Cannibal Tours

Synopsis

The ‘natives’ on the banks of the River Sepik in Papua New Guinea discuss the lives of Western tourists sailing thorough the jungle on a luxury cruiser, The ‘Melanesian Explorer’. The film raises the question of how visitors and visited may well want to swap places when so-called primitive and civilised peoples come into contact with each other. This superficial meeting not only exposes the ethnocentrism and paternalism of the tourist, but makes visible his privilege (and that of the anthropologist and filmmaker) of making the ‘other’ the object of his craving for exoticism. The images of tourists taking photographs illustrate how the cruise is in essence a metaphor for a society seeking in vain for the imagined lost innocence of primitive existence.

Language

English

Country

Australia

Medium

Video; Videocassette. VHS. col. 70 min.

Year of production

1988

Availability

Sale; 1999 sale: £150.00 (inclusive)

Subjects

Anthropology; Development studies

Keywords

Papua New Guinea; social anthropology; tourism

Credits

Director

Dennis O’Rourke

Cast

Dennis O’Rourke

Production Company

Name

O’Rourke & Associates Filmmakers Pty Ltd

Distributor

Name

Camerawork Pty Ltd

Email

camerawork@effect.net.au

Phone

+61 2 6262 5255

Fax

+61 2 6262 5266

Address

1 Lambert Street
GPO Box 199
Canberra 2601
Australia

Notes

Contact: Dennis O’Rourke