Garden Amidst the Flame (Natasha Tontey, 2022) was screened with Di Balik Rupa (Adlino Dananjaya, 2023) in a compilation of Lanskap: Grotesque Cinema at IFI-LIP on December 5, 2023 at 13.00 WIB. Director Natasha Tontey is present for a discussion session after the screening. Garden Amidst the Flame (2022) is a film that explores the ancient beliefs and knowledge of Minahasa, North Sulawesi. However, beyond that, Tontey brings a new color to her research by introducing perspectives that are not often touched upon by rejecting colonial perspectives and bringing vision-based ideas according to the younger generation and gender. Tontey sees the hegemony of her own family’s perspective in criticizing her research.
She discovered that the way culture and rituals around stones are viewed is still predominantly from a religious and colonial perspective. This perspective is certainly very restrictive for Tontey who investigates the twists and turns of the relationship between humans and non-humans in Minahasa. “The relationship is not just humans worshiping stones, it is an interesting practice. You could say, it is the mutual support of the Minahasa people with humans and non-humans,” said Tontey. The discovery of this interesting practice led Tontey to participate in rituals such as Karai, a coronation ceremony for Minahasan warriors that made them invincible.
During the ritual, she was also inspired to adopt a gender-sensitive approach, “I learned that the Minahasan ancestors were non-heteronormative. But why are the people so hypermasculine?” This motivated Tontey to reverse and fight against this condition by venturing to participate in the ritual. The filmmaking process became a spiritual journey for Tontey, because when she engaged herself in Karai, she felt that she was performing true worship, a spiritual closeness that was not forced and not the result of being scared. Of course, during her research, she had difficulty finding spiritual and traditional leaders who were willing to critique their own culture and recognize the patriarchal and sexist aspects of their customs. Tontey sees that these issues are deep-rooted and grown out of religion as well.
To give her story an authentic female voice, Tontey worked with groups of indigenous girls. She lived with them throughout the filmmaking process and involved them in writing the script. Garden Amidst the Flame (2022) has received acclaim at national and international festivals and has also managed to start drawing some frictions, although, as we all know, there will always be those who are closed to new perspectives and learning from things that are considered “old-fashioned” and “ancient”.
Covered by Aradi Ghalizha on 5 December 2023.
