FILMAKERS LIBRARY

Anthropology

for more films on New Guinea
for more films on Anthropology

HIGHLANDS TRILOGY

by Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson

This newly released DVD collection of the Highlands Trilogy includes 20-minute commentaries by the filmmaker which shed fascinating light on the process of filming a people who had no previous exposure to the white man
.

You may order the trilogy on DVD with this enhanced material for $890, plus $10 shipping and handling.

First Contact

Academy Award Nominee, 1984

"It's a disturbing film, full of head-on challenges to colonial and racist attitudes. Yet it's a deeply human experience too." - Christian Science Monitor
"An astonishing record... which captures this clash of cultures with an un-selfconsciousness that is virtually absolute. 'First Contact' has a wistfulness and humor that accompany even its most startling revelation." - The New York Times
"The film is a phenomenon, evoking comparable enthusiastic reactions from anthropologists, judges in international film competitions, and packed audiences in Australian and American theaters." - American Anthropologist

This is the classic film of cultural confrontation that is as compelling today as when it was first released over ten years ago.

When Columbus and Cortez ventured into the New World there was no camera to record the drama of this first encounter. But, in 1930, when the Leahy brothers penetrated the interior of New Guinea in search of gold, they carried a movie camera. Thus they captured on film their unexpected confrontation with thousands of Stone Age people who had no concept of human life beyond their valleys. This amazing footage forms the basis of First Contact.

Yet there is more to this extraordinary film than the footage that was recovered. Fifty years later some of the participants are still alive and vividly recall their unique experience. The Papuans tell how they thought the white men were their ancestors, bleached by the sun and returned from the dead. They were amazed at the artifacts of 20th century life such as tin cans, phonographs and airplanes. When shown their younger, innocent selves in the found footage, they recall the darker side of their relationship with these mysterious beings with devastating weapons.

Australian Dan Leahy describes his fear at being outnumbered by primitive looking people with whom he could not speak. He felt he had to dominate them for his own survival and to continue his quest for gold.

First Contact is one of those rare films that holds an audience spellbound. Humor and pathos are combined in this classic story of colonialism, told by the people who were there.

Grand Prix, Cinema du Reel, 1983
Red Ribbon, American Film Festival, 1983
Margaret Mead Film Festival, 1983
American Anthropological Association, 1984
Best in Sociology, San Francisco International Film Festival, 1983

54 min. Video or DVD. Sale $395. Video rental $85.

Joe Leahy's Neighbours

"It is a movie about ... the clash between economic individualism and communal values, the narrow line between business growth and exploitation. With enormous skill filmmakers Robin Anderson and Bob Connolly build this gripping story ..." - LA Weekly

"Superb... powerful, important and beautifully constructed..." - American Anthropologist

"The unrehearsed story unfolds before the eyes of the viewer, providing an example of the remarkable enlightening power that documentary film making can have when it is done sensitively and well. Adapt or die, is the message, delivered with grace and understanding." - The New York Times
This film is the followup of First Contact (see above). It traces the fortunes of Joe Leahy, the mixed-race son of Australian explorer Michael Leahy, in his uneasy relationship with his tribal neighbors. Joe built his coffeeplantation on land bought from the Ganiga in the mid 1970's. European educated, raised in the highlands of Papua, freed by his mixed racefrom the entanglements of tribal obligation, Joe leads a Western lifestyle governed by individualism and the pursuit of affluence.

While Joe may live in Western grandeur, he is still surrounded by his subsistence level Ganiga "neighbors," who never let him forget the original source of his prosperity. Joe spends much of his waking hours just keeping the lid on things.

Filmmakers Connolly and Anderson lived for eighteen continuous months on the edge of Joe's plantation, in the "no man's land" between Leahy and the Ganiga. Their lively, non-judgmental narrative eloquently captures the conflicting values of tribalism and capitalism.

Grand Prix, Cinema du Reel, 1989
Earthwatch Award, 1989
Award for Excellence, American Anthropological Association, 1989
Basil Wright Prize, Royal Anthropological Institute, 1989

90 min. Video or DVD. Sale $395. Video rental $85.

Black Harvest

"...a documentary of extraordinary historical resonance... so rich that watching it feels like taking an inspired crash course in economics and cultural anthropology." - The New York Times
"With the scale and richness of classical tragedy... the movie records and the downfall of a man caught between two cultures." - Newsweek

The third film of the renowned trilogy on Papua New Guinea joins First Contact and Joe Leahy's Neighbours in our collection. This film charts the progress of Joe in convincing the Ganiga tribespeople to join him in a coffee growing venture. He is to provide the money and the expertise; they are to supply the land and the labor. He stands to make 60%; the tribespeople 40%. Tribal wars and the drop in coffee prices on the world market conspire to defeat the venture. Always suspect because of his mixed-race status, Joe is in deep trouble with the tribespeople when his promises of riches fail to materialize. As he organizes to emigrate with his family to Australia, he is a saddened man with an uncertain future.

Grand Prix, Yamagata International Documentary Festival, 1993
Audience Award, Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival, 1992
Grand Prix, Cinema du Reel, 1992

90 min. Video or DVD. Sale $395. Video rental $85.

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First Contact
Academy Award Nominee, 1984

"It's a disturbing film, full of head-on challenges to colonial and racist attitudes. Yet it's a deeply human experience too." - Christian Science Monitor "An astonishing record... which captures this clash of cultures with an un-selfconsciousness that is virtually absolute. 'First Contact' has a wistfulness and humor that accompany even its most startling revelation." - The New York Times "The film is a phenomenon, evoking comparable enthusiastic reactions from anthropologists, judges in international film competitions, and packed audiences in Australian and American theaters." - American Anthropologist
This is the classic film of cultural confrontation that is as compelling today as when it was first released over ten years ago. When Columbus and Cortez ventured into the New World there was no camera to record the drama of this first encounter. But, in 1930, when the Leahy brothers penetrated the interior of New Guinea in search of gold, they carried a movie camera. Thus they captured on film their unexpected confrontation with thousands of Stone Age people who had no concept of human life beyond their valleys. This amazing footage forms the basis of First Contact. Yet there is more to this extraordinary film than the footage that was recovered. Fifty years later some of the participants are still alive and vividly recall their unique experience. The Papuans tell how they thought the white men were their ancestors, bleached by the sun and returned from the dead. They were amazed at the artifacts of 20th century life such as tin cans, phonographs and airplanes. When shown their younger, innocent selves in the found footage, they recall the darker side of their relationship with these mysterious beings with devastating weapons. Australian Dan Leahy describes his fear at being outnumbered by primitive looking people with whom he could not speak. He felt he had to dominate them for his own survival and to continue his quest for gold. First Contact is one of those rare films that holds an audience spellbound. Humor and pathos are combined in this classic story of colonialism, told by the people who were there. Grand Prix, Cinema du Reel, 1983 Red Ribbon, American Film Festival, 1983 Margaret Mead Film Festival, 1983 American Anthropological Association, 1984 Best in Sociology, San Francisco International Film Festival, 1983 54 min. Video or DVD. Sale $395. Video rental $85.