An immersive, sooty black-and-white documentary about an annual Burmese trance ritual, with echoes of Jean Rouch and David Lynch.
5
Wavelengths
Natpwe, the feast of the spirits
Tiane Doan na Champassak, Jean Dubrel
Playing as part of Wavelengths 4: Elysium
In Natpwe, the feast of the spirits,
co-directors Tiane Doan na Champassak
and Jean Dubrel have produced an immersive,
seemingly timeless document of an
annual Burmese trance ritual that dates
back to the eleventh century. Shot in Super
8 and 16mm in sooty black and white,
the film conveys the astonishing sense of
liberation of tens of thousands of bodies
and minds — a mass expression of faith,
but also a rapturous respite from societal
intolerance.
ANDRÉA PICARD
Screenings
Mon Sep 09
Jackman Hall
Regular