Man Without Pigs

John Waiko is the first Papua New Guinean to reach the status of professor. After receiving his doctorate from the Australian National University he traveled back to his home village of Tabara to celebrate the achievement with his own people of the Binandere clan. although John has a history of long schooling in village culture and has been educated in Port Moresby, London and Canberra, he had little knowledge of ritual and no customary wealth in the form of pigs and a long list of favors given and alliances established. When John and his family decided to put on a dance-drama to welcome his return and assert his accomplishment they were met with challenges and skepticism.

Man Without Pigs offers a rare insight into the antagonism aroused when conflict between custom and western values occurs in an isolated community. It is the most recent film by Chris Owen who has collaborated on many of the major films from and about Papua New Guinea in the past decade. Filmmaker: Chris Owen