New Guinea is the second largest island in the world after Greenland and is divided into two parts: the western half is called Irian Java and belongs to Indonesia, while eastern half, Papua New Guinea, is an independent state. The film documents an encounter with the native people who where cannibals until very recently and who are divided into numerous different tribes which often fight among themselves for supremacy but which today are increasingly under threat from western civilisation.
Director
MARIO NARDIN
He was born in Bolzano in 1948. He graduated in medicine. For many years he has dedicated himself to documentary film-making, especially ethnographic ones, searching for stories about the most unknown and forgotten populations on the Earth. His filmography includes: Irian Papua (1997), Pachamama (1998), Surma (1998), Destinazione Koutiala (1998), Birmania (1999), Ladakh (2001) and Azalai, La carovana del Sale (2002). In 2001 he was awarded the prize for best Italian film at TrentoFilmfestival with the film Groenlandia, un destino di Ghiaccio.