WHO Screening-Culture and Mental Health

  Introduction-  Mark Van Ommeren-WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Use ‘The culture and context is really important in mental health.’ 3.04 Dévora Kestel -Director, WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Use ‘How can learning things done in a different way will enrich the way we do our own practice? ‘ 7.06 Introduction… Read More

Tongan TV News Bulletin-20 Jan 2021

On the 20th of January Tonga Radio and Television News featured two bulletins on the Healer and the Psychiatrist including interview footage with the reporter, Marc ‘Ake. Thank you Marc ‘Ake for asking the important questions and encouraging me to state clearly what I think the message of the documentary is for a Tongan audience.… Read More

Trier Ethnographic Film Festival

Trier Ethnographic Film Festival selected the Healer and the Psychiatrist for special attention because it touched the student organisers. They filmed a dedicated interview with questions they had about the film after three viewings and also asked some general questions about ethnographic filmmaking. The general questions and video answer are here. The dedicated interview can… Read More

DER and SVA Talanoa on ‘The Healer and the Psychiatrist’ 10th December 2020

To launch The Healer and the Psychiatrist and celebrate the Best Feature Film award at the SVA Media and Film Festival, DER organised a talanoa with three esteemed panellists. Patricia Fifita As a Tongan native and professor at Oregon State, Patricia’s career spans medical and environmental anthropology and indigenous research methodologies and analytics, working toward… Read More

Film Talanoa in Hawaii

To coincide with the launch of the film at the Hawaii International Film Festival this talanoa was organised in collaboration between Brigham Young University and the Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Hawaii. There were 35 participants. 1.16 First Question- Tēvita O. Ka’ili Associate Professor of International Cultural Studies and Cultural Anthropology-Chair of… Read More

The Healer and the Psychiatrist at HIFF, Collected Voices and SVA Film Festival in November and December 2020

We have some good news to share ( and add to the current good news in the US election). The Healer and the Psychiatrist is being screened in the Hawaii International Film Festival from today until the 29th of November as part of the Pacific Showcase. I can also really recommend Lo’imata-The Sweetest Tears and… Read More

Official Selection at LIDF, GIIFF, GIEFF & RPFF

We are proud to announce that the Healer and the Psychiatrist is in the Official Selection of the London International Documentary Film Festival, Garifuna International Indigenous Film Festival, Riga Pasaules Film Festival and the German International Ethnographic Film Festival. They represent diverse documentary film making styles including  ethnographic, anthropological and indigenous film. For further information… Read More

Futa Helu’s After Dinner Speech: Tevolo and the Complexity of the Mind

The Tongan Medical Association: 56th Annual Medical Conference (1998)  This short analysis had to be cut because of length from my recent article on Dr Mapa Puloka in Transcultural Psychiatry. To approach a theorization of the diversity of public reception to Dr Puloka’s strategies, I examine the only extensive challenge to Psychiatry made by the… Read More