Dreaming a Narrative and Conjuring an Image: Collaborative Filmmaking with People and Spirits in Melanesia

Abstract

This article explores long-term creative engagement, through filmmaking, with a community in Papua New Guinea. It examines the process and results of three feature film projects done in collaboration with Melanesian communities. The films discussed here have employed diverse methods to engage with people creatively. All three of these ethnographic films seek to privilege local epistemologies through their construction, narrative approaches and subjects. The article details the methodologies employed for promoting indigenous ways of knowing. It is suggested that filmmaking and creative engagement have helped generate a meaningful site for Lak communities to explore their traditional practices and identity.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was made possible thanks to the generosity and hospitality of my Lak hosts over very many years. Special thanks to Francis Remiduce Tomikalai, Thersa Marlisi, their family and the community in Rei. In Siar community I am grateful for the ongoing support of Patrick Toarbusai, Sophie Masinda, Cosmas Toalami, Cecelia Rodi, Toru Thadeus, Lenny Koroirong, Douglas Pangi and Freddy Abi. I am especially grateful to Elson Toaniti, Christian Dokon Tobung and Suambu Philipo for their guidance, acceptance and encouragement during my initiation into the Buai practice. Thanks also to Caroline Bennett for providing feedback.

FUNDING

This research was made possible through funding from the Wenner-Gren Foundation, Fejos Postdoctoral Fellowship and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

NOTES

Notes

1 For a brief ethnographic sketch of the Lak, see Albert [1991].

2 Certain camera operations, like zooming and low light operation, depleted the batteries faster.

3 The capitalized “Buai” is used throughout to distinguish the magical practice from the homonym for betel-nut, also known as buai in Tok Pisin.

4 Lak and Siar terms are distinguished from Tok Pisin words by the use here of an “(L)”.

5 See Wolffram [2017] for a detailed account of the Buai initiation process.

6 Stori Tumbuna: Ancestors’ Tales has won several international awards recognizing the level of creative collaboration involved in the film. These awards include the Society for Visual Anthropology Jean Rouch Award for collaborative filmmaking, 2012; The Aperture Festival Awesome Award, 2013; Parnu International Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival best audiovisual documentation award, 2013.

7 In the end the majority of my interlocutors settled on the title Rubber’s Kastom as it was the way in which most participants had come to describe the ritual sequence.

8 These comments are translated from notes taken during screenings in Siar, Rei and Manga. Screenings were typically held in hamlets with audiences of between 16 and 45 people in Nov. 2016.