By Anthony Frajman
A collaboration born out of a partnership between Indonesian and Australian crews, the film peers into the mores, ceremonies and social life of the Toraja people, the inhabitants of a highland region in South Sulawesi, a province of Indonesia located on the Sulawesi island.
The film is a rare glance at the relatively unknown Torajans, who have extensive and long-established customs, which involve treating funerals as celebrations, and caring for deceased relatives well after their death, until they can be given expensive burials, which are considered jolly, pleasant gatherings.
In All Circles The Moon And Dirt Shines In The Sun, locals of the province are seen dancing, gathering and cheering at these festivities.
The film is comprised of four video channels, projected on four screens simultaneously, made up of 4000 video clips.
Alongside this footage of burials, clips of groups celebrating are alternated with rituals such as sacrificing animals, school, family and ceremonial gatherings, and more mundane social events, like people attending rock concerts.
The four video feeds are made from archival footage of the Torajan community, spanning over 15 years, filmed entirely by Indonesian camerapeople Victor Konda, Egy Tonapa, Edwar Kevin Ada, Paul Tandiayu and Arnold Sirenden Souisa of the Sulawesi cable, online broadcaster and videographer DSTV. This footage is supplemented by text from interviews with DSTV founder Konda.
The project was conceived in 2017, when a crew from Dogmilk Films, the Melbourne company behind the work, first travelled to Makassar, the capital city of South Sulawesi, intending to capture footage of the Torajan populace.
Upon arrival, they discovered that there were several groups of Indonesian filmmakers working towards similar ends.
That trip led the team from Dogmilk to collaborate on the installation with broadcasting company Delta Sangalla’ TV (DSTV), and to set up Sipakatuo (Glorify One Another) – a cross-cultural exchange program intended to link together Australia and Indonesia.
All Circles The Moon And Dirt Shines In The Sun offers an enterprising and first-hand look into a culture and a people seldom seen.
