Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) 2022 presents
The Order of Autophagia
by Natasha Tontey
Country: Indonesia | Running Time: 41 | Language: Indonesian | Year Of Release: 2021
About The Order of Autophagia
The Order of Autophagia is a recreated from banned a dinner performance back in 2017. This film takes the act of eating—an act on which human life depends—and immerses it in the cutesy yet grotesque world, inviting viewers to reflect on overconsumption and taboo subject.
The Order of Autophagia (2021)
Written and Directed by Natasha Tontey
Commissioned by Kyoto Experiment 2021
With support of Performance Space Micro-Fellowship 2020
Produced by B.M. Anggana
Cinematography by Piring Tirbing
Cast (in alphabetical order)
Ahmad Susantri
Arsita Iswardhani
B.M. Anggana
Natasha Tontey
Sound Design and Music by
Wahono / Studio Oposisi
“Ever since Columbus coined the word cannibal (derived from Caniba, which according to Columbus was an indigenous tribe in the Caribbean that practiced anthropophagy), its concept in the history of humankind has always resonated with the notion of savagery. As a cultural code, cannibalism has been excessively studied and investigated from disciplines such as anthropology and ethnography, however there are no definitive answers as to why such practice could exist. Most of these studies were biased and based on the colonial gaze or noble savage narrative. For example, a long history of cannibalism in Indonesia was written from the perspective of missionaries and 20th century colonial scientific racism—from Marco Polo’s notes on Batak people in 13th century Sumatra to Robert Gardner’s 1965 sensationalist ethnographic film Dead Birds on Dani people in Papua. Outside the anthropological view, the concept of cannibalism is accelerated into a media frenzy and moral panic perpetuated by the modern narrative of deprivation, perversion, and fetishization of morbid creatures like Issei Sagawa, Sumanto, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Gein and so on. This strange fascination of something morbid also brings a potential business opportunity as shown by how elaborately themed restaurants that focus on ‘human meat’ have mushroomed in Indonesia and around the world, exploiting the entertainment value of morbid curiosity.
Following this, a new method for thinking about cannibalism is urgently required. What if all the colonial assumptions about cannibalism are altered into a speculative way of thinking about anthropophagy? Instead of the images of savagery and fear-induced history cannibalism often connotes, we should think of anthropophagy as a non-taboo subject that might be a small solution to our ecological problem and consumption habit. Perhaps we can start not from anthropophagy but autophagy. Could this practice where humans self-cycling their energy-making by auto-eating themselves challenge our overconsumption culture? Can we rethink the human relationship with nature as a standing-reserve? What would it mean if humans could consume their own hair, scalp and fingernails as a source of energy instead of animals or plants? Although these questions are highly speculative, their imaginative approach might be rendered into a fascinating artistic gesture. A gesture that will challenge our assumption of autophagy, anthropophagy, and cannibalism and transform it into a productive thought practice. A tradition of thinking about a taboo subject not only for the sake of its horrific imagery and wicked storytelling, but for its potentiality to engender a critical discourse—a type of practice that is famously performed by a group of misfits known as Grand Guignol.” -Natasha Tontey
About Natasha Tontey
Natasha Tontey is an artist living and working in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Her artistic practice predominantly explores the fictional accounts of the history and myths surrounding ‘manufactured fear.’ In her practice, she observes any possibilities of other futures that are projected not from the perspective of major and established institutions, but a subtle and personal struggle of the outcasted entities and beings.
About The Festival
The Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) is an annual event showcasing films drawn from the world of theatre and performance. The festival presents experimental, emerging, and established theatre artists and filmmakers from around the world to audiences and industry professionals. The 7th annual festival will focus on work for the screen created by theatre artists during the Time of Corona. The festival will be held digitally from March 1st – 15th 2022.
Watch The Order of Autophagia (2021) from March 1st to March 15th 2022 on the Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) website.
Support this film by Natasha Tontey by making a direct donation to them at the following details: paypal.me/krazykosmickid
Read more about Natasha Tontey and The Order of Autophagia (2021) at (http://tontey.org) or get in touch at pesttopower@gmail.com / Instagram @krazykosmickid / Twitter @suitcasekid
