ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a guide to the practical and ethical considerations encountered when living and working with people during the production of an ethnographic film. The suggestions presented here are based on current thinking in the academic field and author experiences in the process of making a number of ethnographic films with Pacifica, Maori, and disabilities communities within New Zealand and in the South Pacific. However, ethnographic film practice and the resulting works can also, more charitably, be perceived as a practice born of curiosity and respect. It is not too far-fetched to claim that ethnography can and should be founded on genuine curiosity, compassion, and intellectual wonder. The relationships, rapport, and integrity developed between the host community and the researcher can open doors and enable access for the filmmaker that would otherwise take months, if not years, to establish.
