Chris Owen (director)
Encyclopedia
Chris Owen is an Australia
n filmmaker, who specialises in ethnographic
documentary film
s 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.
.
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
.
Bridewealth for a Goddess (2000) won the Award for Excellence at the American Anthropological Association
Film and Video Festival in 2001.
Betelnut Bisnis (2004) won the award for Best Documentary at the Australian Capital Territory
Film & Television Council.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n filmmaker, who specialises in ethnographic
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
s about Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
and its inhabitants.
He has served as Director of the film unit of the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies in Port Moresby
Port Moresby
Port Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...
and has played a significant role in the creation of most documentaries about New Guinea since 1980.
Filmography
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 ProvinceBougainville Province
The Autonomous Region of Bougainville, previously known as North Solomons, is an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea. The largest island is Bougainville Island , and the province also includes the island of Buka and assorted outlying islands including the Carterets...
.
His 1990 film Man Without Pigs was about John Waiko
John Waiko
John Dademo Waiko, born in the village of Tabara in the Northern Province of Papua New Guinea in 1944, is a Papua New Guinean historian, anthropologist, playwright and politician....
(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
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from the University of Papua New Guinea
University of Papua New Guinea
The University of Papua New Guinea was established by ordinance of the Australian administration in 1965. This followed the Currie Commission which had enquired into higher education in 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
Hawaii International Film Festival
The Hawaii International Film Festival is a film festival held in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It was started in 1981 by Jeannette Paulson Hereniko and has been held annually in the fall for two weeks...
, and the International Jurors' Prize at the Sydney Film Festival
Sydney Film Festival
The Sydney Film Festival is an annual film festival held in the Australian city of Sydney and is held over 12 days in June. The competitive film festival draws international and local attention, with films being showcased in several venues across the city centre and includes features,...
.
Bridewealth for a Goddess (2000) won the Award for Excellence at the American Anthropological Association
American Anthropological Association
The American Anthropological Association is a professional organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 11,000 members, the Arlington, Virginia based association includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, biological anthropologists, linguistic...
Film and Video Festival in 2001.
Betelnut Bisnis (2004) won the award for Best Documentary at the Australian Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
Film & Television Council.