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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
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
15 Films
Keywords
“Nomads and Nomadism”
x
Status
“A”
x
films with a digital version
10
short films
1
films available on demand
2
Region
Central Asia and Far East
6
East Africa
5
Middle and Near East
3
North and Northeast Africa
1
Country
Afghanistan
2
Algeria
1
China
2
Kenya
3
Russian Federation
4
Uganda
2
Yemen
1
Keywords
Animals
1
Collective / Community identity
1
Disasters
1
Environment
1
Everyday Life
4
Gender Role and Identity
3
Herding
8
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
1
Music / Ethnomusicology
1
Myths / Fairy tales
1
Nomads and Nomadism
15
x
Ritual
2
Shamans and Shamanism
1
Social Change
6
Social Organisation
4
Socioeconomic conditions
1
Tourism / Travel / Pilgrimage
1
Trade
1
Directors
Asch, Timothy
1
Balikci, Asen
1
Curling, Chris
2
Entell, Peter
1
Esteva, Jordi
1
Lappalainen, Heimo
3
MacDougall, David
3
MacDougall, Judith
2
Nairn, Charlie
2
Newman, David
1
Sheppard, John
1
Singer, André
2
Sorensen, Richard
1
Series
Disappearing World Series
6
Taiga Nomads
3
Turkana Conversations
1
not set
5
Country of production
Australia
3
Finland
3
Spain
1
Switzerland
1
United Kingdom
7
United States
3
Year of production
1970
1
1972
2
1974
1
1975
2
1977
1
1978
1
1983
1
1988
1
1989
1
1992
3
2016
1
Status
Film list
Depending on Heaven
1988
56
‘
Directed by
Peter Entell
.
The film is in two parts and focuses on the Mongols living in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. Part One (28 minutes) follows the life of a nomadic Mongol family on their yearly journey
Central Asia and Far East
Environment
Nomads and Nomadism
Herding
Everyday Life
The Herders of Mongun-Taiga
1989
52
‘
Directed by
John Sheppard
.
The Tuvinians live deep inside the Soviet Union, at the very centre of Asia. Tuva is geographically closer to Peking than to Moscow. It only entered the USSR in 1944 and was closed to foreigners
Central Asia and Far East
Herding
Nomads and Nomadism
Shamans and Shamanism
Gender Role and Identity
Social Change
Hundreds of Homes
1992
50
‘
Directed by
Heimo Lappalainen
.
Taiga Nomads is a film series about the Evenki (previously the Tungus), a nomadic people scattered all over eastern Siberia, and living under harsh conditions in the taiga, an area predominated by
Central Asia and Far East
Nomads and Nomadism
Animals
The Kazakhs of China
1983
52
‘
Directed by
André Singer
.
The Kazakhs of Xinjiang (Sinkiang) are one of the fifty-five national minorities that now live within the borders of the People’s Republic of China. The policy of the Chinese Communist Party toward
Central Asia and Far East
Social Change
Nomads and Nomadism
Collective / Community identity
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
Lorang’s Way
1977
69
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
Judith MacDougall
.
The Turkana are a group of semi-nomadic pastoralists who inhabit a harsh environment of dry thorn country in northwestern Kenya. Lorang’s Way focuses upon a Turkana elder. Having spent time away
East Africa
Herding
Social Change
Nomads and Nomadism
Masai Manhood
1975
52
‘
Directed by
Chris Curling
.
This film was made after ‘Masai Women’ and in the same area. Together the two films provide a vivid view of Masai men and women and their place in Masai society. The Masai are pastoral nomads in
East Africa
Gender Role and Identity
Social Change
Ritual
Social Organisation
Nomads and Nomadism
Herding
Masai Women
1974
52
‘
Directed by
Chris Curling
.
The Masai are cattle herders living in the East African rift valley: they grow no crops and are proud of being a non-agricultural people. Cattle are the all-important source of wealth and social
East Africa
Gender Role and Identity
Social Change
Ritual
Social Organisation
Nomads and Nomadism
Herding
Nawi
1970
20
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
Judith MacDougall
.
This classic ethnographic documentary, by the renowned filmmaking team of David and Judith MacDougall, explores the nomadic life of the Jie of Uganda. During the dry season the Jie leave their
East Africa
Herding
Music / Ethnomusicology
Nomads and Nomadism
The School and the Village
1992
50
‘
Directed by
Heimo Lappalainen
.
Taiga Nomads is a film series about the Evenki (previously the Tungus), a nomadic people scattered all over eastern Siberia, and living under harsh conditions in the taiga ± an area predominated by
Central Asia and Far East
Nomads and Nomadism
Everyday Life
The Skills You Passed On
1992
50
‘
Directed by
Heimo Lappalainen
.
The second of three films about the Evenki people of eastern Siberia. Focuses on Nikolaj Pavlovich Archemku, who experienced the very beginning of Soviet power, two World Wars, and the
Central Asia and Far East
Nomads and Nomadism
Everyday Life
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
Sons of Haji Omar
1978
58
‘
Directed by
Timothy Asch
Asen Balikci
David Newman
Richard Sorensen
.
Haji Omar and his three sons belong to the Lakenkhel, a Pashtun tribal group in northeastern Afghanistan. Concentrating within one family, the film draw sharp, colourful portraits of the protagonists
Middle and Near East
Everyday Life
Nomads and Nomadism
Herding
To Live With Herds
1972
90
‘
Directed by
David MacDougall
.
The Jie are semi-nomadic pastoral people living in North-eastern Uganda, who are striving to maintain their way of life in the face of unsympathetic government policy, and, at the time of filming, a dry-season famine.
East Africa
Nomads and Nomadism
Disasters
Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
The Tuareg
1972
52
‘
Directed by
Charlie Nairn
.
This film is about a group of nomadic Tuareg living high up in the Hoggar Mountains near Tamanrasset in Algeria. The main focus of the film is the collapse of the former economic basis of their
North and Northeast Africa
Social Organisation
Social Change
Socioeconomic conditions
Nomads and Nomadism