Ethnographic Film Unit

The Anthropology Department supports a state-of-the-art Ethnographic Film Unit staffed by acclaimed film-maker, Gary Kildea gary.kildea@anu.edu.au.

The video cameras, editing lab and other facilities of the Ethnographic Film Unit are available to academic staff and postgraduate students in Anthropology in conjunction with their research projects.

A wide range of video titles are available for purchase

Video Titles

Please direct all orders and enquiries to Gary Kildea

A celebration of origins: Wai Brama, Flores, Indonesia
E.Douglas Lewis, Patsy Asch and Timothy Asch
45 min

This film is a record of the gren mahe rituals of the people of the domain of Wai Brama. The gren mahe is the largest religious event of the Wai Brama ceremonial system and requires the participation of the whole community. The film examines ceremonial leadership and the role of evolving religious practice in a changing society.

Buli moments: an anthropologist's film-notes
Nils Bubandt
55 min

In 1994, Nils Bubandt returned to his field site in Buli Asal on the Indonesian island of Halmahera. This tape is a visual diary of his impressions of everyday life. The film suggests that the experiences of seemingly insignificant episodes may be intimately linked to anthropological understanding.

In the play of life: a Wayang performance in East Java
Raharjo Suwandi, Patsy Asch and James J. Fox
30 min

This videotape examines the philosophy and ritual practices of the followers of a holy man popularly known as Embah Wali. The group regards wayang as a model for living. Their ritual practices involve the performance of a unique form of wayang with human actors.

Four films on a healer in Central Bali
on one 120-minute cassette
Timothy Asch, Linda Connor and Patsy Asch
120 min (total)

A Balinese trance sequence
Jero Tapakan is 'entered' by deities and spirits who converse with her clients. Unbeknown to her, they wish to contact the spirit of their dead son to learn the cause of his death and his wishes for his cremation ceremony. (30 min)

Jero on Jero: a Balinese trance seance observed
Jero watches and listens to A Balinese trance seance for the first time. Her spontaneous comments provide insights into her feelings while possessed, her understanding of sorcery, and her humility in the presence of the supernatural world. (16 min)

The medium is the masseuse: a Balinese massage
Jero uses massage and traditional medicines to treat Ida Bagus, who suffers from sterility and seizures. Jero, Linda and Ida Bagus discuss the nature of his illness. Through her treatment and her words, Jero reveals her conceptions of the human body, the nature of illness, the contrast between Western and traditional Balinese medicine, and the relationship between human beings and the cosmos. (31 min)

Jero Tapakan: stories from the life of a Balinese healer
Jero begins with an account of her family's extreme poverty that culminated in her decision to leave her husband and children and to wander as a pedlar. She describes some of the mystical experiences that led her to recognize her own 'blessed madness' and to return home. Jero's account is unique, but themes of poverty, mysticism, madness and humility are common elements in the autobiographical accounts of many Balinese healers. (26 min)

Releasing the spirits: a village cremation in Bali
Patsy Asch, Linda Connor and Timothy Asch
44 min (also includes Ngarap; see below)

In 1978, as part of the preparations for the island-wide ceremony eka dasa rudra, religious officials urged all Balinese to cleanse the island by creamating their dead. Many were forced to pool resources and hold group cremation rituals. The film shows preparations for such a ceremony and its cycle of rituals: the cremation, post-cremation and casting of the ashes into the ocean. The film includes subtitled comments by four of the participants.

Ngarap: fighting over a corpse
Anthony Forge
17 min (also includes Releasing the spirits; see above)

In 1973, Anthony Forge filmed the cremation of an older woman from an affluent 'commoner' family. As her body was moved from her family compound to the cremation tower, men of the ward seized the body and began to fight over it, as was traditional in that part of Bali. Forge juxtaposes his recording of this event with Gregory Bateson's 1937 footage of a ngarap and footage of Balinese paintings. The video is based on an unfinished version Forge was working on with Patsy Asch before his death.

The water of words: a cultural ecology of a small island in Eastern Indonesia
James J. Fox, Timothy Asch and Patsy Asch
30 min (also includes Spear and sword; see below)

The film examines the ecology and poetry of everyday life on the island of Roti. Two Rotinese men narrate the film, each offering his perception of the importance of the lontar (Borassus) palm: a clan leader describes the many practical uses of the palm; a poet tells of its origin and mythic significance. The film complements James J. Fox's book The harvest of the palm as well as his essays on ritual language in Indonesia.

[click here] to view the interactive website for The water of words

Spear and sword: a payment of bridewealth on the island of Roti
James J. Fox, Timothy Asch and Patsy Asch
25 min (also includes The water of words; see above)

The film begins as the groom's side gathers the animals and money for a bridewealth payment, and discusses problems that may arise in negotiating the exchange. In ritual silence, they then go to the bride's family house, where discussions procees in a number of stages, interspersing ritual forms with lively conversation. When agreement is reached, drinking and feasting begin, and a chanter recounts the origin of the first bridewealth payment.

Air Kata-Kata
James J. Fox, Timothy Asch and Patsy Asch
30 min

This is an Indonesian language version of The water of words, using native speakers. It is particularly useful in teaching the language.

Contestations: dynamics of precedence in an Eastern Indonesian domain
Michael P. Vischer
55 min

The recording follows a journey from the island of Palu'e to the mainland to purchase water buffalo. Back at Palu'e, a series of sacrifices is held to make amends for transgressions. The events, part of the ceremonial cycle of the domain of Ko'a, are the arena in which the order of precedence is periodically contested and reasserted. The strategies employed by various factions of the domain are highlighted.