Dealing with Exorcism

Documentary – A rare glimpse into the life of a village community on Ambon, one of the Moluccan islands. Pastor Ina Lempoy and her husband, Pastor Eddy Lempoy, are leading a Pentecostal church community in the village of Suli, Ambon Island. Almost every day they are confronted with cases of ancestral spirit possession. One person they try to help is Yanti, who is possessed by evil spirits. Exorcism is embedded in the traditional customary law or adat, which is connected to an unseen world of ancestors. What is the Pentecostal approach?

Director: Atêf Sitanala
Moluccas | 2012 | 45 min
Ambonese Malay/Indonesian spoken, English subtitles

– This film is selected for the ‘Beeld voor Beeld’ filmfestival 2013 at EYE Film Institute in Amsterdam, Netherlands
– This film is screened during the monthly theme (january 2014) of Ethnocineca’s filmklub in Vienna, Austria
– This film is screened during a theme night (march 2014) in Parnassos Cultuurcentrum in Utrecht, Netherlands

*Graduation film made in the context of the Master Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University, the Netherlands. Thesis Dealing with Exorcism – Spirit Possession in the Moluccas; Hedendaagse belevingen van bezetenheid in Suli. Een christelijk dorp op Ambon, Midden-Molukken is available. Interested? Send an email to mail@atefsitanala.com.
March 24, 2023