The New Dress

In their films about the Asmat, Roy Villevoye and Jan Dietvorst attempt to move beyond the usual narrative of exploration, conversion, exploitation and domination. In New Guinea, kept under Dutch colonial rule until 1962, the Asmat still lead a traditional life as hunter-gatherers, and engaged in headhunting until late into the 20th century. Every history also exists in a micro-version. is a portrait of missionary Majella Hoppenbrouwers, now 86 years old, who has lived and worked with the Papuan people for almost her entire life. She arrived in their jungle as a 21-year-old novice in 1956, when Westerners were extremely rare. She was still lacking life experience and had ended up a missionary almost by chance. While the now elderly nun tells her story to Villevoye and Dietvorst, a seamstress makes a dress identical to the one she wore in the tropics. Hoppenbrouwers remains emotionless and matter-of-fact as she recounts this formative period of her life – until she puts on the new dress.