About us
RAI FILM is the cinema section of the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) – the world’s longest-established scholarly association dedicated to the promotion of anthropology (the study of humankind). Through film, we explore cultural diversity, encourage intercultural dialogue, and support filmmakers. We present a biennial film festival, organise screenings and film events across the UK, distribute ethnographic films for educational use, and maintain an extensive film archive and library, providing a dynamic platform and valuable resources for discovering the world of anthropological documentary filmmaking.
Upcoming events
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What Work Does Music Do? A free programme of short films about music
Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image, 43 Gordon Sq, London WC1H 0PY, UK, London, GBBOOK YOUR FREE TICKETS HERE: https://www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event/64773/what-work-does-music-do-four-films-on-music-labour-belonging-and-displacement
As part of a new strand of public activities, the Royal Anthropological Institute Film Office has been inviting external collaborators to explore its catalogue and bring new perspectives to it. What Work Does Music Do? was curated by Birkbeck MA Film Programming and Curating student Mariana Lafratta during her placement at RAI FILM, where she researched the collection and selected four films that approach music as a social and cultural practice.
The films in this programme approach the work that music does from very different places and perspectives. In Singing Pictures – Women Painters of Naya, songs accompany the painted scrolls of women in West Bengal, carrying knowledge while contributing to changes within their community. Mind, Hands, Work – Fidel Sambou Builds an Ekonting follows a Senegalese musician and sculptor as he makes an ekonting, revealing the relationship between craft, sound, memory and tradition. In The Beat Goes On, samba brings generations together through the shared practice of carnival. Finally, Ghetto PSA portrays a young migrant in Turin who uses hip hop to reflect on his past, his displacement and his place in his new surroundings.
Moving between South Asia, West Africa, South America and Europe, the films reveal music as something deeply connected to everyday life. It can be a form of work, a repository of knowledge, a means of belonging, an expression of resistance, or a way of making sense of who we are and where we come from. What Work Does Music Do? invites us to listen differently – and to ask what music makes possible.
1 attendee
Past events
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