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
23 Films
Series
“0”
x
Film Festival Year
“2017”
x
films with a digital version
18
short films
12
films available on demand
5
Region
Caribbean Islands
1
Central Asia and Far East
2
East Africa
1
Eastern Europe and Baltic States
1
Middle and Near East
1
North America
3
Scandinavia
1
South America
2
South-East Asia
3
South-East Europe
1
West Africa
3
Western Europe
4
Western Mediterranean
2
Country
Anguilla
1
Brazil
1
Cameroon
1
Colombia
1
France
1
Ghana
1
Indonesia
2
Italy
4
Japan
2
Norway
1
Romania
1
Russian Federation
1
Senegal
1
Switzerland
2
Tanzania
1
United States
3
Yemen
1
Keywords
Archaeology
1
Art / Artists / Artisans
2
Collective / Community identity
2
Development projects
2
Disasters
1
Education / Knowledge Transmission
1
Essay film
1
Ethnofiction
1
Everyday Life
1
Family / Kinship
2
Festivals / Carnival
2
Film / Photography / Mass media
2
Gender Role and Identity
1
Health / Health care / Healing
2
Herding
1
History
1
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
2
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
2
Informant-researcher relationship
1
Infrastructure / Transport
1
Intergenerational relations
2
LGBTQI*
1
Labour
3
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
3
Linguistics / Language
1
Material Culture
3
Memory
1
Migration
3
Music / Ethnomusicology
2
Myths / Fairy tales
1
Nomads and Nomadism
1
Political Activists
1
Post-communism
1
Prison
1
Race / Racism / Antiracism
1
Reflexivity
3
Refugees / Displaced populations
1
Religion / Belief / Faith
4
Ritual
1
Rural
1
Sex / Sexuality
2
Social Change
3
Social Conflict
1
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
1
Trade
2
Urban
1
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
2
Directors
Cao, Umberto
1
Colucci, Erminia
1
Domenig, Aya
1
Esteva, Jordi
1
Ferrarese, Adriana
1
Fossgard-Moser, Titus
1
Golovnev, Ivan
1
Grieco, Anthony
1
Grimshaw, Anna
1
Horat, Thomas
1
Kuentz, Gaspard
1
Lloyd, Ravi Hart
1
Lu, Wanwan
1
Mai, Nick
1
Mura, Andrea
1
Schillaci, Rossella
1
Smith, Sophia Hersi
1
Sonderegger, Ramona
1
Sowa, Remigiusz (aka Remi)
1
Visser, Mara Lin
1
Waage, Trond
1
Wildenauer, Nora
1
van de Port, Mattijs
1
Șalaru, Maria
1
Series
not set
23
x
Country of production
Australia
1
Cameroon
1
Canada
1
Finland
1
France
2
Indonesia
2
Italy
5
Japan
1
Netherlands
3
Norway
2
Romania
1
Russia
1
Senegal
1
Spain
1
Switzerland
3
Tanzania
1
United Kingdom
4
United States
2
Year of production
2015
8
2016
15
Film Festival Year
Film list
At Low Tide
2016
63
‘
Directed by
Anna Grimshaw
.
Every day, carrying the simplest of tools, diggers across coastal Maine set out at low tide to dig for clams on the wide mud flats that stretch far into the bay. It is backbreaking work. But it has
North America
Material Culture
Labour
Hunting / Gathering / Fishing
The Block
2016
60
‘
Student
Directed by
Maria Șalaru
.
From neighbourly disputes over garlic-heavy cooking to memories of Ceaușescu’s heatless winters, "The Block" explores the rich social and material universe of a Romanian apartment
Eastern Europe and Baltic States
Urban
Post-communism
Infrastructure / Transport
Breaking the Chains
2015
64
‘
Student
Directed by
Erminia Colucci
.
The practice of using shackles and chains to physically restrain people with mental illness (known as pasung) is widespread in Indonesia (as in many other developing/low middle income countries) and
South-East Asia
Prison
Health / Health care / Healing
Political Activists
Development projects
The Day the Sun Fell
2015
78
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Aya Domenig
.
Swiss-Japanese filmmaker Aya Domenig, the granddaughter of a doctor on duty for the Red Cross during the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, approaches the experience of her deceased grandfather by
South-East Asia
History
Memory
Health / Health care / Healing
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Extended Family
2016
31
‘
Student
Directed by
Ramona Sonderegger
.
This films offers an intimate insight into the lives of two same-sex families who found a way to create themselves within a legal grey area in Switzerland. Swiss law bans adoption and access to
Western Europe
LGBTQI*
Family / Kinship
Sex / Sexuality
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
Fighting for Nothing to Happen
2015
48
‘
Student
Directed by
Nora Wildenauer
.
After the volcanic eruption of Mount Rokatenda, the people of the island of Pulau Palue in east Indonesia are to be relocated. But are the planned relocation and the "new" life at the
South-East Asia
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
Refugees / Displaced populations
Development projects
Disasters
Ghetto PSA
2016
15
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Rossella Schillaci
.
Jacob arrived in Italy alone from French Guinea when he was 11 years old. Today he is 27, and hip hop music is his whole world: it is his way to express dreams, hopes and frustrations, and to not
Western Europe
Music / Ethnomusicology
Migration
Education / Knowledge Transmission
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
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
Land of Udehe
2015
26
‘
Student
Directed by
Ivan Golovnev
.
This film takes us into the world of Udehe – indigenous people of the Far East of Russia. According to the census of 2010, their population dropped to 1,490 souls…
Central Asia and Far East
Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
Social Change
Living with Boko Haram
2016
37
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Trond Waage
.
January 2015. Boko Haram’s violent insurgency is approaching Mogdé, on the Nigerian/Cameroonian border, where Antoniette lives. Just outside Oslo, Norway, lives her son Vakote, worried and afraid
West Africa
Scandinavia
Religion / Belief / Faith
Social Conflict
War / Conflict / Reconciliation
Migration
The Log Rafters of Lake Aegeri
2016
29
‘
Material Culture
Directed by
Thomas Horat
.
Aegeri, in a remote part of Switzerland, is one of the few lakes in Central Europe where professional log rafters can still be found. This film is based on the gentle observation of the work of a
Western Europe
Material Culture
Labour
Rural
Nodas. Launeddas at the time of crisis.
2015
29
‘
Intangible Culture
Directed by
Umberto Cao
Andrea Mura
.
Dating back 3000 years to the Nuragic civilisation on Sardinia, ‘launeddas’ are wind instruments that testify to contacts from across the Mediterranean. Although they nearly vanished in the 1960s, in
Western Mediterranean
Music / Ethnomusicology
Festivals / Carnival
Intergenerational relations
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
Processes
2016
23
‘
Directed by
Adriana Ferrarese
.
Like every year, Corigliano Calabro, a small village in the south of Italy, celebrates Easter: from the investiture of a man to embody Jesus during a night procession, to the passionate debates for
South-East Europe
Religion / Belief / Faith
Festivals / Carnival
Shepherds in the Cave
2016
87
‘
Material Culture
Directed by
Anthony Grieco
.
An international team of art restorers, archaeologists and volunteers begin work on the restoration of religious frescoes inside a network of ancient caves. Faced with local bureaucratic challenges
Western Mediterranean
Archaeology
Herding
Art / Artists / Artisans
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
Socotra, the Island of Djinns
2016
64
‘
RAI Basil Wright
Directed by
Jordi Esteva
.
The film is the story of a journey across the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Yemen. Socotra is isolated during the monsoon season, when it is impossible to land on it. This
Middle and Near East
Myths / Fairy tales
Nomads and Nomadism
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
Trade
Travel
2016
63
‘
Special Interest
Directed by
Nick Mai
.
(This version of the film is edited using a single screen. For the split screen version see ‘Travel – double screen version’). Joy left Nigeria to help her family after her father’s death. She
Western Europe
Sex / Sexuality
Labour
Migration
Ethnofiction
Informant-researcher relationship
Reflexivity
Treasured Moments
2016
33
‘
Student
Directed by
Ravi Hart Lloyd
.
This is the personal story of a boy who grew up mixed in every aspect of his life, his parents, where he was from, his race. The black kid who thought that he was white. The white kid who thought
Caribbean Islands
North America
Family / Kinship
Race / Racism / Antiracism
Collective / Community identity
Film / Photography / Mass media
Unity: Dress-scapes of Accra
2016
37
‘
Directed by
Mara Lin Visser
.
This is a film about African fashion in the capital of Ghana. African printed fabrics seem to making a comeback in the fashion system of Accra. While following Allan, a fashion designer and his wife
West Africa
Trade
Material Culture
Art / Artists / Artisans
Uzu
2015
27
‘
Directed by
Gaspard Kuentz
.
Held every October in the city of Matsuyama, the Dogo Autumn Festival is one of the most violent religious festivals celebrated in Japan. Eight teams of men carrying massive portable wood shrines
Central Asia and Far East
Ritual
Gender Role and Identity
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
Youth Group
2015
28
‘
Student
Directed by
Wanwan Lu
.
Set in the predominantly Asian “ethnoburbs” of Los Angeles County, this film follows a vibrant Buddhist youth group in a Chinese-American temple. Youth group members, most raised by immigrant
North America
Collective / Community identity
Religion / Belief / Faith
Intergenerational relations