Ileksen - Politics in Papua New Guinea

In 1975 Papua New Guinea became independent, an event O'Rourke captured in YUMI YET (1976) which is also screened in this festival. In ILEKSEN (derived from the English 'election') the rural population of the island is introduced to the British electoral system during its first free elections. Since the local politicians do not dispose of an extended media network they must exert all their ingenuity to gain votes. One of them engages a noisy rock 'n roll band, another one goes to tea with the principal of a British school. Yet another one makes a tour of the villages - wearing traditional clothes and a head-dress of feathers - with a megaphone, shouting a single message: "Forget the others!". In ILEKSEN O'Rourke draws an hilarious, yet respectful picture of the electoral contest that may look chaotic, to say the least, to Western eyes, but to which the inhabitants of New Guinea respond duly.