No English translation available.
JOE LEIGH’S NEIGHBOURS
No English translation available.
FIRST CONTACT
No English translation available.
First Contact
No English translation available.
First Contact
The Australian brothers Michael, Dan, and James Leahy were the first white people to go on an expedition from 1930 to 1934 to the uncharted mountainous area of New Guinea, looking for gold. Unlike other adventurers, they had a camera with them. 50 years later, Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson followed in the footsteps of these “conquistadors” in this movie in which they show original film material together with statements by surviving indigenous people who remember the Leahys. Much has happened in the years between when the first images were recorded by the Leahy brothers and these new scenes. Colonialism, history, and acculturation occur between the images and are only visible in the discrepancy between then and now. (see Die Fremden sehen, Trickster Verlag 1984)
“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”. (…) 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.” (Documentary Educational Resources)