The World Nomads Ethnographic Film Festival will be held at the “Nomads” World Culture Festival, August 21–23, 2026. Hosted by the Commission on Nomadic Peoples and the International Institute for the Study of Nomadic Civilizations under the Auspices of UNESCO.
Day 1: Friday, August 21, 2026
Block 1: Pastoralism in Film ⏱️ 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Opening 75-minute screening presentation featuring climate change, water harvesting, Maasai youth, and Rajasthan Raika camel herders, followed by a joint filmmaker panel discussion.
Man-made climate change is creating conditions on our planet that are increasingly characterised by variability and unpredictability.
Part of the MOOC course material for Pastoralism in Development created by IIED, MISEREOR, and Saverio Krätli.
Produced for the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), this short documentary showcases smallholder farmers and pastoralists as frontline water managers in Africa, advocating for investments in rainfed agriculture and soil moisture conservation.
A 10-minute participatory documentary made by a freshly trained-in-filmmaking group of young Kenyan Maasai women and men from the Maasai Mara, sharing their firsthand observations on climate change, changing seasons, land privatization, and cultural transformation.
Highlights the struggle of the Raika camel herders of Rajasthan, India, as they advocate for grazing access rights within the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary, demonstrating their role as stewards of forest biodiversity.
Features community-led initiatives in Rajasthan to create sustainable livelihoods from camel milk and camel wool products, aiming to save endangered camel herds and preserve the traditional Raika way of life.
For hundreds of years, the Dhangar nomads have kept sheep on the Deccan Plateau in Maharashtra State, India.
In northeastern Nevada, the Humboldt Ranch is transforming more than 350,000 acres of public and private rangelands through innovative grazing practices.
Panel Discussion: Pastoralism, Media, and Climate Action
- Saverio Krätli (Climate change and pastoralism)
- Radhika Gupta (Catching Raindrops in Africa)
- Joana Roque de Pinho (Maasai Voices on Climate Change)
An interactive joint panel discussion with presenting filmmakers Saverio Krätli, Radhika Gupta, and Joana Roque de Pinho, moderated by the festival host. The panel explores frontline climate adaptation, rainwater harvesting, Indigenous youth filmmaking, and policy advocacy across African and global drylands.
Block 2: Social and Environmental Change ⏱️ 1:45 PM – 3:50 PM
Focusing on Indigenous environmental justice in Mongolia, Saharan salt trade caravans, and Slovenian youth transhumance, featuring live filmmaker Q&A discussions.
An ethnographic documentary examining how climate change, overgrazing, and destructive mining practices threaten Mongolian nomadic herders.
A student workshop documentary about a Slovenian urban family who moved to the countryside to dedicate themselves to goat herding, capturing their daily commitment, hard manual labor, and family bond.
Filmed in 2000 with lightweight equipment in harsh desert conditions, this documentary follows a Tuareg (Kel Eway Imjaghan) camel caravan traveling across the Sahara to Bilma, documenting traditional trade routes, desert survival, and social organization.
Block 3: Subarctic Tundra & Boarding School Transitions ⏱️ 4:00 PM – 5:05 PM
An intimate examination of Arctic nomadic childhood and tundra youth preparing for remote boarding school.
Filmed in the Arctic tundra of the Yamal Peninsula, Russia (produced in 2024), this intimate documentary follows Nika, a young Nenets girl living with her nomadic reindeer herding family as she prepares to leave her tundra home for a remote boarding school.
Block 4: Alpine Transhumance & High Mountain Herding ⏱️ 5:15 PM – 6:55 PM
Our Day 1 closing feature follows young Macedonian brothers battling loneliness and harsh terrain to sustain transhumance traditions.
A feature-length documentary produced in 2025 following young brothers herding sheep in the rugged mountains of North Macedonia, delving into family relationships, loneliness, and the struggle to sustain high-altitude transhumance.
Day 2: Saturday, August 22, 2026
Block 5: Steppe Herders & Asian Pastoral Traditions ⏱️ 10:00 AM – 11:20 AM
Exploring Mongolian river basin herders and Southern Indian sheep pastoralists.
The Tes River flows from the Bulnai Mountains through three Mongolian provinces – Khuvsgul, Zavkhan and Uvs – feeds into Lake Uvs, registered by UNESCO in 2013 as a Natural World Heritage site.
For hundreds of years, the Dhangar nomads have kept sheep on the Deccan Plateau in Maharashtra State, India.
In this film, a nomadic woman shares her daily life in Ladakh’s high mountains.
Block 6: Pastoral Knowledge & Ecological Stewardship ⏱️ 11:30 AM – 12:50 PM
Documenting traditional ecological knowledge, rangeland biodiversity, and sustainable savanna livestock systems.
From inside his yurt in northern Mongolia, the reindeer herder Bayandalai ‒ an elder of the Dukhas tribe ‒ muses about the significance of life and death in the largest forest on Earth, the Taiga.
László Sáfián – born into a Hungarian family that has been herding for generations – explains how he, with his dog, manages close-herded grazing on a patchy semi-natural pasture.
Canada’s native grasslands are disappearing at an alarming rate; they are one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world.
The Karamojong are herdsmen in the North-East of Uganda and guardians of their landscape.
Man-made climate change is creating conditions on our planet that are increasingly characterised by variability and unpredictability.
Commission for Nomadic Peoples Roundtable
Block 7: Youth and Intergenerational Knowledge ⏱️ 3:00 PM – 4:35 PM
Following Afar girls in Ethiopia, Maasai youth returning home, Nama community conservancies, and Irish transhumance.
This film tells the story of two girls in Afar, northeast Ethiopia, and how they face challenges in their young lives: Fatuma seeking to avoid the traditional arranged marriage and Asya trying to deal with livestock theft and conflict with the Somali Issa.
In this intimate and groundbreaking film, Laissa Malih, the first female Maasai filmmaker, returns to her ancestral village in Laikipia to explore how climate change is transforming Maasai lands and lives.
After several years of negotiations with the South African National Parks Board, the local Nama people were allowed to remain living and grazing their livestock in a designated nature conservation area – the Richtersveld World Heritage Site in Northern Cape Province bordering Namibia.
This film shows the living cultural heritage of transhumance in Europe: moving livestock to different grazing grounds in a seasonal cycle that goes back as long as people have been farming in the region.
Block 8: Andean Highlands & Rangeland Restoration ⏱️ 4:45 PM – 6:05 PM
Vicuña conservation in Bolivia, Nevada ranch restoration, Italian wolf co-existence, and Spanish transhumance.
In the high Andes of Peru and Bolivia, Quechua and Aymara families depend on alpacas and vicuñas for their livelihoods, selling the animals’ prized fiber.
In northeastern Nevada, the Humboldt Ranch is transforming more than 350,000 acres of public and private rangelands through innovative grazing practices.
In Italy’s Apennine Mountains, large carnivores are creating problems for herders.
This documentary brings the testimonies of three herders – Fernando, Juan and Sofía – who have learnt to live close to wolves.
Day 3: Sunday, August 23, 2026
Block 9: Environmental Justice ⏱️ 10:00 AM – 11:50 AM
Re-visiting environmental justice in Mongolia, Nenets reindeer herding, and Slovenian youth transhumance.
An ethnographic documentary examining how climate change, overgrazing, and destructive mining practices threaten Mongolian nomadic herders.
Filmed in the Arctic tundra of the Yamal Peninsula, Russia (produced in 2024), this intimate documentary follows Nika, a young Nenets girl living with her nomadic reindeer herding family as she prepares to leave her tundra home for a remote boarding school.
A student workshop documentary about a Slovenian urban family who moved to the countryside to dedicate themselves to goat herding, capturing their daily commitment, hard manual labor, and family bond.
Block 10: Saharan Caravans & Desert Stewardship ⏱️ 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM
Ancient trade routes across the Sahara and desert camel herd preservation in Rajasthan.
Filmed in 2000 with lightweight equipment in harsh desert conditions, this documentary follows a Tuareg (Kel Eway Imjaghan) camel caravan traveling across the Sahara to Bilma, documenting traditional trade routes, desert survival, and social organization.
A 10-minute participatory documentary made by a freshly trained-in-filmmaking group of young Kenyan Maasai women and men from the Maasai Mara, sharing their firsthand observations on climate change, changing seasons, land privatization, and cultural transformation.
Features community-led initiatives in Rajasthan to create sustainable livelihoods from camel milk and camel wool products, aiming to save endangered camel herds and preserve the traditional Raika way of life.
Highlights the struggle of the Raika camel herders of Rajasthan, India, as they advocate for grazing access rights within the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary, demonstrating their role as stewards of forest biodiversity.
Block 11: Climate Perspectives ⏱️ 1:30 PM – 2:55 PM
Re-examining Mongolian steppe mobility, rainfed water harvesting, and Taiga elder reflections.
The Tes River flows from the Bulnai Mountains through three Mongolian provinces – Khuvsgul, Zavkhan and Uvs – feeds into Lake Uvs, registered by UNESCO in 2013 as a Natural World Heritage site.
Part of the MOOC course material for Pastoralism in Development created by IIED, MISEREOR, and Saverio Krätli.
Produced for the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), this short documentary showcases smallholder farmers and pastoralists as frontline water managers in Africa, advocating for investments in rainfed agriculture and soil moisture conservation.
From inside his yurt in northern Mongolia, the reindeer herder Bayandalai ‒ an elder of the Dukhas tribe ‒ muses about the significance of life and death in the largest forest on Earth, the Taiga.
Block 12: Alpine Transhumance & Closing Ceremony ⏱️ 3:15 PM – 6:00 PM
Festival closing screening featuring Macedonian sheep transhumance, Hungarian pasture management, and Bolivian vicuña stewardship.
A feature-length documentary produced in 2025 following young brothers herding sheep in the rugged mountains of North Macedonia, delving into family relationships, loneliness, and the struggle to sustain high-altitude transhumance.
László Sáfián – born into a Hungarian family that has been herding for generations – explains how he, with his dog, manages close-herded grazing on a patchy semi-natural pasture.
In the high Andes of Peru and Bolivia, Quechua and Aymara families depend on alpacas and vicuñas for their livelihoods, selling the animals’ prized fiber.