Join us on MAY 7-8, 2026
For THE Royal Anthropological Institute Film Festival
at UCLA
FEATURING groundbreaking ethnographic, anthropological, and archaeological filmmaking from around the globe
PROGRAM
THURSDAY, MAY 7th
12pm
Earthbound Knowledge (Six Short Films, 101 mins)
Relational wisdom and sensory practices reconnecting us to the natural world 3pm
Anatomy of Care (Four Short Films, 93 mins)
Performances, practices, and biopolitics that shape health systems. 6pm
Above and Below the Ground(Feature Film, 86 mins)
Director Emily Hong in attendance for Q&A
In Myanmar, indigenous women activists and punk rock pastors protect a sacred river from a Chinese-built megadam FRIDAY, May 8th
12pm
Crafted Sound (Three Short Films, 94 mins)
Director Scott Linford of “Mind, Hands, Work: Fidel Sambou Builds An Ekonting” in attendance for Q&A
On instrument-making, sonic heritage, and changing musical cultures 3pm
A Body of Work(Five Short Films, 79 mins)
The mechanics of human and embodied labour in the age of automation.5pm
God is a Woman(Feature Film, 85 mins)
A meditation on cultural memory, representation, and the right of Indigenous peoples to reclaim their own image7pm
Closing Reception
7:30pm
Concert (13 musicians, 45 mins)
Featuring Gamelan Master and UCLA Professor Nyoman Wenten and music composer Malcolm Cross SCREENING VENUE
UCLA
Glorya Kaufman Dance Theater, Room 200
120 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
PARKING
Pay-by-space parking is available in Parking Structure 4.
Permit and Pay-by-Plate parking. Visitors may park in designated pay station parking areas. Once parked, go to the nearest parking pay station to purchase duration of parking time needed. Pay using exact cash amount or with a credit card.
SAVE THE DATE
May 7-8, 2026
@ UCLA
free to attEnd
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
ABOUT US
ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
Established in 1955, RAI FILM highlights groundbreaking anthropological films from around the globe. Our mission is to advance the role of film in anthropology and share the richness of anthropological insight with a broad audience. Through film, we explore cultural diversity, encourage intercultural dialogue, support filmmakers, and foster a thriving, inclusive community. We provide a dynamic platform and valuable resources for discovering the world of anthropological documentary filmmaking.
DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF WORLD ARTS AND CULTURE/DANCE
Established in 1941, the UCLA Anthropology department grew to prominence immediately after World War II and has consistently ranked among the top ten departments in the country, both for the distinction of its faculty and the quality of its teaching.
The faculty and students of World Arts and Cultures/Dance (WACD) forge new understandings about the social and cultural impacts of choreography, performance, media, visual arts, activism, and critical studies.
FILMS
SHORT STUDENT COLLECTION
EARTHBOUND KNOWLEDGE
Relational wisdom and sensory practices reconnecting us to the natural world [101 mins]
Apis
Directed by Gabriel Cowan
2023, UK, 11 mins
Beekeeping in the United Kingdom is experiencing increasingly difficult seasons. Apis – Latin for bee – is a short film which delves into how these relationships are changing due to the impending climate crisis. By examining these relationships through multispecies ethnography, the director pieces together the stories of three British beekeepers and examines the unique bonds each beekeeper has with their bee colonies.
KEYWORDS: agriculture / farming / food, animals / multispecies ethnography, environment / climate changeArbors, Herbs and Banana Leaves
Directed by Xiaohui Liu
2024, China, 29 mins
In the mystical mountains of Yunnan, China, the Blang people and wild plants share a sacred dance of existence — where trees possess divine powers, herbs heal bodies, and banana leaves whisper to ancestors — revealing that in this ancient relationship, plants aren’t merely objects to be used, but subjects with voices of their own.
KEYWORDS: agriculture/ farming / food, archaeobotany/ ethnobotany, environmental / climate change SCREENING: Thursday, May 7th @ 12pm
Eating Spring
Directed by Yuanya Feng
2024, China, 23 mins
Zoe Yang started foraging for edible herbs to connect with her Chinese heritage in New York, where her family planted roots. This observational documentary offers an intimate portrait of Zoe’s foraging practice over spring, as filmmaker Yuanya Feng accompanies Zoe as she trespasses and forages, tasting what she picks along the way.
KEYWORDS: collective / community identity, environmental / climate change, everyday life, food ethnography, hunting / gathering / fishing, sensory ethnographyLullaby of Waves
Directed by Ayon Pratim Saikia
2023, India, 15 mins
A mother’s life in the isolated region of Sadiya, Assam, becomes a poignant exploration of belonging and identity, as she and her son navigate life shaped by the formidable Brahmaputra River and grapple with the judgments of others.
KEYWORDS: environmental / climate change, gender/ identity / empowerment, life story / life history, personal narrative, socioeconomic conditionsSheep, Dog and Wolf
Directed by Sujay Iyer
2023, Hungary, 13 mins
Hungary used to co-exist with wolves. But the environmental and political conditions drove them out of their borders for nearly 100 years. With their reemergence over the last decade Sheep, Dog and Wolf, shows Csaba and his five dogs as they care for the livestock in prime wolf territories in the northern mountains.
KEYWORDS: agriculture / farming / food, animals / multispecies ethnography, environmental / climate change, everyday life, herding, ruralI Walk While Glaciers Melt
Directed by Lucia Lambarri Barberis
2024, Peru, 9 mins
This visual essay blends animation and live-action to traverse the Andean mountains of Cusco, reflecting on walking as a medium for embracing life’s fragility and transformation. Revisiting Andean animism, rituals, and pilgrimage, it interrogates modernity and our place amid melting glaciers, while celebrating collective experiences and connections.
KEYWORDS: animation, environmental / climate change, essay film, ritual, tourism/ travel / pilgrimage
SHORT COLLECTION
ANATOMY OF CARE
Performances, practices, and biopolitics that shape health systems. [93min]
Dr. XYZ: A Medical Drag Transthology
Directed by El Jaunts
2023, UK, 14 mins
An exercise in queering the healthcare information film, weaving ethnographic healthcare accounts from Birmingham’s trans+ community with moments of drag-satire re-enactment depicting a collective vision of the UK’s healthcare system.
KEYWORDS: health / healthcare / healing, LGBTQI*, participatory / collaborative methods, political activistsTHE MEMO
Directed by Chen Sisi & Yang Xiao
2023, China, 29 mins
A video diary of the surreal lockdown made by the filmmaker couple who were trapped in a small apartment in Shanghai. In the face of endless madness, the camera gradually breaks free from the window to observe the vast, unprecedented social isolation.
KEYWORDS: digital media / internet, health / healthcare / healing, human rights, law and legislation / bureaucracySCREENING: Thursday, May 7th @ 3pm
Human Factors
Directed by Anna Dobos
2023, UK, 24 mins
An experimental documentary exploring the performativity of professionalism, care and capacity within healthcare and emergency services for the management of crisis.
KEYWORDS: everyday life, health / healthcare / healingOMI-DO
Directed by Nikolas Papadimitriou
2024, Greece, 26 mins
Approaching 80 years of age, Dimitris Omiridis trains daily, claiming a healthy and fit body. He is the owner of a fitness school in central Athens, where friends and students get acquainted with his singular philosophy and body training practice.
KEYWORDS: elderly people, life story / life history, sport
FEATURE
Above and Below the Ground
Directed by Emily Hong
2023, Myanmar, 86 mins
In Myanmar’s first and only country-wide environmental movement, Indigenous women activists and punk rock pastors defend a sacred river from a Chinese-built megadam through protest, prayer, and Karaoke music videos.
KEYWORDS: environmental / climate change, gender / identity / empowerment, indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples, infrastructure / transport / development projects, modernization / globalization, political activistsDirector Emily Hong will be in attendance for a Q&A
SCREENING: Thursday, May 7th @ 6pm
SHORT COLLECTION
CRAFTED SOUND
On instrument-making, sonic heritage, and changing musical cultures (94 mins)
Goong: Sound Through Fire
Directed by Maria Mendonça
2023, Indonesia, 34 mins
Sukoharjo in Central Java is one of the few remaining centres of bronze gong forging in Indonesia. Goong: Sound Through Fire follows the creation of a large Sundanese gong (goong) in Sutarno’s forge in Jatiteken, Sukoharjo. The film takes an immersive, multi-sensory approach, featuring the rich, multi-layered soundscape of the forge and the ever-shifting colours and intensities of the fire through the different phases of the craftsmen’s work, guided by the occasional interjections of Sutarno.
KEYWORDS: arts / artists / artisans, dance / theatre / performance, music / ethnomusicology, sensory ethnographySCREENING: Friday, May 8th @ 12pm
Director Scott Valois Linford of Minds, Hands, Work: Fidel Sambou Builds an Ekonting will be in attendance for a Q&A
Mind, Hands, Work: Fidel Sambou Builds an Ekonting
Directed by Scott Valois Linford
2024, Senegal, 22 mins
Fidel Sambou is a sculptor and player of a three-stringed musical instrument called ekonting in the Casamance region of Senegal. In this film, he builds an ekonting in a new way and discusses the inspiration for his innovations.
KEYWORDS: arts / artists / artisans, music / ethnomusicologyThe Musical Valley: Otavalo Indigenous Musicians at the Crossroads of Transnational Circulations
Directed by Jérémie Voirol
2023, Ecuador, 38 mins
A captivating exploration of Otavalo Indigenous musicians in the Ecuadorian Andes, revealing how migration, urbanisation, globalisation, and technology intertwine with ancestral sounds to shape their dynamic contemporary cultural identity.
KEYWORDS: music / ethnomusicology, participatory / collaborative methods, popular culture
SHORT COLLECTION
A Body of Work
The mechanics of human and embodied labour in the age of automation. [79 min]
Ggésék
Directed by Weiyan Low
2024, Malaysia, 18 mins
Amidst the clacking of gears and silent prayers, Matchstick is a portrait of a twilight industry — a site of memory, resilience, and human-machine intimacy.
KEYWORDS: labour, science / technology, sensory ethnographyTHE LIMITS
Directed by Pablo Barriga Dávalos
2023, Bolivia, 17 mins
The noise made by a chainsaw. The removed earth where the newly planted pine trees will grow. The Quechua spoken in the Bolivian Andes. The tense and fragile relationship that is established between them, and the many meanings that are hidden in a territory.
KEYWORDS: environmental / climate change, indigenous peoples / First Nations Peoples, land rights, social conflict, socioeconomic conditionsSCREENING: FriDAY, May 8th @ 3pm
HETEROTOPIA
Directed by Nikola Nikolic
2024, Serbia, 7 mins
Heterotopia is a film about space that integrates different categories of time, both through the issue of progress contained in the collective, and through the prism of individual and personal experience.
KEYWORDS: labour, sensory ethnographyRimana Wasi: Home of Stories
Directed by Piotr Turlej & Ximena Malaga Sabogal
2022, Peru, 20 mins
A radio host in the city of Puno, Peru, Chaska helps bring popular Quechua stories into the homes, stores, and fields of thousands of highland-dwelling families. But she is also a mom to three restless children, and a dutiful daughter of rural alpaca herders. Finding a comfortable balance between her personal dreams and her dedication to her family, in constant travel from the city to the countryside, is not proving to be easy.
KEYWORDS: family / kinship, gender / identity / empowerment, indigenous peoples/ First Nations peopleReception Room, Wing D
Directed by Ikuno Naka & Garima Jaju
2024, India, 17 mins
In a government office in New Delhi, the film follows the receptionists and the arriving public as they navigate the labyrinthian bureaucracy beyond. As files, chai, sweets, and gossip circulate between people, an intimate portrait of the state emerges.
KEYWORDS: law and legislation / bureaucracy, reflexivity, social norms
FEATURE
GOD IS A WOMAN
Directed by Andrés Peyrot
2023, Panama, 85mins
This poignant and multi-layered documentary follows the journey of Panama’s Indigenous Kuna community as they recover a long-lost film made about them in the 1970s. What begins as a quest to retrieve missing footage unfolds into a powerful meditation on cultural memory, representation, and the right of Indigenous peoples to reclaim their own image.
KEYWORDS: archival material / museum displays, collective / community identity, film / photography / mass media, history, participatory / collaborative methods, research methodsSCREENING: Friday, May 8th @ 5pm
CONCERT
Music Composer - Malcolm Cross
Gamelan Master - Nyoman Wenten
45 mins
Featuring nine musicians and three vocalists for an ensemble of gamelan and Western instruments with original music composed by Malcolm Cross featuring gamelan master Nyoman Wenten for the ethnographic films of Elemental Productions
PERFORMANCE : Friday, May 8th @ 7:30pm
SCREENING INFORMATION
VENUE
UCLA
Glorya Kaufman Dance Theater
Kaufman Hall, Room 200
PARKING
Parking Structure 4
Pay-by-space parking is available in Parking Structure 4.
Permit and Pay-by-Plate parking. Visitors may park in designated pay station parking areas. Once parked, go to the nearest parking pay station to purchase duration of parking time needed. Pay using exact cash amount or with a credit card.FREE and Open to the Public
No RSVP or Tickets Required
First come, first served
TICKETS
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