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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
Login
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Films
7 Films
Keywords
“Ritual”
x
Country of production
“United States”
x
Colour / Black and white
“Colour”
x
films with a digital version
4
short films
4
Region
Australia
1
Central Asia and Far East
2
East Africa
1
North America
1
South-East Asia
1
West Africa
1
Country
Australia
1
Canada
1
China
2
Indonesia
1
Nigeria
1
Uganda
1
Keywords
Archival material / Museum displays
1
Collective / Community identity
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
1
Death
2
Family / Kinship
1
Festivals / Carnival
1
Gender Role and Identity
2
Health / Health care / Healing
1
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
2
Informant-researcher relationship
1
Possession
1
Ritual
7
x
Shamans and Shamanism
1
Directors
Asch, Patsy
1
Asch, Timothy
1
Connor, Linda
1
Glass, Aaron
1
Hawkins, Richard
1
MacDougall, Judith
1
Prince, Raymond
1
Rousso-Schindler, Steven
2
Seaman, Gary
2
Song, Zhifang
2
Speed, Frank
1
Series
ANU, Indonesia Series
1
Song Family Village
2
not set
4
Country of production
Australia
2
Canada
1
China
2
Nigeria
1
United Kingdom
1
United States
7
x
Year of production
1963
1
1980
1
1988
1
1991
1
2004
1
2009
2
Colour / Black and white
Film list
The Heavenly Court in Song Family Village
2009
30
‘
Directed by
Zhifang Song
Gary Seaman
Steven Rousso-Schindler
.
Religious life in the village is highly gendered, with female shamans dominating most religious activities. These shamanesses and their gods are organised as a “court”, which expresses a
Central Asia and Far East
Gender Role and Identity
Shamans and Shamanism
Ritual
The House-Opening
1980
45
‘
Directed by
Judith MacDougall
.
When Geraldine Kawanka’s husband died, she and her children left their house at Aurukun on Cape York Peninsula. In earlier times a bark house would have been burnt, but today a ‘house-opening’
Australia
Ritual
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Death
Imbalu: Ritual of Manhood of the Gisu of Uganda
1988
69
‘
Directed by
Richard Hawkins
.
An insightful documentary, constructed with visual restraint, about the male circumcision ritual among the Gisu of Uganda. The narrative follows one male participant through the ritual and contrasts
East Africa
Ritual
Gender Role and Identity
In Search of the Hamat’sa: A Tale of Headhunting
2004
33
‘
Directed by
Aaron Glass
.
The Hamat’sa (or “Cannibal Dance”) is the most important—and highly represented ceremony of the Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl) people of British Columbia. This film traces the history of
North America
Archival material / Museum displays
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Ritual
Informant-researcher relationship
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Releasing the Spirits: a village cremation in Bali
1991
44
‘
Directed by
Patsy Asch
Linda Connor
Timothy Asch
.
In 1978, as part of the preparations for the island-wide ceremony eka dasa rudra, religious officials urged all Balinese to cleanse the island by cremating their dead. Many were forced to pool
South-East Asia
Death
Ritual
The Secret of the Stone
2009
39
‘
Directed by
Zhifang Song
Gary Seaman
Steven Rousso-Schindler
.
Located on the North China Plain about 200 miles south of Beijing, ‘Song Family Village’ is home to about 1,300 people. Some 80% of all villagers are members of a single lineage of the Song surname.
Central Asia and Far East
Family / Kinship
Collective / Community identity
Ritual
Festivals / Carnival
Were Ni! He is a Madman
1963
30
‘
Directed by
Frank Speed
Raymond Prince
.
This ethnopsychiatric film shows the management of psychiatric disorders by the Yoruba of Nigeria. There are two basic types of institutions to deal with psychiatric disorders. First there are
West Africa
Health / Health care / Healing
Ritual
Possession