Shop for a film
Anthropology (1/6)
Ethnographic documentaries about people, cultures and societies around the world, including Africa, Papua New Guinea, Okinawa, India, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Sardinia, and Australia.
ADVERTISING MISSIONARIES
1996 (PG) 52 min
A look at the determination of advertising companies to reach the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea, where more than three quarters of the population cannot be reached by regular advertising. A small theatre group travels to the remote region, performing soap operas devised around advertising messages for a variety of... more
ARNAV AT SIX
2014 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 28 min
A child's complex view of the world around him more
ART OF REGRET, THE
2007 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 59 min
Photography is known in China as the "art of regret." In the rapidly changing city of Kunming, people are ambivalent about whether they want photography to be a medium of preservation and evidence, or of transformation and fantasy. more
AWARENESS
2010 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 67 min
Filmed in South India at Rishi Valley School, founded by the 20th Century Indian thinker Jiddu Krishnamurti, Awareness explores the sensibilities of two groups of young Indian teen-agers - a group of girls in their dormitory, and a group of boys in theirs — as they live out their daily experiences at the school. more
BALANDA AND THE BARK CANOES, THE
2006 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 52 min
This lively and eye-opening documentary is a companion film to TEN CANOES, the landmark feature film which Rolf de Heer made with the people of the Arafura Swamp in Central Arnhem Land. (TEN CANOES and its compilation sequel, TWELVE CANOES, are both available from Ronin Films). more
BALI TRIPTYCH
1988 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 174 min
Three one-hour documentaries that explore the history, culture and way of life of the people of Bali - Episode 1: BETWEEN THE MOUNTAIN AND THE SEA; Episode 2: THE PATH OF THE SOUL and Episode 3 DEMONS AND DEITIES. more
BRIDEWEALTH FOR A GODDESS
2000 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 72 min
This film documents the last performance of the ritual for the fertility goddess Amb Kor, in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. Shot over a period of approx. 15 years, the anthropologists and filmmakers have been participant-observers during a time of pivotal change for the clans of the Kawelka tribal group. more
![BUNGALUNG [from the CAAMA Collection]](/images/small/4481.jpg)
BUNGALUNG [from the CAAMA Collection]
2007 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 22 min
An epic Dreaming story re-told by Anmatjere Elders, in which two young men challenge a clan of Demons. more
![CAMELS & THE PITJANTJARA [from the AIATSIS Collection]](/images/small/9706.jpg)
CAMELS & THE PITJANTJARA [from the AIATSIS Collection]
1969 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 45 min
A classic documentary from 1969 which records the Pitjantjara people's use of feral camels in central Australia, capturing and taming them, and using them as pack animals. more
CARING FOR THE LAGOON
2011 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 52 min
In the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, a magnificent lagoon is at the heart of its social, cultural and economic life. The story of the islanders' efforts to protect their lagoon offers a microcosm of the challenges facing sensitive ecological systems world-wide. more
CELSO AND CORA - A Manila Story
1983 (G) 109 min
CELSO AND CORA is a feature-length film about a young couple and their two children living in a squatter settlement in the Philippine capital, Manila. Rather than just a report on poverty, this is a universal story of people experiencing everyday events with a mixture of humor, irritation, weariness, and courage. more
CHILD'S EYE, THE
2018 (G) 147 min
AVAILABLE ONLY ON DVD! Through a series of workshops across India, documentary filmmaker David MacDougall sought to empower young filmmakers to engage directly with the world around them, using cameras to interrogate and explore what they saw, from their own unique child's perspective. more
![COLLUM CALLING CANBERRA [from the AIATSIS Collection]](/images/small/7239.jpg)
COLLUM CALLING CANBERRA [from the AIATSIS Collection]
1981 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 56 min
A cattle station's view of negotiating with a distant bureaucracy. more
![CONISTON MUSTER [from the AIATSIS Collection]](/images/small/9704.jpg)
CONISTON MUSTER [from the AIATSIS Collection]
1972 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 28 min
A classic documentary about the annual muster on Coniston cattle station, north-west of Alice Springs, and its Aboriginal head stockman, Coniston Johnny, who narrates much of the film. more
COWBOY AND MARIA IN TOWN
1991 (G) 59 min
Attracted by the myths of town life and the chance of work, people from villages all over Papua New Guinea have come to the towns. COWBOY AND MARIA IN TOWN tells the story of two such migrants living in the settlements that surround the capital, Port Moresby. more
CRACKS IN THE MASK
1997 (G) 56 min
A century ago the Torres Strait Island were the subjects of the famous Cambridge Anthropological Expedition - the resulting depletion of their cultural artifacts left them with nothing but a history of remembered loss. The only people in the Pacific to make elaborate turtleshell masks have none left - they are all in foreign... more
![CROOKHAT AND THE KULUNADA [from the CAAMA Collection]](/images/small/4585.jpg)
CROOKHAT AND THE KULUNADA [from the CAAMA Collection]
2010 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 23 min
Stories of the water serpent, Kulunada, which inhabits a permanent waterhole in the arid desert country of central Australia. more
DEATH IN THE CITY
2022 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 72 min
An intimate portrayal of the sacred city of Varanasi, situated on the holy Ganges, 'the river of life'. The city is the revered destination for death for Hindus since time immemorial, with legendary funeral pyres burning non-stop for over three millennia on the river bank. more
EMILY IN JAPAN - The Making of An Exhibition
2009 (PG) 82 min
Behind the scenes of the blockbuster exhibition of paintings by the Indigenous artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye which toured Japan attracting record crowds. more
ETCHED IN BONE
2018 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 73 min
When the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC agrees to repatriate stolen human bones from northern Australia, an Aboriginal elder creates a ceremony that restores his ancestors' spirits to their homeland. more