''First Contact'' is a 1983 Australian

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

Bob Connolly Bob Connolly is an Australian film director, cinematographer and author. He is best known for his documentaries produced over the past 30 years, including ''First Contact (1983 film), The Highlands Trilogy'' and ''Rats in the Ranks'', most of t ...

and Robin Anderson which recounts the incursion of gold-prospecting Australians into the unexplored interior highlands of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

in 1930, then inhabited by a prosperous native population numbering in the region of one million. It is based on the book of the same name by the same authors. Inhabitants of the region and surviving members of the Leahy brothers'

gold prospecting Gold prospecting is the act of searching for new gold deposits. Methods used vary with the type of deposit sought and the resources of the prospector. Although traditionally a commercial activity, in some developed countries Placer mining, plac ...

party recount their astonishment at this unforeseen meeting. The film includes both moving and still pictures taken by Michael Leahy, leader of the party, and contemporary footage of the island's terrain. The film was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for Best Documentary Feature. It won Best Feature Documentary at the 1983

Australian Film Institute Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industr ...

The Highlands Trilogy

''First Contact'' is the first documentary in what later became known as ''The Highlands Trilogy''. The other two

films A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of Visual arts, visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are gen ...

are '' Joe Leahy's Neighbours'' (1989) and '' Black Harvest'' (1992). These three films, between them, have won some thirty major awards, including each film winning both the Grand Prix at the

Cinéma du Réel Cinéma du réel (Lit. "Cinema of the Real") is an international documentary annual film festival held in Paris, France, since 1978. It is organised by the Bibliothèque publique d'information (BPI), and screenings take place at the Pompidou Cen ...

festival in Paris and AFI Award for Best Documentary. ''Joe Leahy's Neighbours'' and ''Black Harvest'' pick up the Leahy story started in ''First Contact'' but in the next generation with Michael Leahy's mixed-race son, Joe Leahy, and his family. These two films document Joe Leahy's life as owner and manager of two coffee plantations on land acquired in controversial circumstances from the Ganiga tribe. Much of the drama in the two films stems from the implications and expectations of these two plantations, that is, from conflicts about ownership both within the Ganiga people and between the Ganiga and Leahy. The films chart a society in transition from a tribal life to a Western capitalist one.

Reception

In ''

Cinema Papers ''Cinema Papers'' was an Australian bi-monthly film magazine which ran from 1974 to 2001, regarded as "the premier Australian film industry magazine". It absorbed ''Filmviews'' in 1989. History and profile ''Cinema Papers'' was first published ...

'', Barbara Alysen called ''First Contact'' "an entertaining film about a series of historic meetings - selective, as most accounts are, that is as much drama as conventional documentary".

Box office

''First Contact'' grossed $120,000 at the box office in Australia.''Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office''

References

External links

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''First Contact''
at

Australian Screen Online The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...

Danny Yee's review of the book''First Contact''
at Oz Movies 1983 films Australian documentary films Documentary films about indigenous rights 1983 documentary films Films by Bob Connolly 1980s English-language films 1980s Australian films English-language documentary films Films directed by Robin Anderson {{hist-documentary-film-stub

The Highlands Trilogy

Reception

Box office

See also

References

Further reading

External links