To celebrate sometimes means to celebrate right in the face of oppression. That is the message you get immediately once the film Wantoks: Dance of Resilience in Melanesia begins, and you see the 40th anniversary celebration of the people of the Solomon Islands, off the coast of Indonesia.
By Kylie Powers for Winter Film Awards
See the NYC Premiere of documentary Wantoks: Dance of Resilience in Melanesia on Tuesday February 25 @ 7:45 PM at Cinema Village (22 East 12th Street) as part of New York City’s 9th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival.
The twenty-minute documentary Wantoks leaves an immediate impact and tells the story of the people of the Solomon Islands, who separated from Papua New Guinea in 1978 and are celebrating their 40th anniversary. Film maker Iara Lee invites us in to a celebration of culture, dance, tradition and art as a festival brings in young and old and numerous artists to one spot from all over the Solomon Islands.
The documentary however eventually leads to a much more insightful look at the conflict between Indonesians and the people of West Papua, as it uses the power of the camera to highlight economic, ethnic, and environmental injustices.
What starts as a celebration eventually begins a much more dire discussion. Though shots of dancers, women singing, and children with facepaint tell the story of this joyous event, interviewees begin voicing their fears about what is going on in West Papua, as the people of the Solomon Islands are “praying” for their neighbors independence.
The film as a whole explores the little known but impactful effect of colonization on this area of the world, noting the differences in the people of Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian descent and treating their cultures with great care. The clips of celebration slowly turn to shots of protests and violence in West Papua. Issues of possession of territory and colonial regimes are discussed as well. As a viewer, we juxtapose images of protestors holding “Free West Papua signs” with clips of Indonesian civilians denying that a genocide is even happening, or that simply “there is no conflict there”. Handheld clips and videos from social media show a much different scene of the violence and the harrowing images of bodies as West Papuan people are considered “slaves in their own country”.
Director Iara Lee is no stranger to conquering difficult conversations about injustice and activism in her film-making. As a founder of the organization Cultures of Resistance Network, she encourages educators, farmers, and artists to become activists and aware of global issues through creative resistance. She has spent the past decade directing and producing films that highlight the struggles of indigenous people, women, and minorities, with features like Burkinabe Rising, The Battle of Xingu, The Suffering Grasses, and several more. Wantoks just carries on her tradition of creating thoughtful documentaries about marginalized groups fighting to maintain their ways of life.
When asked about how she felt covering the two sides of the conflict, Lee said “It was hard to believe that there was so much celebrating, when something was happening to these peoples’ brothers next door.” Lee is able to speak about not just the social injustices in her film, but the injustice of what is happening to this area’s enviroment, as a result of other industrial nations mining and burning of fossil fuels.
However, as we discussed the themes of resistance demonstrated in the film, Lee added “Art, celebration, culture- all this articulates to the world that these people are not drowning, they are fighting. That they use art and celebration to fight.” As we discussed the choice to end the film back to the dancers after the environmental section, Lee adds “Sometimes we want to get depressed, we freeze in our problems, because there is a tsunami of problems in the world, but we can’t. We ended with a hopeful note, going back to the festival and the people, showing that there are options to resist amidst all this negativity.”
I asked Lee, in regards to her style of film-making and of hand-held cameras to encourage all people to be activists. “I really try to promote citizen film-making”, she said “Our suffering is global, our solidarity should be too”.
Wantoks is the kind of film that makes you feel small, but not necessarily in that tsunami style despair Lee discussed earlier; it makes viewers realize that they are just one of many people whose small actions can make a difference.
The activists in the film who climb mountains to display flags of protest or the dancers who shout into the camera that they won’t give up in the face of oppression inspires the viewer to do more and to learn more about what’s going on in the world.
If Lee’s goal with Wantoks is to get viewers ready to become activists of their own, or least become more aware of the situation in West Papua, she has surely succeeded.
Kylie Powers
Kylie Powers is a writer, blogger, fundraiser, and video editor with a passion for storytelling and international film. She studied Global Media and Communications at Ramapo College of New Jersey, where she graduated with her B.A. in 2019. She is a passionate writer and musician who enjoys playing guitar, traveling, and writing short stories.
About Winter Film Awards
New York City’s 9th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival runs February 20-29 2020. Check out a jam-packed lineup of 79 fantastic films in all genres from 27 countries, including shorts, features, Animation, Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Horror, Documentary and Music Video. Hollywood might ignore women and people of color, but Winter Film Awards celebrates everyone!
Winter Film Awards is an all volunteer, minority- and women-owned registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2011 in New York City by a group of filmmakers and enthusiasts. The program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the NY State Council on the Arts.
