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About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
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Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
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RAI Film Festival
RAI Film Festival 2025
RAI Film Festival 2025 Group passes
About RAI Film Festival
RAI Film Festival prizes and awards
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
RAI Film Festival 2025
RAI Film Festival 2025 Group passes
About RAI Film Festival
RAI Film Festival prizes and awards
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
RAI Film Festival 2025
RAI Film Festival 2025 Group passes
About RAI Film Festival
RAI Film Festival prizes and awards
Archive of past editions
Login
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Films
17 Films
Region
“South America”
x
Keywords
“Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples”
x
films with a digital version
13
films hosted on Kanopy
1
short films
5
films available on demand
3
Region
South America
17
x
Country
Bolivia
2
Brazil
5
Colombia
3
Ecuador
1
French Guiana
1
Peru
2
Venezuela
2
not set
1
Keywords
Art / Artists / Artisans
1
Children / Young people
1
Collective / Community identity
1
Dance / Theatre / Performance
2
Environment
1
Ethnofiction
1
Everyday Life
1
Film / Photography / Mass media
4
Food / Water
1
Gender Role and Identity
1
History of Anthropology
1
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
1
Indigenous Filmmaking
1
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
17
Informant-researcher relationship
1
Labour
1
Land Rights
6
Material Culture
1
Migration
1
Political Activists
3
Reflexivity
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
2
Resistance
3
Ritual
1
Rural
1
Social Change
4
Social Conflict
5
Social Organisation
1
Socioeconomic conditions
1
Directors
Ash, David
1
Beckham, Michael
2
Davidson, John Paul
1
Dietrich, Martha-Cecilia
1
Drion, Georges
1
Fossgard-Moser, Titus
1
Gómez Ruíz, Sebastián
1
Henley, Paul
1
Marin, Nadja
1
Moser, Brian
1
Møhl, Perle
1
Nairn, Charlie
1
Pasini, Carlos
2
Shalygin, Cliff Orloff and Olga
1
Sturtevant, Chuck
1
Villafaña Chaparro, Amado
1
Williams, Stacey
1
𝗟𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗿, Ana
1
Series
Disappearing World Series
6
Granada Center for Visual Anthropology Student Film
2
not set
9
Country of production
Bolivia
1
Colombia
1
Denmark
1
France
1
Norway
1
Peru
1
United Kingdom
11
United States
1
not set
1
Year of production
1970
1
1971
1
1974
2
1987
2
1989
1
1990
1
2007
1
2008
1
2009
1
2010
1
2012
1
2016
1
2017
1
2019
1
2020
1
Film list
A Clearing in the Jungle
1970
52
‘
Directed by
Charlie Nairn
.
Like that of many other Indian groups in South America, the culture of the Panare Indians of Venezuela is threatened by their almost daily contact with neighbouring creoles, Spanish-speaking
South America
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
Informant-researcher relationship
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Confluences – Emerillon of French Guiana
2007
78
‘
Directed by
Perle Møhl
.
Like self-fulfilling prophecies, scientific reports have hitherto depicted the Emerillon of French Guiana as cultureless and doomed to disappear. With this film, an anthropologist proposes to defy
South America
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Everyday Life
Embera — the End of the Road
1971
52
‘
Directed by
Brian Moser
.
The way of life of the 10,000 Embera Indians who live in the Choco region of Colombia, South American, is threatened by the encroachments of Negro Libres (descendants of freed slaves) and by the
South America
Land Rights
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Habilito – Debt for Life
2010
52
‘
Directed by
Chuck Sturtevant
.
This documentary explores many of the conflicts and tensions that arise at the point of contact between highland migrants and lowland indigenous peoples, focusing particularly on the system of debt
South America
Socioeconomic conditions
Migration
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Labour
Horror in the Andes
2019
33
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Martha-Cecilia Dietrich
.
Horror in the Andes is a behind-the-scenes documentary that follows the process of making a horror movie in Ayacucho, Peru. Directed by audio-visual anthropologist Martha-Cecilia Dietrich, it
South America
Art / Artists / Artisans
Dance / Theatre / Performance
Ethnofiction
Film / Photography / Mass media
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Ignacio’s Legacy
2016
52
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Titus Fossgard-Moser
.
Between 1960 and 1992, the acclaimed documentary filmmaker Brian Moser made four films concerning indigenous peoples of northwest Amazonia: "Piraparana" (1960), "War of the Gods"
South America
Film / Photography / Mass media
Social Change
Reflexivity
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
The Kayapo
1987
52
‘
Directed by
Michael Beckham
.
This film focuses on the conflicts and determination of a group of people trying to survive and maintain their ethnic identity in the face of almost overpowering odds. The film contrasts the
South America
Land Rights
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Political Activists
Resistance
Social Conflict
The Kayapo: Out of the Forest
1989
52
‘
Directed by
Michael Beckham
.
Early in 1989 the Kayapo rallied other Brazilian Indians to attend a reunification of the tribes at Altamira«the proposed site of a massive hydro-electric dam, that will flood large parts of the
South America
Land Rights
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Resistance
Film / Photography / Mass media
Political Activists
Social Conflict
The Mehinacu
1974
52
‘
Directed by
Carlos Pasini
.
The Mehinacu live near the head-waters of the River Xingu in Central Brazil, in a single village within the protective confines of the Xingu National Park. Although the film concentrates upon the
South America
Social Organisation
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Collective / Community identity
Ritual
The Quechua
1974
52
‘
Directed by
Carlos Pasini
David Ash
.
This film is set in a community of peasant agriculturalists 2 1/4 miles above sea level in the southern Peruvian Andes. Concentrating on a single family, the film explores aspects of religious and
South America
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Religion / Belief / Faith
Social Change
Reclaiming the Forest
1987
39
‘
Directed by
Paul Henley
Georges Drion
.
National governments, itinerant gold-miners, and indigenous inhabitants compete for control of an area of the South American rainforest. The film shows the potential conflict between the interests
South America
Land Rights
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Social Change
Social Conflict
Sin tierra, no somos Shuar
2009
23
‘
Directed by
Stacey Williams
.
Shuar traditions and land are intimately tied to another. This film explores how the traditions and relationships change when foreign mining companies enter their territory.
South America
Land Rights
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Social Conflict
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
Tenonde’i – a Beautiful Future
2008
30
‘
Directed by
Nadja Marin
.
In a village inside the world’s fifth largest and tough city, São Paulo, a young Guaraní created a children’s choir to raise money for his community. Filled with beautiful sounds, the film is a
South America
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Children / Young people
Uma: a water crisis in Bolivia
2020
76
‘
Directed by
Ana 𝗟𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗿
.
Uma: a water crisis in Bolivia tells the story of three Andean indigenous communities in the highlands of Bolivia who are fighting to protect their water from diversion and contamination amid a
South America
Environment
Food / Water
Gender Role and Identity
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Land Rights
Political Activists
Resistance
Rural
Social Conflict
Wási
2017
16
‘
Shorts
Directed by
Sebastián Gómez Ruíz
Amado Villafaña Chaparro
.
As the sun rises on a village in northern Colombia, we glimpse its inhabitants as they begin their day. As the scene emerges from obscurity, a voiceover reflects on the nature of sight. It is the
South America
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Indigenous Filmmaking
History of Anthropology
Film / Photography / Mass media
Yanomami: From Machetes to Mobile Phones
2012
58
‘
Directed by
Cliff Orloff and Olga Shalygin
.
The Yanomami Indians are one of the last large relatively unacculturated indigenous groups remaining in the world. In November 2000 filmmakers Orloff and Shalygin documented the lives of a small
South America
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Material Culture
Social Change