Explore the 2019 programme below, either by browsing the separate sections, or looking at the timetable view.

Student showcases films made by the new generation of ethnographic filmmakers, often as part of doctoral projects
RAI/Basil Wright features the films competing for the top prizes at this year’s festival
Material Culture focuses on films with something to say about the way we engage with our material world
Intangible Culture explores worlds of music, dance, performance, and ritual
Special Interest explores a range of fascinating topics, including programmes with a special director or thematic focus
Shorts is new for 2019, and celebrates the best in short-form ethnographic filmmaking as a cauldron of innovation

 Seminar image

Seminar

Convened by
RAI / BBC / Swan Films

Duration
90 minutes

Saturday
30 March
Waterside 3, Watershed 3:30 PM

Several recent television productions have embraced ritual - a classic topic for anthropologists! These shows have sought to document, explore, and interrogate ritual as both spectacle and concept for wide audiences. Interestingly, whilst they have looked at rituals from all over the globe, they have also highlighted how ritual behaviours infuse lives here in the contemporary UK.

At this event, members of the team behind BBC’s Extraordinary Rituals (producers Simon Bell and Tuppence Stone) and Channel 4’s Grayson Perry: Rites of Passage (producer Neil Crombie, of Swan Films) join us to reflect on the nature of ritual, and share their experiences of bringing the power of ritual to the TV screen.

We’ll consider which rituals make good TV, the sensitivities of filming such powerful and personal moments in people’s lives, and how these productions have encouraged British audiences to examine their own rituals.