A Balinese Trance Seance
Bringing rice, flowers, and woven coconut leaves as offerings, clients visit Jero in her household shrine to figure out the cause of their son’s death. Jero ,the witch lights an incense brazier, sprinkles holy water, and recites mantras as preliminaries to trance. Several ancestors and the young son speak through her voice, revealing the exact reason of his premature death –witchcraft- and his wishes for cremation.Comparing with other films about Balinese trance focusing on the religious rituals, this film provides a more intimate and more realistic view of the fascinating process of communication between Jero, the spirits, and her clients in a more touching and emotional way.
Directors
Linda Connor
Linda Connor, an Australian anthropologist and renowned photographer, mainly researches on Indonesian traditional therapies and now works as the chief of the Department of Anthropology in Sydney University. The Asch couple had cooperated with Linda in shooting A Balinese Trance Séance and Releasing the Spirits: A Village Cremation in Bali, which unveil the Balinese Shamans.
Timothy Asch
Timothy Asch (1932-1994), Timothy Asch was born in 1932 in New York. Asch worked in various projects dedicated to the development of methods for the use of film in teaching and research, a subject on which he contributed many articles and conference papers. He co-founded Documentary Educational Resources in 1967, a non profit corporation.