Films - RAI FILM

RAI FILM

Film list

[asante-market-women--Film-image]

Asante Market Women 1982 52‘

Directed by Claudia Milne .

As retailers, wholesalers, and negotiators, Asante women of Ghana dominate the huge Kumasi Central Market amid the laughter, argument, colour and music. The crew of this Disappearing World film have

West Africa Marriage Trade Gender Role and Identity

[benin-kingship-rituals--Film-image]

Benin Kingship Rituals 1963 20‘

Directed by Frank Speed Ray Bradbury .

Until it was conquered by the British in 1897, the city of Benin, in what is now Nigeria, was the centre of a powerful kingdom. Its rulers, the Obas of Benin, were mysterious, secluded figures who

West Africa Ritual Dance / Theatre / Performance History

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Changes 2010 30‘

Directed by Afua Asare-Nyako .

Kwabena wants to move back to Ghana, the country he left more than 30 years ago. This film shows one of the many journeys that he has to take in preparation for his return. It explores the motives

West Africa Western Europe Migration

[duminea-a-festival-for-the-water-spirits--Film-image]

Duminea: A Festival for the Water Spirits 1966 20‘

Directed by Frank Speed Robin Horton .

The communal rituals of most villages of the Eastern Niger Delta focus on two great classes of spirits – the heroes and the water people. The heroes once lived with the men, founded their

West Africa Ritual Possession

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Faces Voices 2018 18‘

Directed by Paul Basu Christopher Thomas Allen .

The film complicates any simple reading of a colonial photographic archive from Southern Nigeria and Sierra Leone that was collected between 1909 and 1915. Through a collaborative creative effort

West Africa British-Irish Isles Archival material / Museum displays Colonialism / Postcolonialism Race / Racism / Antiracism

[gelede-a-yoruba-masquerade--Film-image]

Gelede: A Yoruba Masquerade 1970 30‘

Directed by Frank Speed Peggy Harper .

Among the Yoruba of Western Nigeria and Dahomey the Gelede cult honours the earth spirits, the ancestors and especially the Great Mother. The festival filmed here emphasises the status of women and

West Africa Gender Role and Identity Ritual Festivals / Carnival Social Conflict

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Jungle Cat 2000 29‘

Directed by Natalie Schädler .

In search of the righteous way of living, the Liberian rapper CyLover, aka as ‘Jungle Cat’ wants to make music for his people. Now based in Ghana, the big chance to finish his first album approaches

West Africa Music / Ethnomusicology

[kalanda-the-knowledge-of-the-bush--Film-image]

Kalanda – the Knowledge of the Bush 2014 62‘

Directed by Lorenzo Ferrarini .

In some parts of West Africa, hunting is much more than killing animals. A donso is no common hunter, but a healer, a diviner, a ritual specialist and amulet maker. Kalanda is a unique initiatory

West Africa Hunting / Gathering / Fishing Religion / Belief / Faith Education / Knowledge Transmission Ritual

[kanraxel-the-confluence-of-agnack--Film-image]

Kanraxël: the Confluence of Agnack 2015 52‘

Student Directed by Remigiusz (aka Remi) Sowa .

**DVD copies are available for secondary teaching and home use at the following prices: £35 (plus VAT) schools and colleges; £20 (plus VAT) individual / home use licence** Agnack is a

West Africa Linguistics / Language Social Change

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Kwagh Hir 1975 30‘

Directed by Frank Speed Peggy Harper .

Four million Tiv people form the major culture of the Benue state of southern Nigeria. They are popularly known as the greatest democrats in Africa as their society is based on fraternal cooperation

West Africa Festivals / Carnival Dance / Theatre / Performance Ritual

[the-mende--Film-image]

The Mende 1990 52‘

Directed by Bruce MacDonald .

This is a portrait of Kpuawala, Sierra Leone, a village of some 260 Mende people living in a clearing in the forest in houses of mud brick and tin. Like any village portrait it gossips, happy

West Africa Everyday Life Social Organisation Rural

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New Images 1964 27‘

Directed by Ulli Beier Frank Speed .

The film is a brief description of life in a busy commercial centre that still depends upon and retains its ancient traditions. These are based on the history of the town which was founded on the

West Africa Art / Artists / Artisans Religion / Belief / Faith Archival material / Museum displays

[nkabom-a-little-medicine-a-little-prayer--Film-image]

Nkabom: A little medicine A little prayer 2021 79‘

Werbner Award Directed by Erminia Colucci .

A mother is caring for her son at a healing shrine on the edge of a village in the central belt of Ghana. In another village, a father has taken his son to several Christian and traditional healers

West Africa Health / Health care / Healing Religion / Belief / Faith

[shooting-freetown--Film-image]

Shooting Freetown 2011 29‘

Directed by Kieran Hanson .

A decade since Sierra Leone’s devastating civil war, from the ashes rises a new dawn of creativity in audio-visual media. Inspired by Jean Rouch’s ‘shared anthropology’ and ‘ethno-fiction’,

West Africa Film / Photography / Mass media War / Conflict / Reconciliation Reflexivity

[sisters-in-law--Film-image]

Sisters in Law 2005 104‘

Directed by Kim Longinotto Florence Ayisi .

Six year old Manka has run away from home, fleeing her abusive aunt. Sonita has daringly accused her neighbor of rape. Amina has decided to end her brutal marriage by taking her husband to court. Set

West Africa Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy Gender Role and Identity Children / Young people

[sons-of-the-moon--Film-image]

Sons of the Moon 1984 25‘

Directed by Frank Speed Deirdre LaPin .

In isolated mountain hamlets in Nigeria’s Jos Plateau the Ngas have traditionally observed the movements of the moon in the night sky. The moon is a key symbol in Ngas cosmology, believed to

West Africa Religion / Belief / Faith Music / Ethnomusicology Everyday Life Ritual

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Thanks Be to God 2008 31‘

Directed by Patrícia Pedrosa .

Four Christian women work and live in a Muslim and patriarchic world. The ‘Sisters of the Consolata Missionaries’ are building a new library in Empada, a small village in the south of

West Africa Religion / Belief / Faith

[there-is-nothing-wrong-with-my-uncle--Film-image]

There is Nothing Wrong with my Uncle 2012 78‘

Directed by Sylvie Bringas Dul Johnson .

Nigerian writer Dul Johnson returns to Tarok land to observe the local death rituals and the record of the Tarok ways of dealing with grief and honoring departed. This film provides a rare and

West Africa Death Religion / Belief / Faith Ritual

[usch-in-the-bush--Film-image]

Usch in the Bush 2001 32‘

Directed by Michaela Schäuble .

In the 1980s Ursula Heimer leaves behind her husband and children in Germany and goes to live in the African bush. We meet her seventeen years later in a tiny village in Togo, where she has been

West Africa Personal Narrative Alternative culture

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You Can’t Live With Your Mouth Shut 1999 29‘

Directed by João Nicolau .

Cape Verde is an archipelago situated 500km off the West Coast of Africa. On the island of Santiago lives Mano Mendi, the last player of cimboa, a one-string violin used to accompany the traditional

West Africa Music / Ethnomusicology