Abstract: In the process of shooting and editing ethnographic films，some filmmakers are willing to include their own images and voices in the films while others refuse to do so. This paper holds the idea that they should appear in the films they make in appropriate scenes and time and in their appropriate status of relationship. There are three reasons：as media that interpret cultures，ethnographic films should present the result of the influence and stimulation of the makers and cameras on those being filmed；as evidences of such interpretation，they will achieve the desired credibility only when their makers appear in some scenes；and as results of intercultural exchanges，they ought to reasonably present the evolutionary process of relationships and the scenes of interactions between the makers and the people photographed. Certainly， the makers must control the“appropriateness”not to appear in the films simply for the purpose of “appearance”. This is because ethnographic films are man-made products jointly created by the makers as “men”and the photographed as“men”through mutual respect and communication.

Key words: ethnographic film, cultural interpretation, intercultural exchange, filmmaking, filming