Shadows & Illuminations
Shadows & Illuminations follows an older Balinese man, Nyoman Kereta, as he struggles with the intrusion of spirits into his consciousness. Kereta says he has been living in two worlds, the world of his family and community and the world of the spirits, for the past 40 years. His experiences skirt the borders of cultural and spiritual norms, simultaneously manifesting and exceeding Balinese beliefs about the supernatural world and the possibilities for human interaction with it. KeretaÂ’s reported experiences seem credible or explicable to some, bizarre and extraordinary to others, enigmatic or doubtful to his wife, and the sign of major mental illness to his psychiatrist. The film documents his painful history of trauma, loss and poisoning, and draws on his other family member's interpretations of how to understand his struggles and distress. Central questions of how to interpret his experiences, and what role a schizophrenia diagnosis entails are explored.
Shadows & Illuminations is part of the three part series, Afflictions: Culture and Mental Illness in Indonesia, which was shot over the course of 12 years in Bali and Java, Indonesia, as a result of longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork conducted by psychological anthropologist Robert Lemelson, exploring the relationship between culture, mental illness and personal experience. Through a trilogy of person-centered case studies, Afflictions seeks to address a series of questions about mental illness, difference, and deviance. Shadows & Illuminations addresses how to understand personal experiences considered bizarre or beyond the boundaries of normal. The Bird Dancer addresses how to understand stigma, difference, and the nature of suffering. Family Victim addresses how to understand those who are troublesome or disruptive in their social world.