Chris Owen (1944 â€" 9 March 2018) was an Australian filmmaker, who
specialises in ethnographic documentary films about Papua New Guinea
and its inhabitants.He has served as director of the film unit of the
Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies in Port Moresby and has played a
significant role in the creation of most documentaries about New
Guinea since 1980.Owen's 1984 film Tukana (also called What Went
Wrong?) was not a documentary, but a fictionalised feature film about
the problems facing young people in the Bougainville Province.His 1990
film Man Without Pigs was about John Waiko (who would go on to become
the PNG foreign minister from 2000 to 2001) returning to his home
village to take part in a traditional ritual after receiving a PhD
from the University of Papua New Guinea. The film was about the
complexities of village politics, and the pressures and expectations
placed on Waiko in a community where wealth and status are measured by
the number of pigs one owns. The film won the awards for Best
Documentary at the Hawaii International Film Festival, and the
International Jurors' Prize at the Sydney Film Festival.
specialises in ethnographic documentary films about Papua New Guinea
and its inhabitants.He has served as director of the film unit of the
Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies in Port Moresby and has played a
significant role in the creation of most documentaries about New
Guinea since 1980.Owen's 1984 film Tukana (also called What Went
Wrong?) was not a documentary, but a fictionalised feature film about
the problems facing young people in the Bougainville Province.His 1990
film Man Without Pigs was about John Waiko (who would go on to become
the PNG foreign minister from 2000 to 2001) returning to his home
village to take part in a traditional ritual after receiving a PhD
from the University of Papua New Guinea. The film was about the
complexities of village politics, and the pressures and expectations
placed on Waiko in a community where wealth and status are measured by
the number of pigs one owns. The film won the awards for Best
Documentary at the Hawaii International Film Festival, and the
International Jurors' Prize at the Sydney Film Festival.
Share this
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.