Roy VILLEVOYE

Born 1960 in Maastricht, the Netherlands
Based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Artist, filmmaker. Through his artistic practice, Villevoye explores the central issues surrounding the stereotypes in anthropological expression, documentary filmmaking and the legacy of colonialism. His filmic works are often considered as documentaries, but Villevoye clearly distances himself from the genre. Since the early 1990s, he has been producing works about the Asmat people of Papua, formerly a Dutch territory and now a province of Indonesia.

In Voice-Over, the filmmaker documents the preparation by Papuans in the tropical rainforest of a large, traditional wood carving for use in a ceremony to commemorate the recently deceased Omomá, who was a good friend of the filmmaker. At the same time, viewers witness and are drawn into a telephone conversation that demonstrates the harsh reality of the “art business” confronting the filmmaker.