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Papua New Guinea (1/2)
Recent political events in Papua New Guinea, as well as stories about culture and society, many of them produced in Papua New Guinea itself by resident filmmakers.
ADVERTISING MISSIONARIES
1996 (PG) 52 min
A look at the determination of advertising companies to reach the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea, where more than three quarters of the population cannot be reached by regular advertising. A small theatre group travels to the remote region, performing soap operas devised around advertising messages for a variety of... more
ANGELS OF WAR
1982 (PG) 54 min
RE-MASTERED FROM ORIGINAL FILM NEGATIVES! In January 1942, Papua New Guinea became the battle ground for nearly 2 million foreign soldiers. This film documents the experiences of Papua New Guinea's indigenous population during this campaign. more
BETELNUT BISNIS
2004 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 52 min
An often humorous story of a "grass roots" family in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, who make a precarious living by trading in betelnut, one of the world's most widely used narcotics. The film presents us with a vivid portrait of present-day Papua New Guinea - not the "doom and gloom" stories that dominate the media,... more
BIKPELA BAGARAP [Big Damage]
2011 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 43 min
Bikpela Bagarap reveals the human face of logging in Papua New Guinea. more
BOUGAINVILLE SKY
2004 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 75 min
A film about Bougainville's transition from bitter civil war to peace, and about the music and the people who made it happen. more
BRIDEWEALTH FOR A GODDESS
2000 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 72 min
This film documents the last performance of the ritual for the fertility goddess Amb Kor, in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. Shot over a period of approx. 15 years, the anthropologists and filmmakers have been participant-observers during a time of pivotal change for the clans of the Kawelka tribal group. more
CANNING PARADISE
2012 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 90 min
Decades of over-fishing by the global tuna industry have now pushed the final frontiers to the waters of Papua New Guinea. In the 1950s, the world was fishing out 400,000 tons of tuna. This number is now close to 4 million. And it comes at a high cost: a human one, now affecting the last places on earth to receive the full... more
COWBOY AND MARIA IN TOWN
1991 (G) 59 min
Attracted by the myths of town life and the chance of work, people from villages all over Papua New Guinea have come to the towns. COWBOY AND MARIA IN TOWN tells the story of two such migrants living in the settlements that surround the capital, Port Moresby. more
CRACKS IN THE MASK
1997 (G) 56 min
A century ago the Torres Strait Island were the subjects of the famous Cambridge Anthropological Expedition - the resulting depletion of their cultural artifacts left them with nothing but a history of remembered loss. The only people in the Pacific to make elaborate turtleshell masks have none left - they are all in foreign... more
FORGOTTEN BIRD OF PARADISE
2009 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 27 min
A rare and moving insight into West Papua's struggle for freedom. more
GOGODALA: A Cultural Revival?
1976 (G) 58 min
The stormy history of the Gogodala people earlier this century, and the attempts in the 1970s to revive their culture, form the basis for this superbly photographed film by Chris Owen. more
KORIAM'S LAW
2006 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 110 min
In Koriam's Law Australian anthropologist Andrew Lattas meets his match in philosopher-informant Peter Avarea of Matong village, Pomio, Papua New Guinea. Driven by their feisty dialogue and with access to sacred ceremonies, the film patiently goes about making sense of that mysterious Pacific phenomenon, the "cargo-cult". more
LIFE IS A VERY STRANGE THING (English language version)
2018 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 80 min
Frédéric, a former high school rebel, ethnomusicologist, and multinational executive, returns from decades abroad, to a France that is both familiar and on edge. A quirky and moving portrait by outsiders, exploring what it is to be French in the 21st century. A delightful film by Les McLaren and Annie Stiven. more
LIFE IS A VERY STRANGE THING (French language version)
2018 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 80 min
Frédéric, a former high school rebel, ethnomusicologist, and multinational executive, returns from decades abroad, to a France that is both familiar and on edge. A quirky and moving portrait by outsiders, exploring what it is to be French in the 21st century. more
MALANGAN LABADAMA
1982 (G) 58 min
The story of three brothers and their tribute to deceased clansman, Buk-Buk. Their preparations, and the performances of the 'malangan' is vividly portrayed in this superbly photographed film. more
MAN WITHOUT PIGS
1990 (G) 59 min
MAN WITHOUT PIGS offers a rare insight into the dynamics of village life in Papua New Guinea. The film explores the antagonism aroused when conflict between traditional custom and Western values occurs in an isolated community. more
MINISTER WITHOUT MONEY
2005 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 28 min
Minister Without Money portrays Dr John Waiko's political rise and fall fourteen years after the first film about Waiko, Man Without Pigs (1990) which focused on the significance of Dr Waiko's achievement as the first Indigenous scholar to gain the title of Professor in Papua New Guinea. more
MORESBY MODERN
2009 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 52 min
PNG is slowly joining the globalised world, and if you look closely at this society in transition you can see signs of a modest middle class on the rise, and a new generation coming of age. more
OPHIR
2020 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 97 min
Voiced entirely by the Indigenous people of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, Ophir observes the colonisation of the land and its people, who at the end of the 1980s were left with no choice but to revolt for their right to exist. more