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Primitive Paradise

National Museum of Natural History

Object Details

Local Number
HSFA 1978.1.2/1985.11.5
Collection Creator
Cotlow, Lewis, 1898-1987
See more items in
Lewis Cotlow films
Sponsor
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Extent
2 Film reels (45 minutes, color sound; 1600 feet, 16mm)
Date
1961
Archival Repository
Human Studies Film Archives
Type
Archival materials
Film reels
Collection Rights
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Scope and Contents
Edited film produced and distributed by Excelsior Picture Corporation was shot in the course of the Cotlow New Guinea expeditions in 1958 and 1959 to the Australian territory of Papua New Guinea and West Irian, Dutch New Guinea (Irian Barat). The expedition visits a number of patrol posts in the territories and accompanies various Australian and Dutch district patrol officers on their circuit. In the Mount Hagen area the expedition films a murder trial presided over by the patrol officer and practices associated with the lamentation of the dead. Sequences include a Dani pig feast (Balim Valley) and a mock raid by the Kukukuku who also display courthsip rituals and the mummification of dead relatives. Film concludes with a major sing-sing (probably the "Hagen Show") at which Aiome Pygmies, the "mudmen" of the Asaro River region, and Minj, Enga, Hageners, Chimbu, and Goroka peoples ceremonially display themselves. Cameraman: Whiteman, Bede ; Production Assistant: Frazer, Alan ; Production Supervisior: Wood, Francis C. Jr. ; Music Supervisior:Fuchs, Herman ; Creator Maps and Titles: Videart, Inc. ; Tanguluma: Snook, Capt. ; Territorial Administrator: Clelland, Brig. ; District Commissioner: Sena ; Assistant to Medical Officer: Donga ; Officer: Greenley, Bob ; Patrol Officer: Gonzalez ; Nurse: McFarland, Betty Legacy Keywords: Language and culture ; Food preparation threshing sago ; Feasts cooking pits pigs ; Construction bridge building New Guinea ; Clothing bark cloth manufacture ; Mummification ; Housebuilding cane weaving thatch ; Transportation canoes dugouts ; Weapons stone ; Ceremony celebration sing sing ; Adornment headdress feathers shell ; Warfare feuding ; Litigation ; Feuding blood feuds informal justice ; Police native conscripts ; Public health ; Mourning greif amputation of fingers ; Ancestors effigies ; Art effigies statuary ; Nudity penis sheath ; Dancing ceremonial ; Drumming feasting ; Masks mud ceremony ; Mutilation mourning ; Expeditions ; New Guinea ; Wahgi Valley (New Gineau) ; Mt. Hagen New Gineau ; Maprik New Gineau ; Baliem Valley (Netherlands New Gineau) ; Benabena ; Sepik River (New Gineau) ; Oceania ; Dani (New Guinea people) ; Mt. Hagen tribes ; Enga (New Guinea people) ; Ming ; Chimbu (New Guinea people); Papua New Guinea Government ; Dutch New Guinea Government
Collection Restrictions
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Related link
Record ID
ebl-1633111215902-1633111215917-0
Metadata Usage
CC0
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/pc903ac651b-67e2-4de0-9f53-b623df6d226d

Related Content

  • Online Finding AidLewis Cotlow films

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