Films & Video

Program for Art on Film, 2875 Broadway, New York, NY 10025

Asmat: The Cannibal Craftsmen on New Guinea
Series Title: World About Us, The
51 minutes/color/16mm/video/1981?/Great Britain?/English
Dir. Bill Leimback, Jean Pierre Dutilleux

Documentary of the burial rituals of the Asmat, the stone age tribe discovered by Dutch missionaries in New Guinea in 1956. Focuses on village carvers sculpting ancestor poles out of giant mangrove trees. These are headhunters and cannibals, "but also gentle people and skillful artists," who remained relatively secluded and undisturbed until 1961 when anthropologist Michael Rockefeller's (1938-1961) arrival and sudden disappearance focused attention on the area. From the World About Us series.

Collection: MMA

Dance of the Warriors
Series Title: Ring of Fire: An Indonesian Odyssey; No. 2
58 minutes/color/video/1988/Great Britain/English
Dir. Lorne Blair; Prod. Lorne Blair, Lawrence Blair
Prod. Agency: Blair Bros. Production, Inc. WGBH Educational Foundation
Source (U.S.): Mystic Fire Video, Inc.
Source (U.S.): Pacific Arts Video (Video sales)

One in a four-part series of programs documenting the ten-year voyage of Lorne and Lawrence Blair through the islands of Indonesia. In this segment, the Blairs' travel to the island of Sumba, where the local inhabitants weave magical textiles; visit Asmat headhunters in New Guinea; document giant carnivorous lizards in Komodo; and build a hut among the farmers, mystics, and artists of Bali. Ring of Fire series, No. 2 of four.

Comments: Excellent adventure video. Entertaining and well presented. (Staff)

Collections: MMA

Matjemosh: A Woodcarver
27 minutes/color/16mm/1964/Netherlands/English
Dir. Adrian A. Gerbrands
Prod. Agency: Stichting Film En Wetenschap; Universitaire Film, Utrecht, Netherlands
Source (U.S.): University of California Extension Center
Source (U.S.): Rental-see Educational Film & Video Locator
Intl. Source: British Film Institute (GB)

Ethnographic documentary shows Matjemosh, a woodcarver of the Asmat tribe on the southwest coast of New Guinea, creating several works of art and speaking about his life, his beliefs, and his craft. He uses a stone hammer and iron chisel to make wooden carvings of his ancestors and decorate bamboo signal horns of the kind his ancestors used to blow on headhunting raids. Shows the process of making a drum: finding the right tree, digging out the pith, hollowing the inside into the traditional conical shape, polishing the outside with a shell and finishing with a handle composed of a praying mantis with human hands and feet. Includes scenes of everyday life in the village of Amanamkai.

Commentary by Dr. Adrian A. Gerbrands, Assoc. Dir., National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden.

Collection: MMA

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Michael C. Rockefeller Wing of Primitive Art Videodisc
Variable running time/color/videodisc/1983/United States/English
Dir. Gene Fairly; Prod. Thomas Newman, Robb Cresse, Anne Marie Garti
Exec. Prod. Douglas Newton, Robb Creese
Prod. Agency: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Source (U.S.): The Metropolitan Museum of Art (in-house viewing)

Interactive videodisc in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing of Primitive Art at the Metropolitan Museums of Art which allows visitors to gather more information about items exhibited. Provides twenty-four one-minute film segments on aspects of four cultures represented in the galleries: the Asmat of New Guinea, the Aztec of Mexico, the Cameroon of West Africa, and the Northwest Coast Indians of North America. Covers such topics as traditional architecture, the role of art in daily life, and specific uses of masks and ceremonial costumes. Uses slides, photographs, authentic sound recordings, and rare ethnographic film footage.

Collection: MMA

Rituals of the Asmat Tribe
30 minutes/color/video/199?/country unknown/English/
Source (U.S.): Films for the Humanities & Sciences

Visits the Asmat tribes in West Irian, Indonesia, a surviving Stone Age culture known for headhunting. Attends and explains tribal rituals and points out modern influences.

A World Away
30 minutes/color/video/1993/English
Colleen Needles and Gary Feblowitz
Source (U.S.) American Museum of Asmat Art

Supported by CBS TV, Needles and Feblowitz traveled to Asmat to study and photograph the Asmat environment and feasts. This video gives a very good introduction to the Asmat people and their culture in current times.

Source List

Films for the Humanities & Sciences
P.O. Box 2053
Princeton, NJ 08543-2053
tel. (800) 257-4126; (609) 275-1400
fax (609) 275-3767

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10028
tel. (212) 879-5500, ext 2358 (media)
fax (212) 570-3879

Mystic Fire Video, Inc.
P.O. Box 422
Prince Street Station
New York, NY 10012
tel. (800) 292-9001; (212) 941-0999
fax (212) 941-1443

University of California Extension Center
2000 Center Street, 4th floor
Berkeley, Ca 94704
tel. (510) 642-5578
fax (510) 643-9271

American Museum of Asmat Art
3510 Vivian Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55126-3852
tel. (651) 486-7456
fax (651) 486-7589