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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
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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
18 Films
Region
“Middle and Near East”
x
Country of production
“United Kingdom”
x
films with a digital version
10
films hosted on Kanopy
1
short films
8
films available on demand
1
Region
Middle and Near East
18
x
Western Mediterranean
1
Country
Afghanistan
6
Iran
3
Israel
1
Italy
1
Jordan
1
Palestine
3
Syria
2
Turkey
1
Yemen
1
Keywords
Animals
1
Art / Artists / Artisans
1
Children / Young people
3
Collective / Community identity
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
2
Development projects
1
Family / Kinship
1
Film / Photography / Mass media
1
Gender Role and Identity
2
Herding
1
History
1
Inter-religious relations
1
Labour
1
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
1
Marriage
2
Memory
2
Migration
2
Music / Ethnomusicology
3
Nomads and Nomadism
1
Political Activists
2
Refugees / Displaced populations
2
Religion / Belief / Faith
4
Resistance
1
Social Change
2
Social Organisation
1
Socioeconomic conditions
1
Trade
1
Urban
2
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
3
Directors
Al Akash, Ruba
1
Baily, John
5
Boswall, Karen
1
Fales, Ludovica
1
Fedda, Yasmin
2
Hertog, Ester
1
Hill, Joanna
1
Hopkins, Ben
1
Ihle, Johanne Haaber
1
Longinotto, Kim
2
Mir-Hosseini, Ziba
1
Moser, Brian
1
Musleh, Hanna
1
Nairn, Charlie
1
Singer, André
1
Series
Disappearing World Series
2
Granada Center for Visual Anthropology Student Film
5
not set
11
Country of production
Jordan
1
United Kingdom
18
x
Year of production
1973
1
1975
1
1983
3
1989
1
1991
1
1997
1
2001
1
2003
1
2004
1
2006
1
2007
2
2009
1
2011
1
2014
1
2020
1
Film list
37 Uses for a Dead Sheep
2006
85
‘
Directed by
Ben Hopkins
.
The Pamir Kirghiz are a tribe of some 2,000 people from the Pamir region of Central Asia. For the last 27 years they have lived in exile in Eastern Turkey. In 2005 an Anglo-Turkish film crew arrives
Middle and Near East
Film / Photography / Mass media
Animals
Migration
Ayouni
2020
75
‘
Directed by
Yasmin Fedda
.
Bassel was a successful open source developer and hacker in Damascus. Paolo was a well-known priest based in Mar Musa monastery. Both men were active in the 2011 Syrian revolution, and witnesses to
Middle and Near East
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Memory
Political Activists
Boya Boya (Shine Shine)
2014
18
‘
Directed by
Karen Boswall
Ruba Al Akash
.
A portrait of Syrian refugee Mohammed, a 12-year-old shoe shine boy, ‘Boya Boya (Shine Shine)’ looks at the reality of the growing population of urban refugees from a child’s point of view. While
Middle and Near East
Children / Young people
Refugees / Displaced populations
Labour
Dervishes of Kurdistan
1973
52
‘
Directed by
Brian Moser
.
A community of Kurds resident in Iran on the border with Iraq forms the subject of this film. Many of the inhabitants of the community are refugees from Kurdish areas of Iraq and the villagers are
Middle and Near East
Refugees / Displaced populations
Religion / Belief / Faith
Divorce Iranian Style
1989
80
‘
Directed by
Kim Longinotto
.
This film is set in the Family Law Courts in central Tehran. The three main characters are Jamileh who punishes her husband for beating her, Ziba, a 16 year old girl who is trying to get a divorce
Middle and Near East
Marriage
Gender Role and Identity
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
Family / Kinship
Herat Films: The City of Herat
1983
21
‘
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
Urban
Trade
Herat Films: The Annual Cycle of Music in Herat
1983
54
‘
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
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Music / Ethnomusicology
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
Hope, Despair and Laughter: A circus project in Palestine
2007
27
‘
Directed by
Ester Hertog
.
Filmed in Dheisheh refugee camp in the West bank, this film is about a circus summer-camp dedicated to bring laughter and hope for Palestinian children. Children are taught all sorts of activities
Middle and Near East
Development projects
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Children / Young people
A Kabul Music Diary
2003
52
‘
Directed by
John Baily
.
Ethnomusicologist John Baily returns to Kabul to see what is happening in the world of music one year after the defeat of the Taliban. The film documents a variety of musical activities, including
Middle and Near East
Music / Ethnomusicology
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
The Kirghiz of Afghanistan
1975
51
‘
Directed by
Charlie Nairn
André Singer
.
The Kirghiz of Afghanistan are a group of some 2,000 pastoralists living on a bleak mountain plateau in a narrow isthmus of land between the borders of the Soviet Union and China. For nine months of
Middle and Near East
Herding
Nomads and Nomadism
Social Organisation
Letters from Palestine
2011
35
‘
Directed by
Ludovica Fales
.
What if in your great-grandfather’s letters there is a mystery your family doesn’t want to talk about? In 1920 Angelo Levi Bianchini set out to Palestine on an Italian diplomatic mission and never
Western Mediterranean
Middle and Near East
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Memory
History
Men of Words
2009
22
‘
Directed by
Johanne Haaber Ihle
.
The film explores how ancient traditions of poetry are still used in contemporary Yemen to discuss social and political problems.
Middle and Near East
Art / Artists / Artisans
Socioeconomic conditions
Milking the Desert
2004
25
‘
Directed by
Yasmin Fedda
.
This film follows the lives and choices of two monks living at Mar Musa, the Abyssinian Monastery in the desert of Syria. Through their daily lives, the issue of dialogue with Islam emerges.
Middle and Near East
Inter-religious relations
Religion / Belief / Faith
Runaway
2001
87
‘
Directed by
Kim Longinotto
Ziba Mir-Hosseini
.
This film is set in a refuge for girls in Tehran and follows the stories of five girls who come here. These girls, in leaving a situation that has become intolerable, show incredible courage and
Middle and Near East
Children / Young people
Social Change
Gender Role and Identity
Sahar’s Wedding
1991
46
‘
Directed by
Hanna Musleh
.
The chronicle of a wedding in a village in Palestine under Israeli occupation at the time of the first Intifada, this film looks at the lives of the bride and groom, and their families. Attitudes
Middle and Near East
Marriage
Social Change
Scenes of Afghan Music: London, Kabul, Hamburg, Dublin
2007
97
‘
Directed by
John Baily
.
Scenes of Afghan Music is Part IV of ‘A Quartet of Afghan Music Films’, made in the author’s personal “fieldwork movie” style. It reveals the diversity of music and dance practices in the
Middle and Near East
Music / Ethnomusicology
Migration
Collective / Community identity
Women of a Divided Land
1997
22
‘
Directed by
Joanna Hill
.
This film follows the activities of Israeli and Palestinian women peace activists in Jerusalem and the West Bank, portraying both the collective and individual experiences of resistance.
Middle and Near East
Resistance
Political Activists
Religion / Belief / Faith