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As well as organising the biennial RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film, the RAI Film Committee publishes ethnographic documentaries under educational licence, manages one of the most comprehensive film and video libraries in the world, and a fast-growing film archive with reference copies.

The RAI Film Committee acts as contact point in the UK for information, networking and advice in visual anthropology and advises a growing numbers of film company researchers and broadcasters, who consult the RAI film collections. A lively screening programme with films and talks is curated for academic institutions (SOAS, LSE), cinemas, museums (British Museum, Tate Modern, Whitechapel, Horniman) community groups (LGBT, Photographers Gallery, LUX), festivals, conferences, archives and schools, as well as regular public engagment film events upstairs at the RAI.  

Other income streams are currently being explored, such as expanding sales opperations via a subscription based streaming service or to evaluate access to commercial stock footage and other film marketing and education platforms.

The RAI Film Committee, composed of internationally recognised British film and TV documentary makers and University teachers of visual anthropology, coordinates these activities and cooperates with other RAI committees on educational or archival collection programmes.

Joint secretaries Hatty Frances Bell and Stephen Hughes

The current Committee members are:

Judith Aston (Chair), Susanne Hammacher, Felicia Hughes-Freeland, Lola Martinez, André Singer, Hugh Brody, John Paul Davidson, Ed Owles, Angela Torresan, Teri Brewer, Barbara Knorpp, Howard Reid, Theresia Hofer, Raminder Kaur, Angela Piccini, Renée Godfrey, Roger Canals, Gabriel Dattatreyan, Sebastien Rabas, Caterina Sartori, Aparna Sharma, Lee Douglas, Chihab El Khachab, Anna Grimshaw, Stephen Hughes, Hatty Frances Bell