Shop for a film
MAN WITHOUT PIGS
Year: 1990
Classification: G
Runtime: 59 min
Produced In: Australia
Directed By: Chris Owen
Produced By: Chris Owen, Gavan Daws, Andrew Pike
Language: Binandere and English dialogue, English subtitles
Winner, Best Documentary, Hawaii International Film Festival.
Official Selection, Nyon International Documentary Film Festival, Switzerland, 1991
John Waiko is the first Papua New Guinean to reach the status of professor. After receiving his doctorate from the Australian National University he travelled back to his village on the Gira River to celebrate the achievement with his own people. His academic supervisor from the Australian National University, Hank Nelson, was invited along as a guest of honour.
Produced and directed by Chris Owen
Associate Producers - John Waiko, Andrew Pike, Hank Nelson, Gavan Daws
Location Manager - John Waiko
Cinematography - Chris Owen
Sound Recordist - Andrew Pike
Editor - Chris Owen
Post-production Consultant - Les McLaren
Editing Assistant - Urgei Akon
"There are many complex areas of the cultures of Papua New Guinea for instance which are not yet familiar to anthropologists and others." says Dr Waiko.
"Anthropologists talk in the classroom about the subtle differences of class and alliances. But it is extraordinary to see this portrayal with such insight into the situation." - Dr Arth, Margaret Mead Film Festival, New York.
"TABARA village (John's birthplace) is a community where no-one works for money, no-one pays for things with money and there are no wheels. His family, who have always lived there, expect John to compete and advance within the village, according to village rules, but he is not as alert to the detail of ritual, and the forces that flow in the village, as some of his age-mate rivals. John's strength is that he can intervene in the outside world to secure benefits for the Tabara community. His family wish him to be a man of status within the village: his rivals want to have the right to make John carry their message to the outside world." - Hank Nelson.
Dr John Waiko (born 8 August 1944) passed away on 16 November 2024. He was a wise and enthusiastic collaborator on this film, and before that on ANGELS OF WAR. (1982).
The attached article about the expedition during which MAN WITHOUT PIGS was filmed, was written by Hank Nelson in 1987. The article was originally published in 1987 for the journal, Overland, and then was re-published by the Australian National University Press in 2014, in a collection of articles called The Boy from Boort, celebrating Hank Nelson's life and work. (Hank had passed away in 2012).