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On Behalf of the Living
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Filmmaker Name:
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Ton Otto, Christian Suhr, Gary Kildea
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Film Length:
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105 min
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Film Year:
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2023
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Duration:
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91-119 min
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Decade:
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2020s
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Language:
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in Tok Pisin, Paluai, Danish, Dutch and English
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Subtitle Language:
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with English, Spanish and Polish subtitles
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Region:
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Oceania
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Subject:
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Science and Technology
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On Behalf of the Living unfolds on two levels: an exploration of humanity’s preoccupation with life after death and the story of one anthropologist’s experiment—taking his lifelong “participatory” research on a Papua New Guinea island to its logical, if counter-intuitive, conclusion.
The film is composed of three strands. The first includes footage that Ton Otto filmed with his parents in the Netherlands, where discussions of faith, God, and eternity are argued out ‘en famille’. The second strand takes place on Baluan Island, where Christian Suhr documents Ton’s reunion with his adoptive family. Before long, the two find themselves entangled in complex disputes —both spiritual and personal. The third strand, in a different register altogether, consists of a series of dialogues between Ton and Christian, one-on-one. Through alternating first-person perspectives, they interrogate and challenge each other with rare directness, questioning the very viability of their experiment—and even the anthropological project as a whole. This strand functions as a Greek Chorus, providing a check on the ideas and insights emerging from the main storyline. While probing the realm of the ancestors, the film’s primary source and frame of reference remain the lived experiences of the people—mostly family—that it embraces with its lens.
Writing about his motivation for making the film, Ton writes that he was interested in confronting “one of the great mysteries of human life: its ending. What happens after our biological demise? What kinds of afterlife are imaginable? How do we continue to relate to our dead loved ones? Being an anthropologist by profession I was driven to immerse myself in different cultural worlds, not only to discover alternative beliefs and practices but also to challenge my own ideas about the continuities and discontinuities between the living and the dead.”
"On Behalf of the Living is a stunning film. It is about Papua New Guinea, and the Netherlands and Denmark, but even more, it is about the nature of human life and death. Terrence Malick-like in its scope, it is also the best film of any kind about religion I have seen in a long time…It is a major piece of work."
— Prof. Joel Robbins, Cambridge University, UK
SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDSEthnografilm, France, 2024
NAFA Int'l Ethnographic Film Festival, Denmark, 2023
Int'l Festival of Ethnological Film, Macedonia, 2023
Ethnofest - Athens Ethnographic Film Festival. Greece, 2023
European Society for Oceanists, France, 2022
On Behalf of the Living
Dedicated to the memory of
Kees Otto and Ngat Selan
A film by
Ton Otto, Christian Suhr, and Gary Kildea
With thanks to all who appeared
Rika Otto-de Jong
Kees Otto-de Jong
Lisa Otto
Eva Otto
Pia Otto-Schurtenberger
Deacon Jack Honings
Pwanou Selan
Alup Jessy
Asap Selan
Ninou Kireng
Keket Maluan
Maiau Keket
Poli Papi
Ngat Selan jr.
Constant Sawali
Bonnie Noan
Alup Selvia
Micah Keket
Ronni Noan
Ngi Michael
Membup Paril
Alup Sameal
Kireng Wari
Sakumai Yep
Frida Sanesan
The members of
Win Neisen Church.
Baluan Praise and Worship.
Legion of Mary.
Seventh Day Adventist Church
and everyone on Baluan who took part.
The parishioners and choir of
St Petrus & Paulus Church
Wolder, Maastricht
Cinematography
Christian Suhr
Second Camera
Ton Otto
Editor
Gary Kildea
Location Assistance
Narileng Pwanou
Philip Peter
Additional Video
Eva Otto
Post-production Support
Darja Hoenigman
Rosemary Kildea
Music
Blijf mij nabij (Abide with me) trad.
Choir of St Petrus & Paulus Church, Wolder
Bifo Bifo Tru
Win Neisen Choir (comp. Noan Kanawi)
God Em I Stap trad.
Baluan Praise and Worship congregation
O, Little Town of Bethlehem trad.
Flute quartet of Harmonie Wilhelmina, Wolder
Goodbye
Win Neisen Choir (comp. Noan Kanawi)
Kisim Laif Bilong Mi trad.
Vocals Ton Sapuri
Thanks to
Bard Aaberge, Patsy Asch, Mette Bahnsen
Pedro Blanco, Anne Chahine, Viktor Baskin Coffey
Peter Crawford, Jennifer Degen, Leslie Devereaux
Christiane Falck, Barberine Feinberg, Ana Lúcia Ferraz
Dominique Fusi, Hale Güney, Russel Hawkins
Rosita Henry, Anna-Karina Hermkens, Jeff Kildea
Arine Kirstein Høgel, Steffen Köhn, Jerry Leach
Les McLaren, David MacDougall, Klaus Neumann
Rob Nugent, Roseanne O’Rourke, Robert Otto
Andrew Pike, Sven Rath, Brad Riley, Alan Rumsey
Andrea Simon, Stephanie Spray, Ingrid van der Steen,
Annie Stiven, Asger Suhr Bahnsen
August Suhr Bahnsen, Laurits Suhr Bahnsen
Jaap Timmer, Christos Tsirogiannis
Daniela Vavrova, Christian Vium, Tanya Volentras
Residents at Valdemarsgaard.
AIAS fellows and colleagues at the
Anthropology Department, Aarhus University
and the Anthropology Research Seminar,
James Cook University
Produced with financial assistance from
Independent Research Fund Denmark Humanities
Aarhus University, Denmark
James Cook University, Australia
Produced by
Ton Otto and Christian Suhr
MMXXIII OttoSuhrKildea
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