What is behind the fetishisation of Asian women? This is the question which Kiriko Mechanicus uses to structure her intense, hyper-referential essay film, taking up a criminal case at the start: Robert Aaron Long shot and killed a series of women, primarily of Asian origin, in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2001. She starts writing letters to him in prison: “Maybe in some way you remind me of many of my ex-boyfriends.” By weaving together sexuality, projection and performance, the director sets off down an uncomfortable path, which simultaneously becomes a process of self-interrogation: to what extent did she slip into the role of the submissive Japanese woman in the past? Or “When was the last time I didn’t pretend to be your prey and you weren’t trying to hunt me down?” “How to Catch a Butterfly” examines the pins holding the director’s wings in place – and removes them in a charged act of self-empowerment.

Carolin Weidner