One of a series of short films shot in 1912-1913 in the Dutch East Indies by J.C. Lamster that were commissioned by the Koloniaal Institute.
Despite the title, there are very few shots inside a village. The film begins with series of sequences by river (children playing, crossing a bridge, washing clothes, oxen, gathering water from mountain streams). There is then a shot of village headman meeting another local authority and going off together on horses, followed by a brief shot of feast of roast goat meat, a lemonade seller and children enjoying his wares.
Mostly shot as a series of static wide-angle shots, though in the roast goat feast, there are some cuts to wide GVs to close shot of man doing the cooking by an open fire.
The hornbill bird masked dancer (left) dances with a group of other Karo-Batak masked dancers – ‘Gundala-gundala & Ndikkar’ – L.P. de Bussy (1917)
3:22 mins., b&w, silent (Dutch intertitles)
Production: Koloniaal Institut, Amsterdam
Background – This film was shot by L.P. de Bussy who made a number of films about the Karo-Batak for the Dutch Koloniaal Institut. It is available on YouTube here, where it has been uploaded with a soundtrack of extra-diegetic music. Although it carries the EYE logo, this film does not feature in the listing of its Dutch East Indies films.
Content – ‘Gundala-gundala’ is a Karo Batak term for a particular form of masked dancing, while ‘ndikkar’ is an archaic term for a traditional form of martial art. The film consists of a series of distant shots of dance performances. These are largely static though there are also a few pans. Notwithstanding its technical limitations, the film provides a valuable record of some remarkable dances.
The first sequences consists of Batak women dancing in a village plaza with masked men standing in the background. This is followed by a particularly impressive dance of a man wearing an elaborate mask representing the hornbill. He twists and turns his head rapidly, obviously imitating the movements of the bird. Other masked dancers dance in support (see above).
The action then moves to a rural location to show a ‘war dance’ performed under a broad shade tree: presumably this is ndikkar. A series of shots shows two men, stripped to the waist, dancing in opposition to one another, gesturing extravagantly, while a third man, dressed differently, acts as some form of intermediary or third party.
The film then returns to the village for the final dance, which consists of two men, also dancing in opposition to one another, but this time the dancers are older, are fully dressed and are wielding swords.
The film ends with a shot of the Sultan of Serdan and his chief administrator who, it is revealed in an inter title, were also spectators of the village dances.
The palanquin preceding the coffin of the deceased – ‘Enterrement annamite’ [Annamite Burial] (1899-1900) – dir. Gabriel Veyre
Probably less than one minute, b&w, silent
Production/ Source : Lumière, catalogue no. 1271
This is one of some 33 ‘views’ shot in French Indochina by the leading Lumière cameraman, Gabriel Veyre in the period April 1899 – March 1900. While many of these were of military parades, industrial processes or general street scenes, this is one of ten ‘views’ that cover more obviously ethnographic subjects. For further details, see the page dedicated to Gabriel Veyre here.
Source : EYE Dutch East Indies collection, viewable here
Extract from the EYE catalogue
“A reportage about the various crafts, customs, and the culture of the Karo-Batak, an ethnic group in Sumatra. The film concludes [last minute only] with Western gymnastics exercises being performed by indigenous schoolchildren”
110 mins., b&w, silent – Dutch titles and intertitles.
Production : Soverdi
Source : EYE Dutch East Indies collection, viewable here
Ethnodrama, shot on island of Flores. On the film itself is dated to 1923, but this maybe the year on which the ‘true story’ on which this fiction is based took place. Year of production in EYE catalogue given as 1930
EYE catalogue entry :
“Christian mission propaganda film about a Christian girl’s arranged marriage to a Muslim .The parents of Christian girl Ria Rago have arranged for her to marry Dapo, a Muslim. She refuses and, after a beating, flees to the mission sisters who offer her a safe haven. Her father and his cronies aren’t long in finding her, however, and she is taken back into the kampong. After months of torture, Ria still won’t give in. She escapes again and manages to reach the mission post where she collapses. On the brink of death, she is administered the last rites. Ria’s father decides to call off the marriage and returns the dowry to Dapo. On her deathbed Rita forgives her parents.”
Source : EYE Dutch East Indies collection, but not currently viewable on-line
EYE catalogue entry:
” Film about the thwarted love between a village girl and a young fisherman. This Sundanese language film by Mannus Franken tells the story of an Indonesian Romeo and Juliet. Machmoed and Wagina love each other but village tradition forbids marriage between a villager and a fisherman. The theft of the village elder’s sacred dagger sets in motion a whole train of disastrous events. In the end the dagger is found and Machmoed and Wagina live happily ever after.
Pareh, een rijstlied van Java was made especially for the local Javanese population and was meant to encourage the Javanese to leave their island and move to the much more sparsely populated Sumatra. To make the message more convincing, local Javanese were hired to play the parts. Only the Wayang puppeteers and Gamelan players were professional artists. Franken’s film was commissioned by the Centrale Commissie voor Emigratie en Kolonisatie van Inheemschen (the central committee for emigration and colonisation of native peoples).
Mannus Franken (1899-1953) was one of the founding fathers of the Dutch Filmliga and director of the celebrated Amsterdam Liga theatre De Uitkijk. He is best known for his co-direction, with Joris Ivens, of both Rain/Regen (1929) and Breakers/ Branding (1929).”
Source : EYE Dutch East Indies collection, viewable here
Informational film. Year of production 1917.
EYE catalogue entry:
“Shots of various Karo-Batak crafts: cotton processing, weaving of reeds, rope making, working with iron, silver and gold, the manufacture of pottery, and the cutting and drying of tobacco. In staged settings, the people of Karo-Batak demonstrate their skills. The shots also give a picture of the environment, architecture, clothing, and jewellery of the Karo-Batak.”
Source : EYE Dutch East Indies collection, viewable here
Background – This film was shot in 1917, released in 1920 and directed by L.P. de Bussy who made several films about the Karo-Batak for the Dutch Koloniaal Institut. In common with his other films, the cinematography consists primarily of a series of static wide shots and the occasional pan. However, the quality of the images is generally high and as such, the film offers a valuable record of Karo-Batak ritual procedures at that time.
Content – The film consists of two quite distinct parts. Only the first six minutes concern the Batak funeral; the remaining two minutes concern a series of dances and ceremonial activities aimed at the alleviation of drought.
The funeral section follows various different stages of the event: farewell dances by the relatives as the body is cremated on an open pyre, a ‘welcoming’ dance by the relatives (presumably for those who have come to attend the funeral), the transport of the bones remaining from the cremation in an elaborate funeral tower, perhaps ten metres high, across the countryside to the burial ground. Musket are fired en route. At the burial site, a cloth is laid out, presumably for the bones, though these are not shown being placed on the cloth. We only seem some mourners engaged in lamentations from behind.
After another shot showing a priestly figure engaged in an unexplained religious ritual of some kind (above), the funeral part of the film concludes with the manufacture of a fake corpse which is placed outside the village fence in order to fool malignant spirits.
The ceremonial activities to alleviate drought seem by contrast to be very light-hearted. They appear to be based on the principle of ‘sympathetic magic’ in that as well as a women’s rain dance in which the dancers appear to be dancing with bamboo water containers, they consist largely of dancing and mock fighting in the river (see above).
Source : EYE Dutch East Indies collection, viewable here
Production : Kolonial Instituut
Informational film. Production year 1918. Censorship date 1929
EYE catalogue entry:
” Everyday scenes and ritual services in the village. Women doing housework: pounding flour, and carrying water. A Balinese district chief on the way to the Poera (Temple), and worship at home altars. The council of Kerta has a meeting, the chiefs and an inspector pronounce justice. Processing and writing on lontar leaves. Wood carvers.”
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