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About
About RAI Film
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Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
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RAI Film Festival
About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
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Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
Archive of past editions
RAI FILM
Login
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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
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
11 Films
Region
“East Africa”
x
Series
“0”
x
films with a digital version
7
short films
3
films available on demand
1
Region
East Africa
11
x
Country
Kenya
4
Madagascar
1
Senegal
1
Tanzania
1
Uganda
4
Keywords
Children / Young people
2
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
1
Development projects
1
Disasters
1
Environment
1
Ethnofiction
1
Everyday Life
1
Gender Role and Identity
3
Health / Health care / Healing
1
Health / Healthcare / Healing
1
Herding
1
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
1
Informant-researcher relationship
1
Infrastructure / Transport
1
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
3
Music / Ethnomusicology
2
Nomads and Nomadism
2
Participatory / Collaborative methods
1
Political Activists
2
Reflexivity
1
Resistance
1
Ritual
2
Sex / Sexuality
1
Social Change
1
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
1
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
1
Directors
Akin, Dorcas
1
Atieno, Lavine
1
Awino, Effie
1
Geißler, Wenzel
1
Hawkins, Richard
1
Heald, Suzette
1
Longinotto, Kim
1
MacDougall, David
3
MacDougall, Judith
2
Ndinya, June
1
Njoki, Ruth
1
Picard, David
1
Prince, Ruth
1
Smith, Sophia Hersi
1
Strasse, Cornelia
1
Tuchtenhagen, Ruth
1
Series
not set
11
x
Country of production
Australia
3
Kenya
2
Senegal
1
Switzerland
1
Tanzania
1
United Kingdom
4
United States
4
Year of production
1970
1
1972
1
1973
1
1988
1
2001
1
2002
1
2009
1
2010
1
2013
1
2016
1
2018
1
Film list
Adhiambo – Born in the Evening
2001
66
‘
Directed by
Ruth Prince
Wenzel Geißler
Ruth Tuchtenhagen
.
‘Adhiambo’ means ‘the one born in the evening’ in the language of the Luo of western Kenya. The film follows NyaSeme, a married mother and grandmother in her late 30s, during the last month
East Africa
Children / Young people
Health / Health care / Healing
Atieno
2018
64
‘
Directed by
June Ndinya
Effie Awino
Ruth Njoki
Lavine Atieno
Dorcas Akin
.
Atieno is a collaborative fiction film scripted, acted and directed by DreamGirls, a group of adolescent girls and young women from Nairobi and Kisumu. The film tells of Atieno, a 16 year old girl
East Africa
Health / Healthcare / Healing
Children / Young people
Gender Role and Identity
Ethnofiction
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Participatory / Collaborative methods
Sex / Sexuality
The Day I Will Never Forget
2002
92
‘
Directed by
Kim Longinotto
.
The documentary explores the local dimensions of the female circumcision debate in Kenyan societies. In a region of Kenya that is home to Muslims, Massai and Somali and crosscut by Christian
East Africa
Gender Role and Identity
Ritual
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
Political Activists
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
Law and War in Rural Kenya
2010
64
‘
Directed by
Suzette Heald
.
In 1998, a new movement swept through Kuria, in south western Kenya with dramatic effect. Cattle raiding fuelled by the increasing presence of guns had led to a situation of total insecurity, with
East Africa
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
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
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
To Live With Herds
1972
90
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
The Jie are semi-nomadic pastoral people living in North-eastern Uganda, who are striving to maintain their way of life in the face of unsympathetic government policy, and, at the time of filming, a dry-season famine.
East Africa
Nomads and Nomadism
Disasters
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
Uncanny Strangers
2009
46
‘
Directed by
David Picard
.
Uncanny Strangers has been filmed in a fishing village in the South-West of Madagascar. Through a series of everyday life episodes the film provides insight into the relationships between the
East Africa
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
Development projects
Environment
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
The Way We Live Now
2016
32
‘
Student
Directed by
Sophia Hersi Smith
.
‘The Way We Live Now’ is an intimate portrait of the daily routines and rituals of the Hadza; modern-day hunter-gatherers living in the acacia-baobab woodlands surrounding Lake Eyasi in North-Central
East Africa
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
Everyday Life