Asmat: Time’s Forgotten People

A film by Jean Michel Gorillion: ZED/Odyssee

Filmed in the heart of Papua country, Asmat helps us to discover one of the most unknown people in the world. The Asmat, in addition to being feared headhunters, are also brilliant wood sculptors.
The Asmat people live on the southwestern coast of western Papua. Protected to the north by mountains and to the south by the Arafura Sea, their land has long remained free of outsiders. Explorers have always been discouraged by the Asmat’s terrifying reputation as cannibals and headhunters.
We follow Rufinus, a twenty-year-old Asmat, who must perform an ancient ritual before he can be married. He must capture and kill a cassowary, the great solitary bird that lives in the depths of the jungle.The groups elder’s will assist him, giving Rufinus a sense of belonging to the Asmat people, who their neighbors call "the men who eat the men."

Jules Vernes Prize, Jules Vernes Festival, Paris, 2001
Gold Globe, Hamburg Festival, 2001

"Highly recommended for anthropology and/or ethnology collections." Educational Media Reviews Online

52 min. Video or DVD. Sale $295. Video rental $75.