Published
2-7-2025
Type of Work
Conference Presentation
Abstract
Through the Glass Darkly is an experimental Australian-Indonesian film adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, employing fragmented narratives, hallucinatory imagery, and cross-cultural spiritual frameworks to explore violence, guilt, and moral corruption. The project emerged from a collaboration between Australian and Indonesian film professionals and educators. Drawing on trauma cinema aesthetics and Indonesian mystical traditions (Kebatinan, Rangda masks), the adaptation structures itself around five vignettes: prophecy, murder, hallucination, retribution, and washing. The filmmaker employs a "heuretic" research methodology, prioritizing exploration over interpretation, to create a hybrid cultural text that interrogates Western canonical literature through postcolonial perspectives while navigating censorship through international collaboration.
Citation
Thompson, J. (2025). Through the Glass Darkly: Cross-Cultural Collaboration and the Experimental Adaptation of Shakespeare. [Conference Presentation]. Revelation Perth International Film Festival Academic, Australia. https://forms.revelationfilmfest.org/academic-conference/
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Film Production Commons, Fine Arts Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Screenwriting Commons, Visual Studies Commons