1983
30
‘
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
Religion / Belief / Faith
Urban
Holy Men and Fools
2005
61
‘
Directed by
Michael Yorke
.
The film narrates the story of Uma Giri, a Swedish woman who has become a Hindu nun, called Uma Giri. She is one of the few western women to be accepted into the most radical order of wandering
South Asia
Religion / Belief / Faith
Inter-religious relations
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
Kalanda – the Knowledge of the Bush
2014
62
‘
Directed by
Lorenzo Ferrarini
.
In some parts of West Africa, hunting is much more than killing animals. A donso is no common hunter, but a healer, a diviner, a ritual specialist and amulet maker. Kalanda is a unique initiatory
West Africa
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
Religion / Belief / Faith
Education / Knowledge Transmission
Ritual
Keepers of the Faith: The Buddhist Nuns of Sagaing Hills
1996
51
‘
Directed by
Hiroko Kawanami
.
In the Sagaing Hills, 12 miles from the ancient capital of Mandalay are hundreds of pagodas, stupas, monasteries and nunneries which form a focal point of worship for Buddhism in Burma. In 1986 the
South-East Asia
Religion / Belief / Faith
Collective / Community identity
Gender Role and Identity
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
Nkabom: A little medicine A little prayer
2021
79
‘
Werbner Award
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
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
The Storyteller
1990
50
‘
Student
Directed by
John Paul Davidson
.
Unaware of the written word until the 1950s, the Waura tribe who live in the headwaters of the Xingu river in Brazil still practise the art of storytelling. Tribal storyteller Aruta recounts one of
South America
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Religion / Belief / Faith
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