Kiriko Mechanicus on Desire, Identity, and the Mirror of Fetishization
- TYREE POPE III
- Mar 14
- 2 min read
For Kiriko Mechanicus, the story did not begin as a film.
It began as a feeling she could not shake.
Born and raised in Amsterdam, Mechanicus has long explored identity, performance, and the ways we present ourselves to the world. But when the Atlanta spa shooting happened, something shifted. The violence felt distant geographically, yet strangely personal.
She recognized something of herself in the victims. And in a way she did not expect, she found herself curious about the perpetrator.
That curiosity became How to Catch a Butterfly, premiering at SXSW.
Yellow Fever as System
Rather than focusing solely on the crime itself, Mechanicus interrogates the cultural ecosystem surrounding it. Yellow fever, racialized fetishization of Asian women, and the silence around sexual desire all form part of the framework.
Initially, she interviewed Asian women across generations. But the experiences varied widely. The story became most conflicted when filtered through her own lens.
So she made herself the entry point.
The film evolves into something deeply personal, examining how fetishization shaped her own sense of desirability, identity, and performance.
Becoming the Bait
In one of the film’s boldest choices, Mechanicus created an online persona and entered digital communities where yellow fever thrives. She positioned herself as an idealized projection of what those spaces desire.
What she expected was cruelty.
What she found was complexity.
Men shared confessions. Insecurities. Histories. Some were disturbing. Some were vulnerable. The binary of villain and victim blurred.
The film does not excuse violence. But it interrogates the systems that normalize silence around desire and shame around fetish.
Confession Over Confrontation
Mechanicus frames the documentary as more confession than confrontation. Writing letters to the shooter becomes less about receiving answers and more about understanding how performance shapes identity on both sides.
Fetishization, she argues, is a mirror.
The question is whether we are brave enough to look into it.
Why SXSW Matters
Premiering in the United States carries symbolic weight. The violence that sparked the project is tied to uniquely American systems, including gun culture and racial politics.
Showing the film at SXSW situates the conversation closer to its cultural context, inviting American audiences to examine their role in shaping the narratives the film explores.
What Remains
How to Catch a Butterfly is not interested in easy condemnation or simplistic empathy. It invites discomfort. It invites introspection.
Most of all, it invites honesty.
If fetishization is a mirror, then what do we see when we look into it?
And are we willing to say it out loud?
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