Skip to content
RAI FILM
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
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
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Films
8 Films
Region
“South America”
x
Country
“Brazil”
x
Series
“0”
x
films with a digital version
4
films hosted on Kanopy
1
films available on demand
3
Region
South America
8
x
Southern Africa
1
West Africa
1
Country
Angola
1
Brazil
8
x
Ghana
1
Keywords
Children / Young people
1
Collective / Community identity
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
3
Essay film
3
Ethnofiction
1
Festivals / Carnival
1
Film / Photography / Mass media
1
Folklore
1
Gender Role and Identity
2
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
1
LGBTQI*
1
Love
1
Memory
1
Migration
1
Music / Ethnomusicology
2
Popular Culture
1
Possession
1
Race / Racism / Antiracism
1
Reflexivity
4
Religion / Belief / Faith
2
Ritual
1
Sex / Sexuality
1
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
1
Directors
Assunção, Matthias Röhrig
1
Davidson, John Paul
1
Dettmann, Christine
1
Diaz, Juan Diego
1
Opipari, Carmen
1
Pakleppa, Richard
1
Pereira, Nilton
1
Sjøberg, Johannes
1
Timbert, Sylvie
1
van de Port, Mattijs
3
Series
not set
8
x
Country of production
Brazil
2
France
1
Netherlands
3
South Africa
1
Sweden
1
United Kingdom
3
Year of production
1990
1
1997
1
2007
1
2014
1
2016
1
2017
1
2018
1
2020
1
Film list
Barbara and Her Friends in Candombleland
1997
52
‘
Directed by
Sylvie Timbert
Carmen Opipari
.
In the divine Afro Brazilian cult Candomble is an initiation religion centred around possession. The filmmakers concentrate on children who introduce and guide us to this world. The children play
South America
Children / Young people
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Possession
Ritual
Body Games – Capoeira and Ancestry
2014
87
‘
Student
Directed by
Richard Pakleppa
Matthias Röhrig Assunção
Christine Dettmann
.
The film follows master Cobra Mansa and his friends in the search for the African roots of the Brazilian martial art Capoeira. A powerful myth links Capoeira to a legendary Angolan game called Engolo
South America
Southern Africa
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Music / Ethnomusicology
Festivals / Carnival
The Body Won’t Close
2020
74
‘
Main Competition
Directed by
Mattijs van de Port
.
Our bodies are semi-permeable. All over the world, stories are being told about heroes who magically “close” their bodies, so as to become invincible. This film follows one such story, as it is
South America
Essay film
Gender Role and Identity
Folklore
Reflexivity
Knots and Holes. An Essay Film on the Life of Nets.
2018
74
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Mattijs van de Port
.
A singular anthropological essay film that observes the various nets we find across different contexts in Bahia (from fishing nets to delicate nets of lace), and the emotions and sensations
South America
Essay film
Reflexivity
Love
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
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
Tabom in Bahia
2017
52
‘
Directed by
Juan Diego Diaz
Nilton Pereira
.
There is a small community in Ghana who identify as Brazilians. Their name is the Tabom. They are the descendants of former enslaved Africans and creoles who resettled from Bahia to Ghana during the
South America
West Africa
Music / Ethnomusicology
Collective / Community identity
Memory
Migration
Popular Culture
Race / Racism / Antiracism
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
Transfiction
2007
58
‘
Directed by
Johannes Sjøberg
.
Transfiction explores ‘ethnofiction’ – an experimental ethnographic documentary film style in which the participants collaborate with the filmmaker to act out their own and others’ life experiences
South America
Reflexivity
Film / Photography / Mass media
Gender Role and Identity
Sex / Sexuality
LGBTQI*
Ethnofiction