Jero on Jero: A Balinese Trance Seance Observed
In 1980, anthropologist Linda Connor and filmmakers Tim and Patsy Asch returned to Bali with video cassette recordings of A Balinese Trance Seance. The resulting film presents some of her reactions to Connor as she watched and listened to herself fo...
The Water of Words: A Cultural Ecology of an Eastern Indonesian Island
This film explores the poetry and ecology of the lontar (borassus) palm on the eastern Indonesian island of Roti. Anthropologist James J. Fox collaborated with the filmmakers to produce an account of the utilization of lontar, a tree that provides t...
A Celebration of Origins
The people of the Tana 'Ai region of Flores, Indonesia live in seven ceremonial domains, of which Wai Brama is the largest and the oldest. The people of Wai Brama are shifting cultivators, hunters and gatherers who, unlike their neighbors, have main...
Jero Tapakan: Stories from the Life of a Balinese Healer
Jero, who know sustains a lively practice as both medium and masseuse, recalls her earlier poverty and despair as a farmer, and how she fled her home and wandered briefly in the countryside as a peddler. After serious illness and mystical visions, s...
Spear and Sword: A Ceremonial Payment of Bridewealth
This traditionally ethnographic sequence film focuses on the negotiations betwen representatives of two families during a payment of bridewealth. In the past the husband's group would carry a spear and a sword to hang in the wife's house. Now, a pay...
Releasing the Spirits: A Village Cremation in Bali
Cremation rites are the most elaborate rites of passage performed by Balinese householders. Poor families may wait years before accumulating enough resources to cremate their dead, who are buried in the meantime. In 1978 many more cremations than us...
A Balinese Trance Seance
Bringing offerings of rice, flowers, and woven coconut leaves, clients visit Jero in her household shrine to determine the cause of their son's death. Jero lights an incense brazier, sprinkles holy water, and recites mantras as preliminaries to tran...
The Medium is the Masseuse: A Balinese Massage
Unlike many spirit mediums, Jero Tapakan practices as a masseuse once every three days, when possession is not auspicious. This film focuses on Jero's treatment of Ida Bagus, a member of the nobility from a neighboring town. Jero has been treating h...