Abstract: Ethnographic movies are generally seen as movies about ethnic minorities or movies about ethnography’s anthropological studies. This understanding fails to reveal their essence: a method to acquire non- fictional images，cross- cultural communication，and an experiment. The real ethnographic movies should: explore the unknown through the equipment and tools of image recording rather than retell the known；reveal the hidden truth rather than copy the superficial content；and present the relationship between the movie makers and the images rather than intentionally avoid or construct a state of relationship according to a pattern of expression. Ethnographic movie makers should also use their professional shooting and editing skills to keep away from the influence and restraint of the inertial expression of ethnographic texts. In addition，the movie makers should remain stoical at the limitations of ethnographic movies and try to regard them as a way of discovering the world and establish an independent personality.

Key words: ethnographic movies, cross-cultural communication, non-fiction, visual anthropology