What happened when M16s replaced bows and arrows in tribal fighting in Papua New Guinea? Tribal fighting has long been present in the Papua New Guinea highlands but the influx of modern automatic weaponry in the 1990s turned local disputes into lethal exchanges that threatened to permanently reshape highlands culture. Bootleg copies of the US film Rambo circulated in remote communities, becoming a crude tutorial on the use of such weaponry. The film's influence was so pronounced that the term Rambo is used in Papuan dialects to describe hired mercenaries who are paid to support local combatants in violent tribal disputes. Here we meet the fighters and peacekeepers trying to navigate a path between tradition and modernity
Launched at the Melbourne International Film Festival 2019
Winner: Best Short Documentary
Directed by: Chris Phillips
Produced by: Michaela Perske, Kiki Dillon
Commissioned by: The Guardian and Screen Australia
Executive Producers for the Guardian: Charlie Phillips, Jacqueline Edenbrow
Edited by: Daniel Lee
Director of Photography: Michael Latham
Original music composed, produced and performed by: Aaron Cupples
Sound Design & Mix: AJ Bradford
Live Sound Recording (Mt Hagen): Alex Bryson
Colour Grading and Online: Matt Fezz
Post Production House: The Butchery
Translation: Naomi Semi, Norma Semi, Joseph Lakai, Roger Yamo, James Timil
“This is Reality” is an abstract exploration into the lasting impact of conflict, set in the independent nation of East Timor. East Timor endured a brutal 24-year Indonesian occupation from 1975-1999 in which around 200,000 people were killed or disappeared.
Few carry these scars more distinctively than Osme Gonsalves, a celebrated artist, singer, poet, actor, and prominent ex-resistance fighter, who struggles to find peace despite the goal of sovereignty being reached. Frustrated by his nation’s perceived apathy, Osme creates a fake reality television show to travel the districts and interview the population about the contemporary reality of their lives.
The culture of tribal fighting has long been present in the Papua New Guinea highlands, a bizarre obsession in an area of such beautiful landscapes and equally beautiful people. A simplistic mentality for revenge often drags out conflict for years and generations, as the logic of peace is overlooked in favour of instability.
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