[ANU Pacific.Institute] FW: Fri at 17 Oct: On Behalf of the Living: Film Screening and Q&A

[CAP Partnerships]

Dear Pacific Institute subscribers,

Professor Ton Otto, Aarhus University, Denmark, will be visiting ANU in October 2025. on Otto, born in the Netherlands, is Professor of Anthropology and Ethnography at the University of Aarhus. He has conducted fieldwork in Papua New Guinea since 1986 with a focus on issues of social and cultural change. Since his first fieldwork he has used video as part of his research and teaching but also as a means of exchange with the people he collaborates with in his studies. While here, Ton will undertake the following activities that you are most welcome to join. Details of the activities provided below:


  1.  Ton Otto is one of the filmmakers of the film On Behalf of the Living, for which a film screening and Q&A session will be held on Friday 17th October. Registration details can be found here<https://events.humanitix.com/on-behalf-of-the-living-film-screening>.
  2.  Seminar in the anthropology seminar series on Monday 20th October. Details can be found here: https://archanth.cass.anu.edu.au/events/temporal-ambiguities-win-neisen-transformations-historicity-paliau-movement-manus-papua
  3.  Seminar in the CHL Muddy Boots and Fieldnotes seminar series (to be announced).





͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌

[Australian National University]
ANU School of Culture, History & Language (CHL)
[https://files.outfit.io/media_library_items/665617/NH%2520Film%2520Screening%2520-%2520Copy%2520%25283%2529.jpg]
On Behalf of the Living
Film Screening & Q&A
Friday, 17 October 2025
6pm–9pm (6pm for 6:30pm start)
Location: Hedley Bull Theatre 1, Hedley Bull Building, 130 Garran Rd, Acton ANU

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.

Speaker: Ton Otto, born in the Netherlands, is Professor of Anthropology and Ethnography at the University of Aarhus. He has conducted fieldwork in Papua New Guinea since 1986 with a focus on issues of social and cultural change. Since his first fieldwork he has used video as part of his research and teaching but also as a means of exchange with the people he collaborates with in his studies.

The film screening will be followed by a Q&A session with one of the film makers, Professor Ton Otto

A preview of the film is available here<https://youtu.be/W4m5V7hiwDo?si=NevqAF2vZ8Ezbns_%5d>.

An interview with Ton Otto can be found here<https://www.der.org/responsible-reciprocal-and-relevant-filmmaking-a-conversation-with-ton-otto-about-his-baluan-trilogy/>.

This event is supported by ANU School of Culture, History and Language and the ANU Pacific Institute at the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.
REGISTER NOW <https://events.humanitix.com/on-behalf-of-the-living-film-screening>
For further information
communicate.chl at anu.edu.au <mailto:communicate.chl at anu.edu.au>
[https://files.outfit.io/media_library_items/265891/ANU-facebook.png]<www.facebook.com/ANU.CHL>
[https://files.outfit.io/media_library_items/265893/ANU-linkedin.png]<https://www.linkedin.com/company/school-of-culture-history-language>
[https://files.outfit.io/media_library_items/265892/ANU-instagram.png]<https://www.instagram.com/anu_schoolchl/>
The Australian National University,
Canberra

TEQSA Provider ID: PRV12002 (Australian University)

CRICOS Provider : 00120C
ABN : 52 234 063 906
[Australian National University]



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://mailman.anu.edu.au/pipermail/pacific.institute/attachments/20250925/92a6f3b2/attachment-0001.html>